Been in this hobby for a fairly long time. During this, the price of flagship headphones has risen by a lot. I’ve owned a number of high end headphones over the years. The one thing they seem to have in common is they seem to provide hyper detail. However, many of them are not all that balanced sounding. So, would sell one and move on to the next one for audition.
About a year ago, finally decided to try the Sennheiser HD 650. Wow! What a revelation. Also stumbled onto Sonarworks EQ software for headphones. Between the HD 650 and the Sonarworks software, the overall sound was more enjoyable than the previous high end offerings from the past. Since then, picked up the other Sonarworks highly recommended Sennheiser headphones.
Danny Richie had recommended to me to try the Verum 2. Danny runs a successful speaker business, and has excellent listening skills. His recommendation regarding the Verum 2 was spot on. IMHO, it more than hold it’s own against planar headphones costing far more.
As I continue to progress and learn more about this hobby, came to realize price alone does not necessarily mean the results are worth the higher price tag when it comes to headphones.
This much is, I think, accepted as fact in this forum. However it is not equivalent to “Are ultra expensive Headphones worth the $$$?” The answer to that question is up to the individual.
My experience is that the right expensive headphone with EQ is still a better sounding experience than an inexpensive headphone with EQ. BUT I already own a few expensive headphones so what would be the point in buying an inexpensive headphone and spending the time to properly EQ it? Therefore I am unsure that this is still true.
The only reliable metric I have found so far for how well a headphone can be EQ’d is how well the headphone in question already conforms to my desired target without EQ. And given the variation in individual HpTF, the only reliable way to determine that is by listening to it. So essentially I’m back to judging headphones purely subjectively by listening to them, deciding which one sounds the best to me, and then EQing it to further improve the sound. Of course I also take into consideration the headphone’s FR measurements, comfort level, and yes - price.
That’s fair. I didn’t mean to imply that spending more $$$ is a bad thing. The beauty is truly in the eye (on in this case, the ears) of the beholder. The two expensive headphones in my current inventory are both closed back, as it’s really difficult to get a closed back that sounds good for extended listening. EQ for the HD 820 is a must for balanced playback. Luckily, have found convolution EQ settings that transforms the HD 820 into an amazing headphone.
The Verum 2 is what made me re-think this. By current price standards, it’s a mid priced unit that betters many other planar headphones at much higher prices. It doesn’t need EQ to sound good with most music either, which is a bonus. There are so many choices out there, it makes one wonder if there are other unreported gems out there?
With the qualification that I’ve never held in my hands, let alone put on my head, any headphone that costs more than 5 grand – and it beats me whether that’s over or under the threshold for “ultra expensive” – my answer is, honestly, “Probably not.” And I say that as someone who quite likes some very (again, perhaps not quite “ultra”) expensive headphones. But what you can get for $400-$800 is so good now that if there were nothing else, I doubt I’d miss much, if anything.
This is all entirely subjective, of course. There are some very nice designs among the more expensive offerings too, which isn’t irrelevant.
No need to spend much money. I’m going to ask for an EQ profile to make my PortaPros sound just like the ShangriLa. Good thing that DACs and AMPs don’t matter either. Unless you need to do your EQ in the DAC.
I don’t own any ultra expensive headphones, so I guess that puts me in the no column.
If you’re asking whether an expensive headphone can sound better than inexpensive headphones though, then I think the answer might be yes. There are probably also expensive headphones that sound worse than some inexpensive headphones too.
I also think there’a a bit more to sound quality than just what can be seen on an FR graph fwtw.
I personally don’t know why it would be worth buying a pair of extremely expensive headphones, well at least that isn’t what I did. Instead, I bought many mid-fi products and some knocking on hi-fi’s door. To me being able to experience all of the different things that various headphones can provide is what I wanted. If I could ship everything I’ve purchased back, I could have one set of top-notch hi-fi gear, but how would I have known what to look for? I learned that difficult to drive headphones really tickle my pickle. Maybe the difficult to drive is because I’m more likely to turn it up, or hearing them underpowered then properly powered gives them a shine they didn’t have before. But the bass reproduction of the T50RP on zmf pads is golden. The DT-880-600 on a powerful class A amp is like a concert. Both of them offer something that NONE of my other headphones can, even when I turn them up just as loud. Also, I’m fond of tubes, because I like something that just messes with the sound. I don’t like neutral, I like different. If it’s enjoyable I don’t care how it happens.
I don’t have my Tungsten yet but I used my experiences the past 5 years to figure out what I want. Hard to drive headphones with it’s own dac and tube amp. I should have them within a few month’s, so maybe I should learn to EQ now so I’m ready for them and also because I want something to keep me busy that doesn’t cost money.
