fUSTERcLUCK_02

fUSTERcLUCK_02 t1_jeevaum wrote

Drivers are by far the only thing that makes a headphone sound good. That's like saying the only thing that makes a car fast is the engine.

You also have to consider the housing, cables, material, pads etc.
As well as that, a driver is tuned to sound a specific way. Not that different to how vehicle engines are tuned to perform in a specific way. An F1 car and a Suzuki Ignis both have 1.6L V6 engines with a Hybrid motor but the F1 engine performs better.

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fUSTERcLUCK_02 t1_jeervto wrote

Cheap headphones have gotten so good recently.
Sennheiser have the HD599 which is almost constantly on sale for less than £100 on Amazon
AKG have the K702 which has a superb frequency response and fantastic soundstage. With technical accuracy which really isn't that far behind the HD600.
The Koss KSC75. £20, supremely comfortable, superb sound signature, especially for visual media.

It barely seems necessary to spend >£200 on audio gear anymore

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fUSTERcLUCK_02 t1_j1a0jk4 wrote

Mid and low-fi are kind of ways to describe hifi. If something is low-fi, it sounds like crap and is not of any real worth. Think my-first-cassette-recorder sort of junk.

Mid-fi is more related to affordable yet still very good hi-fi. Generally, anything that is more expensive than what the layperson would buy but cheaper than what a massive audiophile would spend. For headphones, I would say anything from about £75-£300 would be mid-fi. That isn't to say that there aren't good products cheaper than that, they just don't fall under the mid-fi moniker.

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