[Young Spade]

You'll love them but like others here have said, you can find them a lot cheaper somewhere else; just look around a bit.
But make a note to try to get as high of a bitrate as possible with your music; using bad source files isn't going to give you a positive result with your future phones. 320 is a great bitrate though

 

[Jack C]

Yea, expensive headphones are definitely worth it, and it is critical that you find the headphone that caters to your listening taste because headphones sound dramatically different from each other. No other component in your system will affect the overall sound as much as the headphones will.
 
I also agree that you should shop around to find the best price for headphones, but just be weary of buying on eBay from a seller who is not an authorized dealer. There are a lot of counterfeits when it comes to headphones on eBay.
 
Jack

 

[skellington]

Isn't there a HiFi shop you could go in and try some different phones?
 
Even if they don't have that particular model at least it will give you an idea of the playing ground.
 
I 've been disapointed buying blind myself, wouldn't want it to happen to you.

 

[Ishcabible]

Quote:

Yea, expensive headphones are definitely worth it, and it is critical that you find the headphone that caters to your listening taste because headphones sound dramatically different from each other. No other component in your system will affect the overall sound as much as the headphones will.

Tell that to my 16kbps rip of Death Magnetic!

In all seriousness, yes, expensive (ish) headphones are worth it. Provided that you don't completely underpower them. I don't have an iPod touch nor an M50, but I can easily tell the difference between my K271 and ibuds from an iPod Video. I can only assume that the M50s will sound decent from an iPod.
Headphones don't sound dramatically different from each other. Once you read high levels of Diminishing Returns, the differences are rather minor.

 

[maverickronin]

Why don't you put together a list of whats available locally and within your budget, and then we can help you pick from that.

 

[astro]

I went through the same debacle when I bought my first set of $100+ earphones, the etymotic er4p.
At first I didn't even notice that much of a difference, until one day I tried it on a different source(turns out my original source didn't provide enough ampage for my earphones) and I suddenly found myself blown away by how 3D the music started sounding and the sheer instrument seperation and sound imaging the earphones were revealing. From then on, I was absolutely convinced that it was worth it.
 

 

[HariBhushan]

yes. they are worth it if you got the $$$$
 
otherwise, stick with something in your budget or else you'll end up bankrupt = )

 

[Mochan]

The thing is, for the regulars here on HeadFi, the M50 is actually a "cheap" headphone.
 
I will say that the biggest bang for your buck is here in this price range around $100, where the cans you can get are a huge jump from any stock earbud or headphone you are using now.
 
After you go beyond this mark diminishing returns kicks in and you start needing to spend far more money to get significant improvements. I think most people would be happy with gear around this price range.
 
But 140 pounds for an M50 is too much. With that kind of money you could be getting a K701 or maybe an HD650.

 

[SleepyOne]

Do be aware for HD650 and 701 will need to factor in cost of an amp.

 

[12thgear]

Just throwing this out there, but does Alessandro still offer free international shipping for their products? The Music Series One (new version) is $110 USD, and if that included shipping, that could be a very economical way of getting into nicer headphones. 

 

[swbf2cheater]

Here is how this works, I'll try to best describe what we all are here and how we are different from normal people
 
Normal people wouldnt spent more than 50$ on headphones, if that, thats as stretch actually.  People are fine with stock ipod buds, or junk radio shack stuff.  Thats fine, they dont really care about the audio having high quality and having the same factors as a visual experience has in a tv.  Dynamics, clarity, power, ect.  These normal people usually cannot tell the difference from a low quality mp3 to a slightly higher quality, we audiophiles can spot the differences and it is very annoying to us.  So much so we cant enjoy the music with the lack of something, or any number of factors.
 
Normal people will go to best buy and stand in front of the giant wall of LCD tvs and pick the one that looks the best, right?  Factoring in the dynamics of the video, the refresh rate, lots of things and pay upwards of a grand for it, even a few thousand. Well, its the exact same for us with audio.  If you cared about your movies would you be okay with a black and white tv from 1954? Of course not, you want a giant LCD tv that is totally HD and looks incredible. 
 
We audiophiles are the same but just with audio gear.  We want that HD experience in audio, and are not okay with junk headphones and gear.  So, finally I would say yes, it is worth it to get great headphones.  If you have never used an expensive set before, you are in for something incredible and walking into a world you never knew existed.  Normal people will most likely look at you like you are crazy for spending all that cash on headphones.  But its the same as buying an expensive HD LED tv now and having people tell you, hmm, I cant really tell the different from a this other black and white tv to this LED.
 
Normal people tend to do that with audio gear.  A lot of people just dont hear it ( see it ) even when its right in front of them, they dont hear the dynamics in the audio, the depth and stage, not only that but they really dont at all care for it...this remains a mystery to me
 
I just feel bad for normal people who dont care about their audio, or cant hear well enough, or simply are not sensitive enough to things.  I know for a fact I can pick up on sounds my dad cant.  I feel terrible for normies
 
to sum it up, if you are an audiophile, you likely pick up on sounds differently than normal people, because of that, you cannot settle for junk and you need something clear and dynamic to your liking.  

 

[Young Spade]

Quote:

I went through the same debacle when I bought my first set of $100+ earphones, the etymotic er4p.
At first I didn't even notice that much of a difference, until one day I tried it on a different source(turns out my original source didn't provide enough ampage for my earphones) and I suddenly found myself blown away by how 3D the music started sounding and the sheer instrument seperation and sound imaging the earphones were revealing. From then on, I was absolutely convinced that it was worth it.
 

Yea it was pretty much the same for me; I started with Sen. 555s for video games and used them out of my ipod for random songs. I then got the PFE112s so that was a small step I guess. It wasn't until I got the Triple.Fi 10s that I realized how good music could sound. Sometimes it just hits you how good your music can actually sound. 

 
Quote:

The thing is, for the regulars here on HeadFi, the M50 is actually a "cheap" headphone.
 
I will say that the biggest bang for your buck is here in this price range around $100, where the cans you can get are a huge jump from any stock earbud or headphone you are using now.
 
After you go beyond this mark diminishing returns kicks in and you start needing to spend far more money to get significant improvements. I think most people would be happy with gear around this price range.

 
I agree; you definitely get smaller jumps in sound quality for more money once you past the 150 buck mark. It goes from sheer increases in sound quality to changes in sound signature; preferences in what you want will matter a lot more when you're spending over 250 for a headphone. 
 
Quote:

Do be aware for HD650 and 701 will need to factor in cost of an amp.

x2 here man. I can only speak fo rthe 702s but without an amp, they sound tinny and lifeless. They definitely need an amp to sing; I'm only using an ALO Rx and although it's giving me great results I know they can sound a lot better if they are properly amped. 

 

[Sumbuba]

Depends on what you want to use them for.  For me (your mileage may vary) great speakers always trump great headphones, but there is a time and a place where great headphones are a great thing to have.

 

[Young Spade]

Nice post bf2cheater

 

[VALIENTE]

I started with Grado SR60-the entry way to audiophile world. It costs around $69. Then,I bought the next level headphone AKG K701-costs around $250. I assume the higher you go, the more equipment you need such as big desktop amps, big CD players, big cables, everything BIG even up to headphones like Sennheiser HD800 with a BIG cost too.

 
Prepare your BiG wallet for BIG expensive headphones.

 
As a reminder, buy what you need and be happy.

Like me, I'm happy with the alive and kicking Grado SR60, the soundstage wider maker K701.

. What I need now, is a BIG desktop that could make K701 at its best state.

 
The headphone world is a Life Maker-a Discipline Maker-a Man Maker.

 
Welcome to to the world of headphones!