[stephancho]

What headphone is the "sweet spot" for you in the balance between audio quality and price? 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I'll start.
My sweet spot would be the Shure SE215 for $100. It's very good at a price that suits my wallet.

 

[tdockweiler]

For me it's the $190 AKG K601... a $190 headphone shouldn't sound this good!
 
For a headphone that's this cheap, they're usually made of cheap plastic, but the K601 is very well built for the price.
 
I think it could be that companies are just trying to offload them since they're probably not very popular or sell very well.
 
 

 

[Vidar1979]

I would say that my AKG K701 which costs about 300 USD in Norway is my headphones who balances best price/quality.

 

[Happy Camper]

The new orthos.

 

[zmd]

I paid almost $200 for my HD25s and honestly feel I don't need other/better headphones. They do everything right and will last me a long, long time, as they're very tough and I love their sound. I'm not prepared to shell out 300-400 bucks for something minimally better.

 

[Ultrazino]

The presentation with the HJE900 would have been worth 200 € for me, however, I imported them for 90 €.
I will definitely buy an additional pair (Asian version) next time I go to China for backup. I'm not a big IEM fan, thus I don't see me trying out a new IEM ever again. I'm pretty sure that would be my sweet spot!
 
The only other headphone I could imagine loving just as much would be the T1. What I heard in one week seemed absolutely priceless. I'm still saving, though...

 

[WarriorAnt]

The LCD-2

 

[nikongod]

HD800

 

[Uncle Erik]

I'll also go with the HD-800, though I think Sennheiser should get the price closer to $1,000 USD.

 

[Vidar1979]

Quote:

The presentation with the HJE900 would have been worth 200 € for me, however, I imported them for 90 €.
I will definitely buy an additional pair (Asian version) next time I go to China for backup. I'm not a big IEM fan, thus I don't see me trying out a new IEM ever again. I'm pretty sure that would be my sweet spot!
 
The only other headphone I could imagine loving just as much would be the T1. What I heard in one week seemed absolutely priceless. I'm still saving, though...

It's easy to love the T1,  build and sound quality is sky high.
 
 

 

[Digital-Pride]

Hmm, to the members suggesting the HD800, are you sure the Sennheisers represent the best combination of performance and value?  Considering the amount needed to invest in a reference quality DAC and amp that would bring out the full sonic potential of the HD 800, I'm not sure I can agree on the value part of the equation.

 

[nikongod]

Value is an interesting thing...
 
To own a pair of (insert whatever here) at a ~200 price point you will spend 10% of the headphone shipping it here and there & in paypal fees. Thats assuming it stays in fashion as long as you own it. Headphones do go out of style, which happens VERY abruptly with less expensive headphones - generally as soon as a newer model comes out, and good luck unloading it after that. I prefer cashing out-of-fashion headphones in for Karma points by giving them to friends who are down on their luck.
 
The same thing happens with more expensive headphones too but at a slower pace. Even that is conditional on the introduction of a true replacement - see K1000, He90, HE60, Omega2 variants, and a few others for examples of what happens when a replacement does not come out. Anyways, if you bought the HD800 (or most other more expensive headphones if *YOU* prefer something else) used after shopping around for a while & getting a feel for a fair price you should have no problem getting out from under them before you have lost much money. Wow, not much to own something very nice... I gotta say, none of the ~$1000 will win the contest for "best" - Quite a few older headphones outclass them in various ways but then they cost 4 to 20 times as much money which is getting kind of absurd.
 
I know, you were refering to how close the HD580 (which sell for very little today, despite sounding GREAT) sound to the Hd800 despite the 7x difference in price... Look at it from a different angle. If you can afford to tie the money up for a while & plan carefully it does not really cost much to own something which is much nicer. 
 

 
 

 
On the note of needing more better DAC & AMP:
IME "not as nice headphones" benefit from better associated equipment just as well as more expensive, its just that nobody bothers trying. Considering the differences to be found in a better headphone VS a DAC or amp upgrade I'd get the better headphone. DAC and amp changes are generally subtle unless you make a HUGE change (Tube NOS DAC VS all SS oversampling for example). Headphone changes are seldom subtle. As an added bonus, the same techniques of buying and selling carefully apply to nicer DAC's and amps! In the case of source components you actually have a strong advantage because you can buy and sell with speaker-people as well as headphone people.