Would have REALLY liked to see them listen to songs of their own choice, along with the controlled ones. Every time I've tried to show friends audio stuff, they're never impressed until they hear something that they love and they've heard before. Loved the video either way!
I always do this too, show something to my friends/family that they've listened to many, many times. And then after knocking their socks off, I show them a song that really uses the headphones to the fullest. My favorite part though is whenever they listen to a song they have heard frequently, on good headphones. They notice an instrument they've never known was there and say "it's like I am listening to it for the first time."
That makes sense. Because if you listen to something you're familiar with, then you have a reference point of how you know it sounds on other systems. If you then hear it on something that's more revealing than what you are used to, you'll immediately recognize the better sound quality. But with an unfamiliar song, you have no idea what it 'supposed' to sound like or how well it was recorded. So you might still think it sound 'alright', but how good it really is, is difficult to judge without this reference point.
I agree, the listener needs music that is familiar to them. When I show people the few headphones I have, I use my FiiO BTR5 and sync to their phone so it is their music library that they're listening to.
@@bathynomusgiganteus2916 that's not tone deafness. They just cannot tell the difference between high quality sound and mediocre one. Tone deafness is the inability to play rhythm in your head.
Audiophiles aren't normal people. If somebody would sell you better "air" for your listening room so the sound waves transfer better to the ears we'd buy it.
@@jn01996 wish you the best too. I meant not everybody has a nice family. If someone came and express his good will about sombody elses family, doesn't need to be pointed out if his own isn't great. Didn't mean to be rude, sorry if I was.
@@funcionyforma Not at all it's a valuable comment from your side. I wasn't trying to point out that his family wasn't good I was just trying to sympathise with him in case if he wasn't as lucky as the author of the video. After all not everyone can afford to have a great family. Have a wonderful day!
I was expecting one to be more budget like the Sundara to make an appearance against these more high priced headphones. Especially when more casual listener will drop Sundara money on Sony WH and Beats headphones.
Beats Solo Pro's on the go, HE4XX's on a Schiit stack at home :) I love hifi, but the convenience of those more mainstream units on the go is worth the reduction in sound quality. Can't really appreciate nice hifi stuff when I'm not home anyway. Not enough piece and quiet for that :p
Wireless/Noise canceling is the name of the game for most casual listeners. I think sundara would fly off the shelf, if somehow they managed the “open” sounds stage and detail with wireless/noise canceling tech at $350!
completely missed out on the comparison to "consumer" headphones and also enthusiast headphones like 560s or something. Would have liked them to also listen to their music of choice and in the end let them decide which one they liked the most. (including like AKG361, Sony XM4, 6xx and then HIFI or similar)
honestly yeah.. maybe make them try 5 headphones of different styles and price calibre (i dunno about IEMs that might be weird)... lets say random idea... keep the abyss and maybe the focals, but also add in stuff like the AKG K361, the sundaras, and the 6XX.. so we have open and closed back dynamics and planars that have different usages
So relatable ! Its a bittersweet experience because Im glad I can appreciate these nuances of sound with such joy, but literally nobody cares lol. Even after several months, my headphones make me smile Me: 'Wowww the vocalist on this song is so intense! They have a larger than life presence and the instruments have awesome attack and decay!" Friend: "Sounds nice"
i like how calm they are knowing the prices of each meanwhile everyone around me are always like "wuuut!? that's absurd" after hearing the price of my hifiman He400se...
Its all about disposable income. I know several people who don't want to even touch a set of arya as well as a several more who wouldn't even blink if they found out the cost of a susvara chain
@@eskamobob8662 that's true since for me and people around me, $100 is already a lot which is why people always complain to me when they ask for how much the Tin T3 when i first got it
@@canIhavethishandle fair enough. it could be that and they're already expecting high prices considering they hit close to the actual prices but could also be the difference on what's considered to be on the expensive side since for where i live, those are on the 'absurd' category and not just expensive
Joshua's family probably have some understanding of what he does for a living, maybe even seen a video or two just to learn about one of their family members
It's interesting how each of them value something different from the headphones! Russ appreciates the Tuning more, how balanced and present the different frequency ranges are. Jason appreciates Technical ability, like Resolution ("Clear" and "Detailed"), Transients ("Speed", like how "Fast" a headphone is and can accurately represent quick changes in frequency), and to a lesser extent Imaging (Soundstage, and how 3D and positional the sound is), while he also appreciates good Bass Extension. Sam is harder to place, she likes everything overall. Imaging is really important, she wants to feel like she's there or in a movie theater, and she likes good Tuning too, she wants the frequencies to be represented well and sound real. It's so cool!
Russ seems highly analytical and intelligent with how he articulates his thoughts so well. Other two gave great examples on what they individually value out of a headphone. One of your best videos by far!!!
The first thing I noticed is none of them had any kind of "Wow!" reaction. You know when someone is truly impressed because they can't hide that instantaneous first reaction. No one had that in this video. That surprised me because I figured that at least one of the headphones you chose would stand out.
I think Jason was truly impressed by the Hifiman. But yes, I remember when I got to a RicherSounds store to buy some Sony earbuds, and the guy there diligently convinced me to instead take a pair of Klipsch x10 IEMs that were at a very good discount price. The rest is history.
@@jpcfernandes - Jason liked the dynamics of planar magnetics, their clarity and imaging. He wasn't put off by lack of bass punch of planar magnetics. He also surmised their "open" nature (open back distinctios like hearing external sounds). Sam enjoyed the bass punch of the Focal dynamic headphones. Russ seemed pretty good at analysing various components like imagaging, difference in bass, mid, and treble response, as well as build quality. All 3 got the cost in proper order from cheapest to most expensive and were suprisingly close at assigning a price.
I think this video also demonstrates the difference in age groups when it comes what they value, older people observations on good build quality and longevity may come from seeing how back in their day, products lasting a lot longer
I'd have included some Sennhieser hd600 because they are well known on most hifi forums as being very neutral, accurate and linear compared to other headphones.
This was an awesome idea for a video! I think there should have been a wider range of headphones - from SHP9600, HD58x, Sundara, up to Diana v2 range. These were all pretty premium headphones right out of the gate.
