[mecheng77]

Originally Posted by GrussGott

The key here is the equipment must be good enough for you to hear a difference, i.e, "the chain". If the chain isn't resolving enough, you won't be able to pick up the difference just like if you were looking through a dirty window

For me, I had been an audiophile in the 90s, but then fell out of it - I got back into it ~5 years ago after a search for a new pair of noise-cancelling (ANC) headphones for frequent business travel.

I just couldn't find a pair that worked since the noise cancelling cancelled the white noise, but left the main stuff I wanted cancelled: babies crying, high pitched laughter, silverware/glassware clinking, etc. Eventually this led me to the Bowers & Wilkins P7s, which don't have ANC, but passively isolate well and sounded GREAT! Perfect for movies and TV which is what I watch on a plane. Then one day I tried music on them - WHOA. Tracks sounded like they were brand new - I was hearing things in them I'd never heard before ... and since they were bluetooth with AptX, i did some experimenting and I could hear a difference with AptX, 10/10 in some testing I did. But, like you, I still couldn't really hear a difference with between 16/44 Tidal HiFi and 320 spotify.

Then I started buying "real" headphones: Mr Speakers, Hifiman, and the excellent Senn HD 600s. It was the last pair that really opened my eyes to what I'd been missing, so I bought a cheap Schiit DAC/amp stack (magni, modi) and suddenly the difference between Tidal HiFi and 320k apple or spotify was easily apparent. It's a deep rabbit hole, though, that's for sure!

Since then I've tried a lot of stuff, gone expensive, but I've paired back as I've learned you don't need to spend a lot to get a lot. You CAN spend a lot, but it's for the last 10% - you can get 90% there with budget equip and Tidal HiFi (most don't need anything more than CD quality, 16/44, which is tidal HiFi or amazon hifi, which is 4x the resolution of spotify/apple/youtube)

There's a ton of great headphone gear out there, just in the last 3 years: Senn HD650s and a Schiit dac/amp stack will run you <$500 and will bring the emotion back into music, and with that stuff any average person of any age can tell the difference between.

FWIW, these are my ZMF Atticus designed and handmade by this great guy Zach and his wife Bevin in Chicago. They're Manchurian Ash treated with the Shou-Sugi-Ban Japanese finishing technique (cellphone pic doesn't do them justice!) - since buying these I've become a superfan of the ZMF sound, but more of the craftsmanship, and I have a few pairs. But, like I said, you can get Senn HD600 (which I also have!) for super cheap and they'll get you most of the way there, maybe all of the way depending on how far one wants to go



FYI, headphones.com lets you return equip up to a year so it's not that hard to test stuff in your house.

Originally Posted by GrussGott

The key here is the equipment must be good enough for you to hear a difference, i.e, "the chain". If the chain isn't resolving enough, you won't be able to pick up the difference just like if you were looking through a dirty window

For me, I had been an audiophile in the 90s, but then fell out of it - I got back into it ~5 years ago after a search for a new pair of noise-cancelling (ANC) headphones for frequent business travel.

I just couldn't find a pair that worked since the noise cancelling cancelled the white noise, but left the main stuff I wanted cancelled: babies crying, high pitched laughter, silverware/glassware clinking, etc. Eventually this led me to the Bowers & Wilkins P7s, which don't have ANC, but passively isolate well and sounded GREAT! Perfect for movies and TV which is what I watch on a plane. Then one day I tried music on them - WHOA. Tracks sounded like they were brand new - I was hearing things in them I'd never heard before ... and since they were bluetooth with AptX, i did some experimenting and I could hear a difference with AptX, 10/10 in some testing I did. But, like you, I still couldn't really hear a difference with between 16/44 Tidal HiFi and 320 spotify.

Then I started buying "real" headphones: Mr Speakers, Hifiman, and the excellent Senn HD 600s. It was the last pair that really opened my eyes to what I'd been missing, so I bought a cheap Schiit DAC/amp stack (magni, modi) and suddenly the difference between Tidal HiFi and 320k apple or spotify was easily apparent. It's a deep rabbit hole, though, that's for sure!

Since then I've tried a lot of stuff, gone expensive, but I've paired back as I've learned you don't need to spend a lot to get a lot. You CAN spend a lot, but it's for the last 10% - you can get 90% there with budget equip and Tidal HiFi (most don't need anything more than CD quality, 16/44, which is tidal HiFi or amazon hifi, which is 4x the resolution of spotify/apple/youtube)

There's a ton of great headphone gear out there, just in the last 3 years: Senn HD650s and a Schiit dac/amp stack will run you <$500 and will bring the emotion back into music, and with that stuff any average person of any age can tell the difference between.

FWIW, these are my ZMF Atticus designed and handmade by this great guy Zach and his wife Bevin in Chicago. They're Manchurian Ash treated with the Shou-Sugi-Ban Japanese finishing technique (cellphone pic doesn't do them justice!) - since buying these I've become a superfan of the ZMF sound, but more of the craftsmanship, and I have a few pairs. But, like I said, you can get Senn HD600 (which I also have!) for super cheap and they'll get you most of the way there, maybe all of the way depending on how far one wants to go

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FYI, headphones.com lets you return equip up to a year so it's not that hard to test stuff in your house.

Lately B&w has been hit and miss, some of their new speakers have not measured that flat. I'm not into headphones but the PSBs I tried sounded really good.

I did very well on the tests shown on this website with the exception of the high frequency.

https://www.audiocheck.net/index.php

Download the Neil younge archives app it lets you switch between sampling rates and be honest if you notice massive differences