Well, you can't really say there's a definite top of tops.
Some of them sound excellent for some type of music (classical, jazz...), and some have a right sound for other type of music (rock, metal...).
And then there's the human perception of the sound coming out of the headphone.
It's complicated (like pretty much anything. )
Also, it's just marketing when you hear "The most clear sound you'll ever expirience" and stuff like that. NEVER trust what a company tells you, just the results.
I spent more than that on my IEMs. With a good seal, they sound like full fledged closed back headphones, and block external noise well too, despite being tiny, and somehow they have three drivers in there. Comparisons with high street ear buds simply aren't meaningful.
You pay a premium for the size of course, my low end Grado headphones are sonically superior at half the cost.
With all due respect, if you have a spare £420 to spend on some headphones then you truly do have more money than sense.
I mean, reading that review, cool - So you have in effect 6 speakers in 2, and if you have that money, good for you, but I can absolutely guarentee that they do not sound 450% better than what I have : http://www.amazon.co.uk/Philip ... B000FQJM8A/ref=pd_sim_ce_ and also while we're on that subject, you can get some fully fledged headphones which would probably sound a hell of a lot better, for half the price, and many people use these full size headphones while out walking or on the bus (so the whole aesthetic argument is invalid), and you can get a home sound system/speaker kit which would again sound as nice/better for half the price..
Maybe I'm being too practical. Or I'm not understanding it properly. But if you spend more than about £80 on some portable, in ear-earphones then you're a numpty or a fool.
As I pointed out in my post, I have some full size headphones too, and they certainly represent better value for money. They have different uses though...
I use my open back headphones at work, where I need to hear people calling for my attention, or the phone ringing, and need comfort for extended listening. I use my IEMs on my bike, while jogging, at the gym, and potentially rock climbing, where I need them to stay in, not get in the way, and block out distracting ambient noise to drop that all important noise floor. I used to use some cheapy Sennheiser earbuds but couldn't make out any music if I was in heavy traffic, or if I was cycling fast thanks to wind noise.
You're comparing apples to oranges there. And for the record, home hi-fi is way more expensive if you compare the high end of that to the high end of portables. There's more to buy too, for example my next hi-fi upgrade will be room treatment to cure echo.
I can't get over people happy to spend £200 on an mp3 player, but only spend twenty quid on earphones. My mp3 player cost a lot, my portable headphone amp was £70 or so, and I think it's normal for the speakers to cost equivalent to the electronics in home hi-fi, so why not apply that to portables too?
Hmm, well I do question the whole "spend £200 on an iPod and then use the rubbish free earphones or a set of £25 ones" but that depends what £25 you buy. I really sugget you try those ones I have and see, I used to use them on my motorbike and they were as good as proper earplugs at blocking noise, I could do 140 and still hear music (private road of course!) and that was only at regular listening volume
When I was comparing prices of the equipment is was simply to highlight that, for something which isn't really designed to give optimum sound quality, instead of trying to make a robin reliant go a million miles an hour, simply buy a Ferrari (just to clarify the Robin being some cheap out and about earphones, the Ferrari being a fully fledged surround sound home system) - just something portable which allows you to listen to music in fairly good quality, without sounding like a chav (i.e blasting it from your device)
Out of interest, the room echo treatment you mention, what would that involve beside a special wallpaper, or having to redecorate..
I get the impression the low end earphone marked has moved on a lot in the 8 years or so since I've made a purchase from it. At the time, the Sennheiser MX500s were supposed to be about the best you could get, and while better than any other earbuds at the time, they were still shockingly awful compared to anything half decent.
Well unless you're willing to knock down walls to avoid the square room problem with low frequency reinforcement and bass nodes, you're mostly limited to acoustic foam, in the form of wall and ceiling panels, and bass traps.
Not really, if you listen to music alot and care about the reproduction then you are an 'audiophile', that isn't exactly being pretentious. I wouldn't go out and buy a pair of headphones, or any hi-fi equipment without checking reviews first because I want a good balanced sound, and you pay the price.