First time I tried on the ARIAs, I almost cried listening to my mix. Seeing people so chill with these super high end stuff makes me think they should try some consumer headphones right after just to have a basis for comparison.
First time I tried my new Beyer DT1990 I listened to a Jonsi song (Shiver) I’ve heard 1000 x before and the “new” mix/quality brought me to literal tears.
Oh i got my OnePlus Buds Z2 a month ago (Ik not at all audiophile league but bear with me here) and when i first listened to one of my bass heavy tracks, i almost cried, they sounded miles better than the samsung in-ear buds i used for like 5 years. If you have the listening skills a better device can really change the experience.
@Ritik Srivastava I think the reason they didn't have much of a reaction is because they weren't listing to their own music. I think It makes a big difference if you're listening to something you've heard before because it just sounds new and you hear things you never did before which is why if I have someone try a new pair that I got I have them pick their favorite song, it just gets much more of an emotional response!
I think this was a really well done video! One criticism I have though is the lack of comparison with these to low end headphones. For me, when I first put on my hd58x's through the dac I bought, I was like "this sound pretty good, but it's still the same music I'm used to" but then I when I listened to my earbuds that I used previously, I realized there was no way for me to go back. The contrast is what made me appreciate high end audio, not listening to the high end stuff in isolation
The fella in the red flannel has definitely listened to hifi headphones before. He was using all the right terms and described it like he did that for a living.
Car audio shares similar terms as well as home audio, he did mention car audio and knowing of focal from that product line specifically sooooo, def not the hifi headphone side but probably closely related interests
Oh, what a delight-this was so wholesome and fun! And I’d love to see more videos like this anytime. And not to take away from how great this video was already, but I thought that I might toss out a couple of ideas in case you were to do this again? • Maybe you could mic yourself as well? When your family is on screen, they sounded great, but when you offered comments from off screen, you could kinda tell that you were just being picked up from the on-camera mic? • Maybe you could ask each listener pick a couple of their favorite songs beforehand-just to ensure that they’re each listening to tracks that they know really, really well?
@@MrGrosMamouth I’d venture to guess that Josh was probably no more than a meter or two from his subject in each of the shots. And if you were to have been in the room with them, each of their voices probably would’ve sounded the same to your ears (rather than the guest’s voice sounding clear and Josh’s voice being a skosh reverberant).
@@handcoding You are probably right. I can’t put my finger on why, but I liked it this way. Maybe it’s the sound perspective? But I agree with you that a louder voice would have been better.
@@MrGrosMamouth I like it that way too, it puts them in the spotlight and shows their different roles. Josh is the observer who only steers the interview a little, and they are the "stars of the show" if you will. Makes it seem like he isn't in control of their opinions. At least that's how I feel watching this. I'm sure it's a very deliberate stylistic choice
It's nice to see the Valour family. I wonder if they listened to songs straight out of the iPhone or did they listen from a nice DAC/AMP combo. I like how different "generations" of the family liked different headphones.
Your dad seems like the sort of guy with a bit of time learning the ins and outs of the hobby would actually be pretty good at giving reviews, he was very analytical.
This ably demonstrates just how personal hifi preferences are. Whilst some products might be technically "better", it doesn't necessarily translate into something that people prefer. It also shows to me how important it is to demo hifi products at a good retailer, rather than just read other people's reviews and then buy it online and hope for the best.
The more you pay the more screaming you get from them Pads better quality Material inside earcup works out some distortion in midrange DT900 Pro X best beyers imo besides the fact they all trash I took them from my store for a test during drive to home, they never got into my house I left them in my car
Fantastic idea. A shame we did not get a budget headphone (Sennheiser HD58X?) in the mix and also a mainstream Sony/Beats/Skullcandy/Insert-Any-Other, it would have been interesting to see a price to value comparison in that case.
So much fun. All 3 were great at describing their experience, and explaining what they liked. It just shows how subjective sound is. An episode like this with less priced headphones and with IEMs would be fun.
I remember the first time I used my DT1990s. Fucking blew my mind coming from the M50x and K7xx. I forgot what DAC/Amp I tested it with. It was a Mojo something. First song I listened to was 1-900-Hustler. I didn’t want to dive too deep into the Hobby. Maybe after I purchase my first home.
My first decent headphones were the shp9500 and the difference from gaming headphones are huge, and now I'm eyeing the Sundaras next but I might wait a bit more lol.
@@zephskiee5395 "modded" as in the pads I'm assuming? But yeah I have the portapros and KSC's with the yaxi pads and definitely agree that they're great!
So glad to see an established reviewer go through this process with engaging, willing guests! Thanks family members! I will admit, I wish an entry mid tier option was included (say Sundara or 6xx), since that’s a price range many can relate to, but still great to see. It’s important we make sure to ground ourselves occasionally to see we really are focusing heavily on say 20% of the audio experience or gear potential, and much of the hobby is subjective.
Hi there Josh, First of all I was super excited to watch this video just from the title itself! Secondly, the persons in the video must be your sister (Same colors as you ) , your brother (that voice!+Arya love) and the last gentleman must be your father who truly impressed me with his excellent notices and his best in class price guessing 👌 Amazing video that's all I have to say , the honesty and notices of people not familiar with such equipment is very interesting because you hear unexpected things that just put a smile on your face.
This was cute and very good. Would love to see this as a series. Different people, different headphones. Perhaps an all-closed or all-open shoot out? Dynamic vs planar? The things that matter to people who care . . . but are they discernible to people who don't?
It's interesting to see a couple of them pick up on (im guessing) dynamics of the headphones. Where they felt the Elex was a bit more engaging in the bass specifically. I know it has a slightly elevated bass but not by much and that punch quality is what stuck out to them.
What a wonderful family! So relatable and honestly, so much more authentic than any number of "pro" reviewers. I understood exactly what each one was trying to describe. 👌👍
Great video! Everyday folk rating products in their point of view and how they hear it. No big fancy explanations and overgrown journalist words. Im amazed at how close they were with the pricing on these. Many people have no idea how far this market reaches in cost. So thats impressive. Well done
Interesting how the more “budget friendly” models received a better overall response from Sam, Jason & Russ then the OTT models for sound. But the more expensive models seem to receive a better build and lightness, weight wise, compared to the cheaper models. 👍🤯 Me personally, Im sensitive to weight on my head and don’t like heat encased leather/leatherette ear cuffs and much enjoy lighter and airy headphones 🎧🥰👍
Jason straight up could start his own yt channel. Great voice and even without experience in hifi he was pretty articulate in expressing his own feelings. Charisma is there as well. Russ bringing up wisdom ;) Great video.
