Headphones

Depends on the individual. I used to EQ, but not anymore as I like listening to music bit perfect on Audirvāna. I would never own like 6 different headphones, but 2 or 3 max for different cases is good enough

I have many because I keep upgrading. I am only using 1 pair of headphones even tho I have over 5 high end headphones. Found my endgame and won’t buy any more (I hope).

I don't.

I bought a hifiman he400se and after deciding I wanted more I figured doing it in stages was just going to cost more money in the long run and endgamed with a HD800s.

Unless I win the lottery or something I won't be upgrading any further.

I do also have a pair of blessing 2's but that is for listening in bed where headphones are impractical.

I don't know, man.

I starte by buying a bunch of cheap headphones for the recording studio (I needed to record a choir, and needed a way for every single singer to hear the background music without it being recorded by the microphone).

Then I bought a few more good sounding headphones (for those musicians that wanted to hear whether the recording sounded good enough).

Then I bought a really good sounding headphone for myself. And another one.

Anyway, I now have a few dozen headphones in the cupboard, another few dozen on my desk, some in my gym-bag...

1 headphone 1 headset that I only use when i need a mic

1 iem that follows the long line of iems breaking, which currently the hexa has lasted the longest. In a similar note, I hate the mmcx connector, instant no buy if an iem uses mmcx.

(Used to have)1 beater iem

• I dont really fault cheap stuff like quarks, spaceship, and cra breaking, as I take them outside often and have been a bit rough on them.

Too many earbuds (as my flair says)

• Whenever I go clean the house, I end up finding random earbuds I got over the years. I stopped buying for a while now cause I keep getting earbuds recommended to me that are said to have good bass but are actually boomy(like the qian 39)

Earbud reccs I would put yincrow x6 at the top, eb2s a close second, and faaeal iris for third.

I'm the opposite, I have headphones for function. The dt1990s are my daily, so I sold my m50x and 598s because I prefer the 1990s. Then I've got my galaxy buds 2 pro for working out, and my xm4 for travelling. That's it. I've also recently picked up a pair of nice speakers (kef q350) and I'm just waiting on some sand to fill the stands out (attempting to cat proof) which I'm super excited to set up, since my only other experience with speakers has been the marshall kilburn, which I'll keep for travelling and the bedroom.

I used to hoard and say it was a collection but I never swapped them out, so I'm more brutal now with what I keep.

Ppl go crazy with any type of hobby, it consumes them and they get into a "problem" of collecting, and develop obsession with any topic they get into.

However, more than a single pair is normal. For example I have one full size open back headphones for enjoying music at home, one high end iems for listening on the go and in bed, and one semi-wireless for gym and cycling cos of convenience that I use with smartphone. Over 3 pairs for different purposes and I can genuinely see no point, but as I said, ppl get consumed by the hobby and that is true for any hobby pretty much.

Because i always wanted a step more better sound 🥴

I'm a product reviewer on amazon vine. I didn't pay for them!

Because every time I get a new pair, I experience a rush of euphoria. I was a shopaholic before I began to collect headphones.

Its a hobby like anything else, for example, why drink only Islay Scotch when you can enjoy a good highland whiskey? Why drive just a McLaren when there are also Porsches? Why have only one lover when there are so many beautiful people in the world. It's all about experiences. Drink in life, expand your mind, buy more headphones.

Mental illness

Because I'm artistic that's why.

• IEM for comfort (planar and dynamic)
• Headphones for choirs, music listening, gaming, {pvp fps, mmo and story games} (wireless, bluetooth, open back, close back, planar, dynamic, noise cancelling)
• IEM/ Headphones specifically for travel or commute, sleeping, or just appreciating an expensive headphone for it's build and sound quality
• IEM/ headphones for different DACs/ AMP
• just because one enjoys collecting like people enjoy collecting anime figure, bags, watches and even sports cars

I don't get it either. Why people buy a lot of mediocre headphones? Instead I buy something once every 8 years or so and aim for the high end. I own HE-1000 stealth while living in a country where average salary is 800 EUR after taxes.

Each pair of headphones is optimised for slightly different things / serves a different purpose. Unfortunately there are no ideal headphones. Perhaps only jack of all trades and master of none...

bigot sub, that's why

Different purposes.

Two Bluetooth ones I use for watching TV, so I don't disturb others.

One with cable I use on my laptop for analyzing and managing my dj music library.

Two earbuds for driving, shopping phone calls.

Two cheap cabled ones for listening to podcasts while going to sleep.

