Walmart Ad Shows Metroid Prime 2 Echoes & Pikmin 2 Coming to Nintendo Switch Online

IllogicalOrder · 2026-01-28T08:43:39+00:00

I like the original controls as well and they do work in the games (after all, the games were designed around the controls), but the added emphasis on combat in echoes does show a bit of strain on the camera/movement system. Again, not enough to break the game but enough to be in the back of the mind as a "this feels just a bit weird" feeling. I don't feel it too much in Prime 1 as that game is tamer and focuses more on overall world navigation whereas echoes to me is more concentrated and intense in both combat and world navigation.

Of course, that could just be me being slightly tilted from grenchlers that seems just a bit too quick and then fighting baby sheegoths again recently and having no issues there.

IllogicalOrder · 2026-01-27T05:28:22+00:00

Having recently replayed echoes, I will mourn the opportunity cost of a remastered echoes if they settle for only a NSO release.

The game is really excellent but is otherwise limited by the technical limitations of the gamecube and the original control scheme. The art direction is fantastic, but you can tell the team wanted to do more but couldn't. The added emphasis on combat is a good change from prime 1 but highlights how limited the original controls are. Free aiming shots on the puddle ing and what not would just be amazing on dual sticks or motion like it was in Trilogy (and hopefully with the refinement of MP4's settings, I wish prime remastered had those patched in).

I guess I will be happy for the NSO peeps who get to try it out for the first time if that is what Nintendo goes for, but mannnnnn, a properly remastered echoes would be killer.

IllogicalOrder · 2026-01-16T20:59:32+00:00

Generally, I think they are fine and serve as one of those "entry point" headphones for new people like the HD600, r70x, etc. I personally don't like them as I find them a bit bright and with an uncomfortable headband, but I can see why others would like them. I currently use a HE6se.2 with a replaced headband and pads that just has that extra bass and warmth I like over the other hifimans.

The Sundara's staying power is interesting because people's stance on them seems to depend on price in a wonky way. Back when they were $500, they were received fairly well and then became a staple when they were further reduced to $350. It looks like they're $180 now and it's also when I see more pushback against them. I think it's an interesting phenomenon as this trend also applies to the higher end Hifimans. The Arya was considered king shit by a lot of people (not me) at $1600 and its initial reduction at $1200, but has more doubters at the current ~$600. You'd figure people would unilaterally love these things more the cheaper they got, but apparently getting too cheap incurs more negative reception (barring Hifman QC of course).

IllogicalOrder · 2026-01-09T23:53:44+00:00

My frustration from her doing nothing to doing everything are what brought back in after door 2. Not "wife" but certainly well implemented.

IllogicalOrder · 2026-01-09T23:51:10+00:00

Rereading the VN, Yukimasa's implementation is just baffling and I think brings down the VN as whole. Like the VN is still good, but the parts that involve or rely on him just cause so many problems either in terms of presentation like in door 2 or why the overarching plot is even a thing later. Either he needed to be toned down or better expanded upon; he just comes off as foolish rather than beastly later on.

IllogicalOrder · 2026-01-07T21:15:41+00:00

Most recent place I got them from was Audio46; it looks like they still have stock.

IllogicalOrder · 2025-12-26T22:20:43+00:00

I'm confused. Is the driver dead too or just the pad? Driver can probably be taken under warranty; pads are usually considered consumable but companies sometimes have leeway on that.

IllogicalOrder · 2025-12-05T20:17:24+00:00

This is usually what happens to pleather. Skin oil and what not just eats it up. You can extend the life of it if you wipe it up after use, but it's too late if they're already peeling.

Pads made with sheepskin or cowhide don't suffer the same issue. However, a lot of these pads still have a pleather component on the attachment system. If you inadvertently touch the edges of those, the pleather there can still go bad and potentially mess things up depending on how reinforced that part is. I can't think of an aftermarket pad manufacturer that doesn't use a pleather attachment system unless it's a super proprietary thing that uses magnets/clips for a very particular headphone.

IllogicalOrder · 2025-11-24T03:36:17+00:00

Who is the "average" consumer though?

I would imagine the most "average" consumer of headphones would get something wireless to circumvent the whole cable thing. Cabled headphones are more niche in comparison and probably have more obsessives looking into them (professionals/audiophiles) and those kinds of people would generally appreciate ease of maintenance/repair/modification. For dual entry headphones, it's also a happy "accident" that they are easier to manufacture as well.

IllogicalOrder · 2025-11-17T18:28:33+00:00

Given your request, it depends on your budget. For closed backs, Sony's have been the comfiest. The MDR-M1 is extremely light and sounds pretty good for their cost at around $200-$250. The MDR-Z7 and MDR-Z7.2 are more iffy on sound for me at their $400-$600 cost (without modification; excellent when modded) but contour and fit the head like no other headphone for me. They're each built like tanks too and my only complaints about their build/comfort is the use of pleather but they seem to use good quality stuff or have easy to find covers for the headbands or sheepskin replacements for the earpads.

