I have been through a lot of different views and grown from a lot of informed experiences. The one thing I keep seeing over and over again is the need to spend more to gain a little, especially from products over $500. The $500 mark seems to be the limit on diminishing returns for Audiophiles. I know most would love to believe that this isn’t true so that the $1000+ they spent doesn’t seem useless and all but this is just the truth. You can go get things like a Sundara or Sennheiser 660s and compare them to the $1000-$1500 typically seen headphones like the 800 series, Focals, and Hifiman’s. They only have small advantages in only some areas of the sound profile spectrum. No $1000+ headphone ever shows $1000 worth of sound advantage….ever. So if you are currently like I was when I first got into the Audiophile world …do yourself a favor and take this fact and use it to make the correct decisions.
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The Next thing to do with your life is gain knowledge about each brand and their strengths compared to the style of music you listen to the most. Someone’s love for one headphone could be based on a specific genre they listen to and not the style you listen to. So no matter how great this headphone plays classical music, it does you no good if you like Rock or Rap. And trust me this is one of the main things that separates people’s opinions on forums that are rarely addressed. You will find all sorts of people downing others’ choices without ever having the same styles in common. This leads me to the next tip…
STOP LIVING ON FORUMS…I can’t tell you how many times I made this mistake. I’m not saying don’t go period but stop living on them as a source of justification, which is what we tend to look for after we have made a decision to walk down a certain path. You spend all your time looking up info and checking the boxes. Then you get the headphones and or IEM and you are happy, UNTIL…Until you go on forums and tell others and they then tell you your choice was weak, unless, or a mistake because you should have gone with door number 2, 3, and 4. You see everyone in forums, for the most part, are there to justify their choices with others to gain support from others to tell them that they are a part of the elite or that they are so smart in the choice they made. This breaths tribalism. The need to feel special or a part of a select group that is better than the rest. If you enter this world and mention something that doesn’t further justify to others that they have made the right choice in their equipment they will search for ways to tear yours down. They will tell you that somehow the Sennheiser 58x isn’t in the same length as their 6xx or 660s. Or that the Hifiman Sundara is just a beginner headphone that you need to grow into getting the Ayra which will put you on top of the Mountain until you speak to another person that has a $4000 headphone that says the same thing about the Arya. And all of this will lead you to believe you made a mistake or that you need to look to upgrade your new headphone( that you were completely happy with just 1 hour ago) soon.
So do yourself a favor and take your time and seek first understanding of what you seek based on the style and the budget you have. Then above it all know that Sound is subjective and can be retrained by many different experiences. So your choices should be what is best for you not others. Other than this buy with Headroom in mind. Surround your hobby with the ability to move forward if you choose. Don’t buy things that have to perform at their limit to achieve your goals which lock you to that setup only. Allow yourself flexibility in things like your DAC, AMP, and Cables so that you only have to consider the headphone you may upgrade down the road.
For me, I landed on this setup. This might not be the best for all people but it is my choice and works the best for me to the point that I can’t tell you that I would even pick any other headphones or set up regardless of money. But know that it took forever(it seems) for me to work through all my mistakes and misunderstanding of what I was looking for vs what others kept pushing for me to buy. This is in no way my recommendation for others because nobody is like me or you. My reasons will never be yours so seek what is best for yourself. Mine just covers all the things I’ve learned and gone through…along with my preferences. Everything from the fit, drive power, sound for my genre of music…all the way down to the simplest thing as the preference of Mat Black played a big role in my choices. So I wouldn’t dare tell you that these are your best choices too. I just hope the advice on the other steps helps you land in your own personal setup sooner than it took me.
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