Yeah i wish i could go back in time. i estimate ive spent over 4000$ on audio gear. I wish i could get it back and buy a really nice high end headphone. I’d get a used Abyss 1266 phi or something in that class. and a great amp/dac. those are important too.
What is it about the Empyrean you like?
Yes,I have listened to it. It is nice but very expensive and in all honesty I really don’t think price is commensurate with the quality. There has been a proliferation of statement headphones, few of which are anything like being worth the money and some of which are really rather disappointing in my view.
This! “Learning the equipment” has been the most rewarding part. If I started with what I have now, I would not have had as much fun as I have had.
Empyrean from what I hear isn’t very impressive for the price. The Diana Abyss v2 is more impressive from what I hear.
Are you sure you wouldn’t want to try something in a lower price range first? There are some really nice headphones under 700 or even 500 USD.
I think it’s impressive overall, but I think for the price the sound could be a bit better. The build and craftsmanship is fantastic though. They are a good all rounder that can do it all, but isn’t really stand out though imo sound wise
So true. And you learn from starting with lesser gear and then understand how things work and what direction you should go. I just ordered the Aeolus, but I am VERY happy I didn’t do that starting out. It has been a trip to here and it is better by taking it step by step and not rush to tier 1.
When you start near the top, also your upgrade path kinda gets messed up because you end up having to go much higher to get more performance
Everyone should start with some Koss stuff or lower budget chi-fi IEMs lol.
That is definitely the cheapest way to go. I am pissing away a TON of money on reselling mistakes. However it has been fun learning what I like. I would hate to buy something high end and have to sell at a large loss. My most expensive headphones so far have been almost 1K (in Canadian $"s). I felt good about that because I had started with Grado SR325e’s and knew I liked the house sound. My Grado GH2’s are my favourite 'phones.
My Beyer T5P.2’s list for more than that and so I bought a used pair, just to get an idea (my second most expensive purchase).
I HATE losing the money, but the journey is a lot of fun. And there are no local shops to try stuff out.
Just remember no matter what people tell you, or recommend, we all hear differently.
Yea thats the thing I’m concerned about… It would be nice to have one really good one instead of several kinda meh ones…
Yea I totally get that point… but it’s just its a lot more expensive…
I kind don’t want to upgrade anymore once I get one set of high end headphones.
You don’t have to get meh headphones lol. I would personally take 2-3 pairs of headphones that do certain aspects very very well over a single headphone that does everything good but nothing very well, but that’s just me.
I’m just going to say I’ve spend a lot on this hobby with some high tier stuff, and at times I still use some of the budget gear more than I want to admit.
I will say that my most used headphones are the ksc75 lol (seriously I’m not joking)
That’s what you say now lol, but yeah you will find a point where you are satisfied and it doesn’t make sense to go further
Aight true 
Why is that? Portability?
Because I either want that sound or it fits a use case. There are some headphones that I have that just do something really well that I haven’t found others do. Take the audioquest nighthawk for example, I just won’t sell it because it has a signature and presentation that I haven’t found a headphone can fully recreate. Or I personally think the best headphones for competitive gaming I have tried and own would be the ad1000x, and sure they arn’t the highest end headphones, but they are the only ones I have tired that actually make me feel like I have an advantage for whatever reason. Just a few examples lol. Everything in my collection has a place and does something that I enjoy without too much overlap, I just like all the stuff I have no matter what performance class it’s in lol. I do try to use all of them each few weeks, I do rotate through.
I see, thats a very nice explanation, thank you.
Welcome Legendary! I’m sorry that I am late to the thread, but I would like to share my perspective for a little. First of all, I completely understand your concerns, especially since I share the same values. I know that this hobby can seem like a merry-go-round of side-grades, hence there are many memes and advice about it. I am also of the type to have the saying of buy cheap, buy twice. I research a lot and buy quality, so I can buy once and be done with it.
With that being said, it DOES take a little while to understand what you like and that price for education is invaluable. If I approached this hobby of buying value or purchasing some high-end speaker that I thought I wanted, I would have been pretty sad or trying to flip them at a huge loss and I think the higher you go, the bigger the losses will be when you try to sell them.
It takes some time to know what you want. The more you sit down and write down which qualities you are looking for, the better. Afterwards, nothing will replace your personal experience, so the more you are able to audition them whether at a shop, or better yet at home, the better. After you fine tune your tastes, then you can go big.
I went through 4 different speakers within a year span (with most, I got most of my investment back), which looks crazy from an outsiders perspective, but I know I have discovered what I liked and now I can consider this my end game. I feel like I got off the merry-go-round earlier than most.
I just don’t want you to go through that same merry-go-round, but at a higher price point.
I agree with everyone else that it’s beneficial to try different things and find what you want. But honestly I don’t think it would be easy to find the “one”. Like M0N and others said, you’d probably be better off finding the 2 or 3 “ones” as you’re likely going to want to a few. Sometimes having neutral is nice but the detail can be too much. Or you may want the warmth for some music. Or a good laid back pair to chill and one to listen critically.
Part of the reason why people go down the rabbit hole is not because they made a bad purchase and don’t like them. They just want something different.
I for one like the exploration. It can be stressful buying new cans or and amp so often wanting to know if it’s the right choice. But it can also be really exiting. I could easily be happy with all that I have but it’s fun hunting for more I guess. I don’t know. I think the hunt is most of what makes this hobby. Experimenting and discovering.
Even if you jump into it with a bunch of money. I feel you’ll still end up wanting more.