That was a cool social experiment, it was interesting to see them mature and develop their audio reviewer's vocabulary. This takes me back to reading copies of Stereo Review and Stereophile and trying to decipher all the terms they were using, it does take a while to be able to put what you are hearing into words, it can be hard to explain the feeling you have when listening to music.
Great idea on the video Josh. A great example that sound is very subjective as each family member liked a different model. I think all headphones are overpriced for what they are. I also agree with Sam, I'd never spend $3,000 on a pair of headphones. The cost to performance just isn't there IMO.
They are def good, but you are right. The value proposition is in one two places depending on who you are, you either want like 200-500 is a decent price to performance, ex something like the he400 up to the sundaras. The other good value spot is like 0-50 this is where having something is better than nothing, and more importantly you get all stars like the lower end koss models.
I think a lot of us in the hifi audio community frequently forget that music isn't a huge deal to some people. Hell, I have a few friends who just... *don't* listen to music. I think the greater your appreciation and interest of music is, the more profound the effect of listening through high-quality audio gear.
It's really cool to see how their preferences won the day, and that's what we do 😄 (or should do). The first person, clearly picked the Elex, clearly she really liked the bass, staging, and namely, I feel she was explaining as best she could, the dynamics (Focal usually presents). The 2nd, he in an intelligently deciphering way, ended up picking what he felt to him presented and had the better clarity, detail, and seemingly the immersion he got, from the Arya. The 3rd, he then went on and picked what appeared to be the overall refinement given and separation and distinction of instruments he experienced, and the undoubted quality of feel, the abyss gave him.
The most expensive set of cans I've tried and owned was around 400 dollars. Maybe a tad more than that. Owned like 30-50 pairs of mid-fi over ear, open-back headphones from around 150-400 dollars. Of the most popular ones available throughout the years. Then I tried a pair of Porta Pro and KSC75, and sold everything else. Those mid-fi cans now just feels like Snake Oil! I'm thinking the same is true with the really expensive ones. Just what I believe, but I've never tried truly expensive cans. :D
I loved Russ' technical evaluation on the various different aspects. Love these beginner friendly videos to introduce others into the basics of high quality audio. Great stuff
Great video! Very cool idea and nice people! One little thing: wish you had randomized the order to make that test more natural. Would have loved to see how they would have ranked each pair of headphones price-wise... Great video though
It’s what it’s worth to you . Most people have music as something on in the background. The cost of the cheapest headphone is comparable to what most people would spend on their ENTIRE audio chain . But nice to hear that “regular” people can appreciate good music on nice gear. Unfortunately, I suspect most people have traded in fidelity for convenience. Nice video 🍻
Nice reactions, nice video. My guess is that all tracks (why do we call a piece or track a song when there is no singing in it?) stemmed from electronic mastering. This records different instruments/voices in separate tracks and later mixes these multi-track recordings down to stereo. In such a process, generally, the soundstage is built through the use of some sort of "panoramic potentiometer" (pan-pot) that distributes one source track at different volumes across left right and in the process, soundstage depth is simulated by making the individual sources louder or softer than the other ones. Essentially, "phase" and "coloration" differences are missing in the end result. In order to play this back really well, you need proper micro-dynamics at all playback levels (assuming the mastering went perfect). If you record live music in an acoustic space with two perfect microphones placed perfectly, then you get this "phase" information and the soundstage can be crystal clear, if the space and recording were, or the recording can be muddied if the original performance and space were like that (with proper "phase", the perfect wave shape becomes a serious requirement too). And the amount of space in the playback depends on microphone placement and type of microphone. If you go back to RCA "Living Stereo" recordings of the 50s/60s, you'll find these got made in this way with two microphones into one track each (plain stereo) or in some cases they used three microphones into three tracks (one each). In a way, this disqualifies all electronic music (instruments) that got recorded directly from output to input. When multi-track recording got to 24 or 48 tracks (on 2" wide tape studio recorders), this led to symphonies being recorded with as many microphones. In the end result, you can hear all the instruments clearly, but the "soundstage" is an awful mess and I cannot listen to that. Play a proper acoustic recording of Hector Berlioz's "Symphonie Fantastique" and "see" if the oboe playing the answer to the call of the English horn (AKA cor anglais, originally called "angelic horn" - in the third movement of the symphony) is heard to be "off stage" and more "remote" (and this starts with the questions if the recording engineer did a good job in the case the orchestra and its conductor did a good job as well). Note that people's listening abilities are the result of learning, or training the brain. We start learning the melodies of our language before birth already and this is reflected in crying spurts of babies. Learning also applies to our abilities to identify instruments (class level, say violin) or even individual instruments (this Steinway D from that Steinway D). And we also need to train our brains for spatial clues. Our hearing is much faster than our visual system and at shorter distances makes for faster reflexes (e.g. in flight). The ear is not a single wire single membrane microphone but a 20,000 "tuned" or "filtered" neurons per ear wave shape analysis system that has perfect phase identification physics. As the brain has a small fraction of neurons with "electrical" synapses with extremely low latency, I hypothesize these are related to the spatial clues in our hearing (most synapses rely on electro-chemical signal transfers). Or, before you buy a couple thousand currencies worth of high end headphones, cables and amplification, maybe you should spend a couple thousand currencies on going to live acoustic music concerts (to train the brain). (check out "Immersive Sound: The Art and Science of Binaural and Multi-Channel Audio". Edited by Agnieszka Roginska, Paul Geluso - search Google for "berlioz symphonie fantastique off-stage echo")
This was a very cool video, Josh. I really like your family. More out-there stuff like this in the future, please. It really is a breath of fresh air to see something light-hearted from such a professional reviewer as yourself. Really good stuff, mate!
Would have been interesting to throw some ‘cheap’ headphones in the mix to see if they could tell the difference. Also would have been useful if the actual price was listed on screen while they were guessing at prices.
