Possibly the biggest single FOTM I've seen

[Drubbing]

I guess sarcasm doesn't convey well on a forum

It does... they're a just little brittle unless they post it

Of course, I'm just an audio snob for belittling bargain basement products without having heard them, aren't I? But given that amps are a poor investment in the grand scheme of SQ, and all are overpriced for what goes in them, regardless of price bracket, then you should ask yourself what you could possibly be offered for such a low price.

[mallethead]

there is some good stuff on Head Fi, yes it is a job sorting through the debre, very informative i thought, i have learned heaps about the Grado phones, the versions numbers, types of drivers issued etc. have a sweet spot for these, looking in the for sale forum for a pair of SR325i goldies, missed two, but they will come up again for sure

And that post scores 5 points for Gryffindor!!!

[grevillea]

Cmon drubbing - testing an FOTM amp with the K701 is sooo 2007 - it has to be nothing less than orthos now, and preferably the nastiest pair from HiFiMan at that. Exactly why you would want to run those cans from a portable amp is irrelevant - you just have to be able to tell the world that your Daihatsu can, in fact, tow a mobile home.

To the others - I agree that we bagged the amp without having heard it, but I guarantee that it will disappear without a trace as soon as the next cheap FOTM amp comes along. All power to Fiio for identifying a market segment and making bags of money from it - even Marcus sells their amps !

[Zusional]

I saw that thread...
I lol'd.

[ballerificalvin]

Why are you hating on it? FOTM's are nothing new and it's a pretty well known fact the majority end up being relics.

But I bought an E5 over two years back to give my ultrasone's just a tad extra oomph and at twenty bucks, I think it's by far the best money i've spent on audio apart from a hundred on ES7's.

Who knows, the E11 just might be the answer to the complete mess of portable amps out there.

That being said, has anyone got their hands on one here yet?

[grevillea]

Relics ? You could argue that Headphonic has had the odd 'FOTM' - the MS1 and AD900 spring to mind - but they seem to have held their appeal quite well in the short time that I have been here. The difference on HF is that its all about novelty, particularly at the budget end of the market. I can live with that, but not when its accompanied by some of the wild claims that seem to go with each new entry - my favourite is 'easily competes with amps costing $300+'.

[dingostolemyipod]

FOTM would indicate a short lived period of popularity.
Long term favourites, that maintain a high level of popularity, aren't the same thing.
Usually (but not always) the later would be because the product actually has substance.

[grevillea]

I agree Dingo, but they start out as 'flavour of the month', and cans like the ATH-M50 seem to be a perennial 'FOTM' with newbies to HF despite the fact that there are better options. Its not about the M50, its the way the fanboys swamp everything else with a single recommendation.

[Drubbing]

It's typical of large forums, whatever the interest. Someone posts asking for help with an issue or a product - often not even wanting to buy something, and are deluged with 'buy what I bought, everyone here has, it's the best'.

[Belial]

It's typical of large forums, whatever the interest. Someone posts asking for help with an issue or a product - often not even wanting to buy something, and are deluged with 'buy what I bought, everyone here has, it's the best'.

Yeah, coz we never do that here with the KSC-75, RE0, MS-1, MS-Pro, AD900, T-33H etc....

Ben

[Drubbing]

It's typical of large forums, whatever the interest. Someone posts asking for help with an issue or a product - often not even wanting to buy something, and are deluged with 'buy what I bought, everyone here has, it's the best'.

Yeah, coz we never do that here with the KSC-75, RE0, MS-1, MS-Pro, AD900, T-33H etc....
Ben

Yeah, but they're actually good, Ben.

[mallethead]

It's typical of large forums, whatever the interest. Someone posts asking for help with an issue or a product - often not even wanting to buy something, and are deluged with 'buy what I bought, everyone here has, it's the best'.

Yeah, coz we never do that here with the KSC-75, RE0, MS-1, MS-Pro, AD900, T-33H etc....

Ben

Good point... you forgot DT250 too.
Forums are all the same IMO ... governed by the same group dynamics, confirmation bias etc etc.
Each forum will claim to be different to the others and the source of truth.... 'the stuff we recommend is good but'.
This forum is no different IMO- add in it being a forum on a retailers site which adds to the dynamics.

[Belial]

Good point... you forgot DT250 too.
Forums are all the same IMO ... governed by the same group dynamics, confirmation bias etc etc.
Each forum will claim to be different to the others and the source of truth.... 'the stuff we recommend is good but'.
This forum is no different IMO- add in it being a forum on a retailers site which adds to the dynamics.

I think this place is better than most, in large part *because* its associated with Headphonic. Marcus' "I'll call it shit if it's shit" attitude tends to be infectious.

There is certainly confirmation bias here, but it's much less prevalent than head-fi, ocau or whirlpool.

Plus we're all friendly and good looking.

Ben

[Drubbing]

Good point... you forgot DT250 too.
Forums are all the same IMO ... governed by the same group dynamics, confirmation bias etc etc.
Each forum will claim to be different to the others and the source of truth.... 'the stuff we recommend is good but'.
This forum is no different IMO- add in it being a forum on a retailers site which adds to the dynamics.

We're 'moderated' by numbers though, that makes it hard to create hype and spread bullshit. The DT250 fanboi association here is about half a dozen strong. The M50 thread on HF ran for months, and dozens of pages. THat sort of stuff pulls newbies into a vortex of 3rd hand opinions nad hearsay.

[droenn]

EDIT: Didn't see Belial's post before writing this haha

We're also moderated to some extent by the forums being attached to a business.

I don't see this is as a bad thing, Australia has limited availability, so I commend the Headphonic team for providing the service they do, and the forums to discuss the products. I know I'm learning heaps.

So the "FOTM" on here are the tried and tested products, including those lucky enough to visit in Perth and listen to them side by side.

I think thats a better foundation than forum hype for "FOTM"