This all started several weeks ago when a set of trusty earbuds broke on me. When I thought about it, there were things I didn’t love about them (Cambridge Audio ones), so I got some Pixel Buds Pro as I liked the functionality. I was under no illusions about sound quality. They would sound good enough.
Then I started researching.
Then I kept going. And going. Now I’m sitting here with a Mojo Chord 2 DAC and some Sennheiser HD 6XX and Grado SR80s.
I’m now waiting on some Hifiman Anandas arriving today.
Can someone please tell me to stop, because now I’m browsing Aryas. And the Anandas haven’t even arrived.
I know that I get addicted to deep dives on tech. And this is swallowing me.
I’m fully aware of diminishing returns, and I can tell from how you guys talk about listening to music that I don’t have nearly the same sophistication or vocabulary. That said, I hear a clear difference between my Grados and 6XXs.
I expect I’ll hear *some* difference between Ananda and Arya.
But should I spend a few extra hundred to get there? Will Anandas get me a solid upgrade from the HD 6XX (which I like fine). I can’t help chasing better. Or am I just chasing different at this point?
If you have an addictive personality and are prone to FoMo, you should handle that first. That’s just good life advice. If it’s bad, talk to a therapist.
To be very pragmatic, I think that if you slap a set of ZMF suede upgrade pads on your 6XX, and maybe lift the bass and treble a little bit with EQ, you have yourself covered pretty well. You could try the Anandas, but I recommend sending them back when you’ve tried them and enjoy what you already have. Save the money for something substantially different. Hifiman headphones break more often than they should, so those are a dodgy thing to spend money on regardless.
I thin the next step in your “journey” should be to learn to EQ and read and interpret data. This is the way to get a better audio experience and make more educated purchases in the future.