What's wrong with me?

[PaulRivers]

I don't think there's anything wrong with you. Your comparison of 192 vs 320 vs Lossless encoding is a good one - the vast majority of people can't hear the difference. Now if you couldn't hear the difference between 64 and 192, that might suggest a problem...

 

[Blackmore]

Maybe you just don't care about how the music sounds. Or you just don’t know how to use the music to help you to enjoy the life. This is sad, especially when you think that you love listen to music with or without using the phones. It seems that you a bit lost in what your preferences are. What you need in the first place is just try concentrate to a music when you listen to one. Because if you use your listening only as a background, then your brain aren't listen at all. And I cant agree with fact that you need to relax and just stay with your cheapies. Because you actually post this thread and your are worry. But also interesting what you been missing, so to speak. And I think that you miss a lot, yeah.
This is what I would do if I were you. When you had a rough day and you are tired just put your phones on and try to listen to some music that you really like. Don't do nothing else, I mean internet or gaming, just you and your favorite music. Just get your hole concentration all together for that particular song / album and try to relax. Don't think about nothing else than trying to take all nuances from the songs that will help you with it. Try some Pink Floyd or Sade. And if this not working, sorry man your are "lost soul". But I think it will work and not only work, maybe you will get your first trill, who knows. And if this work then you can hear the difference, belive me.
Wish you luck

Quote:

Originally Posted by zutme I guess what I expect is that $1000+ headphones sound SIGNIFICANTLY better than my old cheapo Sennheiser 212pro. I mean you all go on and on about this stuff and it seems like theres this whole world out there that I have read a lot about but can't experience. I'm sorry if I'm not clear. edit: I just realized something while thinking about my last post. I already enjoy the music I listen to and don't really know what the quality could be lacking. So maybe this is a case of "If it aint broke don't fix it."

 

[ktm]

There was a test where many listeners were set up to hear the differences between the different bitrates and a standard cd. Everyone could pick out the cd, but few could accurately pick out the higher and lower bitrates.
Many people can't hear a difference with cables.
If you find a set up that sounds good to you and meets your price point, sit back and enjoy. Not everyone wants or needs $2000 cans and amps. There is nothing wrong with you.
I'm sure many people would not share my culinary tastes(or lack of!).
I'm as happy in the cheap BBQ place as many are in good French restaurant.
It doesn't mean I'm a moron or that they are snobs. We just have different tastes and priorities. My tastes in sound are expensive, in food very plain.

 

[mulveling]

For some people getting a "wow" effect from a headphone system is not easy. For others it may not be possible at all. For myself, it was difficult and required a long period of heavy buying & selling (see profile). I really like headphones, more than most, and find most decent heaphone setups at least mildly enjoyable - however the headphone rigs that blow me away are still few and far between. It's not that speakers are much better to me BTW, I have an equally difficult time finding speaker rigs that wow me. I'm just picky, very picky actually and few transducer signatures truly start to get my blood boiling like a live performace does.

Perhaps you're not as picky; you've said you can only tell minute differences between high end gear. Trying tons of new gear at a meet is not the best way to perceive differences. As your ears get tired from all that gear, it will all start to sound more similar. When you use gear at home, over time the differences become much more apparent. It could also be that your ears aren't really sensitive to differences now, but in time they'll become trained to magnify these differences. I know mine are more sensitive now, a few years after I began my audio quest. Then again, for you maybe not. Everyone's different

Looking at the Nashville list you linked to - nice gear there, but I'm fairly certain (based on my experince and owning much of the gear there) none of it really truly "does it" for me. You could be like me and you just haven't found your thing yet, or it could be that no headphone rig will ever fully satify you. Only one way to find out

You also mentioned that you're apt to listen while multitasking. Well, I typically don't multitask while listening. However, when I do that I can still perceive a large difference between high-end gear. While on the computer/internet/reading I don't focus so much on the flaws that typically bother me in, say the RS1's, but I still perfer background listening on the L3000. As for the MP3's, well on my ipod I can't tell any difference between well encoded 192K and higher bit rates, but then I've never really tried to compare MP3s on my main rig (I have yet to compare MP3s to CD on my Meridian).

Well I guess I just rambled on without a point, but hopefully I've given you perspective based on my experience and journey from indifferent consumer to audiophile nut

For me the journey was worth it because I enjoy music so much and I enjoy it more when the reproduction quality is as high as possible.

 

[funkadelic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ktm There was a test where many listeners were set up to hear the differences between the different bitrates and a standard cd. Everyone could pick out the cd, but few could accurately pick out the higher and lower bitrates.

I remember a similar thing being done with wines a few years ago. Telling the difference between cheap wine and expensive was not so hard. Even people who were experts in the wine field became a little lost when asked to distinguish between modestly priced good wine and very expensive wine. Some people could tell the difference, and to them the very expensive wines may be worth the extra money, but that does not mean the people who couldn't tell the difference had anything wrong with them or enjoyed their wine any less.

Simon

 

[Ayreonaut]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zutme I have really tried to achieve that “wow” effect that would really turn me on to audio, but it just never happens for me.

When was the last time you did hear something that made you say "Wow!" Or what was the most amazing thing you ever heard? Have you ever been blown away by a musical experience?

I think that if you can identify what it is that really moves you, you'll be on the right track to reproducing that experience.

