CBSU t1_j90pyl3 wrote on February 18, 2023 at 9:48 AM

I’m not acquainted with your particular setup but it sounds audiophile enough to me. Audiophile is a term with variable meaning, but in my eyes, having an external amp for headphones signifies far more -phile for audio than the vast majority of people.

Does it get better from here? Sure. If you haven’t actually heard better though, I might suggest leaving it at this. You could add an extra pair with a different sound signature so your brain does not “get used” to your setup, though I find that some car speakers alone will do that.

I can be reasonably considered to be on the deep end of the headphone pool, and I would never have done so if I didn’t already have a nice speaker setup at the time. And to this day I cannot tell if I came out better for it, in terms of enjoyment of sound quality— my headphones see <10 hours of use a week, and I often have to manufacture reasons to use them. So if you’re not looking for the hobby aspect of it (which can be very interesting, sampling gear is a good use of time), perhaps avoid the so-called rabbit hole.

Rogue-Architect t1_j92tz7e wrote on February 18, 2023 at 8:29 PM

For some context to OP I disagree with this comment.

I do agree that your current setup is audiophile, as for me audiophile is just getting the best audio quality for your budget.

I guess where I am confused is everything past there. If you already have a decent speaker setup that is your preferred listening method, why deep dive in the headphone hobby? For me personally, speakers are just not a viable option at this point between too close of neighbors and respecting the rest of my house (making some noise would be fine but I can’t turn it up too much). I also think that diminishing returns is a thing and that even compared to what they have things aren’t going to be 2x, 5x or even compared to an LCD-5 90x better. However, as you noted things do get better and for me, while they may be smaller differences, those differences are what allow me to teleport and completely lose myself versus just listening to music with good tonal balance.

It really just sounds like you are a speaker person and it is clouding what your comments are supposed to mean. Do you just feel that a speaker setup is just that much better?