How do some people not notice the difference? - Page 2

I agree, my friend is a keen cyclist. Always buying the latest gear, the lightest frame, slimmest wheels etc. I show no interest what so ever. Likewise he's happy with his ibuds. He will admit my set up sounds a "bit better" but when I tell him the prices he thinks I'm crazy.

Horses for courses....!!!

The buds included with iPods are significantly better than what you get with other portable devices, and about the same as JVC Gumy buds. I'm sure the color white is also important as a signal of "I have an iPod".

Study: $90 wine tastes better than the same wine at $10 | Underexposed - CNET News

Probably not a lot.

When you say good, do you mean like Boones Farm or Mad Dog 2020?

I like my ears BBQ'd.


Back to answer the first post....

Its goes to both extremes....some people cant tell the difference between ibuds and stax, and others claim to hear burn-in of an amplifier hour by hour over 1000 hours.

It goes from ignorance to bullsh**.

Just worry about what you hear, what you like, and what youre willing to pay for....and forget everyone else.

people just don't care.

Whenever I hear people say "Oh, I don't think I could tell the difference", and I hear it quite a bit, I simply tell them that "difference" implies comparison between different things (headphones, amps, cables, etc) and most of them simply not done this comparison and still state that they can't tell this difference that they know nothing about. It's a common comment from people who simply chose not to bother to find out for themselves and are content being this way, as well as spreading their point of view. This is notoriously common on this forum as well - so many opinions based on here-say and second-hand "I read this somewhere" things.

Kinda like CNET telling me that the Beats have balanced sound...

CNET Reviews: Beats by Dr. Dre

1. Depends on the wines. Are we talking MD 20/20 vs. a good Bordeaux? I think anybody will be able to tell the difference there. If we are talking the difference between an average $10-$15 bottle from the grocery store, fewer people will notice. As an aside, I had a conversation with a sommelier who regularly comes in contact with $10k+ bottles of wine who pointed out that most people who are not wine experts actually don't like the uber expensive stuff.

2. Pretty easy usually. Good fabric = soft.

3. Got me there- I've never inspected a fly. But I imagine there would be telltale signs.

4. Easy: Unhealthy plant is droopy and yellow/brown. Healthy plant is perky and green.

5. Not easy by looking, but I learned in elementary school about the Moh's hardness scale.


In any event, I think almost anybody will notice if they bother to compare. The more important matter is whether they care enough about the differences to spend the money. I just bought a diamond for my fiancee. If I were buying it for myself as a pure orniment, I would have bought a cubic zirconia. I don't care about the difference. She did, hence the diamond.

But what I find more weird, is when people with medium skliis in audio dont recognise diferences. For example, friend of mine say, that Sennheiser IE8 have smaller soundstage than his Etymotic ER-4.

Good question, and all good and valid replies.

From personal experience, the opinion of the uninitiated can be both frustrating and difficult to accept due to the fact we know better by having spent both time and money recognizing differences (becoming an attentive and critical listener) and by being willing to pay for gear upgrades for incremental degrees of resolution and better/truer presentations of recorded music with our then pricier reproduction systems.

Beyond the entry level this is a very personal hobby which requires a certain type of listener, which is of course an appreciation that can develop and would if time and attention (to details) were invested and that cost together with the financial consideration is just to much for the uninvested for whom the mass marketed sound is already quite good, which is true, depending upon the listener and their referance and experience with listening.

The question then becomes: What are you listening for ?
We here, dissect this question as a part of our multifaceted hobby and a good part revolves around reproduction gear but at the same time a further appreciation for music and its fuller reproduction becomes a personal experience the depth of which would only be fully understood by like minded Head-Fiers, really!

On the other hand, most folks would or should honestly answer the question above with: "For Awhile" ... Which is fine, as it is true, music IS good and mass marketed reproduction gear is quite good sounding relative to mass marketed gear of my youth for what it is, good listening for the majority which has a utility.

As for my self, the true test is in listening now to lesser gear and the differences become glaring, which is where you may be relatively as a listener with developed discernible tastes for quality lost on the inexperienced...

The ultimate judge is the listener and their personal experience...

~ ~

I find it amusing that many people with little experience with headphones don't seem to know the proper way to put them on their head (headband goes on TOP of the head, L means left, and R means right). Its also amusing that sometimes I can't convince them that how the phones sit on their ears makes a difference.