Quote:
I have a pair of Grado SR-60i. Since I've never put on a pair of headphones that costs more, I find them very nice sounding. They are kind of 'get my foot in the door' headphones into the higher fidelity sounding headphones.
My question is, how much more do I have to spend on another pair that I will hear significant improvement in sound quality? I mean it's pretty clear that there are $500 headphones and higher that people can buy but at what point is the bottleneck on the MP3 player and not the headphones?
For example, if I get a pair of Denon AHD2000, I am sure I can hear the difference but do I have to pay that much more to get better sound based on the "diminishing returns rule"? Of coursem usuallt you get what you paid for but I am sure at some point, it's not the headphones anymore...it's the $80 MP3 player or the $60 amp.
Heya,
The cost is relative to the
kind of sound you're looking for. I have the SR60 and SR325. Are they a vast improvement, worth the extra $220 over the SR60? Without a doubt
no in my opinion. You'll just spend that money and wonder why you did it, unless you're an absolute bean counter and think
miniscule changes in technical improvement result in
better listening experience. I would instead suggest, if you have already not, get the L-cush pads for your SR60's for $20. They make them sound
significantly better, more bass impact, more bass reverb, and the rest pretty much just feels more full bodied.
Diminishing returns happens as fast as the $40 mark honestly. There is absolutely a reason to get headphones that cost more than $500. But it has to be a change that you're willing to pay for. Headphones in the mid-tier range and high-end range differences, if I had to quantify it, are different by a very small percentage of actual sonic improvement, which I would just
guess as being around 5% or so, maybe even less, assuming we're speaking of a
neutral mid-tier to begin with. I have $30 headphones that sound
better to my ears than a $250 pair
over all. That's just crazy talk. But I'm being honest, and I'm someone who's splurged on headphones to the point, and still doing it, where I just don't care so long as the sound is good and it's great to listen to, I don't care if it's $900 or $30.
The question becomes, are you actually talking about sound quality, or are you talking about the perceived wow factor that you may have during listening, or are you talking about the technological (but not percieved audible) difference? If you're talking quality, it's extremely
miniscule. You will read "night and day" type stuff, but it's not, and the casual person on the street will not say night and day. A critical listener who knows the technological and refinement differences between headphones will say that--and they likely have not even heard that particular headphone they're talking about (in general, this is just a huge sweeping statement but generally holds true I find). I'll catch flack for that, I'm certain--watch for a quote.
Here's a proposition to you, try
these headphones for an absolutely ridiculous price. Ignore that price. It's not a determining factor
at all on what you're going to hear. Then, if you are not actually enthralled by them, tell me, and I'll buy them for what you paid. Seriously.
If you want to expand to
different sound signatures, I'll simply express that you should look into the Fostex T50RP, Fischer Audio FA-011, BeyerDynamic DT770 PRO, Ultrasone HFI 580, Denon D1100, Shure SRH750 DJ, and the AKG K240 MK II or K272 HD.
Next up, make sure your music is absolutely lossless or as close as possible (320kbps minimum). Depending on the headphone and circuit, it matters if it's actually 320kbps or lossless. You
can hear a difference. But it's relative to the headphone with a direct correlation.
Again, I'm serious about the above proposition. I'll even send you lossless music to test it with.
Very best,
