Law of diminishing returns - Headphones

[Luke Lemke]

Hey guys. After trying several different headphones I wonder: Where do we reach a point in which we get no real improvement in sound quality?
For instance: If you have a Hifiman Sundara + the Magni/Modi stack, can you really get a better headphone with a significant sound quality improvement? Are people spending $4000 in headphones like the Utopia just to get a different sound signature? Please let me know your thoughts.

 

[Dialectic]

For instance: If you have a Hifiman Sundara + the Magni/Modi stack, can you really get a better headphone with a significant sound quality improvement?

Based on the measurements and my experience with expensive (and really expensive) headphones, no.

 

[2M2B]

Hey guys. After trying several different headphones I wonder: Where do we reach a point in which we get no real improvement in sound quality?
For instance: If you have a Hifiman Sundara + the Magni/Modi stack, can you really get a better headphone with a significant sound quality improvement? Are people spending $4000 in headphones like the Utopia just to get a different sound signature? Please let me know your thoughts.

IEM's = ER4SR + JDS Atom/Magni 3 Heresy

Over heads = Sundara, Aeon RT, HD560S + Magni 3 Heresy/JDS atom.

I pretty much hard disagree with that you need over £599 to get any upgrades. The £3999 price tag for the Utopia is almost joke worthy when the Sundara best's it while being under $300 on Amazon. The Ety ER4SR Is the same thing too since many actually notice It sounds like an electrostatic quality to It and goes for $160 these days.

The biggest gripe I've noticed Planar/BA seem to get mocked for their bass despite outperforming DD's in technical sense. But from my time using the Ety ER4PT in S mode the BA drivers seem to be able to cope with heavy bass notes in EDM without smearing the whole range. When I did a 5db 100Hz Low shelf on the ER4S it just added more quantity when the bass notes showed up, But when switched to the ER2XR I noticed the notes would linger longer making it sound muddy/fat in the mid range.

 

[MayaTlab]

Hey guys. After trying several different headphones I wonder: Where do we reach a point in which we get no real improvement in sound quality?
For instance: If you have a Hifiman Sundara + the Magni/Modi stack, can you really get a better headphone with a significant sound quality improvement?

PEQ is where it's at, and it's most likely inexpensive .
While I wouldn't form a personal opinion on the Sundara without trying a second copy, the first one I received had a number of limitations that put a hard ceiling to what I could achieve with PEQ : https://www.head-fi.org/threads/how...guarantee-a-better-sound.958201/post-16405751 (bottom of the post).
But I did enjoy the overall "macro" balance, albeit found the trebles range too elevated.
In general, the more confident I get at PEQing headphones, the less and less I find justifications to purchase particularly expensive passive headphones. I sold my HD800 and Stax systems years ago.
But I still can see plenty of reasons other than SQ why someone in particular may be attracted to a specific pair of headphones, regardless of price, such as comfort.

 

[dtomamichel]

Definitely a good question but everybody has different needs as well as budget restrictions. My question is using my flac files from my Samsung S21 ultra to Hidizs S8 to Sony WH1000XM3 would better headphones improve my experience (max. $3k)? I am 72 and can't hear much above 4-5k and the headphones need to be closed back even though I am listening at home as not to bother my wife etc. Any thoughts?

 

[DVDdoug]

I'd say it's "worse" than diminishing returns. There is almost no correlation between cost and sound quality/sound preference and you could easily spend more and get worse sound quality.