This one was made really, really well. I would love to know more about your methodology on the testing but at the same time, I like that we don't really have to know everything to understand where everyone's opinion is coming from. Just like some of the other comments here, I think it would be more interesting if the participants could bring their own headphones for comparison and maybe listen to their own choice of music as well. Either way, I really like this one. Keep up the good work. Super Crisp video.
I'm wondering if they didn't 'secretly' watch some of Josh's videos. It would makes sense that they've at least watched some of them, giving them an indication on what they should focus on, when listening to different headphones.
I suspect they knew the rough pricing of hi end gear from knowing you, because very few, non-audiophiles, people would guess that there's even such a thing as a 500+$ headphones. Honestly it would have been more entertaining to have them see the difference, between the shit headphones they're used to to even cheap-ish decent headphones in the 80-150$ range.
This was absolutely by far the most refreshing video I have ever watched regarding headphones. It was real people giving honest opinions. EVERY other video to date is someone trying to come up with adjectives that better describe something you eat opposed to something you hear. I am tired of people describing the complexity of headphones like it was Coq Au Vin that was prepared by Alain Passard ! Do they sound good to my ears or not ! WELL DONE SIR !
Great idea, excellent presentation. It was fun, I thought and brings to our hobby a sense of perspective. Your alert and perceptive family members were/are very likeable. It takes courage to be on test, so to speak, in a public presentation and I am appreciative. Thank you and your family.
This only solidifies the fact that everyone has different tastes and it just shows even on a “blind test” on pricing, the more expensive doesn’t mean the “best” for certain preferences.
@@sudd3660 not all the time, preferences and tastes still goes a long way in this hobby. All of these headphones have different tunings as well and that goes well with certain genres and music tastes of the listener. Obviously having more knowledge about what is good is nice to have, you can’t love a headphone that was tuned the opposite of what your preferences are even if it’s the more expensive one.
This was my favorite video from your channel. The best part about being an audiophile for me is trying to make things more accessible so I can share them with my friends and family. Seeing their reactions to different sound signatures (even if they strongly disagree with my preferences) is nothing short of magic. I live for this stuff. Great idea for a video, keep up the great work !
This was such a cute video and I enjoyed it! Hopefully you'll revisit this concept and make some of the changes that have been recommended by others in the comments.
I wonder what Josh told them before on what criteria they're supposed to judge the Headphones on, bcs i feel that that has turned out pretty well and they were able to form their opinions sufficiently for people who are not into the hobby. The video was quite long though, i could imagine a lot of people who are not regular viewers of this channel that could be attracted by the theme of the video, might not watch this through to the end. Them guessing the prices and saying which their favorites were, i could imagine is what most people only want to hear about.
I enjoyed that, Jason reminded me of when I first started, each time I got something better, I could rationalize paying more. This audiophile journey is addictive 😍 Audiophile Anonymous, I think I'm in denial 😅 Later.
0:46 is it just okay to cover it with your hair when you wear headphones as a girl? there's no difference when you move out your hair from your ears? I do see a lot of girls wearing headphones like this. won't it be like a different sound?
I'm impressed how close their guesses were for the prices. I don't think I would have guessed it so well if I didn't already know about many headphone prices.
This video proved nothing but the Fact that *Everone has a Different perception of music* as well as that every headphone is better and worst for a certain music genre :) Also that we REEEEALLY need for the Pandemic to go away,so people are able to go to the stores and Properly LISTEN to multiple pairs before they able to pick one that Really fits the style of music they prefer to listen...as well as overall suits their music perception. *Thank you Josh for this curious experiment.I strongly belive that such Are Needed,in order for people to have a proof of everyone's feel and understanding of music is DIFFERENT..because belive it or not - there are a LOT of folks today who doesn't really belives this and they Actually thinking that *everyone has the exact same understanding and feel of music and that 1 Great headphones for ONE person,would Undoubtedly mean that it will be AS GREAT for the other person* ,which ubviously not true and videos like This One ☝ is a live proof of that. Ones again Thanks a Lot Josh.
@@brad_wilson I only know 2 stores that haD a Very High End headphones and overall an Audio equipment here in Toronto,but *Both of them Still got their doors Closed and moved their businesses Online* which is Sucks.. cuz in my opinion,it is Very Important for anyone to be able to put their hands on the Demo models,to have a better understanding of if the item is For Them or Not.
@@brad_wilson Up the road from you guys in Seattle :) In Vancouver BC we have a brick and mortar store HeadphoneBar that had all demos to listen to from mid-fi to flagship models but the pandemic forced them to close the store but have a strong online presence. Hopefully with the recent lifting of restrictions they will open up again. I agree that one needs to demo live and compare as much as possible.
This is like having people who don't drink wine taste between cheap and ultra expensive wines, their answer would be eh this one is a little bit better. Learning to appreciate music and sound takes time, training and interest.
I've learned that high-end headphones are a lot like specialty coffee...for the ordinary person with no experience or proper context, it's very challenging for them to truly conceptualize what the differences are. Also just like coffee, everyone has a personal taste therefore no one hifi headphone/specialty coffee is gonna be the right one for every person.
Nice video, your family did great. I kept waiting for one of them to mention the intimate presentation vs the sense of space. They were so close to saying it.
Not really. People find other ways to blow money (I own a Diana V2) on other things like girlfriends, cars, coffee (drugs), etc. That usually adds up way more than $3k on headphones you can always sell and get 2/3 of your cash back.
Great video. Would be cool to have an everyday user listen to random low budget, mid, budget, and hi budget headphones to see if they can pick out which one is the most expensive.
I've been having friends over to try out my Arya's. They're all used to Beats, and assume that Apple Airpods and/or Bose are "High end" xD. The first reaction is always "these headphones look RIDICULOUS", then I have them listen to a song of my choice, then a song of their choosing. Wish I would've recorded their facial reactions =). I ended up giving my Hd6xx to a buddy of mine who fell in love with the Arya's, as well as my hd58x and 4xx to 2 other blokes that enjoyed the experience. I like to think that I can slowly create audiophile addicts one step at a time. Oh, and I DEFINITELY wish I could've recorded their reactions to the price of the Arya's xD.
