if you had the option of having several lower quality headphones that each did something better than others or just one headphone that had one superior characteristic, what would you choose?
for instance, with the lower quality, one had better bass, another had better mids, the other had better high’s. one was really good for detail, another had sound stage while the other had imaging.
and the one superior headphone? it follows the most recent Harman curve perfectly…but isn’t quite as comfortable as the rest. its comfortable, but not as…
edit - as amended, you can have 4x $500 or 5x $400 headphones or 1x $2000 headphones.
If it’s still comfortable i would choose the 1 headphone. Anyways even though i do have pretty diverse music at the same time it’s not too diverse so i wouldn’t need plenty of different sound signatures
If I had to choose, then it would be one comfortable headphone that was the closest to all the things rather than one that performs better but is uncomfortable.
I get wanting multiple headphones for the specific case, but when I look at my own habits I tend to use one the most as I have no genuine need for multiple headphones.
I, personally, want to enjoy listening more than follow a FR curve or chasing that last detail out of a recording.
indeed…but would we truly be happy with squeezing into a ‘one fits all’ solution? would you not find yourself wanting for specialities that the cheaper but adequate headphones excelled at?
Well I mean you have a nice planar, a warm great dynamic, a brighter dynamic, and a more studio monitoring headphone. I don’t think there is something in there that I would say you are lacking, and anyway it’s your ears and it’s what you prefer lol.
Some people are perfectly happy with a headphone like that. I know multiple people who sold off their other headphones for a 650 and love it to death lol.
I’m happy having several headphones. I have Verum 1’s for sit back proper music listening. I have the HE4XX for every day TV/Movie listening, on which I’ve already worn the pads out. I have 1More over-ears which I was using on the train as they are closed back. And Tin P1’s which I mainly use for listening to music for a little while before going to sleep. So my different headphones are more for different purposes. I also have Audeze EL-8C for good closed back listening but I haven’t used them for some time. I worked out that my preference is for open back when I’m not in a position to annoy others with them.