$2,000 Headphones...Yay or Nay?

Delmrus said:
My dad was a taper for the Grateful Dead and was even a soundboard guy for awhile, and i will tell you that so many people overpay for audio equipment. You would see these guys who have never taped using $8000 mics and they were dumbfounded when their recordings would come out like shit. My dad mainly uses Sennheiser 421's (the MKII version), but uses other mics depending where the show is, how far away he is, etc.

Anyways, he obviously owned a lot of pairs of headphones since he was a taper and his favorite and my favorite were the Sony MDR-V6's. They made several new versions of that headphone that are good as well and you can find them new for about $150-$160 on eBay or around $100 used. They are a great deal and tons of audio professionals and sound engineers use them. The Howard Stern show has like 6+ pairs and Howard himself still uses them. I've seen many musicians use them as well, so if they are good enough for them then i think they are good enough for me.

Same with speakers. Yes, you can go and spend thousands on them, but you get diminishing returns. I have speakers that cost more (polks, yamahas, JBL's) but for example my 16 year old Sony floorstanders i think sound almost as good and they cost like $200 for the pair.
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I wouldn't use expensive cans for tracking or remote recording, either. For personal listening, though...
 
Bought a pair of 100.00 JBLs, sound about 2% better than the stock iPhone phones. I only use headphones in the gym anyway, so no I won't be buying any super expensive ones
 
I am not an audio professional, so NAY. I do have a $300 pair of noise cancelling over-ears, but I really only use those on airplanes.
 
Dang!!! For 500$ you can get some custom in ears that sound way better than that.
 
WorldofWarcraft said:
Sennheiser Orpheus = 25 grand

sennheiser-orpheus-he-90.jpg
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You mean.. 25 GRAND!!!


@TruthBeTold @Graverobber @TeTe
 
Not sure if anyone has brought this up; but you'll need a very high-quality amp and source setup to get anything out of a pair of LCDs. What is your listening device? Audeze makes a lower-cost unit with a lightning port and built-in DAC designed specifically for Apple products called the EL-8. You won't get any better sound out of a portable device.
 
jmac98 said:
Rube Goldberging a product doesn't justify that much of a spike in price when at it's core it still does the same thing as what I posted and nothing further.

$300 seems quite pricey as well, but it's understandable I suppose if you're into the electronics, and there can undoubtedly be cases made to properly justify the differences between a $20 pair and a $300 pair. But I don't believe your $300 pair and this $2000 pair are far off in terms of its sound, and if so, not 7x better. I doubt anyone could tell the difference in sound to be honest. Possibly they could rig a scientific experiment to prove/backup the claims the $2000 pair would be better, but it's not the experiment that puts them on, it's the person.

I would assume anyone wearing $2000 headphones also owns a $120 white t-shirt.

This is simply my perception of the matter. I'm not into electronics so am far from knowledgable on the topic. That said, I assure you I'll never be persuaded that $2000 headphones are justified. I'd never own a $300 pair either, however, I do understand and appreciate the market for those.
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Those hard plastic headphones suck. They hurt the ears and fall out all the time. I like ones that you can replace the bud with the soft foamy pad. You can buy an inexpensive pair for around 60 bucks. I can tell the difference between a 20 dollar pair of headphones and some that cost around 100 dollars. After that I don't think anyone can tell. Maybe you can if you have the highest end equipment but who knows.
 
Over a certain price the gains are tiny,I think anything over 300 is wasted because you start having to pair them with Amps and shit.
 
If you're an elitist "audiophile" douche who has money to burn, then yeah.
 
$20 Skullcandy IEB's do me just fine.
 
Can you really hear the difference between a $200 and $2000 headphones?
 
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