That was a great video! This is your best video so far! Very refreshing. VS listening to 'Audiophiles' who insist that their current, super expensive FOTM is the best ever because it must be because it cost them like $4k. Your family were super good at guessing which ones were more expensive too. I think it is great that they all liked a different one. Because we all like different headphones. And just because they cost more does not mean they will sound better to you. I have heard most TOTL headphones including Susvara ($6k) & LCD-5 ($4.5k) etc and my two favorites LCD-XC ($1300) and E-MU Teak ($500) cost far less. Thank you for the great video.
Great video. Shows how spending more doesn't mean a thing. It's all personal preference. I have Sennheiser HD 700. Really like them even though a lot of ppl didn't. But I like a lot of sharp highs. Thank you for your time.
i gave my brother M50s and that impressed him.. i showed him ONE lossless song he knows very well with my dac and he was like "I'm hearing stuff i different hear before." specifically about how good the drums are
The younger guy has a great presence. Awesome confidence and well spoken. He should have a TH-cam page. And I don't know if its just me but i think he just may have be converted to a Hifiman fan :) I own the Hifiman Ananda and they blow me away time after time. I am dying to hear the Arya, OG and Stealth.
Great video, great family! Every expirement participant has argumented opinion and very good presentation of it. Wish there will be more of them on the channel!
![If you can't hear this then you're not an audiophile [See description for link to followup video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/48PxwspDvrE/mqdefault.jpg)
Would have REALLY liked to see them listen to songs of their own choice, along with the controlled ones. Every time I've tried to show friends audio stuff, they're never impressed until they hear something that they love and they've heard before. Loved the video either way!
I always do this too, show something to my friends/family that they've listened to many, many times. And then after knocking their socks off, I show them a song that really uses the headphones to the fullest. My favorite part though is whenever they listen to a song they have heard frequently, on good headphones. They notice an instrument they've never known was there and say "it's like I am listening to it for the first time."
Every time I show people cans. "Needs more 🐟"
That makes sense. Because if you listen to something you're familiar with, then you have a reference point of how you know it sounds on other systems. If you then hear it on something that's more revealing than what you are used to, you'll immediately recognize the better sound quality. But with an unfamiliar song, you have no idea what it 'supposed' to sound like or how well it was recorded. So you might still think it sound 'alright', but how good it really is, is difficult to judge without this reference point.
@@turbo2092 Spot on. If you don't do it this way they don't get it.
I agree, the listener needs music that is familiar to them. When I show people the few headphones I have, I use my FiiO BTR5 and sync to their phone so it is their music library that they're listening to.
audiophiles are like wine scavenger, they forgot that sometimes people just want to get drunk.
Audiophiles listen to the equipment, not the music!
@@andrewhaines3259 audiophiles dont use their equipment to listen to music. They use the music to listen to their equipment😂
@@andrewhaines3259 mfs spend 10k on a balanced setup only to listen to anime music
Then again, if you "just want to get drunk", wine is a horrible choice.
@@Case_ which is exactly why companies like beats make a killing.
"sounds like my samsung earbud"
Audiophiles: *dead*
This made me chuckle.
Dead
AHAHAHA i have 2 friends which don't distinguish anything, just if the bud/phone is playing or not. It's SO frustrating to me to hear it.
@@MTheoOA tone deafness
@@bathynomusgiganteus2916 that's not tone deafness. They just cannot tell the difference between high quality sound and mediocre one. Tone deafness is the inability to play rhythm in your head.
Is Russ a structural or mechanical engineer by chance? His takes on build quality were absolutely on point.
Was about to ask the same thing. Talks about points of failure and build quality.
Not to be a boomer but he's from a generation that didn't change their phones every year lol
@@raksh9 No, you weren't.
@@kennymccormick8295 uh huh
I was also thinking the same thing. Some sort of engineering probably mechanical
"Normal People Try HIFI Headphones"
implying that audiophiles are not normal people
Accurate. 👌
Audiophiles are junkies
Can't have enough. Always needs better and better
Yass..
We’re just retarded enough
Audiophiles aren't normal people. If somebody would sell you better "air" for your listening room so the sound waves transfer better to the ears we'd buy it.
@@akdomun Considering many people buy insanely priced cables and pretend to hear a difference, you're right.
Your father glows with wisdom, every word is well chosen and his own train of thought is explained in a way that is easy to understand.
YES BOW DOWN TO THE MASTER
@@PuppetMasterdaath144 wtf lol
How do you know that’s not his brother? Ha
What a wholesome family, man. I'm actually jealous. They seem to be great people to be around.
Does your family doesn't make you feel like they are great people to be around? I feel sorry for you if that's the case...
@@jn01996 such an unconsidered thing to say
@@funcionyforma wish you all the best
@@jn01996 wish you the best too. I meant not everybody has a nice family. If someone came and express his good will about sombody elses family, doesn't need to be pointed out if his own isn't great.
Didn't mean to be rude, sorry if I was.
@@funcionyforma Not at all it's a valuable comment from your side. I wasn't trying to point out that his family wasn't good I was just trying to sympathise with him in case if he wasn't as lucky as the author of the video. After all not everyone can afford to have a great family. Have a wonderful day!
old man's got the freshest shirt.
A lot of obese people too. Is that normal these days 😳
@@chamade166 wtf does that have anything to do with his shirt?
Doesn't he remind you of Saruman?
Agreed, although I am biased as one of my favourite shirts is very similar if not the same. Have it on in my pfp rn
@@chamade166 where?
I was expecting one to be more budget like the Sundara to make an appearance against these more high priced headphones. Especially when more casual listener will drop Sundara money on Sony WH and Beats headphones.
Beats Solo Pro's on the go, HE4XX's on a Schiit stack at home :) I love hifi, but the convenience of those more mainstream units on the go is worth the reduction in sound quality. Can't really appreciate nice hifi stuff when I'm not home anyway. Not enough piece and quiet for that :p
Wireless/Noise canceling is the name of the game for most casual listeners. I think sundara would fly off the shelf, if somehow they managed the “open” sounds stage and detail with wireless/noise canceling tech at $350!
@@computer1up yeah. When im running, im not concentrated in the quality of the sound
@@computer1up I never leave the house without my xDSD for decent sound on the go, screw ANC :)
@@xiztrn Fiio UTWS3 paired with Legacy 2, for me. Hifi on the go! 😎
completely missed out on the comparison to "consumer" headphones and also enthusiast headphones like 560s or something.
