Headphones

Go down the rabbit hole of r/AVexchange, give a piece a few months. Swap it out if you don’t like it.

Bro you’re going crazy trying to find a headphone that 100% people like which is impossible. imagine going on Rotten Tomatoes being upset because you’re trying to find a good movie to watch and you don’t know what to choose because a movie has 90% good reviews and not 100% good reviews lol you’re crying because of the 10% bad reviews?

I mean, headphones are subjective. Use your ears and find people who share your tastes.

What are you trying to get out of reviews that's lacking? Outside of an obvious flaw that justifies saying "this is objectively bad" most headphones are fine from an objective standpoint. Beyond that it's basically just the reviewer saying if they liked the sound or not, and what other headphones it's most similar to. You have to either know what reviewers have similar taste to yours, or have heard enough other headphones for the comparisons to be meaningful. Without either of those, no, reviews aren't really useful.

I dont really take this sub or anysub to be honest, too seriously
So I don t know if I really trust review on here, because even if the guy is qualify to do the review you don t know his taste really.
Being 4 years into the hobby you should know what you like or not and the taste of the most famous reviewer on YT for exemple if Z says a headphone is bright its probably gonna be too bright for me ect ect
For people being negative its probably just "elitism" and the few louder one
And about your upgrade sadly the best ways will always be to listen to the headphones on your radar by yourself

It's simple.
Audio is a solved thing meaning they're all high fidelity, high quality headphones that are by and large the same.
People are arguing over minute differences that are all based on personal preferences.

HD 600 has consistent reviews.

Go find a YouTuber who has the same musical taste as you. See if they have a forum or a discord, ask the question there

From the OP: "It almost feels like 75 percent of reviewers here are just fan-boys of a single brand and are trying to destroy other headphone brands."

Bingo!

Think of headphone reviews like restaurant reviews. On any restaurant, you're going to find people with different views on how good that restaurant is. Some will say "this is the best German food I've had!" and others will say "this food was terrible!" Or some reviews say "this dish was too spicy", and others will say "this [same] dish was perfectly spiced". Same deal with quality of service, with some people saying the service is great and others saying it's terrible. Some people don't care about service, others deduct two stars because "food was wonderful, but the waitress didn't smile. 3/5 stars."

Reviews are good for both restaurants and headphones, as someone else said, to calibrate expectations. If I see a restaurant has many reviews saying how their Peking duck is great, I'll probably try it for its Peking duck. I'm not actually that big a fan of Peking duck to begin with though, so I'll probably try other restaurants first. Same thing with headphones; if many people like the mids on one headphone, I'll probably check it out if I want to listen to a mid-centric presentation.

I only look at this sub to see some pictures of headphones when I'm bored scrolling thru my phone. I'd never take any advice or reviews on here seriously lol.

I look at the frequency response of the headphones they review, and mainly i take it more serious if ‘em show which DAC they use, it it’s FiiO i discard imediatelly since these dacs always add color to sound, even more their dongles

Myself, when i say something about an headphone, i at least try once one or the same headphone neutralized by EQ, and then i try without, as i told in an comment below, i say “it’s increased there” or “it’s reduced there” so I don’t disturb much in others choices and perception, and i always prefer to tell what i say as “Opnion”

While this is very subjective, there is still enough agreement if you research a bit.

When I was starting with the hobby I got some well regarded headphones (from Beyerdynamic, Hifiman, Audeze, Sennheiser, Meze) and I wasn't disappointed.

But nothing beats trying headphones for yourself. Also you can find some reviewers/sites with a good track record and similar opinions to help you decide.

That's why I bought the Focal Elex.

Hearing is subjective, go try headphones and create your own opinion.

I look at the frequency response of the headphones they review, and mainly i take it more serious if ‘em show which DAC they use, it it’s FiiO i discard imediatelly since these dacs always add color to sound, even more their dongles

Myself, when i say something about an headphone, i at least try once one or the same headphone neutralized by EQ, and then i try without, as i told in an comment below, i say “it’s increased there” or “it’s reduced there” so I don’t disturb much in others choices and perception, and i always prefer to tell what i say as “Opnion”

It's a subjective hobby with a lot of people trying to justify/cope about their purchase. You can talk about some of the widely loved headphones like the HD600 and there will be comments about how it's worse than this or that.

Simply put: I don't :P My last two audio purchases that have been "review based" were from DankPods, specifically the DT770 Pro (80ohm) and the JBL Charge 4, and both because they said they had good bass that wasn't overpowering, which was what I was looking for. I wouldn't ask the people here anything because it's too varied a pallet of who likes what. I would either go with a reviewer you trust, or go to some place like rtings and just look at the numbers and find what you're looking for.

Ultimately, your ears are your ears and no one else has your ears, so this all is highly subjective and personal. Just do what you like and what sounds good.

