JAnonymous5150
Headphoneus Supremus
-------How do we know that we reach our audio endgame ?
We cannot know in fact, how could we?
Objectively, some new amplifier or some new dac could improve the system and even my beloved K340 can be replaced for the better by some Unknown TOTL...
No we cannot know what our endgame will be and we cannot know how far we are from a relative acoustic perfection or from a flawless real end game system....
The bad news is we dont know and cannot know.... Too much components to test..... Anyway....
But the good news is we can feel it, we can feel if we are in acoustic heaven or not....
Our unconcious know more than us, and our unconscious communicate with our conscious with emotions ....
When the day is arrived and we feel only ectasy and immersive swimming in music without paying no more attention to the components limitations because we dont feel them as such now by virtue of some synergy between components; when dynamic, transparency, transients, timbre, bass impact and extension, and higher frequencies spell and hypnotic charge engulf us in the music , when our emotions are so intense than sound exist no more, only the music we "see" in front of us, then our consciousness is filled with emotions, no thinking anymore, and we live in acoustic paradise....
For sure i could change tomorrow my amplifier or my dac or even my K340 for the better ,yes, but it will be less an upgrade because of the high level where i am already right now, it will be a regression toward foolishness and marketing consumerism possibly filled by regrets... The day come when music win over the sound itself, if we have select rightfully our components and if we learned how to rightfully embed them together in the three working dimensions: mechanical,electrical and acoustical....
The day music overcome sound come because all acoustic paramaters had reach already some optimal level in the scale S.Q./price ratio.... And even if your conscious reason say to us that our system is not the best possible, our unconscious say otherwise...And know better because perception is conditioned by our unconscious way more than by our conscious biases......But many people listen less themselves and their grounding emotion than the market conditioned biases to throw away money in useless expanse... It is better to buy a book about acoustic here than to upgrade a component influenced by reviewers who sells more than inform us anyway...
Anyway, i know for sure consciously which dac and new amp brand name can improve over my actual dac and amp, for sure, but it will be too marginal improvement for me to think seriously about going from the few hundred bucks marvellous system i own now to a many thousand one (10,000 dollars are necessary to improve it significantly i know it why and how by my studies) ... But my unconcious command me to listen with my usual ectasy my music and forgot about consumerism conditioning...
The greater improvement would be a new headphone,yes, but i have no idea at all which headphone can trash my K340 like my K340 trash all my other 8 headphones ... I am curious though even if i am now completely satisfied and will not change probably anything.... If someone know please name the headphone brand model .... I will read all about this contender if i dont know it.... i like to read and study anyway.... in the meantime i will feel a great satisfaction to enjoy the best S.Q./price ratio ever possible with my actual gear, that i know for sure.... My gear cost around 600 bucks![]()
The problem with finding a headphone to replace your K340s is twofold. First, the K340s have a pretty unique presentation and I, personally, haven't heard another headphone that presents music in the same way so I think you'd have a tough time finding something similar and better in that regard. Second, with how much you dig your K340s and with how your mods have really customized them to an extent for your listening I think you'd need to spend a lot more and you'd probably need to audition/demo headphones so you can see how they stack up. It would be hard for others to recommend given how your headphones are modded.
Also, I totally understand the curiosity, but ti have found an affordabke headphone that you dig as much as the K340s and that suits you as well seems like an incredibly rare thing so maybe being satisfied and not worrying about an upgrade is the answer. That said, if you really want suggestions, maybe make a post that lists what you love about the K340s and what you'd like your upgrade headphones to improve upon and include what musical styles and genres you listen to along with what amp, DAC, etc you use in your chain. That's all info that woukd make potential suggestions easier for people.