Would have liked them to also listen to their music of choice and in the end let them decide which one they liked the most. (including like AKG361, Sony XM4, 6xx and then HIFI or similar)
honestly yeah.. maybe make them try 5 headphones of different styles and price calibre (i dunno about IEMs that might be weird)... lets say random idea... keep the abyss and maybe the focals, but also add in stuff like the AKG K361, the sundaras, and the 6XX.. so we have open and closed back dynamics and planars that have different usages
Probably saving it for a follow up vid
He said in another comment that they also listened to music of their choice, but I agree that a lower price headphone would be nice.
He did, it's mixtape
Meanwhile my family and friends just reply: "Yea, sounds good" lol. Great review mate.
Yeah haha I have given up trying to "amaze" anyone since that is neeeever the case
So relatable ! Its a bittersweet experience because Im glad I can appreciate these nuances of sound with such joy, but literally nobody cares lol. Even after several months, my headphones make me smile
Me: 'Wowww the vocalist on this song is so intense! They have a larger than life presence and the instruments have awesome attack and decay!"
Friend: "Sounds nice"
have another beer ❤
@@tharun7290Then please tell me the headphones you’re using!
i like how calm they are knowing the prices of each meanwhile everyone around me are always like "wuuut!? that's absurd" after hearing the price of my hifiman He400se...
Its all about disposable income. I know several people who don't want to even touch a set of arya as well as a several more who wouldn't even blink if they found out the cost of a susvara chain
i think because Joshua told em about what the video about so they didnt seemed as shocked as people who dont know the context
@@eskamobob8662 that's true since for me and people around me, $100 is already a lot which is why people always complain to me when they ask for how much the Tin T3 when i first got it
@@canIhavethishandle fair enough. it could be that and they're already expecting high prices considering they hit close to the actual prices but could also be the difference on what's considered to be on the expensive side since for where i live, those are on the 'absurd' category and not just expensive
Joshua's family probably have some understanding of what he does for a living, maybe even seen a video or two just to learn about one of their family members
But where’s the control of a consumer headphone?
Yeah shouldve had a Beats by Dre in there
@@generalqwer 😱
generalqwer my man you didn’t have to do em like that
It's interesting how each of them value something different from the headphones! Russ appreciates the Tuning more, how balanced and present the different frequency ranges are. Jason appreciates Technical ability, like Resolution ("Clear" and "Detailed"), Transients ("Speed", like how "Fast" a headphone is and can accurately represent quick changes in frequency), and to a lesser extent Imaging (Soundstage, and how 3D and positional the sound is), while he also appreciates good Bass Extension. Sam is harder to place, she likes everything overall. Imaging is really important, she wants to feel like she's there or in a movie theater, and she likes good Tuning too, she wants the frequencies to be represented well and sound real. It's so cool!
Russ seems highly analytical and intelligent with how he articulates his thoughts so well. Other two gave great examples on what they individually value out of a headphone. One of your best videos by far!!!
The first thing I noticed is none of them had any kind of "Wow!" reaction. You know when someone is truly impressed because they can't hide that instantaneous first reaction. No one had that in this video. That surprised me because I figured that at least one of the headphones you chose would stand out.
My thoughts exactly. I still have this Wow effect almost every day when I put my Grados on my ears.
That's what makes us audiophiles
@@atomka2433 That's when you know for certain you made the right choice. Same for me with my UM Mest (and DX220 DAP, since it plays a large part)
I think Jason was truly impressed by the Hifiman. But yes, I remember when I got to a RicherSounds store to buy some Sony earbuds, and the guy there diligently convinced me to instead take a pair of Klipsch x10 IEMs that were at a very good discount price. The rest is history.
@@jpcfernandes - Jason liked the dynamics of planar magnetics, their clarity and imaging. He wasn't put off by lack of bass punch of planar magnetics. He also surmised their "open" nature (open back distinctios like hearing external sounds).
Sam enjoyed the bass punch of the Focal dynamic headphones.
Russ seemed pretty good at analysing various components like imagaging, difference in bass, mid, and treble response, as well as build quality.
All 3 got the cost in proper order from cheapest to most expensive and were suprisingly close at assigning a price.
I think this video also demonstrates the difference in age groups when it comes what they value, older people observations on good build quality and longevity may come from seeing how back in their day, products lasting a lot longer
I'd have included some Sennhieser hd600 because they are well known on most hifi forums as being very neutral, accurate and linear compared to other headphones.
This was an awesome idea for a video! I think there should have been a wider range of headphones - from SHP9600, HD58x, Sundara, up to Diana v2 range. These were all pretty premium headphones right out of the gate.
That would expose too much.
First time I tried on the ARIAs, I almost cried listening to my mix. Seeing people so chill with these super high end stuff makes me think they should try some consumer headphones right after just to have a basis for comparison.
First time I tried my new Beyer DT1990 I listened to a Jonsi song (Shiver) I’ve heard 1000 x before and the “new” mix/quality brought me to literal tears.
Wow lol, that's hilarious. Not in a good way.
@@WhosThatItsNoOne hahaha what the heck
Oh i got my OnePlus Buds Z2 a month ago (Ik not at all audiophile league but bear with me here) and when i first listened to one of my bass heavy tracks, i almost cried, they sounded miles better than the samsung in-ear buds i used for like 5 years. If you have the listening skills a better device can really change the experience.
@Ritik Srivastava I think the reason they didn't have much of a reaction is because they weren't listing to their own music. I think It makes a big difference if you're listening to something you've heard before because it just sounds new and you hear things you never did before which is why if I have someone try a new pair that I got I have them pick their favorite song, it just gets much more of an emotional response!
I think this was a really well done video! One criticism I have though is the lack of comparison with these to low end headphones. For me, when I first put on my hd58x's through the dac I bought, I was like "this sound pretty good, but it's still the same music I'm used to" but then I when I listened to my earbuds that I used previously, I realized there was no way for me to go back. The contrast is what made me appreciate high end audio, not listening to the high end stuff in isolation
Seriously great video man!
good to see you here!
The fella in the red flannel has definitely listened to hifi headphones before. He was using all the right terms and described it like he did that for a living.