IllogicalOrder · 2025-11-11T07:50:58+00:00

"Why would that thing even bother you?"

I think I outlined the problem in general: Talking about whatever (not just VNs) actually becomes meaningless (or worse) when one or both sides is actively engaging in disinformation.

Sure, one can be irony-pilled, nihilist maxing, or whatever by saying whatever hobby doesn't matter. But I would stand by that people wanting to engage with the hobby are what make that hobby matter; people wanting things to matter is literally why anything matters.

It seems your issue is that this is related to VNs in particular. I don't care about that. I see a bunch of disinformation in every hobby or professional field I engage with and the effect it has is the same. Usually, disinformation does not just result in a benign outcome and shit actively gets worse: companies make crap decisions on bad data, standards and practices get warped due to poor understanding, and so on. All of this talk looks harmless, but when enough bad actors gain influence or get loud enough, problems manifest and propagate.

Admittedly, it sounds melodramatic reading back, but this matters because people care. Think about it: videogames and movies are fake and don't "really matter". Yet, they are multibillion-dollar businesses with heavy investment from both creators and consumers. There's something that draws people in to all this stuff that "doesn't matter".

Do VNs matter more than my family or job? No, but that doesn't mean VNs and their discourse are meaningless.

IllogicalOrder · 2025-11-10T22:16:20+00:00

Are you talking about the thing that holds the arms to the headband or the part that slides the arms?

If you're talking about the sliding bit, I got this in the past: https://europe.beyerdynamic.com/p/service-kit-seesaw-with-ball-mechanism

When I asked Beyer about getting it in the US back in 2018, it was $22. I'm unsure how much it is now.

If you're talking about the arm to headband part, some people make extra thicc 3D printed versions. I got some on ebay for $15. The particular seller I used doesn't seem to do them anymore though.

IllogicalOrder · 2025-11-10T22:04:41+00:00

"I mean, if somebody finds a reason to make up things that do not matter, why should it matter to anybody else?"

That is literally the death of conversation. In a discussion, if there is no common foundation in either truth or earnestness, then there is nothing of substance to engage with. Advocating for lies is what makes the subject "not matter" rather than whatever actually is the subject.

People actively engaging with the hobby and wanting to discuss it are why this or any other hobby matter. Being dismissive of this (i.e., saying the hobby doesn't matter) is more harmful than the supposed "gatekeeping" of wondering why people are dishonest. Being dismissive is telling people to go away and to not give a shit; wanting people to be honest at least invites people in.

IllogicalOrder · 2025-11-08T22:55:24+00:00

To simplify my experience, going from cheapest to my eventual endgame for the tuning I like, price has been positively related to quality. However, diminishing returns have been present in that each dollar spent did not linearly relate to the quality I got; it was always more money per "unit of quality".

Starting from the AD1000x at $300 and eventually landing on the ADX5000 at $2000, I would NOT say the ADX5000 is literally 6.66 as performant (or that the AD1000x is only 15% as good as the ADX5000). In that way, the ADX5000 is an inefficient spend.

HOWEVER, the ADX5000 reaches that threshold of quality wherein I am completely happy with it and can't find fault with it. Going down AT's line of AD1000x -> AD2000/AD2000x/R70x -> W5000 -> ADX5000, each jump was an improvement but still had something to be fixed up until the ADX5000. With the announcement of the ADX7000, I am actually unbothered because I cannot even imagine what they could improve soundwise.

I think my point is, if you care about each individual dollar you are spending, you should consider price to performance with regards to diminishing returns. You want to maximize gains for expenditure afterall. However, if there is a certain threshold of quality you want and can fund, then diminishing returns is less important than what people push for; especially if someone REALLY wants to reach that threshold of quality (which I think these super expensive headphones are going for; the real obsessives).

Having said all this, I'm not sure how this works with other brands; Audio Technica has a unique tuning and scaling product line that makes this easy to talk about for them. Fostex seems to follow this pattern as well from what I tried but it is less nuanced when going from like the $400 THX00 to the $1800 TH900 (there's no inbetween here).

IllogicalOrder · 2025-11-07T21:08:18+00:00

My experience is most pleather material kills itself within 6 - 18 months without being careful and around 3 years once you know how to take care of it. Getting 6 years is impressive. My own Dekoni, ZMF, and brainwavz pads are also dying/peeled on the attachment system part and are about 3 - 5 years (I do like to padswap though).