Addiction

Hobbyist obsession is real. I actually only have 4 pairs and they all serve their purposes. But I've gone crazy with other hobbies where I bought way too many things (like 50 bottles of perfume). Sometimes you just go a little nutty and the idea of the next best thing takes over instead of just enjoying the things you already have.

consumerism.

My active roster includes:

DT880 - open-back workhorse (which unfortunately I can't use as much as I'd like these days because I'm in an a noisy apartment building)

DT770 - Closed-back workhorse and TV/computer phones

E1000 - Casual-listening IEM

ER2SE - Critical-listening/isolation IEM

Sony 7506 - Bedside headphone (I try to use this instead of IEMs so I'm not spending all night with blocked-up ear canals)

All my others have been retired or tossed out. But I'm glad I experienced them, if only to learn why i do or don't like them.

Well I have 20 different headphones haha. IMO there are parts of your question that are highly philosophical/personal and parts that are a bit more objective.

On your part about EQ. Two things. First, I know there is a group of folks in this thread that may say otherwise, but EQ is not the end all be all in sound presentation. For example, no amount of EQ is going to make my Sennheiser HD660S2 have the soundstage of the HD800S - and there are listening scenarios in which sound stage makes a big difference (for example, high quality live rock concert recordings and classical recordings) - and maybe one wants that big 800S stage when listening to stuff like that but not so much when listening to other genres. Gaming is another, just off the top. There are other things about a headphone that may not be adjustable with EQ as well such as timbre brought about by the material used in the diaphragm, its ability to layer/position pieces of the mix well, etc.

Second, EQ is not necessarily an easy thing to get into. There are different "levels" of EQ if you will, and like many things in this hobby, the "best" can be constraining. For example, I am fully in the Apple ecosystem and have multiple devices that I use both at home and on the go (I have to travel a lot for work, and sometimes just don't want to be confined to my office with my desktop gear when I'm listening at home). If I have to EQ a pair of headphones (some of which I do), I have to consider what DAC or software I'm going to use to EQ. There's a big difference between hitting a bass boost or something like that and doing a detailed EQ profile. While you may view having 5 pairs of headphones as weird, I would view spending a grand or more on a pair of expertly tuned headphones, then using a simple "rock" EQ on iOS to be even more weird lol.

This leads to my personal reasons for having the collection. Reason number one is listening flexibility. For example, when I'm in the mood to listen to some hip-hop and just want to bang out and jam, I may break out the LCD-X and EQ the heck out of it, boosting that legendary bass and lifting up the overly dark midrange. It's for sure way too bass heavy, and using EQ with my Chord Mojo 2 is fairly decent but nowhere as good as more detailed options, so I now I'm also giving up tonal accuracy in other areas to do a pleasant EQ for this listening scenario. The LCD-X does that kind of "fun" tune extremely well (because it takes EQ with almost no distortion, as you mentioned).

If I then want to listen to Adele, I could put the LCD-X back to stock (probably not with its veiled midrange) or EQ it for Adele. OR, I could break out my Focal Utopia, which has the highest vocal resolution and most natural vocal presentation I've ever heard, and also has a soundstage that puts vocals front and center (much less wide than the LCD-X). Many of those things can't be EQ'd. It's also a dynamic driver and can't reach the bass levels of the LCD-X, so I could not do the hip-hop scenario with the Utopia.

Every headphone of the 20 I own brings something unique to the presentation, and that uniqueness may work well for a range of listening scenarios - though there will also be tradeoffs. The practical part of the collection is learning the tradeoffs I'm willing to make for which listening scenarios, acquiring stuff that requires me to make less tradeoffs overall and acquiring stuff that brings new special talents to the table (hello Meze Empyrean II).

The not practical side is that this is just my chosen "thing." I believe everyone should have at least one thing he/she/they sort of geek out on, and for me, it's headphones. I would likely never tell someone that 20 pairs of headphones are a "need" - just like 100 pairs of shoes aren't either. But if you have the passion and the funds - why not? There are worse ~~addictions~~ obsessions...

At over 500 pairs of headphones and IEMs its an adventure to listen to one while going to work while listening to something else in the evening.

Tomorrow I got Beyer Xelento for the work day and TH600 for the evening.

It's an addiction to that feeling you get when you buy something new. It's amplified now that social media is constantly bombarding you with things to sell you.

The reason i got into headphones was because i wanted to know the different differences what makes one more comfortable than the other whats better or worse and overall view of the headphone the hours if it has anc does it have a mic

"Just get one pair that responds well to eq"

Once you find the perfect headphones the hobby is over, then you gotta find something else to do though.