Sounds like he's into speakers from his comment about car audio, but not so much headphones.
Car audio shares similar terms as well as home audio, he did mention car audio and knowing of focal from that product line specifically sooooo, def not the hifi headphone side but probably closely related interests
Oh, what a delight-this was so wholesome and fun! And I’d love to see more videos like this anytime.
And not to take away from how great this video was already, but I thought that I might toss out a couple of ideas in case you were to do this again?
• Maybe you could mic yourself as well? When your family is on screen, they sounded great, but when you offered comments from off screen, you could kinda tell that you were just being picked up from the on-camera mic?
• Maybe you could ask each listener pick a couple of their favorite songs beforehand-just to ensure that they’re each listening to tracks that they know really, really well?
I appreciated the fact that he did not have a microphone. It sounded real, like I was there.
@@MrGrosMamouth I’d venture to guess that Josh was probably no more than a meter or two from his subject in each of the shots. And if you were to have been in the room with them, each of their voices probably would’ve sounded the same to your ears (rather than the guest’s voice sounding clear and Josh’s voice being a skosh reverberant).
@@handcoding You are probably right. I can’t put my finger on why, but I liked it this way. Maybe it’s the sound perspective? But I agree with you that a louder voice would have been better.
@@MrGrosMamouth I like it that way too, it puts them in the spotlight and shows their different roles. Josh is the observer who only steers the interview a little, and they are the "stars of the show" if you will. Makes it seem like he isn't in control of their opinions. At least that's how I feel watching this. I'm sure it's a very deliberate stylistic choice
@@handcoding he commented that the songs were a mix of his and theirs. I'd argue that's probably the most important part of doing such a test
It's nice to see the Valour family. I wonder if they listened to songs straight out of the iPhone or did they listen from a nice DAC/AMP combo. I like how different "generations" of the family liked different headphones.
Your dad seems like the sort of guy with a bit of time learning the ins and outs of the hobby would actually be pretty good at giving reviews, he was very analytical.
This is exactly what I was thinking. He could be a critic/reviewer if he had the desire and put in some time and effort.
This ably demonstrates just how personal hifi preferences are. Whilst some products might be technically "better", it doesn't necessarily translate into something that people prefer. It also shows to me how important it is to demo hifi products at a good retailer, rather than just read other people's reviews and then buy it online and hope for the best.
I agree so much, I’ve noticed also that I’ve learned to love sound signatures even if they seems impossible to like at first
Oh man, this was just beautiful, meeting the family. There is just some warmness one can feel, wholesomeness, thanks Josh.
We need a review of the new DT PRO X headphones and compare it to DT 1990s, please.
The more you pay the more screaming you get from them
Pads better quality
Material inside earcup works out some distortion in midrange
DT900 Pro X best beyers imo besides the fact they all trash
I took them from my store for a test during drive to home, they never got into my house I left them in my car
Josh, seeing as how each of your family members liked a different headphone from the 3, you should gift them their favorite one for Christmas!
I love how this implies he has thousands of dollars to spend on Christmas gifts lol
Snowman just a quick $5k for Christmas gifts this year no biggie
@@snowman7234 and that they will also need what comes with it to run it xD
@@philorgneopolotin8762 lmao MrBeast shit right there
Fantastic idea. A shame we did not get a budget headphone (Sennheiser HD58X?) in the mix and also a mainstream Sony/Beats/Skullcandy/Insert-Any-Other, it would have been interesting to see a price to value comparison in that case.
So much fun. All 3 were great at describing their experience, and explaining what they liked. It just shows how subjective sound is. An episode like this with less priced headphones and with IEMs would be fun.
I remember the first time I used my DT1990s. Fucking blew my mind coming from the M50x and K7xx. I forgot what DAC/Amp I tested it with. It was a Mojo something. First song I listened to was 1-900-Hustler. I didn’t want to dive too deep into the Hobby. Maybe after I purchase my first home.
My first decent headphones were the shp9500 and the difference from gaming headphones are huge, and now I'm eyeing the Sundaras next but I might wait a bit more lol.
@@Benri05 I just bought them. They are great but they aren’t running away or anything so take your time
1-900-Hustler 'The Dynasty'
nice one, love it !
man just buying a kph30i modded was enough to blow me away lmao
@@zephskiee5395 "modded" as in the pads I'm assuming? But yeah I have the portapros and KSC's with the yaxi pads and definitely agree that they're great!
So glad to see an established reviewer go through this process with engaging, willing guests! Thanks family members! I will admit, I wish an entry mid tier option was included (say Sundara or 6xx), since that’s a price range many can relate to, but still great to see. It’s important we make sure to ground ourselves occasionally to see we really are focusing heavily on say 20% of the audio experience or gear potential, and much of the hobby is subjective.
Hi there Josh,
First of all I was super excited to watch this video just from the title itself! Secondly, the persons in the video must be your sister (Same colors as you ) , your brother (that voice!+Arya love) and the last gentleman must be your father who truly impressed me with his excellent notices and his best in class price guessing 👌
Amazing video that's all I have to say , the honesty and notices of people not familiar with such equipment is very interesting because you hear unexpected things that just put a smile on your face.
@Secret Agent Steve because he isnt
@@fionnbennett2093 Maybe he identifies as such, you‘re clearly blackphobic and you have no sense for irony bruh 😉
@@marco2982 ohhhhh, i feel like an eejit now
This was cute and very good. Would love to see this as a series. Different people, different headphones. Perhaps an all-closed or all-open shoot out? Dynamic vs planar? The things that matter to people who care . . . but are they discernible to people who don't?
It's interesting to see a couple of them pick up on (im guessing) dynamics of the headphones. Where they felt the Elex was a bit more engaging in the bass specifically. I know it has a slightly elevated bass but not by much and that punch quality is what stuck out to them.
Interesting review, all had interesting and revelatory comments - most noticeable, the most expensive doesn’t always sound the best.
What a wonderful family! So relatable and honestly, so much more authentic than any number of "pro" reviewers. I understood exactly what each one was trying to describe. 👌👍
Agree with you -- they were all good sports.