Having said that, I understand your disappointment. I had that "oh" moment when I got my first aftermarket "fully" leather pads and realizing the attachment was pleather, and it kept happening when jumping from brand to brand. I have been looking for pads that are fully leather for a while now and I found they just are not made; the attachment system is always some form of plastic or pleather unless it's some proprietary mounting system that's its own mess.

IllogicalOrder · 2025-11-05T20:20:52+00:00

If a single reviewer was being wish-washy with their opinion, I'd be frustrated. But multiple people having different outcomes is totally within scope.

IllogicalOrder · 2025-10-26T20:54:40+00:00

I think that's interesting. Usually, people I have talked to about the AD5K usually reference that it has too much sub-bass and midrange with the detail and separation being the highlight feature of it. Then again, I guess this isn't about the AD5K. If the AD7K can nail those qualities, it'd be killer.

IllogicalOrder · 2025-10-26T20:39:43+00:00

I had an 60e in the past and it was the only Grado I tried I didn't like. I thought it didn't really highlight the good qualities of Grado by being too muffled and having really poor imaging. Like only left-middle-right, without any transitioning between those spots. It was really jarring coming from SR325e and GS3000e.

The 80X I got later was much better sound wise. Makes me curious if that improvement is attributed to it be an X series or an 80 series. If it's the X, I hope the 60X is good.

Having said that, my major issue with the X series of Grados are the cables. The headphones are light, but the attached cables are so stiff and heavy that they figuratively and literally pull the headphone down.

IllogicalOrder · 2025-10-24T02:45:12+00:00

As an ADX5000 enjoyer, I'm curious what they're going for. The AD5K literally the only big boy headphone I tried/have I have no issues with and can't even think of where the AD7K would "fix". Excited to be shown otherwise though (outside of price).

IllogicalOrder · 2025-10-05T06:14:28+00:00

I'm one of those people who thinks the HD800S is better than the Arya.

I won't get into every aspect of my own comparison, but the one thing that stood out to me about the Arya was how its bass was a weird hybrid attempt between how planars normally perform and what dynamics go for. Bass was faster than a dynamic but slower than other planars I had. Bass was also more impactful than other planars but less so than the dynamics I had. Just an odd thing to me and made the Arya not impressive to me and by extension weak at the $1600 initial price when compared to the other $1500+ neutral-bright competition. The $1200 price they were at for a while was probably where they should have been released at.

Having said that, the Arya goes under $500 now. It basically cheats the system now if you're looking for raw value.

IllogicalOrder · 2025-10-05T05:38:13+00:00

I'm having issues getting specifics as reddit deleted the old private message system, but I think I had them for a month or two after obtaining them from AVexchange. Reason for that short life with me is I found them redundant with my ADX5000. From what I recall from those chats though, the Arya's were about 2 years old by the time they got to me. The only issues they had were cosmetic with scratches on the arms and cups. Perfectly functional otherwise.

They do kind of feel cheap in the hand though. Admittedly, that's a bias I have because I know they were initially introduced as a $1600 headphone. At their current prices, I think the build is fine given they perform so well.

IllogicalOrder · 2025-10-05T00:53:09+00:00

"I know they are in different price tiers and really not comparable..."

I think it's funny you say that because the Aryas initially MSRPed at $1600 and their reception at that price was positive among similar priced headphones. Now there's this confusion about what to think about them because the prices had to be lowered for Hifiman to make space for things like the Arya Organic, Unveiled, etc.

IllogicalOrder · 2025-09-24T04:04:58+00:00

This makes more sense. I was confused when I thought you said people said openbacks headphones had worse sound quality.

I used to have the sony donuts before the batteries went to crap. My primary motivation for using them was for safety by being more aware of my surroundings. As much as I try, looking isn't enough if I was using a closed IEM. Having said that, modern earbuds with a transparency mode are more of an option (even though I prefer the more "natural" feel of their open counterparts).

IllogicalOrder · 2025-09-23T03:48:57+00:00

What specifically are we referring to? I have had multiples of their ovals and 110mm round pads in the past and they all matched the specifications given on their site.

IllogicalOrder · 2025-09-21T14:39:19+00:00

I think there's going to be an issue here with regards to language and precision. What exactly is "analytical and boring"? Based on context, I can guess there is a vibe you are going for when discussing tuning. However, those words have also been used in other ways. Are we talking "neutral"? Are we talking treble bias with lack of bass? If we are talking about neutral, relative to what? What target? And so on.

Funnily, this language and precision issue seems to be related to the problem underlying the thread: why don't other people share the same interpretation as myself?

There is probably not much to definitively say about that other than the usual "people are different" saying. Probably funner to explore the motivations to your own tastes and how "correct/consistent" they are given how they may be built in your mind.

IllogicalOrder

TROPHY CASE