[Chron Article] Music fans, do you think high end headphones worth it?

I answered via email.

I also have a pair of Audio-Technica. They are my cheaper cans for more general and non-music listening (if I want do watch something late without disturbing the fam) due to their large soundstage imaging.

And, yes, producers are ruining music and probably causing long-term hearing damage.

My AKG K702s are my favorite, but my Yuin earbuds get a lot of use with travel and such. Even my A-T's (generally more forgiving) suffer some from being driven by portables without amplification.

 

Pretty pointless to spend hundreds of dollars on a good set and then listen to a lossy format like mp3 or stream. A few years back I bought the Shure E4C for $200 and then listened to some of my mp3-encoded music and oh god it sounded like ****.

 

Absolutely.

It's surprising, given how many people on this forum love music and movies, that people don't buy higher quality audio gear. Mainstream consumers focus too much on displays but not the sound.

If you spend about $1000, you can get very high quality headphones along with a DAC and an amplifier. That's a much better price:sound ratio than speakers too.

But, Beats are not high-end. In fact the cans mentioned in the article are not good value headphones either. Instead, check out the AT M50s, AT AD700s, Senn HD 280s, and Grado SR80s since these are all great headphones under $150.

 

Don't compare headphones to speakers. No matter how much you spend you will never get the same experience.

 

Has no one mentioned that too much bass is in fact bad for your ears? I predict people will be suing Beats soon.

 

I just got a pair of Klipsch S4's for Christmas. Big improvement over the apple earbuds.

 

i have the previous version of the v-modas, bought just before christmas when AMZ had a deal for $79. so far, i like them a lot.

sidebar: i know steve, worked with him in the mid-90s for a spell. good guy, with excellent ears.

 

btw, here's a good article/review on the celebrity headphone phenomena:

http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/celebrity-headphone-deathmatch

 

Sounds like I would enjoy the V-80's. That's cool that you know Guttenburg. He one of the columnists that cover sound equipment that I enjoy reading. -

 

Bose QC-15 on planes. I like them.

 

This, drives me crazy that folks will spend all this $$ on a nice pair of phones but listen to Mp3's, a total waste!

 

I had to downgrade from Shure SE530 (retail 400 paid 280)-I accidentally ran over them with my chair-to SkullCandy Titans (40), the best is I can say is the Titans are "adequate".

 

If you aren't an audio engineer, and most people are not, you won't even be able to tell the difference. The majority of people will be listening to compressed mp3s anyway which sounds like crap compared to CDs ir the original file. Again, most people won't be able to tell the difference.

 

The noise cancellation of good noise canceling headphones can be very valuable when there is a lot of noise around.

 

disagree- most people can easily tell the difference. however, may people may not care about said difference, or not think the difference is worth spending more for. this a value judgement however, and not the same thing as being able to discern a difference.

 

Don't get beats.
Sony has great professional/studio headphones that are better than beats and cheaper too.

 

I got some v-moda crossfades when they were on sale for 80 bucks, and they are awesome.

I never really cared for over/around the ear headphones before, but there is a difference in sound between the earbuds and my v-moda's. Sound is clearer at higher volumes, more bass, richer sound.

 

To each his own. It's not a 1:1 comparison, you're right. But soundstage and bass you can feel in your abdomen are one of many qualities that create a musical experience for me. And so for me, I can compare the experience of loudspeakers to headphones.

 

In his defense, most people I give demos of my gear to me cannot perceive much difference - if any - between FLAC and well made 320 kbps VBR mp3. Law of diminishing returns, of course.

 

Soundstage and bass you can feel are much greater with real speakers so I am not sure what side of the argument you are on now.