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Should I or shouldn't I buy... (clothing item)?

Understatesman

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Hard disagree on headphones being 100% about sound quality.

While most people can tell the difference between different tiers ($50 vs $150 vs $250 vs $600+) they don't care enough to make a choice based purely on utility and sound quality within those tiers. They wouldn't even have the language if they wanted to.

I guess what I'm saying is: most people will buy the best-looking headphones for the "good enough" sound quality their budget will afford.

Once you mature a bit you begin to realize saying or writing "most people" anything makes you look like a fool. As if you actually know what "most people" do. Think of it this way: who are you to say "most people"? Are you citing a poll? Have you done some kind of research? Are you a consumer expert?

Opinions, I get. But let's not inflate our sense of knowledge by throwing out "most people" blah blah blah. Fact is, you're just contributing your opinion to a thread without more and less knowledge than others here.

So how do we work around the "most people" tome? Just say "some people really like" blah blah blah or whatever. Same point made, but less grandiose.
 

norsefanboi

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Once you mature a bit you begin to realize saying or writing "most people" anything makes you look like a fool. As if you actually know what "most people" do. Think of it this way: who are you to say "most people"? Are you citing a poll? Have you done some kind of research? Are you a consumer expert?

Opinions, I get. But let's not inflate our sense of knowledge by throwing out "most people" blah blah blah. Fact is, you're just contributing your opinion to a thread without more and less knowledge than others here.

So how do we work around the "most people" tome? Just say "some people really like" blah blah blah or whatever. Same point made, but less grandiose.
counter point: mature people don't evaluate other people's maturedness or lack there of
 

DoubleDouble

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Once you mature a bit you begin to realize saying or writing "most people" anything makes you look like a fool. As if you actually know what "most people" do. Think of it this way: who are you to say "most people"? Are you citing a poll? Have you done some kind of research? Are you a consumer expert?

Opinions, I get. But let's not inflate our sense of knowledge by throwing out "most people" blah blah blah. Fact is, you're just contributing your opinion to a thread without more and less knowledge than others here.

So how do we work around the "most people" tome? Just say "some people really like" blah blah blah or whatever. Same point made, but less grandiose.
Sir, my opinion is that most people
 

domdomdomdom

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I disagree. Would you say the same about sunglasses? Or hats? They both also help protect/enhance your vision (i.e. billed hat in the sun).

Here's me in black Beats Studio 3s, a slim headphone. And wearing some big, bulky white gamer ****. Clearly the Beats wear better.

I too disagree - your headphones do say something about you, not unlike like anything else you might wear (or say, or do). To Verver’s point, that may not necessarily move the needle for some when it comes actually spending money on headphones. It does move the needle for me though. And while I could tell you what headphones I’d like best for me, I’ll instead tell you I’d like your fleeting aestheticized avatar at least a little bit less, crossing paths on the street as strangers, wearing Beats.
 
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Understatesman

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I’ll instead tell you I’d like you at least a little bit less, crossing paths on the street as strangers, if you were wearing Beats.

Thank you for saying that. Can I ask why? Because douchbags have fallen for marketing and buy them en masse? Because you're anti-Apple?

I could care less about the branding, I just want something minimalistic, slim, comfortable (for example the Beats Solo3 suck imho, comfort-wise) and not extruding too much from my head on each side. Before this, I rocked a $30 pair of Skullcandy cheapies for years since I don't even use them that much.
 

domdomdomdom

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Thank you for saying that. Can I ask why? Because douchbags have fallen for marketing and buy them en masse? Because you're anti-Apple?

Years ago, I used to treat headphones in the way I imagine Verver does, based on his post. I took my music listening experience very seriously. When Beats were new, I’d look down on anyone who’d praise the audio quality - I’d see people wearing beats as people who were unwilling to look deeper into their options. And if you weren’t willing to do that for a pair of headphones, what else in life were you settling for? Basically, another person wearing Beats meant that at best, there was one thing we didn’t agree on philosophy/culture wise but probably a lot more.

Eventually, my point of view on headphones was more like DoubleDouble’s - can I really tell that big of a difference between some of the cans I was buying? Maybe in some inane double blind test but if I was handed a pair of headphones with no relative comparison involved, they would treat me just fine.

So the choice basically comes down to, as DoubleDouble said, an arbitrary minimum quality standard and your aesthetic taste (and I guess your budget). I never let go of my dislike for Beats. Before you ask, I hypocritically settle for any number of things in my own life. It’s a case of only focusing on the battles I cared about.
 
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Understatesman

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Huh, so it's a "you" thing then. Interesting. Since I can only hear in mono and won't be gaining any advantages via perceived upgrade in sound quality, it's purely an aesthetic, comfort and durability issue for me. And since I'm pretty light-handed with most things I own I don't imagine breaking them anytime soon.

**** I wear a hearing aid I can stream music too wirelessly anyway and no one would see since it's embedded into my scalp behind my ear. But I still want over-the-ear headphones for whatever damn reason.
 

domdomdomdom

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Exactly a me thing. Any of the arguments I could use to make it a you thing are out the window in your specific won’t-enjoy-the-benefits-anyway case. You did solicit opinions though.
 

Understatesman

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Exactly a me thing. Any of the arguments I could use to make it a you thing are out the window in your specific won’t-enjoy-the-benefits-anyway case. You did solicit opinions though.

I did. Mostly concerning the black and white options, though. Seems like many people prefer black here.
 

oulipien

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And if you weren’t willing to do that for a pair of headphones, what else in life were you settling for?

This is of course an insane way to look at the issue. Not everything is of equal importance, and not even every way to listen to music is of equal importance: maybe these people had each, every last one of them, decided that for walking around where listening conditions aren't great anyway Beats were good enough but they had extremely high-quality setups at home. Or perhaps they had other things to worry about, that they didn't settle for, and just didn't want to spend that much time on headphones once they cleared an initial quality floor. Perhaps they were settling for literally nothing else and Beats were the one area where they compromised.
 

domdomdomdom

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This is of course an insane way to look at the issue. Not everything is of equal importance, and not even every way to listen to music is of equal importance: maybe these people had each, every last one of them, decided that for walking around where listening conditions aren't great anyway Beats were good enough but they had extremely high-quality setups at home. Or perhaps they had other things to worry about, that they didn't settle for, and just didn't want to spend that much time on headphones once they cleared an initial quality floor. Perhaps they were settling for literally nothing else and Beats were the one area where they compromised.

hold up - did you read my whole post? I go on to say I realized my old point of view was very hypocritical (and with that, flawed). It’s how I saw things over a decade ago.
 

Nyarlathotep

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The B&O Form 2 (the originals) are easily the best looking headphones out there:
Bang-Olufsen-Form-2-300x300.jpg
 

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