There ya go my friend, first result on Google compares all the main streaming services:

https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/best-music-streaming-service/

My TL;DR is that Spotify is amazing for music discovery but doesn’t offer lossless files, the max quality is 320kbps mp3. Other services are not as good for music discovery or have much smaller libraries (Tidal and Qobuz) but offer lossless.

I do believe most people can tell the difference between lossless and 320 kbps. Maybe not on every track, but on familiar music it’s easy to tell. You might get the free trial of a music service offering lossless (they all have one month free trials) and set quality at various levels to compare for yourself.

Sometimes I wonder whether posts like these are real or high level trolls. This might be the headphone equivalent of the famous Reddit post where a guy claimed to get in trouble for eating dinner with his girlfriend’s family and pretending he didn’t know what potatoes were. Most likely fake but still hilarious.

There was a post last week where someone got to audition the HE-1 and complained that it was “mediocre.” I started typing a response then just closed without saving … not worth the time.

if you figured out a way to do it, what did you do that helped?

I got the Etymotic double-flange tips. Triple flange were unbearable for me and the gray foam got uncomfortable after a while. I can wear double flange all day without discomfort. Obviously the noise attenuation won’t be as high as triple flange.

I wish $679 could end my headphone audio quest …

Congrats on your purchase! I think you may want to do some research into the music quality offered by streaming services to answer your own question. I’m sure that you know lossless file formats offer the highest sound quality, so just pick a streaming service which offers lossless. Spotify does NOT, even in max quality, even in offline mode. Qobuz and Tidal do have lossless files for their entire library. I believe Apple music does as well but never had this service so you can do your own research there.

If you have somewhat esoteric tastes in music, you may find that Qobuz or Tidal do not have all your favorite music. This is a big problem for me since I like foreign music. Spotify seems to have every song ever made, but Qobuz library is limited. So, for many of my songs I just have no choice except Spotify. I accept that because max 320 kbps still sound pretty decent to me on the headphones I use for portable listening. Again, I’m not sure about the library size of Apple Music so that might be a good option for you to investigate.

Amazon Music is a good option which I have used in the past. The library is huge and all in lossless or HD if you use the Amazon Music app. However, Amazon Music does not allow 3rd party streaming devices like Bluesound to stream lossless which really kills its utility for people with a dedicates streaming system like myself.

Nope. I used to be a hardcore objectivist. What happened to change my mind was going from a decent budget DAC (Topping D50) to a really nice DAC (Gungnir multibit) and being able to try them both at my leisure in my home. The D50 was rated as audibly transparent and state of the art, only DAC you’ll ever need by Audio Science Review* but after a few minutes of listening it sounded harsh and colored in comparison with Gungnir.

Another thing that changed my mind was going to shows and hearing the super high end DACs from dCS, Chord, Bricasti, etc.

I do think there are audible differences we don’t know how to meaure yet. I also think expectation bias is real and people fool themselves all the time by thinking the expensive DAC is better.

*I like the meaurement oriented approach of ASR but the site’s continued existence contradicts its own philosophy. If the Topping D50 is audibly transparent and impossible to improve upon why bother to continue testing newer DACs that, according to ASR’s philosophy, cannot possibly sound better than it? Isn’t the D90 a waste of money if D50 is already perfect?

Agree. I also was lucky enough to get a demo as well. The demo unit they had which was basically just a driver in a prototype shell clearly not optimized for best accoustics. But it sounded amazing, just fantastic detail and instrument separation. I noted at the time it was almost as good as my MM-500 system, although that may have been expectation bias.

I really wanted one at the time but the only options were a $1000 Diablo amp and some $1000 IEM which were the only xMEMs products on the market. The creators said the technology was scalable down to affordable earphones and I’m glad that product has finally arrived. I really think the game changer for this tech is active amplification (e.g. wireless earphones). Normal consumers aren’t gonna buy an a special amp for xMEMs - they don’t even know what a headphone amp is. But if the amp is built in, this tech has the potential to catch on and break into the mainstream among non-headphone enthusiasts.

Not a huge deal but the misuse of “end game”. End game is a phrase which originated on headfi when dinosaurs roamed the earth (before 2010 …) and it meant a setup so good you couldn’t possibly want more.

I see posters on here regularly who try two or three modestly priced headphones, keep one, and declare it their “end game”. That’s not endgame, it’s just a headphone you can afford and like enough to not sell it within a week of buying. Its like if I test-drove a 2024 Civic and Corolla, bought the Civic, and then posted on r/cars “well that’s it bois, I found my end-game car the Civic, I’m out of the car game forever, much peace and love to those of you still chasing the endgame.”

This is an irrational fear. Think about how many people fly every day. Do you really believe all of them suffer permanent hearing loss every time they fly?

According to NIOSH studies it IS possible you may be exposed to dangerous noise levels without hearing protection on a trans ocean flight. Emphasis on maybe. Noise level in cabin is 80-85 db during flight. Maximum safe exposure time at 85db is 8 hours a day. So pretty much any form of active or passive noise attenuation, just a few dbs, is going to take you into the safe zone. Just get any IEMS that seal the ear canal any earplugs, any noise cancelling headphones and you should be good.

Purchasing expensive headphones just for one flight is a sign of an unhealthy obsession and irrational fear IMO.