[accurate_dB]

First as an intro, P90X is a fitness regiment that claims to exploit the physical properties of humans' propensity to adapt to stress. Basically people build muscles by breaking down existing muscle tissues and rebuilding them to become stronger and bigger. The trouble with building large muscles is that the body adapts to stress levels, and routine workouts puts the body in a stagnating condition. Hence the P90X was created.

Well how does this translate into humans hearing perception and somewhat psycho-acoustical properties?
I gather/hypothesize from this that no matter what the quality of the equipment used, eventually the listener will no longer appreciate the improvement in equipment performance because the human ear would tune out the benefits or shall we say adapt to the equipment.
With this understanding one can presume there is no need to upgrade to higher quality equipment because it pointlessly returns the listener to the original state of being. On the other hand, if the listener were to switch between equipment often enough then the difference in quality would be evident and the beneficial difference would be reminded to the listener's satisfaction. Obviously there is the scenario where once you go high end, its difficult to go back to the lower end and be able to tolerate this kind of difference. However if the equipment are in the comparable level playing field and the qualitative attributes are still distinct then I think the listener could benefit by always keeping the ears on its toes so to speak.

So the lesson learn from P90X is to get not just one headphone that is the best the budget allows for, but to get at least a couple in the same performance level to be able to switch between the models to continuously appreciate the qualitative attributes.

Any thoughts...

 

[stewtheking]

Quote:

Originally Posted by accurate_dB /img/forum/go_quote.gif So the lesson learn from P90X is to get not just one headphone that is the best the budget allows for, but to get at least a couple in the same performance level to be able to switch between the models to continuously appreciate the qualitative attributes. Any thoughts...

It's a nice theory. There are also many here who would give you the benefits of having different headphones for different types of music. E.g. Sennheiser for classical Grado for rock, those kind of recommendations. An alternate theory, however, would be to get the best something you can afford, then jut enjoy listening to your music. I mean, it's not as if the music sounds any "worse" over time, it's just not as surprisingly "better".

 

[Gurck]

Just for clarification, this is a well known phenomenon and has been for decades. Weight lifters refer to it as plateauing. P90x is just the first program to incorporate it into a sales pitch. That being said, the program is very good - but that's beside the point. Interesting question.

 

[gorgak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by accurate_dB /img/forum/go_quote.gif So the lesson learn from P90X is to get not just one headphone that is the best the budget allows for, but to get at least a couple in the same performance level to be able to switch between the models to continuously appreciate the qualitative attributes.

Or just keep a pair of crappy headphones around for comparison. It would be, like, temporary muscle atrophy.