Incredible Sound Quality and Mediocre Build + Comfort or Mediocre Sound Quality and Incredible Build + Comfort

[HRTF_Enthusiast]

I must preface this by saying that both headphones are low distortion and can be EQ'd to anything. I felt that this would bring an interesting discussion because personally, I view stock response as an art form. Why buy a headphone that requires EQ to sound good when you can buy a headphone that sounds good without EQ?

This then leads to factors outside of sound quality. How much do you value build and comfort? Would you get a headphone that sounds mediocre out of the box over a headphone that sounds incredible for a build + comfort upgrade?

 

[Firefly00]

I must preface this by saying that both headphones are low distortion and can be EQ'd to anything. I felt that this would bring an interesting discussion because personally, I view stock response as an art form. Why buy a headphone that requires EQ to sound good when you can buy a headphone that sounds good without EQ?

This then leads to factors outside of sound quality. How much do you value build and comfort? Would you get a headphone that sounds mediocre out of the box over a headphone that sounds incredible for a build + comfort upgrade?

If it can be EQ’d to anything, then the sound out of the box is irrelevant imo

”why buy a headphone that requires EQ to sound good when you can buy a headphone that sounds good without EQ?” Because of the ’incredible build and comfort’

or just take a slight compromise on both!

 

[Malaj]

EQ can´t solve everything far far from it. If so I would still own my koss porta pro.
I also like to use headphones that sound good and you don´t have to take to absolute extreme measures to get to perform decently.

I think the poll is a bit extreme. Better would be incredible vs great instead of incredible vs mediocre. Wonder how many here would settle for mediocre sound. You can if you are running and sweating etc and can´t really put full attention to the music so for the portable athletics scenario I could possibly vote for mediocre sound but then it has to be incredibly cheap and well you can get above mediocre sound for not a lot of money.

I would put koss porta pro above mediocre in sound quality but well they are not super comfortable in the long run. That said I would take the yamaha eph-100 anyday though comfort might be a bit worse in the long run with all the ear sweat

 

[Tup3x]

There's no point in sound quality if the headphone is a torture device physically.

 

[Jimbob54]

As a theoretical exercise with no downside to EQ then it's comfort first every time. Build quality in terms of robustness I'm not as fussy about but comfort is an absolute must.

Stock sound in this case is a little moot.

 

[Chester]

If you had asked me that when I first got into all this, I would have said instantly “sound quality….if it happens to be comfortable, it’s a bonus”.

Several years later you realise that with the goal of enjoying music in mind, comfort is a very important consideration. My Grado PS1000E’s taught me that lesson very quickly. I would probably pick comfort and EQ’ed mediocre sound, today.

Why compromise though, plenty that do both on the market.

 

[Killingbeans]

I must preface this by saying that both headphones are low distortion and can be EQ'd to anything.

That part made me pick 'Build quality + comfort'

 

[Yasuo]

I think this should apply only to speakers, because for headphones you also must define the purpose; for instance for commuting I would chose build quality and comfort (features as well, dare I dream). But if I'm at home, then I want the best sound quality possible as I want to enjoy it at "reference" level.

 

[Jim Matthews]

I wear glasses for reading "cheaters" in North Muriccan.

My venerable Sennheisers have remained in use because the earliest are both comfortable and replaceable. Highest fidelity? Not likely - I tried Stax electrets years ago which were detailed, nuanced, reasonable bass response and excruciating to wear for any length of time.

I also think cable compliance is important - favoring cables that are connected to only one side.

 

[Firefly00]

If you had asked me that when I first got into all this, I would have said instantly “sound quality….if it happens to be comfortable, it’s a bonus”.

Several years later you realise that with the goal of enjoying music in mind, comfort is a very important consideration. My Grado PS1000E’s taught me that lesson very quickly. I would probably pick comfort and EQ’ed mediocre sound, today.

Why compromise though, plenty that do both on the market.

Well, if you don’t like your PS1000E, I’m qualified to safely dispose of them if you‘d like to send them to me!

 

[Chester]

Well, if you don’t like your PS1000E, I’m qualified to safely dispose of them if you‘d like to send them to me!

Long traded for something better. They certainly held their value which was a plus.

 

[HRTF_Enthusiast]

EQ can´t solve everything far far from it. If so I would still own my koss porta pro.
I also like to use headphones that sound good and you don´t have to take to absolute extreme measures to get to perform decently.

I think the poll is a bit extreme. Better would be incredible vs great instead of incredible vs mediocre. Wonder how many here would settle for mediocre sound. You can if you are running and sweating etc and can´t really put full attention to the music so for the portable athletics scenario I could possibly vote for mediocre sound but then it has to be incredibly cheap and well you can get above mediocre sound for not a lot of money.

I would put koss porta pro above mediocre in sound quality but well they are not super comfortable in the long run. That said I would take the yamaha eph-100 anyday though comfort might be a bit worse in the long run with all the ear sweat

I said low distortion

 

[Malaj]

So the idea is you can get incredible sound quality with eq and mediocre comfort vs incredible comfort and incredible sound quality. Then there is only one choice I suppose

 

[ZolaIII]

Bahhh, good sound quality and deacent build quality at a decent price and then we can discuss other preferences.
Even comfort can be seen differently as physical/environmental...
All hedaphones are unpleasant to certain amount and much more in certain conditions, conditions sometimes dictate design purpose, all designs have their flaws. Questions is where and how you want to compromise. EQ - DSPing to the end of the world is not a solution but pretty much the opposite (re-mixing).

 

[HRTF_Enthusiast]

So the idea is you can get incredible sound quality with eq and mediocre comfort vs incredible comfort and incredible sound quality. Then there is only one choice I suppose

No. Incredible sound quality without EQ and mediocre comfort vs incredible sound quality with EQ and incredible comfort

 

[Robin L]

This is not an either/or proposition.

As far as I'm concerned, the build quality of my gear is more than good enough without being arrogant about it, the sound quality is as good as one can reasonably expect within moderate financial limits. I want my gear to work for a long time. I'm not in the habit of thrashing it about.

 

[HRTF_Enthusiast]

This is not an either/or proposition.

As far as I'm concerned, the build quality of my gear is more than good enough without being arrogant about it, the sound quality is as good as one can reasonably expect within moderate financial limits. I want my gear to work for a long time. I'm not in the habit of thrashing it about.

Maybe phrasing it this way will be easier. Headphone 1 has mediocre build + comfort and is at the theoretical limit of sound quality out of the box while headphone 2 is at the theoretical limit of build + comfort but can only reach the theoretical limit of sound quality with equalization.

 

[Robin L]

Maybe phrasing it this way will be easier. Headphone 1 has mediocre build + comfort and is at the theoretical limit of sound quality out of the box while headphone 2 is at the theoretical limit of build + comfort but can only reach the theoretical limit of sound quality with equalization.

Nope. Unless my Drop 6XX is required to play back the bottom octave [pretty rare, given my tastes in music], they play fine without eq. "Perfect" is not an option, never was.

I think you may have created a straw man.

 

[HRTF_Enthusiast]

Nope. Unless my Drop 6XX is required to play back the bottom octave [pretty rare, given my tastes in music], they play fine without eq. "Perfect" is not an option, never was.

I think you may have created a straw man.

It's a theoretical scenario...i never claimed such a headphone existed