Breitling exists. Rolex exists. TAG Heuer exists. Yet most people still wear cheap watches.
That’s the point I’m trying to make. There ALWAYS will be higher-end products to reach a market niche, but the masses will head to cheap and reliable over expensive and prestige.
Spotify isn’t in the niche business. It’s in the mass appeal business. It’s the Timex or Seiko of streaming music providers, not Breitling. And it’s working for them just fine. Spotify is all about quantity, not quality.
Have you tried the Blue Ella closed-back headphones? Interesting set - made more-so seeing them discounted 50% or more …
rolex vs a timex is not in any way analogous to lossy to lossless…
They have a built-in amp?
BTW, welcome to the community Monty!
Yes - the Blue Ella have a built-in amp. They also work fine with the amp turned off using a suitable input (MacBook Pro seems to drive it well enough).
Not clear if the onboard amp adjusts the EQ. Been tricky to find any measurements on them so was curious if @Resolve had an opinion.
I agree. The availability of supply is unlikely to change mass market demand and consumption behaviors here. The mass market cares about convenience and cost for consuming tracks, not hi-res albums, especially in a down economy.
It’s also true that Spotify could launch in a moment’s notice. Bandwidth makes up a real cost line for a company that is still just about breakeven (they lost <$50m on ~$3b in revenue last year; so they’re choosing to invest & lose money instead of being profitable because the market will let them). They could be profitable at a moment’s notice by making cuts. But with subscribers growing as fast as they still are, it seems a little crazy to add a measurable (even if not very meaningful) amount to their cost structure. Because you can be darn sure that once they give it to all these consumers who aren’t clamoring for it, they won’t be able to take it away.
Added:
As a paying bundle subscriber, I am standing by for them to finally follow through.
Not to mention their shareholders.
As applied to the mass market, I tend to think this will happen only if not premium priced. They will pursue the cheapest “good enough.”
Why is that? Both tell time. Both lossy and lossless play streaming music.
High-end watch makers want you to believe that their timepieces are more accurate than mass-market watches. What are we talking, tenths of a second or a second per month?
High-res streaming audio services want you to believe their music sounds better than lossy music. It does to me, but only with high-end gear.
Most people can’t tell the difference between lossy and lossless sound, so, like with high-end watches, you may be paying for the placebo or “prestige” effect.
I think it’s that he’s questioning the idea of lossy time.
Perhaps
Time Lost ≠ Lossy Time
How can I be sure my time is continuous and not a discreet function with a high sample rate? I read that in classical and quantum mechanics, time is treated as continuous. But this gets quickly too zip-headed for me: universe - Is time continuous or discrete? - Physics Stack Exchange
Sorry, dude: You lost me. 
Lossy vs lossless is not equivalent to Timex vs Rolex. The watches both measure time in the same way, albeit with differences in quality and material. Lossy is qualitatively different than lossless.
I was being my usual absurdist self by taking the opposite view to extremes. Wondering what was left out of time measured on a Timex.
Thank you for clarifying @Resolve. I ended up purchasing the Aeon Noires and love them. I use them as my daily driver now. The next headphone from your list that I have my eye on is the Moondrop Venus. They seem promising. My only concern is planar crinkle. I didn’t have the best luck with Hifiman headphones and am wondering if you think the Venus would share this issue, since they’re built similarly. Thanks for your time.
I didn’t notice it with that one but I didn’t notice it with the hifimans either, so I think that may be down to a coupling thing.
New to everything as of like a month ago, trying to digest all the information I have learned, especially from you, so thank you.
I just purchased the Anandas last week, great headphone and I would like a warmer companion thats under $1000 for r&b, soul, oldies but goodies, etc.
I was watching the first half of your 2+ hour Meze 109 Pro video last night and someone asked if they were warm and you suggested LCD-2F. They look great to me but worry about the heaviness.
If you are EQ’ing, couldn’t any headphone be warm?
Thank you
Question is whether the driver can handle enough EQ to make the tuning warm without distortion. It’s much better to buy a headphone with the tuning – or at least close to it – that you desire.
EQ should be like fine-grain sandpaper to smooth rough edges, not a rip saw or belt sander.
Ahhh okay, thank you, that makes sense. Besides LCD-2F, I will be checking them out to see how heavy they are soon.
Would you suggest anything thats warm or could adequately EQ-able to warm thats open-back?
Resolves list was very help but my options do not seem to be plentiful to complement the Anandas.
What are you planning on pairing them with? And what are you looking for in the warmer headphones? A nice midrange? A solid amount of low end? Based on the music mentioned I’d guess mids?
Pairing them with the Zen Stack (IFI Dac/Amp and Zen Can) I just purchased the Zen Can(amp) so I could still return it if need be.
Yes I care mostly about the midrange, everything you said is spot on.