10 or so years ago I read an article that once you get past $100, you start getting diminishing returns on quality. I’m sure that number has gone up tho.
It’s also worth remembering that there’s nothing headphones can do to improve the audio that you put into them, they can only avoid making it worse. If you’re using super fancy headphones, give them good quality audio to work with
A decade ago, I was working in a big tech office with plenty of headphone enthusiasts. Open-backed cans from like Sennheiser were the expensive gold standard. They sound fine, though since open-back headphones are just head mounted speakers that everyone around you can hear, not especially great for the office.
My $150 (at the time) VModa headphones sounded just as good to my ears, I preferred that they were tuned for more bass, and they had Bluetooth as an option when I just needed to hear things and wasn’t worried about quality. The Bluetooth battery gave out years ago, and I’ve had to replace the foam ear cups, but the headphones still work fine.
I’m sure they’re all much more expensive and worse quality now, but yes, generally audio equipment is overpriced to scam people because it’s harder to discern quality in audio. Cheaper headphones paired with a cheap headphone amplifier will sound better to most people than spending twice the combined amount on expensive headphones.
yeah, i just grabbed the cheapest cans that are comfortable with my glasses and called it good. i don’t need to be dropping $400 on a new set of headphones every five or six years (i am rough on mine), i can be happier spending $40 or 50 and replacing the cord every year for a decade
![[multiple] Steal his look.](https://lemmy.zip/api/v3/image_proxy?url=https%3A%2F%2Flemmy.world%2Fpictrs%2Fimage%2F49248960-759f-4b6b-8289-b9a8ea514a1c.png){kind=link}
I’m just curious now what $1200 headphones sound like.
10 or so years ago I read an article that once you get past $100, you start getting diminishing returns on quality. I’m sure that number has gone up tho.
It’s also worth remembering that there’s nothing headphones can do to improve the audio that you put into them, they can only avoid making it worse. If you’re using super fancy headphones, give them good quality audio to work with
Like $250 headphones.
A decade ago, I was working in a big tech office with plenty of headphone enthusiasts. Open-backed cans from like Sennheiser were the expensive gold standard. They sound fine, though since open-back headphones are just head mounted speakers that everyone around you can hear, not especially great for the office.
My $150 (at the time) VModa headphones sounded just as good to my ears, I preferred that they were tuned for more bass, and they had Bluetooth as an option when I just needed to hear things and wasn’t worried about quality. The Bluetooth battery gave out years ago, and I’ve had to replace the foam ear cups, but the headphones still work fine.
I’m sure they’re all much more expensive and worse quality now, but yes, generally audio equipment is overpriced to scam people because it’s harder to discern quality in audio. Cheaper headphones paired with a cheap headphone amplifier will sound better to most people than spending twice the combined amount on expensive headphones.
yeah, i just grabbed the cheapest cans that are comfortable with my glasses and called it good. i don’t need to be dropping $400 on a new set of headphones every five or six years (i am rough on mine), i can be happier spending $40 or 50 and replacing the cord every year for a decade