Are $1000 headphones a waste if my music library doesn’t have much in terms of high-fidelity music?

Submitted by HaroRicky t3_124a5zh in headphones

So….I don’t listen to a lot of music that seems to shine depending on what headphones you wear. Little classical music, little acoustic music, etc.

I generally prefer electronic music. Chip tunes, retro game soundtracks, EDM, happy hardcore, the like.

One thing I see mentioned a lot when I read reviews of high-end headphones is that they “resolve well.” Or how instrumental separation is on another level. Do you believe that $1000 headphones can make electronic music shine as well?

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GamePro201X t1_jdyil51 wrote

I listen to that type of music pretty often and I’d say they sound much better with nicer headphones. However, there is no need to spend $1k. There are plenty of headphones under that amount of money that sound amazing

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samaxe1000 t1_jdyiof7 wrote

It shines for me. But would I be happy with a $300 headphone? Yes.

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andysaurus_rex t1_jdyjtwx wrote

Tbh there are songs I enjoy more on worse gear because they’re poorly mastered and that bothers me on high end gear.

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The_D0lph1n t1_jdymue4 wrote

$1K headphones with MP3s will make a much bigger difference than $50 headphones and $950 of 24-bit FLACs.

I listen to a lot of electronic music too, trance, future bass, melodic dubstep, electronic rock, some hardcore/hard-dance, etc. And I enjoy them on kilobuck headphones, and I've never found the genre to ever limit my enjoyment of those songs on fancy headphones.

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Realistic_Cry642 t1_jdyp22c wrote

Well there’s 2 routes. You could purchase one headphone that does everything fairly well based on your preferences. If you were going this route, you might utilize EQ software or headphone mods which allows for more versatility. Or, route 2 would be to budget for two or three different sets of cans that cover all your bases. But, you’re trading off the possibility of having a slightly less premium product (not how I think of it).

Bottom line, if you live comfortably and you find this hobby enjoyable/meaningful, then go for it. Maybe nothing crazy at first (I’d start at $500-$800). In all honestly, how people think in terms of value vs. cost within the audiophile community varies drastically. Although, most likely this sub would be something like 80% leaning towards $1,000 not being worth it, and 20% saying spending more equates to a higher tier headphone. Ultimately you have to make that decision yourself my friend.

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neliste t1_jdypm91 wrote

It will be still great provided that $1k headphones suit your taste.
Like classical and acoustic would sounds really nice with soundstage. The guitar strumming "feel" also differs. The combination of guitar sound itself paired with the noise when guitar pick hits the string can be really delightful to hear!
So make sure that you get something that's right for you.

Bitrate wise you will still get benefit even you listen only from streaming services like spotify.
I still use cheaper gear to listen like youtube videos though.
As in musics that only exists as youtube video. It's more comfortable that way.
Badly mastered or low bitrate track (~160kbps) bothers me a lot when listening in good setup.

Best is basically just go to shop where you can try the headphones, and use it to listen to your tracks. Spend a long time, or even go home and return there again after.
The experience trying those headphones alone is already worth it!

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Spyronight t1_jdyq6uy wrote

I have a couple more expensive headphones, for anything badly recorded , mastered/mixed I use the hd 6xx since they smooth everything over. I love piano recordings made by players in their rooms but thats a bad environment to record compared to a professional hall with too of the line mics and engineers or something. Those bad recordings get butchered by my stax, focal and totl akg setup.

Now, I have another solution for you if you feel the need to spend a bit and get something better. The Audeze LCD-2 has great bass with warm sound, way less critical than many headphones and an enjoyable listen. Just a bit of eq needed (the amount of eq needed is exaggerated by people, my stax setup needs more Eq, I can even share the eq profile with you if you get the lcd-2s). They should do well with your preferred Genres (Although I prefer other things for Acoustic (Grados) or classical (all my other headphones as thats what I listen to 90% of the time) but the LCD-2 does well enough).

Goodluck on your choice.

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celsivaii t1_jdyx5r0 wrote

High resolution audio is really overrated. Spend your money on good gear.

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Overall_Falcon_8526 t1_jdyx6sj wrote

Heck yeah, good headphones can shine with EDM and other electronic music. Pick something with a deep, extended, accurate bass response.

If and when you decide to explore other genres, you'll be ahead of the game because you already own a good headphone.