Even if you EQ to a standardised curve, each headphone still has its unique characteristics. It’s fun hearing your favourite songs interpreted in slightly different ways.

Yeah man, I really love having to pick up a computer for going into my streamer's configuration in order to mess with eq curves every time before listening to music.

And then still get a different sound than I would from the headphone I'd be trying to emulate anyway.

I simply don’t like EQing. I need a consistent sound I can rely on across all devices for music production. And every device has a different EQ that you can’t always match. And I tend to end up finding more and more things to fix and then still preferring the stock sound in the end.

consoom mentality

Idk but they work in some ways. I own four things, wired and wireless on headphones and earbuds. I mostly use my wired headphones/earbuds when I'm at home where I can just plug it on my laptop and game/play music on it (I mostly use my headphone because I can attach a mic on it). I use wireless when I'm outside.

i have 4 headphones. NONE expensive. One pair are airpods for outside the house or office. i have an old pair of E7 that just do not last long and the padding is crumbling. Have another pair of the same price range ($50) Soundcore q10. Last year I got Jabra. I don't like them as they are on ear, and i prefer over ear. †hese are $100 range. The 2 cheap ones the pads running down and will be tossed soon or used outdoors work where I dont care what happens to them.

I want to get the Beats studio Pro as they are on sale and feel pretty good and sound good to me. They are 50% off so that is great.

Different purposes for my headphones. ATH M50x’s for general use, Sony WH 1000XM4’s for Bluetooth noise cancellation, AirPods Pro gen 1 for when 1000XM4’s could either be messed up or trashed, or for when 1000XM4s are too big

You just have to convince yourself why you need one more pair, over and over again.

Personally I'm not a fan of eq. I like my listening experience to be as trouble free as possible. The idea of using just one pair then having to mess with and tweak freqs every time I want to hear a "different sound" sounds exhausting. Better to just have different pairs of headphones for different moods/genres.

My reasons are a lil bit weird. I have my ath m70x for commuting and winter times so they keep my ears warm physically and musically lol. I have fiio fa1 earphones for summer (they sound close to what the m70x does, just with a little bit more bass and less treble). And i have sennheiser hd600 for learning how to mix music when everyone is asleep (i have also krk rokit 5 g4 for this purpose, but can't use them in the middle of the night).

For me there isn‘t THE perfect headphone. One day I prefer my T1, another day my HD800S. And another day my 1990 Pro and so on. Even with eq you can‘t make an HD800S sound like T1 and vice versa. Each of my headphones is unique and they all have their own character. And that‘s exactly what I want. I would never ever eq any of my headphones because I want to keep their characters as they are.

Different usage. Probably have 10 pairs of buds and 3 pairs of headphones Long battery life for bed Great mic for work Good anc for loud places A couple pair that I don’t care if I lose while kayaking

ADHD lmao

But fr I've slimmed the collection down to Fostex T50RP, Audiosense DT200, Audiosense T800, and Koss KPH30i. Everything else I have is either sold or up for sale.

Just get one pair that responds well to eq

On that note, what are the best options for a headphone and IEM that responds well to EQ?

I use more than a dozen headphones and IEMs regularly, another dozen or so occasionally, and the rest are nice to look at (except for the ones in a big box in the back of my closet - those I could probably do without).

Ideally you can have a headphone that excel at something better than others for certain genres. For example, 2 headphones I frequently use are the ZMF Atrium and ZMF Verite Closed. When I want a warm bassy head headphone with amazing soundstage I’ll go for the Atrium. When I want better imaging and a more neutral sound that still is very lush I’ll go for the Verite.

In my collection I also have the Focal Clear MG, Arya V2, and a Modhouse argon.

That said, I like to keep the clears because I find that music that wasn’t recorded well can still sound great on it. The Arya V2 is when I want some spicey treble and it better for certain genres.

That said there has been plenty I have sold/traded. And largely it’s because I found something better in the models I listed above. So with that said it depends on use case. For me I love the hobby and like having options, every once and awhile I will downsize to try new things.

For open back, I am good with a Sennheiser 660S.

For semi-open and closed back, after trying about 20 pairs, I am still chasing some elusive blend of slam, depth, speed and detail that I haven't quite found yet.

You can always rationalize a reason why the new one is different enough to make it nessidsary.... I have closed back and open back headphones, but those are both dynamic drivers, so of course I need a planar.... So you get some Sundaras, but maybe now I need a closed planar...

Because

I regret my SRH1540

The rest I use em all. About 7 of them.