The TRUTH about High End Headphones!

Sometimes YouTube’s auto thumbnail system is on point lol 😂

I think the biggest takeaway for me from this video is that there isn’t a “god-tier” perfect listening experience. There is no set of perfect speakers, rather there are speakers built with a certain experience in mind. That being said, although it’s not your normal style of content, I would love to see you bring in some different people and do a blind “taste test” between headphones. For me, it’s harder to really appreciate the minute differences between higher-end gear vs lower-end gear without a good background and experience listening. If you were to do the blind test, it would be nice to see a newbie to audio, an “audiophile”, and a professional (like an engineer). Regardless, this was a great video!

okay so we're at the "The TRUTH" stage of this channel

Zeos said it nicely- he reviewed the HD800 and said something along the lines of "this isn't endgame, it's just another headphone. Maybe you'll like it more than the HD600s, but it's just another headphone that happens to cost 1k."

Very nice video, great summary, there is just one ... elephant in THE ROOM. If you listen to speakers, you don't actually hear the speakers, you hear the room you have the speakers in. So acoustics. Many people struggle with this, because their houses / flats have acoustic issues (sometimes treatable, sometimes untreatable). Then there's the issue of moving, buying / selling properties, renting ... you never know if you'll have a good space to put a good set of speakers into. Most homes are inherently compromised acoustically. And then there's the issue of flats / neighbours. Your set might sound great at a certain volume, but every time you reach that volume your elderly neighbour from downstairs might already be calling the police ... so there's that.

'Best' headphone is akin to declaring the 'best' vacation destination. Comfort, sound, build quality, aesthetics, amplification requirements, cost, etc all determine what is best TO YOU. There is no objective 'best' headphone.

I use IEMs when Im on the go, Headphones at my desk and speakers when i want to chill out. Its that easy isnt it? I like all three

IEMs are easier to hide from the wife.

Loved the real talk in this video. So honest, informative, clear, and respectful. Thanks for sharing your thoughts Josh!

Great content. I enjoyed the discussion of the order of importance of components like DAC VS amplifier.

Don’t forget about the room... a headphone doesn’t care what room it’s in whereas with speakers, the frequency response is dictated by the room.

Having heard higher end offerings from Sennheiser, Hifiman, and Audeze, I personally think that its pretty crazy buy anything other than the Sundara, dt 1990, HD 600, LCD-2C. Everything more expensive I've heard is just a better version of the previous 4 headphones, but for 2-5x the cost. Those headphones listed are enough for 99% of the hifi people out there IMO. So unless you can't sleep at night knowing there is better, or you literally just have a couple k to spend on headphones, just buy one of those 4 and be content.

Thank you for this video. I can finally share a video explaining the basics of headphones and why there is depth in exploring it.

Great videos man. Absolutely loving them lately. Keep it up!!

what a great video. this needs to be seen by many in this hobby. keep it up josh.

Recovering audiophile here couldn’t be happier.

Point of diminishing returns...…….. That's all I'm saying...…...

My quick 2 cents on this subject. I have been around (with modding and tweaking) high end home or speaker audio for over 25 years. I recently got into mid-if headphone setups for my home office. Sonic performance with $2K or so in a headphone (or IEM) setup would cost at least 10 times for a decent 2 channel home speaker setup when all costs are considered. Obviously speaker setup can be enjoyed by more then one person at a time. I was pleasantly surprised at the enjoyment I am getting from spending such a low sum of money for late night listening compared to what my home theater has cost me. My home theater costs 25 times the price but does not represent 25 times the value in my humble opinion.

that woo audio WA33 in the background is amazing. the elite version is my dream tube headamp.

This is a really well put together video. I'm not even a part of this audiophile gang gang yet and I'm doing my research to enter the space, and you presented this video in such a clear, concise and easy to understand way. Thank you!