Decreasing marginal returns; Are High end headphones worth the money?
Mar 13, 2009 at 1:04 AM Post #31 of 109
Quote:

Originally Posted by lucky /img/forum/go_quote.gif
For me, it's no longer worth it beyond $300--maybe even beyond $100. I just sold a $300 pair of phones and bought a $30 pair of phones, and there's no way I enjoyed the $300 pair 10x more; in fact, I'd say it's almost 1:1 at the moment. What matters most to me is the music, not the gear. When my expectations from the gear start getting in the way of my enjoyment of the music, it's a sign I've lost the balance. I can't say I'm done buying headphones, but I think it'll be a while before I spend more than $100 on another pair. There are just too many good phones at that price point for me to pour everything into gear several times more costly.


That's not a logical way to think about it. Audio doesn't work that way.. Most people realize that you won't get a 50% improvement going from a 500 to 1,000 headphone.. As long as you have this mind set you will never be happy with a headphone over 200, cause you will always see them as not being 2-3 times better, then what your 50.00 headphone cost..
 
Mar 13, 2009 at 1:06 AM Post #32 of 109
Quote:

Originally Posted by lucky /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Besides that, it's intellectually dishonest to draw an analogy between buying $70 phones vs. $1400 phones and eating bugs vs. a $15 meal. But people who draw such analogies aren't interested in honest arguments to begin with.


I get the feeling you think it's very unreasonable to buy a 1,400 headphone over a 70.00 headphone.
 
Mar 13, 2009 at 1:10 AM Post #33 of 109
Quote:

Originally Posted by kool bubba ice /img/forum/go_quote.gif
That's not a logical way to think about it. Audio doesn't work that way.. Most people realize that you won't get a 50% improvement going from a 500 to 1,000 headphone.. As long as you have this mind set you will never be happy with a headphone over 200, cause you will always see them as not being 2-3 times better, then what your 50.00 headphone cost..


Nah. I didn't expect to enjoy the $30 phones 1/10th as much as I did the $300 phones; I drew that analogy because the poster was wondering if his dad would enjoy $1000 phones 20x more than he currently enjoys his $50 phones.

Quote:

I get the feeling you think it's very unreasonable to buy a 1,400 headphone over a 70.00 headphone.


Nah. I do think it's unreasonable to describe spending $1400 on headphones as natural as choosing to eat a $15 meal over eating grass and insects.
 
Mar 13, 2009 at 1:33 AM Post #34 of 109
There's a thread in the Portable Headphones forum about people not doing searches when they start a new thread, and some of the pros and cons are discussed. One of the problems that isn't mentioned is revealed in this thread, namely, that certain types of threads are breeding grounds for questionable analysis, rampant illogic, and potentially inflammatory commnents. The problem with not doing a search is that now this kind of krapola occupies multiple threads on the forum, and not just one. Oh well, the world is far from perfect.
eek.gif
 
Mar 13, 2009 at 1:35 AM Post #35 of 109
Quote:

Originally Posted by PhilS /img/forum/go_quote.gif
There's a thread in the Portable Headphones forum about people not doing searches when they start a new thread, and some of the pros and cons are discussed. One of the problems that isn't mentioned is revealed in this thread, namely, that certain types of threads are breeding grounds for questionable analysis, rampant illogic, and somewhat inflammatory content. The problem with not doing a search is that now this kind of krapola occupies multiple threads on the forum, and not just one. Oh well, the world is far from perfect.
eek.gif



A+++++++ CONTRIBUTION, WOULD SKIM AGAIN!!!




in all seriousness, I sort of agree
 
Mar 13, 2009 at 1:52 AM Post #36 of 109
Quote:

Originally Posted by antonyfirst /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Yes, they are worth the money, while most low/mid end headphones (especially fashionable ones) are not worth the money.



That's a great way to look at it! The expensive ones aren't too expensive, the cheap crappy ones are too expensive.
smile_phones.gif
 
Mar 13, 2009 at 1:54 AM Post #37 of 109
I was thinking about buying the Senn HD800. But, I like my $200 "woodied Alessandro MS1s" or MS2s so well I didnt necessarily believe the Senn HD800 would eclipse them as my favorite headphone. I started thinking about what $1400 would buy and I bought a speaker setup. For the same $1400 I got a new Canary SA-200 passive preamp off ebay, a barely used ( 5 hours) Monarchy SM-70 Pro, new Enigma Audio speaker cables and a new pair of Ascend Acoustics 340SE speakers. I was floored how good these speakers sounded with my usual passive/ SM-70 Pro combination. As much as I enjoy headphones there is no substitute for good speakers.
 
Mar 13, 2009 at 2:45 AM Post #38 of 109
Quote:

Originally Posted by obobskivich /img/forum/go_quote.gif
uh, shouldn't this be true of everything?




this one shows some promise, perhaps in time, the Emperor will show you the true nature of the force


Too old and set in his ways this one is....no...not right....a sith this one will never be.
 
Mar 13, 2009 at 2:48 AM Post #39 of 109
Quote:

Originally Posted by Drumonron /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Too old and set in his ways this one is....no...not right....a sith this one will never be.


to hell with the sith, they have too many rules anyways


and before you even begin to say "obob is biased against skullcandy for no reason", have you auditioned their product offerings? have you compared them to other products?
 
Mar 13, 2009 at 2:56 AM Post #41 of 109
In my sub $100 price category, I think it's preferable to have several sets of phones, each one good for a certain sort of music, than try for an uber-spendy set that presumes to do it all.
 
Mar 13, 2009 at 3:01 AM Post #43 of 109
To quote some bloke from Radiohead...

Quote:

There were some complaints about the sound quality of the downloads, but surprisingly – considering the sonic complexity of their records – none of the members of Radiohead are audio geeks. “That sort of hi-fi sound-quality thing really annoys me,” says Greenwood. “I was in London talking to a label guy once, and I said hi-fi is just about middle-aged men trying to make music sound as good as it did when they were teenagers, and it never will. They’ll never be as excited as they were when they first heard that music coming out of just one speaker. They’ll never get that close to it again.”


 
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