[Music Alchemist]

  For a thousand dollars you better be a professional musician instead of an enthusiast 

  why? 
 
If your an enthuisast and you enjoy listening, why not pursue the goal of pleasure. Why do you think that only professionals need this gear 
 
If you'd like to enjoy the community here, I encourage you to keep a more open mind :3 and not come off so negative 

 
$1,000 can be chump change in the eyes of a long-time audiophile enthusiast. The most enthusiastic (hehe) ones go to great lengths to get the sound they want.
 
And actually, audio professionals often use equipment that is rather affordable. Overall, it's the enthusiasts who are most interested in quality audio gear.

 

[Strangelove424]

  For a thousand dollars you better be a professional musician instead of an enthusiast 

 
$1,000 headphones aren't even in the realm of most professional monitoring applications. Pros use headphones like Sony MDR7506, Sennheiser HD-25, BeyerDT series, Sennheiser HD. The difference between the audiophile market and professional market is staggering. An accurate, precisely measured "external sound card" marketed to professionals might be a few hundred. You take that equipment, put it in a fancier case, and suddenly it's a "DAC" for "audiophiles" and costs thousands. 
 
People are free to spend money where they want. If you love music, and think it's worth it, go for it. But don't think for a second that professionals do not take budget into consideration. They have more consideration for budget and serviceability than the average consumer, certainly more than the average audiophile.    

 

[Makiah S]

   
$1,000 headphones aren't even in the realm of most professional monitoring applications. Pros use headphones like Sony MDR7506, Sennheiser HD-25, BeyerDT series, Sennheiser HD. The difference between the audiophile market and professional market is staggering. An accurate, precisely measured "external sound card" marketed to professionals might be a few hundred. You take that equipment, put it in a fancier case, and suddenly it's a "DAC" for "audiophiles" and costs thousands. 
 
People are free to spend money where they want. If you love music, and think it's worth it, go for it. But don't think for a second that professionals do not take budget into consideration. They have more consideration for budget and serviceability than the average consumer, certainly more than the average audiophile.    

And rightly so that they should, they are in buisness. The purchase gear with the aim of making a living for them selvs, so a budget is much more important. 
 
Although, on the other end, there are guys like David Chesky. His recording process is pretty great and I'm curious as to what kind of gear he's using to master his albums which sound terrific on headphones 

 

[zhenya]

Monitoring gear is not generally built with the same goals in mind as high-end listening gear, as very little music is mastered with high-end systems in mind.
 
My MDR-7506's sound good for what they are, but they are nothing at all like my CD3000's, let alone my HD800's!

 

[WHertz]

   
(...)
 
And actually, audio professionals often use equipment that is rather affordable. Overall, it's the enthusiasts who are most interested in quality audio gear.

 
I'd say: Audio pros are ONLY interested in quality - nothing else. No fancy enclosures, no myths, no religion. Take  (eg. ...) the Lake People amps widely used in EU broadcasting / recording. They have the same circuitry design as the MUCH more expensive Violectric amps by the same manufacturer..but: If I were Fried Reim (CEO/founder of LP), I'd happily make more money selling the same design to VERY different buyer groups... living in one of the most beautiful and sunny areas of Germany has to be funded

...and, boy, WHAT a beautiful day we have here today at Lake Constance 

Pic by me - copyrighted and monitored by my lawyers...don't steal it 

 

[ubs28]

   
$1,000 headphones aren't even in the realm of most professional monitoring applications. Pros use headphones like Sony MDR7506, Sennheiser HD-25, BeyerDT series, Sennheiser HD. The difference between the audiophile market and professional market is staggering. An accurate, precisely measured "external sound card" marketed to professionals might be a few hundred. You take that equipment, put it in a fancier case, and suddenly it's a "DAC" for "audiophiles" and costs thousands. 
 
People are free to spend money where they want. If you love music, and think it's worth it, go for it. But don't think for a second that professionals do not take budget into consideration. They have more consideration for budget and serviceability than the average consumer, certainly more than the average audiophile.    

So you're saying artists like Avicii who have been nominated for Grammy awards and own $1000+ headphones such as the HD800 are not "Pros"? 
 
Besides, if they got cheap headphones it's because they have high-end reference speakers/ monitors in a properly treated room that is better than headphones. Headphones aren't recommended for music production in the first place. 

 

[Music Alchemist]

  I'd say: Audio pros are ONLY interested in quality - nothing else. No fancy enclosures, no myths, no religion. Take  (eg. ...) the Lake People amps widely used in EU broadcasting / recording. They have the same circuitry design as the MUCH more expensive Violectric amps by the same manufacturer..but: If I were Fried Reim (CEO/founder of LP), I'd happily make more money selling the same design to VERY different buyer groups... living in one of the most beautiful and sunny areas of Germany has to be funded

...and, boy, WHAT a beautiful day we have here today at Lake Constance 

Pic by me - copyrighted and monitored by my lawyers...don't steal it 

 
Quality up to a certain point, in a basic sense that it gets the job done. They certainly aren't interested in extracting maximum quality with no regard for cost like some audiophiles are.
 
I removed the photo from the quote, so don't sue me!

 

  So you're saying artists like Avicii who have been nominated for Grammy awards and own $1000+ headphones such as the HD800 are not "Pros"? 
 
Besides, if they got cheap headphones it's because they have high-end reference speakers/ monitors in a properly treated room that is better than headphones. Headphones aren't recommended for music production in the first place. 

 
This is a good point. Headphones are mainly there to provide another perspective.

