Holy Grail (of Headphones)
January 29, 2023Quest for the Holy Grail
I wish I could remember exactly how I came to know about the Phonon 4000, but the most I could recall was a thread on Head-Fi titled Phonon SMB-02 Holy Grail. How I got to that specific thread, I don’t recall. The first post was about this unknown audio brand called Phonon, and how supposedly the SMB-02 was the “Holy Grail” in terms of audio quality. As you could guess many people were dismissive about them, especially considering they came in what appeared to be some OEM shell. However as the thread grew, more and more posts would pop up of people describing the headphones as being incredible. The most negative review I recall from the thread (from someone that had a pair) said they definitely sounded above average for the price, but the build quality was sub-par.
Even though the SMB-02s were a bit larger than I prefer, they peaked my interest so I looked more into Phonon. After some research it turned out they recently came out with a more portable (“DJ”) pair of headphones with the same drivers as the SMB-02. These were the Phonon 4000s, and to me they seemed like the perfect pair if the audio quality lived up to the hype. Although acquiring them was much harder than a simple Amazon order. At the time the 4000s were sold out on Phonon’s website, and they weren’t available at any American retailers. My closest chance at buying them was from a music record label named Ghostly Inc, who had a limited edition version of the headphones, but those sold out quickly. My only option after that seemed to be importing them from Japan, but those options were significantly marked up from the retail price of $250. I eventually settled on waiting for some pairs to pop up on eBay, although by a series of fortunate events this wouldn’t be necessary.
Having taken Japanese for two years in middle school, and all four years in high school, I was given the opportunity to go to Japan my senior year by my Japanese teacher (who did what was a bi-yearly trip to Japan for her students). The travel costs which were paid upfront ended up taking all of my disposable income from my part-time job. A few weeks prior to the trip I took up more hours in an attempt to have some money for the trip. I ended up making what was a bit above the bare minimum according to my teacher. This is all to say that the moment we got to Akihabara I booked it to the most popular audio store there. At first glance the store had headphones from every brand, but no sight of Phonons. After brokenly speaking Japanese to store staff, they managed to find a pair of Phonon 4000s on display in the back. They let me have a sound test, and the pair were way better than I expected (even with the hype). I asked to purchase a pair immediately after, but after looking in the back the store staff couldn’t find any new pairs of 4000s (only SMB-02s). They offered to give a discount on the display pair, and I took it on the spot (especially considering they seemed pretty much new). I finally managed to get a pair for about $185, or $65 under retail price. It was all worth the wait, although I ended up starving a bit on the last day of the trip as I ran out of money, I lived by leeching off friends and food samples.
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