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Jmo04 t1_jdyxn7e wrote

I find edm to be a really good test genre for headphones. So much shit happening all at once. When I get new gear I always listen through an entire flume album lmao

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Gizm0Guru t1_jdyzl21 wrote

Whooo loaded question lol.

So up front stuff first - I listen to a lot of genes, but EDM is my primary at about 40-50% of my overall listening. I also have 16 pairs of headphones from consumer (AirPods), to midrange (660S2) to HiFi (LCD-X), to TOTL (Utopia).

Electronic music absolutely benefits from higher quality headphones. How much is worth spending is a different question.

Personally, I can absolutely tell the difference between different quality headphones. BUT the improvement as you spend more doesn’t have the same value to all, and $1000 isn’t the same hit for all.

If you don’t have the option to test, I recommend trying from a place like Amazon that has a generous return policy.

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rhalf t1_jdz0r2i wrote

If you want to get into detail, then with electronic music timbre accuracy doesn't matter, but tonal balance and sharpness still make a difference. You don't need to be into technicalities of sound reproduction to notice that some gear is smooth and precise and full of nuance. People just call it "fast", because they feel like the headphone feeds them more information. This is especially true for electrostatic headphones which are the most expensive way of listening.

That detail can be interesting or not and pleasant or not. I personally don't enjoy detail on a lot of music. You can say that audiophile music is a genre of it's own. You can pick tracks across the whole spectrum of music and find ones that are sonically interesting. I love listening to Tipper on resolving gear for example. The texture in his music is a new kind of pleasure that I was completely unaware of before getting into audiophilia.

You can think of it like a game of paper chase. The detail needs to be hidden in the recording. It needs to be subtle and it needs to be fun. If it isn't, then you'll be uninterested in it. Electronic music is perfect for this, because the artist has an enormous control over shaping the character of each sound and layering them, although of course few take advantage of it.

That being said, the examples that you gave are generally music that's the opposite of audiophile, broadly speaking. Simplicity is the motto of 8 bit artists. They're the punks of technical refinement. With most EDM, the basis are pretty much covered with $500 headphones. So even if you can find headphones that will resolve more, will it be important to you is questionable.

Now I feel like it needs to be said that not all expensive gear is about increase in accuracy or refinement. Many are what I call "effect headphones". Stuff like HD800 has detail and all that, but the pricetag is from it's spatial character that is basically a different experience than listening to typical headphones. Because of that I always felt like most basis for electronic music are covered with $500 semiopen headphones and other products are like a second pair or in other words a surplus luxury, a gadget.

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atyne_mar t1_jdz1aqm wrote

Headphones can create a mindblowing experience, even with low-fidelity content. I'm honestly struggling to even hear the difference between regular mp3 and lossless, no matter what gear I use.

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1trickana t1_jdz3if8 wrote

I listen to EDM and nothing sounds better than my $1600 TH-900s

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Bennedict929 t1_jdzjep4 wrote

Makes sense, I would be confused too on what headphones to buy when a lot of them are advertised as having "natural timbre" while all I'm hearing is electrically-synthesized noises

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Avatar-san t1_jdzkwv6 wrote

It depends on what headphone you buy more than it's price.

I would recommend getting a biodynamic closed back like the E-mu teak, Fostex th610, Denon d5200 or if you want and have the money a Fostex th900(with eq).

For anything electronic, the lack of correct timbre is no concern, but clarity and punch are priority and in my experience any of those headphones are perfect for such tastes. An open headphone can sound more realistic, but that comes with worse bass and lesser clarity due to closed backs having the advantage off cutting off outside sounds.

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Key_Reflection2625 t1_jdznov7 wrote

I listen to a lot of electronic music and jumped for some Meze 109 Pro's for my first Hi-Fi headphone yesterday and I instantly fell in love. The bass leaves something to be desired, but I have a set of Skullcandy Crushers for that, lol.

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dru_tang t1_je56o63 wrote

Unpopular opinion: if that's the type of music you listen to, dont bother upgrading headphones or higher quality music past 320kbps.

I love edm, rap, chill hop, rnb, etc. But the only music that shines with good headphones is remastered tracks that are either rock, classical, jazz, folk, country, etc. I feel like in order to hear good imaging, soundstage, and instrumental separation are when actual instruments are being played. When I listen music with electronically made beats (even if its remastered like daft punk) I barely (I mean barley) hear any difference no matter the setup.

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