Go to head-fi.org and look at measurements of headphones done with binaural ear microphones. You can at least get an idea of things from the different measurements. There's not a lot of subjectiveness to metrics other than interpretation.

The ergonomics and subjective enjoyment of a particular set is truly unique to each person's ears, so that part is useful from hands on reviews without metrics.

You need both.

It is hard to get through things when 98% of the reviewers have not used anything else and are just in the honeymoon phase of trying something. And yes, lots of hate on things from people who never tried what they hate because they're just web parrots. Hard to wade through the shit, so look for metrics and experience merged reviews only.

This sub is garbage, tbh. Just demo demo demo, forget what people say and listen.

I recommend reviewers like headphone show crin z reviews dms the hifi garage, Joshua valour and just cross comparing what they say and maybe if you can try stuff each highly recommend and see whose taste are most inline with yours. For some reason people have extremely strong opinions in this niche even though any normal person you hand even the worst 5k headphone will probably like the sound and hate the price if want to not think about it get hd600/6x0 and be happy or use a speaker I dunno

Every had different ears. You shouldn't take any reviews on face value , best way for you to decide which one you should get is get into the store and test them yourself

I want in on this rant!! lol

I feel your pain. I did a rant one time before stating we just need to find a pair we like and be happy. Stop chasing better and better. You'll never find the "perfect" pair because someone says "yeah, but have you tried X!?" What is more frustrating to me is that I have found the ones that are typically more overwhelmingly positive, I don't like. Especially in the world of Chinese HiFi.

Sound is subjective, and I don't claim to have the "right" sound. However, I am a musician of over twenty years with brass and percussion, and I have found I have a picky year when it comes to listening to music. I have to be able to tell when things are out of tune, play by ear, etc. So I can be critical if I want to, but I hate doing that because it keeps me dissatisfied. I can tell the difference where many cannot. I've also taken the sound tests and for my age (39) I can hear a lot higher frequencies than is avg for my age. That being the case, I can't stand most of the ChiFi Market. People are like "that treble is insane! so clear!" All I often hear is sibilance to the point of pain.

I have found one reviewer that I trust because he dislikes a lot of the same stuff I've tried and think is junk and the stuff he recommends I really like. Oluv's Gadgets on youtube. I've tried his Eqs and they are spot on for me. He often comes back and says all this high-end stuff sounds bad compared to some cheaper stuff he has. For instance, he prefers the ANker Q30s over the Airpod Max and Sony XM4s when the ankers are tuned right. I have a pair and love them. I've tried the Sony XM5 and XM4s. I prefer the Ankers (not stock, eq'd right).

I've tried headphones all the way up to $700 Focals (not impressed at all). For reference, I use a set of Wharfedale 11.2 bookshelf speakers for my computer with a Topping E30, and a Tube amp. I have a Monoprice Liquid Spark for a headphone amp. Not top of the line, but very good stuff. I did a speaker review a few years ago, and it looks like it was added to a list of reviews for the group r/BudgetAudiophile here. I've owned Polk, Klipech, Def Tech, Sony, Yamaha, Jamo, and a bunch of stuff. I've had a similar journey with headphones and IEMs.

A few things I can now share:

1. If you can't hear higher frequencies, you will likely not realize something has sibilance or peaky treble because you literally can't hear it. You may also claim headphones are "warmer" when, in fact, they are not. You just can't hear it. I believe this is why some people say some headphones are sibilant, and others say they are not. I like my treble turned up a bit, but just before sibilance at louder volumes. This is why I don't like Beyerdynamic.
2. Bass has to be defined. Do you want to hear lower tones, or do you want to feel lower tones? This is often where people get mixed up on what has a "lot" or bass or doesn't. If you like to hear things flat, hearing a little rumble means it has a LOT of bass. I tried the Hifiman HE-R9 because I like rumbling bass. It was said to have a lot. It did, but it wasn't as much as I expected based on the reviews. My son's Dakoni blues with 2 watts of power hit just as hard with some EQ, but sounds better. The Dakoni's are not considered the bass cannons the HE-R9s are, yet they are.
3. Once you hit the $300 price point, it is harder to find something "better" about the next pair. There are trade-offs that I find are simply not worth the money. Those focal's were clear but had zero bass. I mean, they were lifeless in my opinion. Btu like I said, I like rumbling bass. I heard the lower frequences, but I didn't feel them, so to me, it didn't have any bass.
4. Sony 1AM2 headphones are my favorite all around I've tried so far. I compare what I test to those, and I've just decided to quit trying stuff. I feel it just isn't worth spending more money. The Sonys are consistently better for me, so I leave it. I've tried the bigger brother to them that are $600, but I still like the 1AM2s.
5. If you just want to Jam with some way-to-good-for-the-price headphones, pick up a pair of Koss KPH30i or KPH40. I prefer the 30 and it is my go-to almost every time. Super comfortable, hit hard, and are clear. Sure, my sonys are clearer and more detailed, and have a little more bass, but these won't make your ears sweat like overears normally do. They really are just fantastic. I've tried a lot of the "these are amazing for the price" headphones and the only ones that actually are, imo, are the Koss.