 

[penguindude]

I think the most obvious answer is problem with the source. Regardless of how much money you spend on headphones, if the music/source you're listening to isnt recorded with matching high-end equipment, the difference in result quality is still very minimal. Say if the mic of the recording artist doesnt have the ability to capture "crystal clear" sound, then even the best headphones out there wont be able to reproduce the music "crystal clearly." Nonetheless, there is difference between a $20 headphones and a $200 one, but often very much depends on the sound source.

 

[Ayreonaut]

dp

 

[lmilhan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zutme edit: I just realized something while thinking about my last post. I already enjoy the music I listen to and don't really know what the quality could be lacking. So maybe this is a case of "If it aint broke don't fix it."

Couldn't have said it better myself.

We all have unique ears and we all perceieve sound in different ways. More power to you if you can't hear the difference. It will save you LOTS of money!

Stick with what you got and be happy.

 

[zutme]

Thanks to everyone who replied. I really appreciate your advice. I will update this thread again after I spend some more time trying to figure out what I'm looking for.

 

[Cyrilix]

For me, it took me 11 months to get to this point, and I still consider myself only an audiophile-in-training. It's just that as time passes, you notice things here and there and you develop knowledge through experience. So far, it's been a pretty linear learning experience, but my DT880s have helped me pick out a lot of the different things that I enjoy more and enjoy less with my headphones.

 

[mysticaldodo]

Perhaps you're a speaker guy?

You enjoy the music when you listen to the music, not the gear.

 

[afireinside]

I'm a computer freak/gamer as well. As someone said, different people have different hobbies. 99.9% of the world would think I'm insane for buying a 150 dollar keyboard and mouse combo to have an edge in a game or a 550 dollar refrigeration cooler for my computer to have a higher benchmark score. But to me it's worth it 110%. Maybe audio just isn't for you or you haven't spent enough time with it.

One thing I find is, it is much easier to tell a difference when you go back to your old stuff. If you get some new cans that don't sound like "WOW", try listening for a week then going back to your previous ones and see if you can hear a difference

 

[zutme]

I have a/b tested my old senns vs. my grado 325i and I agree there is a difference in the sound that was not so obvious when I first bought the grados. I appreciate the sq of my grados over the $40 Senn 212 pro and I always have.

One more thing while I'm posting. At the Nashville meet my favorite setup was a vinyl rig that NightWoundsTime brought (MPX3, Cyrus CD, and Denon Turntable, HD-650).

I really think that I prefer Sennheiser sound in general over Grado. Even music that most would say are Grado's strong suit.
There will be another meet in Nashville soon that I may be attending to help resolve my "problem." Thanks again for all of your input.

 

[steve23063]

I felt (and still slightly feel) exactly the same way you do right now! I auditioned the HD650 last year and tried so hard to hear a difference between it and my audio technica A700s and I just couldn't do it. As a result I stopped visiting this forum for a while because I thought everyone was full of crap with this stuff (ie that they could tell a difference between $1000 cans and $500 ones, between different amps etc).

However, I starting thinking it over again when I listening to my headphones one day and I realized that that's not the issue at all. It's all about personal preference. When you pay money for a "better" product than what you currently own the difference might be really small but depending on your interests in life it might make you really happy. As an example think about this a little (this is all regarding computers):

- people spend hundreds on cooling setups to squeeze out the final extra 50MHz out of the cpu or some extra out of the graphics card
- spend hours getting memory timing as tight as possible like from 4-4-4-5 to 3-4-3-5...or just buy really expensive RAM which in the real world does hardly anything
- spend a lot of money on case mods and fans
- rearranging/tying wires to get better airflow
- spending hours on end trying to decrease system boot up time by a few seconds

All of the above are things that computer hobbyists might do. You might see some noticeable improvement in the beginning when it's cheap (like the first time you upgrade your cpu fan and overclock) but as you progress it costs more an more money and the improvements diminish. But some people really enjoy doing these things. They love tweaking and getting that last bit of performance. All this stuff regarding computers is analogous to what makes an audiophile an audiophile.

I just stopped caring that I couldn't tell the difference really high end headphones and something like a $200 pair. You can find people out there that say they don't hear an appreciable difference between cheap $10 headphones that come with mp3 players and $200 ones, but in this case I'm sure that YOU would be able to hear a big difference. In such a case, those people that can't appreciate the difference would be the "newb" and you would be like a hardcore audiophile. It's all relative.


- - - - - - - - - -
This last section might be incoherent because I'm dead tired:

All that being said, I don't think you should just give up the first time you try on headphones and don't hear and improvements. The hardcore computer hobbyists developed an interest in overclocking or whatnot over time. In the same way, there's nothing stopping you from developing an interest in headphone audio quality.
Sit down with a really cheap pair of cans and the most expensive you can get your hands on. Focus on what you hear to be different and why. Listen to the music in different ways. Switch from focusing in on vocals, to individual instruments, to the overall presentation etc. Now compare a slightly more expensive pair of cans to the high end one and repeat. If after doing this numerous times (hmm..maybe a couple times a week for a couple weeks) you still just don't care then screw it! Stick with whatever pair you like and forget spending hundreds of dollars on headphones and amps. That's you and you can't do anything about it.


oh ya, I just ordered the beyerdynamic dt880s which cost twice as much as my current headphones...hopefully I will be able to hear a difference