3-5K Chi-fi IEMs vs branded headphones like AKG..etc. Is there a huge difference for normal folks?

Q Acoustics M20 HD wireless music system
A

arnprasad

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HI,

I have most of the under 5K Chi-fi that have great reviews on youtube..Tinhifi..CCA, lots of KZ, 7Z..etc. Since I use them only for my 90 minutes morning walks on the main roads of Bangalore..I am happy with them. Sadly as I said goodbye to my Redmi K20 pro and bought a Moto ...there is no headphone jack and I rely on a 200 rupee USB C to 3.5 connector.

After a looong career break...back to earning little bits of money and was looking at headphones in the 3-5K band on Amazon and was wondering if I should buy them say for those occassions where I am home and in relatively quieter surroundings.

IS it worth taking the leap? I am just a normal guy and listen to all genres of music both Western and Indian and Hindi and some Telugu

Few years back I did buy the Audio technica 50 and the Bose wireless..both costing 10-12 k each during one of them Dussehra sales...and frankly my ordinary ears could not appreciate them and I sold them at cost on OLX within a week.

With this background do I take the plunge and buy a headphone for home listening? I dont mind spending 10K or more as well...just that not sure if the incremental increase is worth the kind of time-pass listening I do.

Also is the 2-300 rupee USB C to 3.5mm good enough? there is one indian audiophile video who says DACs are all the same and its the IEMS that make the difference. OF course there are others who say DAC makes a difference and headphone zone has a co branded one for 1999.

What do I do Pls?

Few choices:




 
arnprasad said:
HI,

I have most of the under 5K Chi-fi that have great reviews on youtube..Tinhifi..CCA, lots of KZ, 7Z..etc. Since I use them only for my 90 minutes morning walks on the main roads of Bangalore..I am happy with them. Sadly as I said goodbye to my Redmi K20 pro and bought a Moto ...there is no headphone jack and I rely on a 200 rupee USB C to 3.5 connector.

After a looong career break...back to earning little bits of money and was looking at headphones in the 3-5K band on Amazon and was wondering if I should buy them say for those occassions where I am home and in relatively quieter surroundings.

IS it worth taking the leap? I am just a normal guy and listen to all genres of music both Western and Indian and Hindi and some Telugu

Few years back I did buy the Audio technica 50 and the Bose wireless..both costing 10-12 k each during one of them Dussehra sales...and frankly my ordinary ears could not appreciate them and I sold them at cost on OLX within a week.

With this background do I take the plunge and buy a headphone for home listening? I dont mind spending 10K or more as well...just that not sure if the incremental increase is worth the kind of time-pass listening I do.

Also is the 2-300 rupee USB C to 3.5mm good enough? there is one indian audiophile video who says DACs are all the same and its the IEMS that make the difference. OF course there are others who say DAC makes a difference and headphone zone has a co branded one for 1999.

What do I do Pls?

Few choices:




Click to expand...
Larger headphones generally require more power. Low cost headphones are generally uncomfortable for longer listening sessions. EarPads get flattened on headphones over time and sound changes accordingly. Also, some EarPad materials are less breathable than others, so some of them will be hotter than others. Open backs like the Sennheiser you have pass lot of sound in from surroundings so, even inside the home, you won’t be able to concentrate unless you live alone.

Compared to every type of hifi, my favorite type are Chinese iems when I consider how good they sound costing almost nothing when compared to parts of a large hifi system.
 
I have a bunch of iems up to $300, and sad to say they all sound the same to me. I would say keep your money with you.

On tht subject of the dongle, do get the Apple official one. It goes on sale occasionally and has been measured as very good.

The hpz one has line in support which is rare among Chinese brands

Among the headphones you've listed the k92 is my favourite. I use it because it sounds as good as an ath m50 and is more comfortable. You will need to apply peq using peace or wavelet
Sennheiser - I'm not a fan of their audiophile range as i tend to like bass heavy headphones. I have a 58x, i don't use it at all
Samson - has a horrible eq spike in 8khz, still sounds bland even after removing it
 
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