Which headphones of Drop's currently available?
I have some rewards points to burn but there's no obviously good options on Drop right now for headphones Contenders Ultrasone - maybe? I don't own any Ultrasones, so curious. Looks like garbage travel headphone which could be useful also. Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro. - Maybe? I have the DT 880 Good price point, really uncomfortable headphones but could be interesting to try the upgraded version. E-MU - strong contender but $400 is a bad price point for what it is. Which of the above would you choose and why? Nothing else on Drop is relevant to my interests, because Already own 6xx 820 800 s Ether cx Garbage / Consumer grade Meze 99 - garbage bass canons, hard pass No gaming headphones obviously Sennheiser wireless - no to wireless/bluetooth Hifiman - I have 2 of drop hifimans and they make really bad cheap shit on Drop, hard pass on HE-R7DX Aeon - I own the closed, Drop refuses to address #padgate so no reason to buy open Beyerdynamic 177x - wireless, nope Too similar 8x / 560s...
Mar 28, 2024
Nothing in the Massdrop specials I've bought looks awful, or even bad. Every one of them that's been tested by highly credible, highly skilled headphone testers, has found that they test weirdly better than the theoretically equivalent mass market units. When there's extensive evidence over the years of people making huge improvements in some absurdly expensive headphones by doing things like tucking toilet paper behind the drivers... People should think about what they care about most. Really, sometimes less expensive design choices can IMPROVE sound.
Sometimes how things look matters a lot. All my CIEMs use custom shell and faceplate designs, with my art, because I wear them on business class flights to the other side of the world from time to time. The esthetics have started conversations that built relationships that... . I get it. But when I'm buying headphones here... I'm the only one who'll see them. I want to be transported and dazzled without inviting family finance discussions. If materials and how they look matter most for you, I get it. Go for it. No judgement. You can't believe what I coughed up for the CIEM designs. (Or, for the amount of business that came out of weirdly non-business issues...) I get it.
For me, so far... Massdrop's design decisions have turned out to be good for sound, good for price. (Pssst... you're only as good as your last release...)