I'm just here for the opinions

There are plenty of knowledgeable people here but the majority have no idea what they are taking about. Yes of course subjectivity is a thing and matters a ton particularly in regards to tonality but there are still certain characteristics that remain the same. The HD800S is the perfect example. Regardless of whether a person likes it or not some things remain the same. It has a very wide soundstage, it has very weak bass in terms of impact and extension and it is a bright headphone.

The real problem that we have in this sub is that most people have not heard very many headphones and so they just recommend what they have. It’s really funny if you cross reference users from this sub with headphoneadvice. What you will see is that a vast majority if you check the user flair on this sub that is what they always recommend in headphoneadvice regardless of the price. I mean how often are IEMs recommended when in the post the person says I hate IEMs. You just need to find someone that has heard a lot of headphones and can describe them without imparting their own thoughts but instead just those consistent traits. Feel free to PM and I can give you a full breakdown within your budget.

Test them out at a music store or buy from Amazon and return if you don’t like them. The only information you’ll consistently find is “bright, dark, wide soundstage, etc.” Other than that everyone has different ears. I got SHP9500 as my first “audiophile” headphones and dioko’s as my first IEM because everyone on the internet was raving over them at the time. I soon found out my ears are very treble sensitive and they both gave me headaches. Since then I have looked for headphones people say are darker/neutral and take anything else with a grain of salt unless an overwhelming majority says something is bad.

Use your own ears that's the only thing that counts.

I just look at the pictures, i don't really look for info or help here i go to headfi for that lol

This hobby is very subjective. But if you want to hang with knowledgeable, passionate people about this hobby, this sub isn't it.

Visit the forums at Head-fi, HiFiGuides, The Headphone Forum and Sonus Apparatus if you want less bullshit and more information from people who really know what they're talking about.

I feel you!

I believe most youtubers posting reviews videos have an agenda, regardless of what they may say...

I also believe many people commenting on reddit, have very little experience so they'll often just rave about what they have, without having ever hearing anything else for comparison...

Only +/- reliable source of info is your own ears by personally experimenting the different headphones/gear you're interested in... (which unfortunately not always possible of course...)

And I say +/- because even your own ears/brain are not always reliable either! ;-) And headphones is a piece of gear where true blind auditions are nearly impossible to do...

You cant really do anything about it... cuz its very biased here. you just find one you love, and for some reason it just fits you better than others

I tried getting help here on how to get my cheap headphones with its drawbacks to sound as neutral as it can be made neutral and only ended up with "trust your ears, " "They're 8€ headphones what did you expect from them? ", " EQ it until you like how it sounds and just leave it at that," which aren't useful at all for someone who has never used a neutral sounding headphone so I have no point of reference to work with and I'm not some audio engineer. What if the sound I like isn't neutral/flat or whatever its called? I'm just trying to make the most out of my peasant headphones man 😅

You can't really complain about a community where 99% of the members don't understand audio at a technical level and just parrot whatever audiophoolery they heard from a "reputable source" off the internet.

I feel like a good portion of headphones, especially IEMs which are recommended are not recommended because they're objectively better specs-wise, or because it has a curve which is pleasing for the scenario the thing will be used for, but because they're expensive, therefore must be good, or because there's some anime artwork or mascot for that product.

As you said in your edit, sound is subjective: you aren’t going to know how you feel until you listen for yourself.

The best thing to do is listen/watch as many reviews as possible - good and bad - and pay attention to the overlapping broad strokes. For example, most reviewers are going to say the HiFiMan Arya is a wide-sounding headphone, though they may disagree on the tonality. You take the defining characteristics that stick out and pursue it further if they interest you.

The most annoying thing about this hobby isn’t the different opinions, but how hard it is to actually listen to this stuff to form your own opinion. Most Hi-Fi stores don’t carry much headphone gear, if any. A lot of the time you have to just bite the bullet, make the purchase, and then decide to keep or return it/resell.

Once you’ve settled into your gear and know your preferences, you won’t have nearly as much review-stress, trust me.

Contrasting opinions are very common given that this is a very subjective hobby.

My advice would be to go to a store and try them for yourself.

If that’s not possible, try and find reviewers who are into the same genre of music as you. That way you see the gear get reviewed from the lens of someone who share your taste in music.

Sundara, Fidelio X2

Isn’t fr graph the headphone equivalent of flavor wheel tho? You can kinda cross reference the headphones in question with the headphones you own to get an idea of what that reviewer is talking about. Also, like others have said, you can pick reviewers that align with your tastes more.

