[rlu]

Somewhat tangential, somewhat related: people listen to music a lot, and yet the great majority of people do so with their stock iPod earbuds - or cheap alternatives.

I don't like to consider myself an Audiophile (and I really don't think I would classify as one anyways) but I don't understand why people are okay with paying hundreds of dollars (sometimes over $1,000) on HD TVs and yet stick with free headphones or cheap speakers. I personally think I listen to music more than I watch TV shows or movies - and I reckon this is true for many others as well. Why don't other people spend money on good sound equipment to have a better listening experience?

For example, I have a pair of Sennheiser HD600s which MSRP at about $400 I think. My friends find this ridiculous. I also have a $100 amp and a $70 DAC. So I've spend almost $600 on this audio equipment. I bought these 2.5 years ago and don't plan on replacing them any time soon (definitely content with what I have).

I don't really expect my friends to immediately plunge into what I have ($600) but they could try out a more 'beginner' pair like Sennheiser HD 555s which cost like $120.

$120 is, I think, more than reasonable for the sound difference you'd get using those headphones. Those are what I had prior to my HD 600s for close to five years and then decided I wanted to try something even better.

I suppose some of my friends HAVE spent ~$100 on Beats headphones, though this just makes me sad as they're complete crap compared to other headphones you could get for $100.

I dunno. I'm not trying to sound like I'm ranting but I do find it interesting that so many people find it wasteful to spend money on audio equipment when they spend so much time listening to music.

[coldtea]

>I don't like to consider myself an Audiophile (and I really don't think I would classify as one anyways) but I don't understand why people are okay with paying hundreds of dollars (sometimes over $1,000) on HD TVs and yet stick with free headphones or cheap speakers.

I cannot understand this myself. I mean, why pay thousands of dollars for HD TVs, period.

As for the cheap headphones part, who cares. They like the beat and the feeling of the music, not the details and the subtlety of the recording.

That's why they don't listen to jazz or classical that much.

What exactly musical subtlety do you miss on Justin Bieber, Metallica, Hip Hop, Skillrex, 99% of what passes for R&B today etc, by using cheap headphones? You'll miss some low-fi sampled, bit-crushed drum loops? Two-note synth motifs?

[lobster_johnson]

> I mean, why pay hundreds of dollars for HD TVs, period.

Can you get a good HD TV for less than "hundreds of dollars" (not sure where the limit is, $199?) that is any good, though?

Sure, there are cheap TVs. The cheapest LED TV in the 40-44 range on Amazon is $349, and it's some cheap no-name brand I have never heard of. It's probably not very good.

Of course, most people probably don't know much about what differentiates TV quality. I frequently see people watch horribly badly calibrated TVs (with things like motion smoothing turned on), and I frequently see people watch non-widescreen broadcasts stretched to 16:9. Whenever I ask, they say they don't see any difference, and some people even get upset when I offer to fix the settings.

[GuiA]

> I mean, why pay hundreds of dollars for HD TVs, period.

Because you can't find HD TVs that cost under "hundreds of dollars"? :D

I don't watch TV that much, and bought a cheap 32" LCD for some videogaming + developing interactive applications for which I need a large screen, and had to pay ~$350 for it.

[fredsted]

People have different interests. I know someone who spends thousands of dollars on coffee and coffee equipment. I think that's ridiculous. I think it's a cool hobby though.

It sucks that your friends make you feel bad for things you enjoy!

The new Apple Earpods are acceptable though (compared to the Sennheiser 429 I own which are too big to wear in public).

[j2bax]

I agree, I find the new Apple Earpods to be a very enjoyable listening experience. I recently picked up a pair of $100.00 on ear Sony's and I have all but retired them as they make my ears really hot and the Earpods actually give me a much more balanced sound. I'm a musician of most of my life, but definitely not an audiophile. I'd like to be an audiophile someday...

[rlu]

Haha, well to be fair..they don't make me feel bad. It was just an observation

[purplelobster]

As someone who doesn't care much about audio quality I can try to explain. Part of it I suppose is that even though I like music, I don't _like_ like music as some people seem to do, like music is their life and a huge spare time interest. I just like to listen to some stuff sometimes, but sometimes I can go a week without listening to my Spotify account or the radio. Another part of it is that I feel like I get most of the benefit already with "regular" ear-phones, I don't need super duper audio quality to enjoy a song. The song is in your brain anyway, and your perceptions are not as perfect as you think. Think of it like suspension of disbelief in a video game. I used to play games with really shitty graphics, but that didn't affect the way I enjoyed the game because my brain fills in the rest.

[codemac]

You don't hear a difference when listening to music that is produced and edited with an assumption of crappy audio equipment. Many people have entire playlists of songs that they'll stream at 96kbps over shitty free headphones. 96kbps over 600$ of equipment wont change much.

[sliverstorm]

IMO, people just don't see the increase in performance to be worth the increase in price.

Now, something like the Sony MDR-7506 has an excellent performance-vs-price ratio, but many people want to stuff their headphones in their pocket when they aren't using them, and it is hard to find the same performance-vs-price ratio for earbuds.

Personally, I'm at roughly the same spot as you. I have a DAC and amp, and two pairs of nice Senns.

[HyprMusic]

I think the problem is perception. We're so used to coloured sound that without over exaggerated bass and treble, higher quality headphones feel very flat. I will admit myself, that I much prefer my consumer speakers (Cambridge Soundworks Air Minx 200) to my friend's studio monitor speakers (KRK Rokits I think) - despite being well aware that they're no doubt coloured.

[marssaxman]

There is definitely a habituation effect. I bought a pair of KRK Rokits a few years ago and got used to listening to everything through them - I bought a second pair for my living room, and virtually all music I hear now comes through one of the pairs of monitors or through a pair of Sennheiser HD 280 headphones. It sounds normal and sound played back on a stereo with an unbalanced EQ setup sounds... odd, like it's trying too hard.

[mumrah]

Even the low end Sennheisers (like the HD202 on my head) offer a much better experience than earbuds. At 27 USD on Amazon, there's not much excuse for people who scoff at expensive audiophile headphones.

[gdsimoes]

I completely agree with you. My friends love my expensive headphones but refuse to buy one. And I really think they value the quality of their music.