Non-audiophile reactions to high-end headphones - Page 2  

A funny comment I had from my girlfriend's house mate listening to my MS1000 -

"Ooh it's got an in the room sound. Definitely more in the room than mine. But in the head a bit too. The voice is in the head but the instruments are in the room"

A great layperson's description of headphone soundstaging...

Almost everyone who tried out my stuff thought they were nice but not worth the money at all. Anyway, who cares, im happy, lol.

I don't know, I'm never comfortable enough to mention or try to show others my headphones.  I guess I don't want to seem like a show off. It's weird and people have ask me before "why I buy headphones."  I usually just tell them I like em.

 

One time though, I was at a friends and family party and was sitting there listen to music with my M50 in the kitchen.  One of the guy there ask me if he could listen to what I am listening to so I paused the music and hand it over. He sat there throughout the song and took them off and was like "wow, those are good...really really good." after that one person after another start to try them out.  All were impress.  The funny thing is, those were my carry around headphone the M50. 

Every time I get new earphones I ask my friends to try them and see what they think. One of them has been using sennheiser cx-400's and sony mdrxb20ex for a while. When he tried my etymotic er-6i's he said his stock earbuds sounded better. Then he tried my other friend's UE tf10s and said they were not bad but lacked too much bass and again thought his xb20s sounded better. Then my westone 3's and... still thought the sony sounded better not just for bass but for sound quality as well. Perplexed I just left it at that. Most other people that tried them as well could not tell the difference between skull candy 50/50 and the westone 3's sound quality wise. So I now just listen to my music without asking people for their opinions as only one or two others can notice a difference and appreciate the bump up in quality. 

Some people have a WOW factor, usually people that love music but have no clue about hifi gear and buy mainstream ie. Bose, skull crap etc. Others i have listen to my rig could care less. I guess it's for some but not all.

My one friend has now tried two of my headphones, the first being the M50 when I had them, and now my DT880. He liked both, and he seemed to sense that the DT880 was completely different from the M50, even though the last time he had heard the latter was months ago. Weird, I would never have pegged him for the audiophile type. I just turned him onto a pair of KSC75, and hopefully he'll enjoy those (and I'll get to try them, too! ). Evidently it doesn't run in the family, as his sister couldn't really see at first why I had just paid $250 for a pair of headphones. Her final comment was, "They're more acute, and they have more bass," which, all things considered, isn't a bad comparison with something like iBuds.

 

My mother liked my SR225i that I got after the M50. She had said that a certain song never sounded right to her on her cheapo headphones. She put the Grados on and said immediately that they were awesome.

 

I miss those cans. For all they did wrong, man did they do a few things totally right. I kind of hinted afterward that if she really liked those Grados a pair of the cheaper SR60i might appear under the Christmas tree, but she told me not to bother getting her something like that. Mental, I swear. And a lost excuse to get Grados again. 

The responses I get are usually along the lines of "well, yeah, it sounds nice, but there's no way I'd ever be spending anywhere close to that on a pair of headphones."

 

But the thing that baffles me the most:

90% of people I know "care" enough about music to buy a $300 ipod, but don't care enough about how that music sounds to upgrade from stock earbuds.

Oftentimes, I hear an instant wow and a smile in their faces, and they understand when I spend that much on audio.

 

However I always also hear that they won't be spending that much.

This.

 

Even when some of my friends (girls, especially) try my M50s or SRH840s on, they're like, "Hmm...it's ok". The guys are more receptive, but still think it's insane spending over $20 and still use their ibuds.

i own sony xb500's and i amgetting dr dre beats studios next wednesday :)

Don't be surprised in case XB500 actually sounds better, you've been warned. 

i like hiphop, rock and trance .... £250 budget ... ive started a thread on dr dre beats good or not

Ive had kids at school borrow my Grados (some have beats, bose). I dont tell them how much I spent, or if they are good. I say nothing about them. Half the time, they ask "why are you using those old crappy headphones?" Or "they are clear but they dont have enough bass".  There are a few people at school who do have good taste for sound. But the majority are into frequencies below 100 hz and above 10,000khz. Everything in between is meaningless to them.

 

I did a blind test on my Dad with the MS1 vs. Bose AE. No matter which track, he liked the AE much better, even without knowing which brand is which or that I even had good headphones.(not that he cares).  

 

Ive had people listen to my stereo at home, behringer truth B2031A monitors, Velodyne 15 inch servo woofer, acoustic treatments. Usually I get comments like "can the bass go louder". Or I get nothing at all.  

 

To be honest, most average people dont know Hi-Fi when they hear it. Usually when people think of "good sound", it means sheer SPL power and Bass.

Edited by EYEdROP - 12/8/10 at 8:26am

I let people listen to my 595's, first reaction is always : " Well my Beats by Dre sound better than that on any music."

*sigh*