To me, the coffee community is sometimes wayy more snobbish and susceptible to placebo and misinformation. Like for example, people have been saying hiss is no good for aeropress, you need to pre-rinse the filter, you need to do pre-infusion etc. Then Hoffman comes around, did a blind test and found out that there is no or very minimal difference in taste for doing all those (he believed in the hiss thing before this too iirc)

Also, tasting a new coffee is just a matter of $10-$30 for a bag/a cup. It’s easy for people to “accumulate” their experiences. For headphones, people are shelling out something from $20-$2000++ for a new headphones. You can easily why an average joe on Reddit can’t have that much reference point to do a proper “review”.

This is on you. If you lack the ability to filter out unconstructive criticism, and can't parse the more useful descriptions of experiences from the rest of the ramblings, then stick to testing headphones in person and call it a day. The rest of us don't have a problem with how things are presented presently.

Also, you're assuming everybody here only uses headphones for music. I have dedicated listening sessions, but I still use my headphones more for gaming and television/movies - reviewers going on and on about what music they listened to is useless to me.

Yes, sound is subjective, but, more importantly, headphones are relative. No headphone exists in a vacuum - everything is more or less than *<*a different headphone>. It's 100% enough to know the general idea of how headphones perform, and how that performance compares to other offerings.

And another thing: this isn't a professional review website. It's a community of anybody and everybody. You're expectations are too high. If you "hate it here" simply because the reviews aren't trynig so hard to be objective, and aren't as good as the websites on which people are paid to make good, useful reviews... then good. Fine. Leave. Do it. Quickly. Stop wasting your life here, trying to get something that was never here for you to find to begin with.

This sub should be changed to r/hd600

This hobby is a waste of money, get one good setup and forget about this entire thing. Took me a while to realize, it’s just a lot of pretentious assholes trying to sound smart. I hate the fact that people nowadays here have to talk about all the 600 weekly chifi releases and think it’s the second coming of christ. They massproduce shit, put anime girls on them and sell them to stupid westerners, easiest demographic to fool, I mean people here buy cables for sound quality.

You can find scientific headphone measurements in rtings.com, that’s unbiased and objective info you can use to have an idea of how a certain headphone sounds.

So to sum it up, you want people to write their reviews/opinions in as much detail as their vocabulary allows and add their musical preferences and past audio journey. This takes a lot of time and people have short attention spans. Would be helpful if people could put their history & sound preferences in a bio like Head-fi.

I definitely think you're right that people should describe their preferences better or talk about what a particular pair of headphones does well/poorly, rather than just [x] is good, or [y] is bad.

The HD600 example you gave is almost identical to the one I'd give: Multiple times now I've seen someone say they want to get an open back for the first time because they want to experience what a large soundstage is like, and I've seen them be recommended the HD600, known specifically for having a small intimate soundstage.

Similarly I think it's good to occasionally reference measurements to get an idea of when it might be us that has a particular preference rather than something being an innate trait of a headphone, as I see a lot of "[really bassy headphone] isn't what I'd call bassy", "[really bright headphone] isn't what I'd call bright" type comments and always scratch my head wondering what kind of level of ear-destroying treble one of those folks would need to consider something bright 😂

One interesting to note is that unlike coffee in which your taste buds (probably) remain largely the same as you age, it’s almost inevitable for all of us to have some level of hearing loss as we age. A few people on a beyerdynamic thread mentioned that they used to hate the sound of their headphones because it’s too sibilant or shouty. However as they age, they’re less sensitive to treble and actually prefer those headphones because other cans have become too dark for them. This goes to show that it can be very difficult to be less subjective in this hobby due to circumstantial factors - I even find hd600 with new pads to be a bit shouty because I’m very sensitive to treble.

Otherwise I do agree that people in this hobby are not great at communicating. When I was searching for a headphone with decent soundstage, r70x popped up. However some people mention that it has a narrow soundstage because they’re comparing it with an hd800, whilst those who say it has a wide soundstage are comparing it with hd600.

Also there is an unbelievable amount of snake oil products in this hobby lol

Something similar to a flavour wheel would definitely be helpful

You do make a good point. Just take each persons review with a grain of salt... I've been in this "Hobby" for over 2 decades. Way before this subreddit existed... and I bought headphones that people said where bass heavy and what not, from reviews on amazon and other sites, because this particular headphone I was looking at was not talked about in head-fi or here. And I did find some lemons where the reviewer stated clearly that said headphone had "good bass"/Pounding bass/strong bass/etc. later to find out that it wasn't so to my hears... In other words this bass they bragged about in some headphones review was just like listening to the OEM speakers that come with TVs...

Placebo effects, snake oils, elitism, to name a few.

i get my info from /hpg/ lol. i just like browsing here.