Delightfully Disappointed by Famous $2k Headphones

[fattymeatysardine]

I am an audiophile; I care about my audio during music listening sessions.

Yesterday I got to visit the B&H superstore in New York City. There was a headphone demo station free to use. I brought my DAC/AMP combo for consistent comparisons.
I tried the well respected $2,000 HD800s and HD820c. My favorite genres are classical and new age, and these headphones are touted as masters for classical music and such. Surely I was in for an unbelievable listening experience.

However, I found the headphones to have no more clarity than my $600 Arya Stealth and more unnatural than the $300 HD600s. I already knew my current headphones were great but I didn't expect such a little difference. Makes me happy that I'm not missing out on much when it comes to high end headphones.

 

[velociraptor]

That's a pleasant surprise. I've got some Chinese headphones whose name escapes me, but they sound so much better than those horrible BEATS headphones.

 

[fattymeatysardine]

That's a pleasant surprise. I've got some Chinese headphones whose name escapes me, but they sound so much better than those horrible BEATS headphones.

I'm sure Beats are better than they used to be. I can't hear for myself because all of the headphone demos at the big box stores like Best Buy have the noise cancelling features turned on.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

From an audiologist's perspective, everyone's frequency perception is different... what you may think is loud might be "background" noise to someone else. As you point out, if your goal is the best sound experience, it is best to be able to try multiple different speakers and headphones. You might not be able to rely upon ratings.

 

[Dagan]

Sony MDR-7506 are the best that I have ever tried, but that's if you are after what's called, "flat response." More for mixing / mastering music in the most accurate way.

If it's only about listening pleasure, I've actually come across a low cost Guitar Center brand that surprised me, being the Sterling 402.

 

[Misery]

There are headphones that cost $2000?!??

But... why? Like seriously, why?

I have ones that cost like 300, and a lot of that was just comfort + noise cancelling (mostly meant for when I'm on a plane). The actual sound is like... I mean the music sounds like music, I'm not sure what in the world else it would do.

Now granted I'm also very much the sort to be like "eh, good enough" with a lot of things, you should see what my PC speakers are like. They're old, dont think they work quite right, and the right one is on my left and the left one is like... behind the monitor somewhere, I think it's facing the wall. I keep forgetting there is a second one so it just stays there.

But still, 2000 seems like an extreme amount for headphones.

I feel like I'm missing something here.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

I'm not a audiophile, just have good ears part of being on the spectrum, waiting for next week wife and I bought a good friend a new surround sound system for her 65 birthday 2 days after our 45 wedding anniversary she was one of my wife's brides maids, had a rough life, always tend to put herself second. She did not realize the small speaker with her huge TV is not meant to be primary sound source.

 

[fattymeatysardine]

There are headphones that cost $2000?!??

But... why? Like seriously, why?

With audiophilia there's a constant desire to want more from music. The audiophile isn't happy until they finally reach their "end game," or perfect setup. These are the people willing to pay $2000 for headphones.
Luckily, I found my end game for $600 thanks to some price drops. My wallet is now safe.

But as @Neonatal RRT said, everyone perceives sound differently. The frequency response of my $20 KSC75 sounds better to me than the $2000 headphones. In fact, the KSC75 are some of my favorite headphones ever; their frequency response is great to my ears and work fantastic for gaming. I use them the most.

People tend to forget that the best headphones for them just need a frequency response that matches their ears, not a high end Sennheiser with 5% more clarity than something 75% cheaper.

 

[Dagan]

All true. For other example: A lot of folks swear by open back headphones, but I personally can't stand them. It sounds so wrong to me. I can't get anything done using those.

 

[Misery]

What is "frequency response"?

I tried looking that up, mostly just found more confusion.

 

[Judge]

Frankly my $159 ATH M50X headphones seem to work fine for my $159 ears.

I tend to use them primarily to monitor converting audio sources to MP3. And to occasionally listen to music at a much higher volume than my landlord or neighbors would tolerate.

https://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technica-ATH-M50x-Professional-Monitor-Headphones/dp/B00HVLUR86

 

[Grondhammar]

Sony MDR-7506s here. I have a pair that's 14 years old, have had to replace the wiring twice and the pads five times. I've tried much more expensive headphones but nothing comes close in comparison (according to my silly ears) (edit: though I just noticed Dagan is with me on this one, yay!)

 

[Grondhammar]

What is "frequency response"?

I tried looking that up, mostly just found more confusion.

Lots of math can get involved, but basically it means "how well the device outputs what it gets".

For example, if some music has a lot of high notes (high frequencies), a quality sound system (headphone) will output those tones without any dips (or hills).

Same with low tones (low frequencies)... if the music has some really intense bass and the sound system (headphone) isn't physically capable of creating sounds that low, the headphone's frequency response will be referred to as "lacking low frequencies" or some such description.

English isn't set up to describe this well, so you'll hear descriptions of speakers/headphones like "tinny", "soggy in the mids", "bass-heavy"... that sort of thing.

 

[Dagan]

The above says it well, so all I can think is to add similar thoughts / analogy.

Maybe this: Flat response is supposed to mean that what I'm hearing in the headphones is exactly what the music levels are because that set of headphones' speakers don't add more low end, don't add more punch in the mids, don't add more screeching high end.

The problem still ends up that all speakers change how we hear things. There's a whole movement of folks finally proving this and making it known online, too. For the longest time, the audio / music industry sold us pixie dust or magic bits of tech or even tone woods and claiming that it was what changed sound so much and made it better. Nope. It's the speaker quality. It always has been. Yes, some things can tweak and add to it, still, but nothing affects what you hear more than the speakers the sound is coming from.