[astroid]

I have a friend who is willing to spend a fortune on his seeing 'sense' , 50 inch LCD , blu ray etc.
When i let him hear my Grado SR80i or HD595s he doesnt hear any difference between them and his ipod buds.
I try to get him to listen but no he doesnt think there is any reason to spend on headphones.
Why do these people put no value on this sense, it is annoying, thank god my wife has good ears!

 

[MaZa]

They dont listen how the song sounds like or how it is reproduced, they just hear the song itself on its core. This is sort of blessing I guess, being able to listen and like a song even if it comes through some small speaker on their mobile phone or something.

 

[moogoob]

I put a great deal of importance on both sight and hearing - I don't need glasses, am a graphic designer (used to looking at things critically) and I'm on Head-Fi (sorry about my wallet) so I'm used to listening to music through good cans. I'm not picky though - I'll watch a movie using my built-in speakers.

Touch my screen's RGB profile and die, however.

 

[FraGGleR]

Hmm, I wonder if his seeing sense is really that developed or if he puts his money into the fancy HDTV stuff because it is a more popular way to show off? I place great value in quality no matter where it comes from, and need to have all my senses taken care of. I cannot understand someone who is truly passionate about vision not having the ability or concern to tell the difference between ibuds (shudder) and even a low end pair of Shures. My Dad swore he couldn't tell the difference or care until I showed him. Now he definitely can appreciate the differences. He isn't ready to spend money on better headphones or speakers, but he acknowledges my diseas.. er passion now.

 

[mistyfud]

It's all relative, IMO.
I have buddies who are used to their ipod buds. When they heard something cheap like Skullcandys, they were blown away (I know, right). When I let them try my Grados, they thought I was crazy for spending over $50 for them.
I think most people can hear the difference, they just don't care enough to justify the price.

 

[ChopTart]

Agreed, mistyfud.

It's whatever you want to pursue, I suppose. For me it's more about audio since I spend more time listening and care more about that, but I'd also wager that marketing tends to favor the visual upgrades a little more (i.e. every time a new HD format comes out, it's advertised as the greatest thing). I have a lot of friends that don't hear and don't care and are just as happy on their little buds as I am on my cans

 

[Mink]

If I only would have liked pop and rock I wouldn't have cared much about really good sound, the melody, energy and emotion is enough for me to enjoy.

It is my taste for classical music, in which esthetics, tonal beauty are an important ingredient.
With classical music the emotion isn't centered in a 3 minute song, but spread out in time with many subtleties, tonal variations.
Classical is the only music I am able to enjoy for good sound only.
I am not a real audiophile I guess.

 

[parrot5]

To the OP: On the contrary, I spend for audio but don't really care about the video... LOL. For a few months I was playing console games on an old TV that turns mono-color after half an hour. I guess the video geeks don't understand us too.

 

[grawk]

It's better for the individual for happiness to be easily attained. It's better for society for people to have high standards, to push for continual improvements

 

[Steely Dan]

Funny you should mention this. I have one friend who is actually a guitarist, and a good one too, and someone who's spent well over $1000 on a Gibson SG. However as far as I can tell he has almost no ability to differentiate between different levels of audio quality. I remember when I first started buying Grados, he thought I was crazy for spending lots of money on headphones when "$15 ones sound fine". I even let him listen to my SR325is, and while he agreed they sounded good, he still didn't see why I would spend so much. Eventually I did get him to buy PX100s though, along with most of my other friends who were into music. Sometimes I feel like other people must not really be hearing the music they listen to, or just aren't that interested in the details. Not long ago he also asked me whether a band I had put on was singing in english or not. I also know a drummer who listens to nothing but Skull Candy.

It's just surprising and kind of confusing to me, when I can easily hear the difference between pretty much any two pairs of headphones I put on, and actual musicians don't seem to notice or care about the difference. Sure everyone can enjoy things in their own way... but still very odd.

 

[MaZa]

Quote:

It's just surprising and kind of confusing to me, when I can easily hear the difference between pretty much any two pairs of headphones I put on

Or perhaps... *gasp* we are all crazy and actually there is no difference and we are all victims of placebo and snakeoil?

 

[Sherwood]

I know a whole thread full of head-fi'ers, none of which even own a pair of K1000s. Can they not hear the difference between their cans and the K1Ks, or do they just not care? They keep saying "Those are nice, but I don't want to spend 5 times what I already spent to get better sound".

 

[bdr529]

I dont think they would deny them sounding different, but justifying the cost to have them sound different.

This is an expensive hobby and some people just don't care that much about headphones sounding better.

 

[oqvist]

There is several ways of watching movies just like there is several ways of listening to headphones. Some may go into movies analytically with wannabe directors dreams. Then you do want it reference. Others are more looking for a good story characters... Any old tv will do the trick.

Same with sound if you just want to listen to music you don´t need to pay 1000$ dollars to get something that is 3 % more accurate. Have like half a metre wider perceived soundstage or something.

Though for myself sound is more important generally for movies but that is my bias I suppose. I am still fine with my 32" HD ready LCD TV... It was reference when I bought it 3 years ago. For being a LCD that is of course but I still don´t have a real itch to upgrade.

 

[kmhaynes]

I think there is a physiological issue here. Some people's brains are just not tuned to "hear" sonic ranges, or at least appreciate it. Thankfully, I'm not one of those, but my wife is. She can barely hear the difference between AM radio and my MS-1i -- and when she CAN hear the difference, it doesn't make a big difference to her -- either is OK to her. The sonic differences make no emotional connection in her brain, whereas I absolutely do make an emotional connection with sounds, music, etc. I think that is why some people don't seem to "care."