I have only owned one pair of headphones and I was thinking about this when deciding whether or not to buy some nicer ones.
That said, I think that upgrading from your first pair of nice headphones is really the deciding factor into whether or not you become an audiophile. It is at this point that you decide whether or not the change in quality and sound of higher end headphones is that important to you. You realize, “Ok, so x amount of money will make y difference in sound quality. Do I really care enough to spend more money to hear that change in sound?” It’s up to you to decide if change in quality is sufficient enough to continue buying better headphones, amps etc.
I know that when I got my first (and so far only pair) of headphones, I was a bit disappointed. Like many other people here I started off with the audio technica m50, never listened to any headphones prior to purchasing them. Now they’re nice don’t get me wrong, but after reading so many opinions and reviews online about these cans and really just quality headphones in general, I thought that listening to headphones would be a f****** amazing, godly experience. Just hearing people describe things like soundstage and highs, mids, lows and other stuff like that made me hype up the headphone experience to be something that it wasn’t. I do love my m50s but I’m wondering just how much better a step up in quality will be, or matter to me. I think it all just depends on the person really. Some people will be amazed by the change in sound when upgrading to better headphones, and others will think, “wow that’s it? They sound almost exactly the same as my first pair!”
I bet there are many head fiers who would never shell out $1000 for hd 800’s or other insanely expensive headphones because no matter how nice the headphones are made out to be, the change in quality just isn’t worth it to them.
