Mrspeakers Ether C Final Thoughts

Place of manufacture is so meaningless these days, outside of the personal attempts to support local labor. Panasonic actually makes it's better cameras in China and it's lower end stuff in Japan, makes no sense to me but they all look equally well built... Olympus moved it all to Vietnam, others are going back to Japan or Germany because China isn't so cheap anymore, etc.

QC isn't a dark art, it's just hard work, and shockingly it can be honed or ignored anywhere.

 

I don't think this hobby will ever escape the firm grasp of the car analogies.

 

Japanese cars are reliable but they are so dull to drive. Germans cars are much better.

I think you have an idea there purrin. You should patent the "test mode frequency response stabilizer".

 

Car analogies permeate every hobby I've ever being in (computers, photography, audio, etc); there's probably a good psych paper there for someone.

"Test mode"'... I'm suddenly having bad flashbacks to (bad) synthetic tests of video cards and driver cheating.

Sounds far fetched, but if Tyll's prediction of headphones with on board DSP & DACs thru Lighting connectors becomes a reality then cheating will too, inevitably.

 

Funny, my Hondas and Acuras are /were not dull at all compared to the BMWs and Mercedes I have owned. Then again, I do all of my driving on real streets and roads, not a test track.

 

My Corolla was cheap and is easy/cheap to maintain. More money for other hobbies

 

Sorry but compared a BMW 3 series, Corolla is terrible to drive and looks terrible as well. No Acura can compare to a Porsche just as no Lexus can ever be Mercedes in terms of quality, comfort, driving pleasure and prestige. Dislike my posts all you want, the world disagrees with you.

I never said Japanese cars weren't cheap and easy to maintain. They are not as reliable as they used to be however, Toyota calls back cars due to problems every year, it seems.

 

I hear walking is a cheap and reliable form of transportation, too. We Americans wouldn't know anything about that, though.

 

Walking and cycling as well... Metro systems are also good. But nothing beats driving. It's more of a passion for me than a form of transportation. Obviously when I go out and drink, I use public transportation or taxi.

Back to the topic, a high-end closed back shootout would be awesome. Ether C/Beyer T5P 2nd gen/LCD XC 2016/Fostex TH900 mk2. Apparently LCD series have been silently revised in late 2015 and the 2016 LCD XC is said to be much better. TH900 has also been updated and it has detachable cables now.

 

The e46 m3 is the best sports car i have owned or driven. Despite pushing the car daily, it gave me no fuss at all. A workhorse car that can handle and look the way it did is a unicorn.

Unfortunately, the E9x m3s lost the magic. They are heavy, clumsy and have tons of electrical and mechanical problems.

 

I would have disliked this if I could . You may be right when it comes to "prestige" and in some cases "driving pleasure" but Lexus has run circles around Mercedes quality and comfort for years now.

 

Brutal, but true. (Lexus driver here)

 

Maserati?

 

Panamera?!

If that's the automotive refuge of the "truly wealthy" then I'm going to assume that they are all legally blind too (probably all that UV from the tanning and getting poked in the eyes with the fake lashes). Apparently money and taste have little to no correlation.

And the depreciation curve on that things is almost vertical. A year old they're barely in entry-level 7-series territory.

At least the Maserati looks reasonable.

 

I must say though that the original Lexus LS400 was a pretty boring drive for me. Smooth and quiet and all, but I traded it in for a 92 bmw 318is. Much more fun, at least I could feel the road and not just slide on the Lexus leather seats when taking an off ramp.