Depends ;), i tested most headphones against my small pc speakers, and the speakers still sound better, especially since i good the sub. And i've a nice sound bubble instead of something that gets sweaty after a few hours... (neumann kh120 + 805 sub)
Huch Really? i can't think of a single metric headphones win except on price and to hear feint details at low volumes oh yea and they don't bother your surroundings 😅
As for the IEMs, they are a huge compromise to block as much environment sound as possible. I'd never choose them to hear to anything if not because of blocking out the surroundings ;)
What's _really_ hard to beat in raw fidelity is eg. something like this (neumann kh120)
yea sure you are right on the room thing. But during corona we all had a lot of time to treat our rooms 😅 (and getting a room to a good standard is way simpler than most ppl think. like just a few towels tucked to a frame and a few absorber plates a few cm below the ceiling arround the room)
Agreed. A good set of open-backs are the sweet spot IMO. Current daily pair are Sennheiser HD599, but I made the mistake of test driving some HD800s and my life has never been the same
Having open back headphones is a curse because you know how good they could sound in a perfectly silent room but you live in the city and like fresh air so you are constantly disappointed by all the outside noises running the experience
Just constantly trying to ride that high again from the first time I had a good, light roast coffee and I realized that there could be other flavors than "brown"
Yeah. I like medium roast coffee, most common coffee here are dark roast, i can only find medium roast on premium coffee, also there are a ton of flavors
I bought some Philips SHB9500's recently and finally having a nice pair of open-back headphones has done irreversible damage to what I think good headphones sound like
This is a brilliant analog of what happens when you do some basic training in counselling/listening/mindfulness — suddenly everyone else seems like a complete asshole!
A good mic with good cans is incredible. It's the distinction between "what an instrument sounds like" and "the sound an instrument makes". Hearing the air move through a saxophone, not just the resulting note. Hearing the woosh of hammers and reverb of the particular wood in a piano.
I have never spent more than $20 on headphones, thus freeing me from expectations. If audio is coming out of both sides at the same time, that's all I really expect.
For better or worse though the human brain is hot garbage at remembering this, in my experience. If you put the good ones away and make the mediocre ones convenient for a while, they’ll magically stop sounding mediocre and just sound normal.
I have a pair of Samson SR850, a pair of Koss KSC75, and Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro, and every time I use any of them I hear new shit in music I hadn't noticed before it's wild
Comments
I'd prefer the overall experience of listening to high-end speakers in a conditioned room, but in terms of raw fidelity I think it's hard to beat IEMs
What's _really_ hard to beat in raw fidelity is eg. something like this (neumann kh120)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKIye4RZ-5k
Use good, premium coffee, and the first time you drink normal coffee again it will taste like dirty water or just meh.
i like the iems i have but they're uncomfortable after an hour or so, every on or over ear has got me maybe 4 hrs
my everyday headphones are bone conduction, objectively inferior sound quality but i can wear them 12+ hrs and forget they're there most days
For better or worse though the human brain is hot garbage at remembering this, in my experience. If you put the good ones away and make the mediocre ones convenient for a while, they’ll magically stop sounding mediocre and just sound normal.
I love how they block out surrounding noise and the sound seems great to me and they are really comfy but they got some bad reviews.
Stereo Soundstage Imaging is INSANE.... you can hear the placement of every instrument in the mix.
Bass is wonderful with a GOOD amp (Neo-Teck Bass Booster Amp for on the go, Fosi Audio T20 Vacuum Tube Amp for At Home Listening).