I have! I really have! My friend spends all his money on audio. I sadly just don't understand. You are correct. I was going to say that he pays infinite money for what to me is a 10% increase in enjoyment, but perhaps for you and him, your brain is better with sound, and you guys might get a 1000% improvement for your dollar.

Although in any case, nothing justifies the pricetag dished out to audio enthusiasts.

An 100-150 dollar headset of the right type is hardly "infinite money" and I would call it paradigm-changing compared to what most people seem to be using, at least over here.

It's only at higher tiers that the difference might really be imperceptible to many ears.

I always thought pickups (the needle of a turntable) are the best example for that:

A 200$ pickup is certainly better than a 20$ needle, maybe even 10x better The difference between a 200$ pickup and one that goes for 2000$ is miniscule. There certainly is a difference, but it's never as big as between the 20$ and the 200$ model.

That said, there are listeners who believe in the value of a 2000$ pickup and derive a lot of enjoyment from the difference to a lesser model. Who am I to say they're wrong?

Now when it comes to a manufacturer of very expensive cables (for example): Don't make me laugh...

For all its flaws even a Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro is a very good headset that's head and shoulders above...

As someone who knows nothing about 'good' headsets, should I get the 32, 80 or 250 Ohm

It shouldn't make much too much difference unless you like to listen to them really loud (damaging-your-hearing levels).

Two things come to mind though: voltage/current delivery of your amp, and damping ratio.

The first depends on the characteristics of your amplifier. Some are better at delivering current, some voltage. The lower impedance (32) is better suited to high-current/low-voltage sources, which includes most portable devices, phones, etc. Conversely, the higher impedance (250) is better for high-voltage/low-current sources like tube amps.

The second is about the ratio of the headphone impedance to the amp output impedance. You want a high ratio, so if your source has a large output impedance then the higher impedance headphones will sound better. Good headphone amps sometimes specify the output impedance, or you can measure it.

> Conversely, the higher impedance (250) is better for high-voltage/low-current sources like tube amps.

Headphone outputs of mixers fall into this category as well. Proper audio interfaces and sound cards have no issues at all driving 250 Ω to deafening volumes. Laptops no issues as well (for me).

Yeah the full on audiophile stuff is mostly nonsense as far as I can tell, but my god I do not understand how so very many people put up with those crappy apple earbuds as there primary sound playback. The difference with a proper set of headphones is massive.

Anything is better then the cheap ones you get for free. I guess people want to have "the original" lol. But then when you get better headphones you can hear the background buzz from low end devices ...

I feel really sorry for audiophiles because they have to spend lots of money on expensive equipment to eliminate the perceived shortcomings that the rest of us are not troubled by during our enjoyment of music.

There is plenty of music that you wouldn't even get to enjoy if you didn't invest in some higher-end equipment and made some effort to improve your listening environment, because you wouldn't be able to hear it at all: the opening of Schnittke's Symphony No. 3 in the BIS recording, Nono’s Prometeo, Ligeti’s Cello Concerto as I mentioned above, most of Knaifel’s music issued on ECM or several of that label’s Pärt recordings, etc. That is music of extremely pianissimo dynamic. And no, you can’t just turn the volume up, because if you did that, the loud parts that come later would blow out your ears: you have to have a listening environment and responsive speakers that are capable of representing the whole dynamic range of the recording.

I'll just wait to hear those pieces in concert I guess : )

There are no short cuts to good sound, you can buy the most expensive equipment but still have bad sound due to the acoustics of the room. It's also somewhat random, like placement and materials dampening different frequencies. So I guess it becomes a sort of addiction.