Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

dimesian t1_isysgdy wrote

You'll hear that good quality gear reveals problems in recordings but, someone might interpret that as you need hi-res/lossless files for good audio, that is not the case. The production and mastering that takes place in the studio is the most important factor, if its recorded well it will sound great on a 320kbps mp3 and maybe a little better as lossless though the differences can be very subtle. If its not well made it will be more obvious with better gear. I have some albums I bought as 320kbps mp3 files that sound really great, I have lossless stuff that doesn't sound as good. You should definitely buy the best headphones you can afford.

Hi-res is appropriate for some music, I don't think its some kind of scam but, its a daft distraction sometimes.

2

madmidget OP t1_iszgzaq wrote

Do you think a sennheiser HD600 is a headphone that would be very revealing of bad recordings?

1

dimesian t1_iszno76 wrote

A bad recording can sound bad on cheap earphones. I think this issue of headphones being too revealing might be overblown, unless you're into a genre that is nearly always particularly poorly recorded I wouldn't worry about it. Sometimes rough audio is part of the charm with some types of music. I've seen some comments claiming that a headphone was so revealing that their favorite classical piece sounded terrible, I checked it out and that particular recording sounds rough on cheap headphones and IEMs. The hd600 series headphones all sound really nice with a wide variety of music, if you mostly listen to very bass heavy music open headphones might not be the best option.

1

madmidget OP t1_it44kkv wrote

I listen primarily to rock, these are the bands I most listen to:

Grateful dead Led zeppelin The doors Pink floyd Radiohead

Do you think the HD600 would be a good choice?

1