 

[klnglim]

Totally 100% agree! I have listen music , play and fix all the those hifi high end setup more than 40years, my personal advice for all music lover especially those "Audiophiles "
As a consumer , please be common sense , use brain and ask yourself, how come plastic metal light headphone can be more expensive than gold or diamond? Common! It's just listen to a beautiful sound from the air which everyone can hear, that's why Chinese people said "发烧友等于败家子“
I understand many people won't happy or disagree with my opinion, however this the truth in our real life, Especially those advertise always mention the word "audiophile", honestly that is no different with the word "scam", never ever rely on "audiophile","audiophile" is paid by advertiser so to pursuit consumer to spend more and more, infinity amount of cash to buy dinosaur bone Remember: use your own ear to give yourself a judgement of sound

 

[klnglim]

Do u think those celebrities really like to wear headphone outside the public, actually they are paid by sponsor , advertiser to wear it or show off.

 

[SHAMuuu]

Totally 100% agree! I have listen music , play and fix all the those hifi high end setup more than 40years, my personal advice for all music lover especially those "Audiophiles "
As a consumer , please be common sense , use brain and ask yourself, how come plastic metal light headphone can be more expensive than gold or diamond? Common! It's just listen to a beautiful sound from the air which everyone can hear, that's why Chinese people said "发烧友等于败家子“
I understand many people won't happy or disagree with my opinion, however this the truth in our real life, Especially those advertise always mention the word "audiophile", honestly that is no different with the word "scam", never ever rely on "audiophile","audiophile" is paid by advertiser so to pursuit consumer to spend more and more, infinity amount of cash to buy dinosaur bone Remember: use your own ear to give yourself a judgement of sound

 
LMAO.
 
What is your idea of best value? For headphone amp/headphone

 

[Dulalala]

Totally 100% agree! I have listen music , play and fix all the those hifi high end setup more than 40years, my personal advice for all music lover especially those "Audiophiles "
As a consumer , please be common sense , use brain and ask yourself, how come plastic metal light headphone can be more expensive than gold or diamond? Common! It's just listen to a beautiful sound from the air which everyone can hear, that's why Chinese people said "发烧友等于败家子“
I understand many people won't happy or disagree with my opinion, however this the truth in our real life, Especially those advertise always mention the word "audiophile", honestly that is no different with the word "scam", never ever rely on "audiophile","audiophile" is paid by advertiser so to pursuit consumer to spend more and more, infinity amount of cash to buy dinosaur bone Remember: use your own ear to give yourself a judgement of sound

So you're saying an item's worth is judged by it's material composition? So wouldn't that mean the dinosaur bones you speak of that you could buy with the money "wasted" on audio gear would be worthless too? In the end it's just calcium and some other stuff which sure isn't rare. They are a lot of things that goes into the price of an item. Manufacturing, research and development, marketing, etc are all part of it, not just raw materials. 

 

[Boerd]

  I'm wondering if headphones that cost around $1000 are really that much better than say... $200 to $300 headphones?

​ Why are you asking this on a website where people "can hear" the difference between cables and spend more on their dacs than the headphones?
Get a Sennheiser HD 650 or a Beyer DT 880(600 ohms) and be happy. Or -if you want toys then it's not about what's worth; we are talking toys.
Expensive headphones are incremental improvements over the above headphones. Price goes up exponentially for small increments in quality (if any).

 

[Mani ATH 87]

In my experience the majority of people who spend thousands of dollars on a pair of headphones, and multiple thousands on matching equipment, are mostly collectors pursing a hobby. There is so much in terms of diminishing returns on actual sound quality once you go above the 300-500 dollar mark, it becomes kind of crazy to try and justify the prices.
 
I don't think it really matters either what kind of money you have to spend, because I've spent a couple thousand dollars on mid tier equipment and I'm perfectly fine with it. I have no desire to go out and spend $5000 on the Abyss, it's just not worth it to me whether I have the money to spend or not. If you want to get caught up in the hype of owning the newest, next big thing, go for it, there's lots of great headphones that are very expensive.

I find the price to performance sweet spot for headphones sinks in around the 300-500 dollar mark perfectly though. These really kick the crap out of the headphones below them (not in all cases!) and are almost up to par with every above them.

 

[Dulalala]

  In my experience the majority of people who spend thousands of dollars on a pair of headphones, and multiple thousands on matching equipment, are mostly collectors pursing a hobby. There is so much in terms of diminishing returns on actual sound quality once you go above the 300-500 dollar mark, it becomes kind of crazy to try and justify the prices.
 
I don't think it really matters either what kind of money you have to spend, because I've spent a couple thousand dollars on mid tier equipment and I'm perfectly fine with it. I have no desire to go out and spend $5000 on the Abyss, it's just not worth it to me whether I have the money to spend or not. If you want to get caught up in the hype of owning the newest, next big thing, go for it, there's lots of great headphones that are very expensive.

I find the price to performance sweet spot for headphones sinks in around the 300-500 dollar mark perfectly though. These really kick the crap out of the headphones below them (not in all cases!) and are almost up to par with every above them.

I mostly agree with this. While I don't think everyone who buys high end gear is in it to collect it ( I am though), it is mostly people who do it as a hobby. In the end whether the money spent is justifiable depends on the person. If the person feels like the minor improvements are worth the money, they will spend it. If they don't they won't.

 

[DiamondD]

I spent a few G's during Xmas on amps and headphones. Now the problem I encounter is...there are no music recorded in DSD. I'm stuck listening to obscure music I don't even like.
 
I think I was happier plugging in a Shure SE500 directly into a Cowon. Mo Money, Mo Problem, Mo Regrets.