Headphones Audiophile

[dstinchcomb2@yahoo.com]

I'm looking for individuals or clubs that own or are interested in audiophile headphones such as Meze Empyrean Elites or the Focal Stellia and associated dac/amps. Feel free to send a private message to Dan. Thanks

[villagetinker]

I'm looking for individuals or clubs that own or are interested in audiophile headphones such as Meze Empyrean Elites or the Focal Stellia and associated dac/amps. Feel free to send a private message to Dan. Thanks

Good luck, these headphones appear to cost around $3000, and many of the people here have or need hearing aids. I doubt there are going to be a lot of people spending this much money on headphones when many will have very limited hearing above 5 to 6000 Hz. I personally use one (1) hearing aid, and would never consider headphones at this cost, as I believe I would never be able toa actually hear what they are capable of. My hearing drops off really fast at over 8000 Hz.

[retiredguy123]

OP, should I buy these headphones and throw away my Bose 700, $350 headphones?

[dstinchcomb2@yahoo.com]

The Ford Fiesta and the Porsche 911 turbo are both cars. Some are happy with their Ford, some have appreciation for the finer things. Assuming you have no listened to the aforementioned headphones, what makes you the expert? Stick with your Bose and leave the finer things to those who are able to appreciate them.

[Arctic Fox]

I prefer the Warwick Acoustics Aperio headphones

[retiredguy123]

The Ford Fiesta and the Porsche 911 turbo are both cars. Some are happy with their Ford, some have appreciation for the finer things. Assuming you have no listened to the aforementioned headphones, what makes you the expert? Stick with your Bose and leave the finer things to those who are able to appreciate them.
I am not an expert. Sorry if I sounded like one. I was not aware that there are $3,000 headphones available.

[dstinchcomb2@yahoo.com]

No problem, no hard feelings. Sorry if I came off as being nasty.

[dstinchcomb2@yahoo.com]

Wow, do you own the Warwick Acoustics Aperio headphones? Must be nice.

[djlnc]

I'm looking for individuals or clubs that own or are interested in audiophile headphones such as Meze Empyrean Elites or the Focal Stellia and associated dac/amps. Feel free to send a private message to Dan. Thanks

Are you one of those folks who uses silver power cables for their audio equipment?

[dstinchcomb2@yahoo.com]

No, but cables most certainly sound different in a quality, resolving system.

[retiredguy123]

No, but cables most certainly sound different in a quality, resolving system.
Have you ever watched the Gene DellaSala videos on Audioholics.com? I don't understand half of what he says, but I like the videos. I don't think he is a big fan of high priced cables.

[Arctic Fox]

Wow, do you own the Warwick Acoustics Aperio headphones? Must be nice.

No, but I own shares in Warwick Acoustics so I'm hoping you'll all run out and buy a pair :-)

[MidWestIA]

A few years ago I was intrigued with getting a high end stereo & speakers. My wife said why you can't hear that range anyway.

[defrey12]

I am not an expert. Sorry if I sounded like one. I was not aware that there are $3,000 headphones available.

Why are there $3000 headphones? Yes, I know…I can answer my own question on that one. It’s called marketing. Maybe for professional-grade stage monitors, but for “normal” people a pair of $150 bluetooth Bose will do the trick and you won’t be able to tell the difference. That’s what use and I once stood in stage. WASTE of $$$ for the average Joe.

[dstinchcomb2@yahoo.com]

Why are there $3000 headphones? Yes, I know…I can answer my own question on that one. It’s called marketing. Maybe for professional-grade stage monitors, but for “normal” people a pair of $150 bluetooth Bose will do the trick and you won’t be able to tell the difference. That’s what use and I once stood in stage. WASTE of $$$ for the average Joe.
Why are there $500,000 cars? Why are there $20,000,000 homes? Is the $500,000 car not better than a $20,000 car? You having never listened to $3000 headphones in your infinite wisdom decree that they are no better than the $150 Bose. It must be nice to be an expert regarding things in which you have no experience. I was looking for someone who actually has experience in this area. I'd thank you for your 2 cents worth but you'd be over changing.

[rsmurano]

Have you ever watched the Gene DellaSala videos on Audioholics.com? I don't understand half of what he says, but I like the videos. I don't think he is a big fan of high priced cables.

Gene doesn’t know audio. He thinks he does but he doesn’t. I know vendors who called him out and Gene didn’t take him up which proves Gene is just a bag of hot air

[rsmurano]

Why are there $3000 headphones? Yes, I know…I can answer my own question on that one. It’s called marketing. Maybe for professional-grade stage monitors, but for “normal” people a pair of $150 bluetooth Bose will do the trick and you won’t be able to tell the difference. That’s what use and I once stood in stage. WASTE of $$$ for the average Joe.

Bose sucks, not worth the price they cost. $3000 isn’t that much to spend on headphones, I have audio cables that are 8’ long that cost more than that. There are some speaker cables that are over $30,000 a pair, and if you sp nd $800,000 on speakers, you will want these better cables.
Go out and listen to a nice system. Very nice 2 channel stereo systems can cost $1M-$2M, I’ve heard them.
In bigger cities, we have audiophile clubs that get together regularly to listen to each others systems.

