"Real" Headphones Appreciation

I

insanarchist

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Sep 3, 2004
Messages
1,387
So I just recently plugged in my old Sony MDR-V700's and almost threw up. It sounded like I was wearing earplugs with some crappy subwoofer turned on. How did I ever think these sounded amazing?

Turn the clock back four years, I was young(er), I was naieve(r), and I had a fair amount of discressionary cash. My crappy koss headphones that had come with my personal CD player just weren't doing it for me anymore, so I decided to spend some "real" money on some "real" headphones. Since I worked at Best Buy at the time, I went and bought the most expensive non-bose headphones they had: the Sony MDR-V700's. Holy crap, they were amazing! The bass was loud! And I could hear everything! I bought a second pair for my friend, and listened to them religiously for 2 years. I always thought "why the hell are people paying so much for audio equipment when this sounds SO GOOD?"

Fast forward to a couple of months ago, I wised up a bit and bought some used MDR-V6's with Beyer pads (they were a good deal, and I had read hundreds of positive reviews, several of them making fun of my V700's!). I put them on and immediately thought "where's the bass? these things sound weird". However, I kept using them and started to realize I could hear things that I hadn't ever heard before in music I had listened to hundreds of times. All of a sudden, I could hear the compression on my old mp3's at 196kbps, and with time, i've now found it uncomfortable to listen to anything with a sustained bitrate of under 320kbps. NOW I see what this lossless audio thing is all about. Recently, I upgraded from my old soundblaster live to my current M-Audio Delta1010. Combined with my first "real" headphones, I have opened the doors to a brighter/richer world in which I can actually hear all of the instruments as they were meant to be heard!

Now I find myself wondering, are the $200+ headphones everybody talks about as much of a difference as the 700's to the 6's? Will I someday find my V6's in the "why did I ever buy them" pile? I'm sure there are some 'audiophiles' out there laughing at my perceived 'promise land of audio', people who live in a world in which $400-$2,000+ headphone amps are the norm, and anything less than lossless is a crime, but is there really *that* much of a difference?

Anyway, just thought I would share my thoughts, having been in the 'standard' consumer world semi-recently, and having seen so many '5.1 headphones' threads and 'should I get a soundcard' threads. There really is a brighter world out there once you open your eyes/ears and accept the fact that perhaps having a "U-Curve" on your eq listening to $30 headphones might, just might, not be the 'audio nirvana' you believe it to be. :D
 
Congrats on discovering good sound. :)

Yes, there is a large difference between your current setup and more high end ones. Whether or not you find the improvement compared to the price difference to be worth it, that's your call. I went from EX-71's to HD-595s, from there to DT770's and Shure E4c's, and from there to SR-325i's, and am currently shopping for a pair of RS-2's. I doubt I'll spend more than that on headphones, but I said the same after buying the EX-71's. As for amplification, I went from a cmoy to a Firestone Cute Beyond, to a Eddie Current EC-01 (which is currently with the builder, some people at a meet before it were to be shipped to me noticed distortion).

The largest problem is the crap mastering of cd's. 4/5 of my collection are poorely mastered and that's a problem that great headphones can't solve.
 
insanarchist said:
Now I find myself wondering, are the $200+ headphones everybody talks about as much of a difference as the 700's to the 6's? Will I someday find my V6's in the "why did I ever buy them" pile? I'm sure there are some 'audiophiles' out there laughing at my perceived 'promise land of audio', people who live in a world in which $400-$2,000+ headphone amps are the norm, and anything less than lossless is a crime, but is there really *that* much of a difference?
Click to expand...

As hard as it might be to belive, there are still quite considerable differences to be had. Although, after the next "big" jump up in sound quality, diminishing returns starts to kick in (IMO). If you ever get a pair of headphones in the 200$ - 700$ range, they should blow the V6's out of the water.

But, what you're going to start to realize, is that there comes a price point where headphones stop getting "better", but start to just sound "different" (few execptions). So, The difference between a Grado RS-1 and a Sennheiser HD650 may be considerable, but arguably they are at about the same sound quality level (just different).
Of course, you will find headphones that sound better TO YOU, but that doesn't meany they should always be thought of as better.

Still, welcome to the world of headphones. Enjoy your trip!
 
ellover009 said:
I'ts like crack on a bottle, that guy is seriously rich, or really poor, at the rate hes going hes gonna have to sell his car and trade for a trike, and prob sell some on his stuff and live in a cardboard box.
Click to expand...

You'd be surprised. Jahn's setup is, while costly, far from the cost of some of the setups of Head-Fi folks.
 
Within two weeks of joining head-fi, I went from Altec Lansing mic/headphones to:

Ipod 60GB
Super.Fi Pro 5
Turbodock 2
self made 8 wire litz braided cables of various assortment with 99.999% pure silver and LOK connectors
MisterX PPA 2.0
Grado RS-1
M-audio Audiophile USB
Sony DVP-s3000
Monster HTS 3500 MK II


That has to set some kind of record. Stay away from that place, it's evil I tell you...

And it really sucks that I can't listen to music on anything else and enjoy it without thinking how horrible it sounds...
 
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