When browsing this subreddit, you often come across that phrase, diminishing returns.
I’m German, English is my second language, and there isn’t really a German phrase for this concept that would be on everyone’s mind when talking about this concept like ‘diminishing returns’ seems to be.
It’s a really neat concept and is true for so many hobbies, or things one can buy in general, but it is also ultra subjective, isn’t it?
Like, if someone has a 2000$ headphone but doesn’t really like it, and then spends 4000$ on one that they do like - does objective performance matter? I think the difference between the 2 could be 5%, but if it’s 5% in the right direction, they make the difference between selling it or keeping it and being happy.
I think there are people out there who don’t really shop in the 2-digit price category, or even 3-digit one, only 4 and above, for whatever reason - but they just wouldn’t be happy with a 500$ headphone, knowing that there is better stuff out there if you just spend the money.
I don’t really have a point, I just got a bit philosophical about that phrase I guess.
I disagree, it’s a stupid quip that people use to justify the point at which they bow out of the hobby. Financial constraints are typically the driving factor here, let’s not sugarcoat it. You could take away my nice gear and leave me with a pair of HE400i’s and Truthear Zero’s and I’d still love listening to music just the same. The difference between music and no music is too large to try and use a metric like this.
Huh, we are very different then… I tried out a Stax headphone as a student, my reaction was to stop listening to music for enjoyment because what I could afford just sounded like crap in comparison.
I’m still dipping my toes into cheaper stuff to see if that has changed, and that silver line seems to move down over time, but not that quickly.
If you don’t enjoy music on lesser gear then I feel sorry for you. The person that can’t afford more than a pair of Truthear Zero’s isn’t enjoying their music any less than we are with a piece of high end kit.
This metric is meaningless and all purchase justification. You can afford high end gear so your calculus is completely different than say the person that isn’t able to afford more than a pair of Hexas. You’re here justifying your expensive gear with your concept of diminishing returns saying that you couldn’t enjoy music with lesser gear and the person that stops at the blessing 3 will do exactly the same and say that anything more is a waste of money. People do this all the time on r/headphones.
I say this as a person that will always have at least a pair each of high end headphones and IEM’s on hand.