I’ve recently found that once you get a certain level of sound quality, the fitment and comfort with reliability is equally as important. What good are headphones that sound amazing but creak and pop or even when they break. My two most comfortable headphones are the ones I wear the most, and I have stopped listening to the rest of them.
I did once have the honour of trying the Sennheiser HE1 at the South African agents store, just before they shipped them back to Germany. Yes they were stunning but they ought to be .
In the same sitting I tried my 10 yr old HD800, a new pair of HD800s and HD820 with the HDV820 amp
My reaction was that there was little between the 3, not too sure about the 820 closed back .The HE1 beat them obviously. BUT I was 73 at time so my Golden Ears are long gone.
I don’t have super expensive, (Focal Clear Mg & HiFiMan Arya Stealth) and I have lately been playing with EQ via Roon’s OPRA I need to persevere with EQ I think, its dead easy via Roon
The bottom line is that the variability of SQ of what we listen is driven more by the original recording quality . @Klute ‘s comment is correct comfort comes first especially if you spend long hours listening (I am 100% headphone, no speakers at all)
For my business I’ve had everything from the $8 Yincrow X6 to the $8,000 Hifiman Susvara Unveiled. There’s a wall of diminishing returns at different price points. The sweet spot is the headphones which double in value when you equalize them. At $400 that’s about as good as you’ll get before the price doubles for a 10% increase in technical ability or more expensive materials.
I’m currently using a Hifiman HE-560 which I got refurbished with warranty from Hifiman. I loaded the Autoeq neutral profile for them and really happy. They originally sold for $899 and I got this pair for $147. I have the HE6SE too, which cost twice as much and feel double the weight. Just an example of prices and value for money being all over the map with audio gear.
The IEMs that made me sell all my others are the Truthear Gate, which like the HE-560 has really low distortion for $18 on Amazon. The value for money winners are out there.
I currently have a threshold of $1500 USD for buying headphones although I occasionally go over that price. The problem is we all have different ears. So many online reviewers swear that the SJY Horizon Closed Carbons are epic. After my testing, I’m not satisfied. I see the same high marks for the DCA Noire X but once again to my ears I was not satisfied. It makes you hesitant to keep experimenting and yet I still want to try the Mod House Tungsten.
Before you try the Tungsten, suggest you look at the Verum 2. At 500.00 for the kit version, it’s a awesome headphone. Sports a 105mm mylar driver with silver foil and 44 magnet drivers. Check the reviews on them.
Closed backs are typically much more sensitive to our individual anatomy/HpTF than open backs. I bought the DCA Aeon 2 Noire based on the reviews and never could get it to where I like it at all, even with EQ. Since then I’ve sworn off closed backs unless I have heard them myself. I’m currently happy with my ZMF Bokeh closed after trying them at a CanJam.
Difficult, but not impossible. I’ve had some success using convolution EQ settings for the Sennheiser HD 820. There are times using a closed back is necessary.
Agreed. There are headphones out there that I would probably deem far better than average/extraordinary that I will never consider as candidates to add to my collection (of 15), simply because 1) they use cable connections that are unique or rarely used (Hello, Sennheiser) or 2) they don’t appeal to me visually. Call me shallow.
I think the problem with the question is that it requires a valuation not only of what the headphone is worth to the individual, but also what the $$$ are worth to the individual. The first part of that is tricky enough not least because it depends on precisely what it is about the headphone that the individual values, and that is specific to the individual. For instance, some headphones are just too heavy for me given my age/health etc and so oter factors, like sound quality, don’t matter, and nor does the price, whether $50,000 or $5. If I can’t wear them without giving myself a raging headache, they’re no use to me at any price.
Similarly, the value of $$$ is specific to each user. The value of, say, $1000, is going to e different to the user sitting on his super-yacht to the value to the user that just picked up his weekly benefit payment, and is on the bus home.
And I haven’t even got to the notion of how the given user values the sound on that particular pair of headphones. Model A of $5000 headphones might be worth it to a user, but Model B of $5000 (or whatever value we pick) is worth little because, on him/her, the very sound makes him wince. On a different user, the preference might be exactly the other way round … or something totally different.
All I can do, personally, is evaluate what a given pair of headphones is worth to ME, and that takes quite a bit of listening. I’ve tried various shortcuts but nothing else does the trick. And having decided if they are worth the price to me, whatever that price is, it certainly doesn’t tell me much about whether they would be worth the price to anybody else … unless, and it’s a big “maybe”, I felt I knew what that person liked and disliked pretty darn well.
The two expensive headphones in my current inventory are both closed back, as it’s really difficult to get a closed back that sounds good for extended listening. EQ for the HD 820 is a must for balanced playback. Luckily, have found convolution EQ settings that transforms the HD 820 into an amazing headphone.