[villagetinker]

I wish I had the hearing to appreciate some of the audio systems being described, but I have test results from my audiologist that show I would probably never hear any difference (Confirmed by my wife!!). I my younger days I had Crown and Macintosh equipment and various speakers in an acoustically dead room so I could really hear the difference. Now I can tell the music is on, but I doubt I could tell the difference between a very high-end sound system and an average system.

[Villages Kahuna]

… Stick with your Bose and leave the finer things to those who are able to appreciate them.
That’s an attitude we don’t encounter often around here.

[rsmurano]

I wish I had the hearing to appreciate some of the audio systems being described, but I have test results from my audiologist that show I would probably never hear any difference (Confirmed by my wife!!). I my younger days I had Crown and Macintosh equipment and various speakers in an acoustically dead room so I could really hear the difference. Now I can tell the music is on, but I doubt I could tell the difference between a very high-end sound system and an average system.

You would be amazed how much difference you would hear. I took a couple friends to the biggest audio show. In Las Vegas and they initially thought they couldn’t hear the difference between a Bose and a better system. They were amazed at the difference. Some of the better speakers go up to 40khz which is way above a humans hearing capacity, but you will feel this. Better audio equipment gives you a great soundstage, more spac between each instrument, and feeling like you are their experience, I hear things in the recording that you won’t in a Bose system. When I play Diana Krall, my system places her right in the middle and many feet back from the speakers.

[dstinchcomb2@yahoo.com]

Bose sucks, not worth the price they cost. $3000 isn’t that much to spend on headphones, I have audio cables that are 8’ long that cost more than that. There are some speaker cables that are over $30,000 a pair, and if you sp nd $800,000 on speakers, you will want these better cables.
Go out and listen to a nice system. Very nice 2 channel stereo systems can cost $1M-$2M, I’ve heard them.
In bigger cities, we have audiophile clubs that get together regularly to listen to each others systems.
Are there any audiophile clubs in The Villages? I'd love to attend.

[Fastskiguy]

Are there any audiophile clubs in The Villages? I'd love to attend.

I'd like to too. Although with headphones (and speakers in general) I've done enough A/B testing with > $200 models to know that, for me, the price/performance curve maxes out with the old Grado SR80's. I can barely tell the difference between those and more expensive 'phones and the difference is more "red vs. blue" and not "this is great and the other pair sucks"...if that makes any sense.

Big bass however....I really enjoy big bass!

Joe

[Laker14]

You would be amazed how much difference you would hear. I took a couple friends to the biggest audio show. In Las Vegas and they initially thought they couldn’t hear the difference between a Bose and a better system. They were amazed at the difference. Some of the better speakers go up to 40khz which is way above a humans hearing capacity, but you will feel this. Better audio equipment gives you a great soundstage, more spac between each instrument, and feeling like you are their experience, I hear things in the recording that you won’t in a Bose system. When I play Diana Krall, my system places her right in the middle and many feet back from the speakers.

I would definitely pay $3000 for headphones if they could put Diana Krall in my living room. Anyplace in my living room would be fine, thanks.

[JerryLBell]

Bose sucks, not worth the price they cost.
Back in the day when I sold audio equipment (including Bose speakers) we had two sayings regarding Bose:

"Friends don't let friends buy Bose."
"No highs? No lows? Must be Bose."


...for “normal” people a pair of $150 bluetooth Bose will do the trick and you won’t be able to tell the difference.
You may be right. Most of my friends here can't tell the difference between lossy, low-resolution MP3 files and lossless, high-resolution SACD discs, between a $100 Insignia soundbar and a half-way decent surround speaker system costing $10,000 or more, or between standard definition and high definition (much less 4K HDR) video. That doesn't mean that those of us fortunate to still have decent hearing and vision can't tell or appreciate the difference.

I'd love to hear some of these very pricey headphones and maybe even own them. But I've got champagne tastes and a beer budget. I'll stick with my Sennheiser HD599 headphones powered by either my Denon DAC/headphone amplifier or my Hyby R5 Gen 2 portable audio player, both playing 24-bit, 96 kHz - 192 kHz FLAC files or DSD64 files. They ain't exactly super high-end, but they ain't half-bad neither!

[daniel200]

Just a question, Can i use these $3,000 headphones over my $6,000 hearing aids?

[retiredguy123]

Back in the day when I sold audio equipment (including Bose speakers) we had two sayings regarding Bose:

"Friends don't let friends buy Bose."
"No highs? No lows? Must be Bose."



You may be right. Most of my friends here can't tell the difference between lossy, low-resolution MP3 files and lossless, high-resolution SACD discs, between a $100 Insignia soundbar and a half-way decent surround speaker system costing $10,000 or more, or between standard definition and high definition (much less 4K HDR) video. That doesn't mean that those of us fortunate to still have decent hearing and vision can't tell or appreciate the difference.

I'd love to hear some of these very pricey headphones and maybe even own them. But I've got champagne tastes and a beer budget. I'll stick with my Sennheiser HD599 headphones powered by either my Denon DAC/headphone amplifier or my Hyby R5 Gen 2 portable audio player, both playing 24-bit, 96 kHz - 192 kHz FLAC files or DSD64 files. They ain't exactly super high-end, but they ain't half-bad neither!
I have Definitive Technology tower speakers and a Pioneer Elite receiver. About $3,000 total. But, I cannot hear the difference between an MP3 music file and a WAV lossless file.

I have also owned several Bose products, and I have always been satisfied with them. I thought the Bose 301 bookshelf speakers were an especially good product for the cost.