Headphones and Diminishing Returns

[Crook]

I'm listening to headphones more often. I went years with Fidelio x1 and they're nice. I have a couple of pairs of IEM; zero 2 and mp145. After the review here I got some Hifiman HE400se and with Eq they are my daily drivers for only £99. I think they're excellent, but I don't have too much to compare them to.

Cutting to the chase, I can pick up some DCA Aeon 2 open for £600 open box. They're £1,000 from most retailers in the UK.

I know headphones sound different on different heads, but what can I expect at 10 times the price? They clearly can't be 10 times better, but are we talking 5% better, 10% better or no guarantee of better sound at all, due to fit or seal or my ear canals?

I assume the build quality is much improved etc, but it's an improvement in sound I want, or there's no point.

Opinions really appreciated. Thank you.

 

[DVDdoug]

It's not really a matter of "dimensioning" returns". It's more random. There are lots of inexpensive headphones/in-ears that are better than many more expensive ones. Of course, the bigger your budget the more choices you have. From the reviews here, it looks like more than half of headphones got "not recommended", and the prices are all over the place for both recommended and not recommended.

The "sound" is mostly frequency response and if you can find comparable measurements for the headphones/IEMs you already own, you can compare the frequency response curves. Of course you can EQ too, but sometimes you can get distortion if you try to boost the bass.

If you are mostly-satisfied you might want to play around with EQ before looking for something better. And if your tastes change you can change the EQ.

Understanding Headphone Measurements (video)

 

[zonk]

Here you find measurements of the DCA Aeon 2 Open.

The measurements look a bit unbalanced for my taste.

 

[Crook]

Yes. I reviewed the video. No firm link as such between price and FR or distortion. I'm struggling to see outside of these aspects, in terms of what more expensive headphones would bring, other than potentially nicer looks, build quality or longevity. I think I just need to chill, enjoy what I have and keep reading the reviews.

Thanks for the measurements, yes the Aeon 2 look like they will need a good bit of EQ. I'm out on any new purchases for now, I'd be better employed spending time finding my own EQ preference.

 

[Asher]

I'm listening to headphones more often. I went years with Fidelio x1 and they're nice. I have a couple of pairs of IEM; zero 2 and mp145. After the review here I got some Hifiman HE400se and with Eq they are my daily drivers for only £99. I think they're excellent, but I don't have too much to compare them to.

Cutting to the chase, I can pick up some DCA Aeon 2 open for £600 open box. They're £1,000 from most retailers in the UK.

I know headphones sound different on different heads, but what can I expect at 10 times the price? They clearly can't be 10 times better, but are we talking 5% better, 10% better or no guarantee of better sound at all, due to fit or seal or my ear canals?

I assume the build quality is much improved etc, but it's an improvement in sound I want, or there's no point.

Opinions really appreciated. Thank you.

I bought a pair of DCA Aeon RT a month ago, right before falling down the cheap IEM rabbit hole. I bought the Zero 2, which sound significantly better than my old pair of custom-molded Ultimate Ears that cost almost 20x as much, and then the Zero: Red, which are even better. I have a hard time comparing IEMs to over-ear headphones, but I'd say the sound quality of my Aeon RTs is comparable to the Zero: Red. But all things being equal, I prefer the DCAs: having the drivers further from my ears is less fatiguing, and the DCAs are *astonishingly* comfortable, and they are easily the best-sounding closed back headphones I've ever used. On the other hand, it's nice to be able to a $60 (or $22!) pair of IEMs in my pocket to have fantastic sound and isolation anywhere.

It seems we're in the golden age of cheap IEMs and DACs. But not so much for cheap over-ear headphones, at least not yet.

 

[Benesyed]

The hard thing is to find comfortable headphones or items, with good build quality, and not crazy tuning.

There's a fair bit of poorly made electronics with good tuning and a fair bit of luxe electronics with bad tuning.

DCA is best of both hence I own the expanse. But I also luckily have lots of $$$ to burn

 

[IngMishael]

I'm listening to headphones more often. I went years with Fidelio x1 and they're nice. I have a couple of pairs of IEM; zero 2 and mp145. After the review here I got some Hifiman HE400se and with Eq they are my daily drivers for only £99. I think they're excellent, but I don't have too much to compare them to.

Cutting to the chase, I can pick up some DCA Aeon 2 open for £600 open box. They're £1,000 from most retailers in the UK.

I know headphones sound different on different heads, but what can I expect at 10 times the price? They clearly can't be 10 times better, but are we talking 5% better, 10% better or no guarantee of better sound at all, due to fit or seal or my ear canals?

I assume the build quality is much improved etc, but it's an improvement in sound I want, or there's no point.

Opinions really appreciated. Thank you.

yeah save your money on any DCA purchase. Also, yes price jump has never equaled same proportional perceived quality jump. you're better off demoing headphones than buying expensive ones blindly if you can

if anything Sennheiser is doing some stock offloading in their "refurbished" section.

HD600 - https://uk.sennheiser-hearing.com/p...tcPN6eyleLpssHAVZZ3q7wtwV3ZfszlwvqPXYMYDxU6Da
HD650 - https://uk.sennheiser-hearing.com/p...ejtpBieDy0oN_y5XgymnY0-oaEAjez7ECZkZqIfhSS9oX
HD550 - https://uk.sennheiser-hearing.com/p...vVwkS-_bZguoepoNu66uG47ARhWavUPk3BZ5DWTN4Rz3k
HD505 - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sennheiser...sparent-controlled-Black-Copper/dp/B0DT19Y3K4

you can use the 5128 squigs here to contrast - https://earphonesarchive.squig.link...enter),Sennheiser_HD650_(fresh_pads)_(center)

 

[ehabheikal]

Do you listen from an android phone? If so wavelet app can do FR correction on a lot of cans and iems in their database. I have m50x which is a low distortion can as seen by measurements here. Being low distortion it can be Eq well. It sound great and is relatively inexpensive.

 

[Jiraya369]

there is no set price for comfort, which is the most important factor as you can eq headphones easily.

a 100 dollar headphone can be mighty comfy for you or you might need to spend 2-3k.