Audiophile Series: E5- Expensive Headphones Worth It?

When I first bought my $350 Sony WH-1000XM3, my father was shocked when he came to know the price. Not only him, everyone reacted same around me and I was quite uncomfortable with that. And yeah, those reactions are justified, especially when you spent more bucks just for listening music than most people spend for their smartphone.

Well, when you decide to put half a grand for your headphone, you would obviously ask me what difference it makes from a $50 headphone. Well, I can convince you that, $500 headphones are better than $50 ones, but I don’t know if I can convince you going for $500 even if you can afford it.

Noise cancellation

Take Sony WH-1000 XM3 for instance. Alongside passive noise cancellation, it also does ANC or active noise cancellation which is a method for reducing unwanted sound by the addition of a second sound specifically designed to cancel the first. This shifts you to another world when you put the ear-caps over your ear and does not come for cheap. But don’t expect noise cancellation from expensive open back headphones as they are built to produce natural sound to listen in isolated studio rather than to listen in mob.

Audeze LCD 4 ($4000)

Features

There is built-in app for high end headphones for pressure optimization, custom sound profile, noise attenuation control etc. You won’t find these in cheap ones. Sony WH-1000 XM3 charges via USB-C and can play 5 hours of music with only 10 minutes charge. It can last for 30 hours when fully charged. 30 hours is no joke, one can listen a week with this play time. So, I can assure you that, you get more with extra money.

Focal Utopia ($4000)

Comfort

Expensive headphones are more comfortable too, they will make you feel as if you are covering your ears with some pillow. You won’t feel stressed when you’ll use them for over six hours even if you’re wearing glasses.

STAX SR009S ($4500)

Build Quality

Most high-end headphones features fold-up design, carrying shell, ear pad coverings (whether they're vinyl or velour), replaceable tips, and plastic that doesn't creak and groan every time you adjust the headband or slide them over your head—all problems cheap headphones are plagued with. Their build quality is solid and premium, often allows detachable cables. Sure, things like cloth braided cables, leather headbands, and gold-plated connectors are nice to have, but they mean less when it comes to sound—and are often added to sub-par drivers just to jack up the price.

HIFIMAN HE1000se ($3500)

Sound Quality

Sound Signature

Your music will sound clearer and crisper, with bass that doesn't sound muddy, highs that aren't quite so harsh, and so on. You'll hear the separate, individual instruments, combining to create one piece of music without sounding muddled. Bass weight and impact, dynamic response, transient speed, midrange detail, upper frequency extension, decayed off notes, spatial separation of instruments – all of these improved by an order of magnitude. The 3D placement of power and the guitar body is clearly delineated from one another and every chord change and strum is rendered with clarity and weight. They have a deep, punchy, and neutral bass, an even and clear mid-range, and a good and well-balanced treble.

LFE (low-frequency extension)

LFE is the lowest frequency at which the response first come closer to aspired response than 3 decibel.   Its more about feeling than hearing. Its good to be less than 40 Hz and high end headphones can go down to even 10 Hz.

Frequency Response and Deviation

Since high frequencies have very short wavelengths, they are highly sensitive to positioning preference and head/ear shape. Therefore, most headphones, at least the cheap ones show inconsistencies in their treble response across multiple re-seats on the same head, and also between different heads.

Soundstage

Soundstage qualities are not inherent to the audio content, the headphones have to 'create' them rather than 'reproduce' them. They determine whether the sound is perceived to be coming from inside or in front of the head, how open and spacious the soundstage is, how much the headphones acoustically interact with the environment, and how strong the phantom center is.

Your expensive headphone also likely to have better soundstage, which is the feelings you get when you're listening that you could close your eyes and "feel" like you're listening to a live performance.

Dynamic Range

Dynamic range describes the ratio of the softest sound to the loudest sound in a musical instrument or piece of electronic equipment. And yeah, you guessed right which headphones does it better.

Imaging Quality

Imaging qualities are inherent to the audio content, the headphones have to 'reproduce' them rather than 'create' them. They determine how accurately the objects are positioned in the stereo image, and how transparent the imaging is. Yeah, you guessed right again.

Off topics

1. Don’t buy wireless headphone if you want to get highest music quality. You can achieve maximum 990 kbps bitrate through Bluetooth communication and that’s something you get from most expensive wireless headphone. Don’t buy wired studio headphone if you hear music in a densely populated metro or sitting in the backbench of class like me. Believe me, those half a kilo weight along with AMP/DAC setup will make you really tired.   

2. Since high frequencies have very short wavelengths, they are highly sensitive to positioning preference and head/ear shape. Therefore, most headphones show inconsistencies in their treble response across multiple re-seats on the same head, and also between different heads.

3. Since frequencies below 40Hz are very difficult to produce for small drivers, such as the ones used in most headphones, making an air-tight seal helps a great deal in lowering the LFE of headphones. That's why most closed-back headphones (especially in-ears) usually have a much better LFE than open-back headphones, given a proper fit and seal.

Bottom Line

Well, I would say, expensive headphones worth it, but make sure they worth it to you. This was my final episode in this series, I really appreciate your patience to read this far.

Final Audio D8000 Pro ($4300)