Great video! Everyday folk rating products in their point of view and how they hear it. No big fancy explanations and overgrown journalist words. Im amazed at how close they were with the pricing on these. Many people have no idea how far this market reaches in cost. So thats impressive. Well done
Interesting how the more “budget friendly” models received a better overall response from Sam, Jason & Russ then the OTT models for sound. But the more expensive models seem to receive a better build and lightness, weight wise, compared to the cheaper models. 👍🤯 Me personally, Im sensitive to weight on my head and don’t like heat encased leather/leatherette ear cuffs and much enjoy lighter and airy headphones 🎧🥰👍
That's because price has little to do with sound quality.
Jason straight up could start his own yt channel. Great voice and even without experience in hifi he was pretty articulate in expressing his own feelings. Charisma is there as well.
Russ bringing up wisdom ;)
Great video.
Get a room.
That was a cool social experiment, it was interesting to see them mature and develop their audio reviewer's vocabulary. This takes me back to reading copies of Stereo Review and Stereophile and trying to decipher all the terms they were using, it does take a while to be able to put what you are hearing into words, it can be hard to explain the feeling you have when listening to music.
Great idea on the video Josh. A great example that sound is very subjective as each family member liked a different model. I think all headphones are overpriced for what they are. I also agree with Sam, I'd never spend $3,000 on a pair of headphones. The cost to performance just isn't there IMO.
They are def good, but you are right. The value proposition is in one two places depending on who you are, you either want like 200-500 is a decent price to performance, ex something like the he400 up to the sundaras. The other good value spot is like 0-50 this is where having something is better than nothing, and more importantly you get all stars like the lower end koss models.
What surprised me the most was none of them experienced a wow/jaw dropping/earth shaking/life changing moment.
I think a lot of us in the hifi audio community frequently forget that music isn't a huge deal to some people. Hell, I have a few friends who just... *don't* listen to music. I think the greater your appreciation and interest of music is, the more profound the effect of listening through high-quality audio gear.
@@subbot8077 i don't even understand whatever you typed
It's really cool to see how their preferences won the day, and that's what we do 😄 (or should do).
The first person, clearly picked the Elex, clearly she really liked the bass, staging, and namely, I feel she was explaining as best she could, the dynamics (Focal usually presents).
The 2nd, he in an intelligently deciphering way, ended up picking what he felt to him presented and had the better clarity, detail, and seemingly the immersion he got, from the Arya.
The 3rd, he then went on and picked what appeared to be the overall refinement given and separation and distinction of instruments he experienced, and the undoubted quality of feel, the abyss gave him.
The most expensive set of cans I've tried and owned was around 400 dollars. Maybe a tad more than that. Owned like 30-50 pairs of mid-fi over ear, open-back headphones from around 150-400 dollars. Of the most popular ones available throughout the years. Then I tried a pair of Porta Pro and KSC75, and sold everything else. Those mid-fi cans now just feels like Snake Oil! I'm thinking the same is true with the really expensive ones. Just what I believe, but I've never tried truly expensive cans. :D
I loved Russ' technical evaluation on the various different aspects. Love these beginner friendly videos to introduce others into the basics of high quality audio. Great stuff
Great video! Very cool idea and nice people! One little thing: wish you had randomized the order to make that test more natural. Would have loved to see how they would have ranked each pair of headphones price-wise... Great video though
It’s what it’s worth to you .
Most people have music as something on in the background. The cost of the cheapest headphone is comparable to what most people would spend on their ENTIRE audio chain .
But nice to hear that “regular” people can appreciate good music on nice gear.
Unfortunately, I suspect most people have traded in fidelity for convenience.
Nice video 🍻
Love the concept. Wish something like the Sundara or 6XX were included.
It's hifi not mid Fi though
Pretty cool family, very good perceptions and descriptions! Man, they fleeced you on the price challenge :)
so in short
Focal: best dynamics and punch
Abyss Diana: median but not best of both worlds
Hifiman: best for relaxed music
Nice reactions, nice video. My guess is that all tracks (why do we call a piece or track a song when there is no singing in it?) stemmed from electronic mastering. This records different instruments/voices in separate tracks and later mixes these multi-track recordings down to stereo. In such a process, generally, the soundstage is built through the use of some sort of "panoramic potentiometer" (pan-pot) that distributes one source track at different volumes across left right and in the process, soundstage depth is simulated by making the individual sources louder or softer than the other ones. Essentially, "phase" and "coloration" differences are missing in the end result. In order to play this back really well, you need proper micro-dynamics at all playback levels (assuming the mastering went perfect). If you record live music in an acoustic space with two perfect microphones placed perfectly, then you get this "phase" information and the soundstage can be crystal clear, if the space and recording were, or the recording can be muddied if the original performance and space were like that (with proper "phase", the perfect wave shape becomes a serious requirement too). And the amount of space in the playback depends on microphone placement and type of microphone. If you go back to RCA "Living Stereo" recordings of the 50s/60s, you'll find these got made in this way with two microphones into one track each (plain stereo) or in some cases they used three microphones into three tracks (one each). In a way, this disqualifies all electronic music (instruments) that got recorded directly from output to input. When multi-track recording got to 24 or 48 tracks (on 2" wide tape studio recorders), this led to symphonies being recorded with as many microphones. In the end result, you can hear all the instruments clearly, but the "soundstage" is an awful mess and I cannot listen to that.
Play a proper acoustic recording of Hector Berlioz's "Symphonie Fantastique" and "see" if the oboe playing the answer to the call of the English horn (AKA cor anglais, originally called "angelic horn" - in the third movement of the symphony) is heard to be "off stage" and more "remote" (and this starts with the questions if the recording engineer did a good job in the case the orchestra and its conductor did a good job as well).
Note that people's listening abilities are the result of learning, or training the brain. We start learning the melodies of our language before birth already and this is reflected in crying spurts of babies. Learning also applies to our abilities to identify instruments (class level, say violin) or even individual instruments (this Steinway D from that Steinway D). And we also need to train our brains for spatial clues. Our hearing is much faster than our visual system and at shorter distances makes for faster reflexes (e.g. in flight). The ear is not a single wire single membrane microphone but a 20,000 "tuned" or "filtered" neurons per ear wave shape analysis system that has perfect phase identification physics. As the brain has a small fraction of neurons with "electrical" synapses with extremely low latency, I hypothesize these are related to the spatial clues in our hearing (most synapses rely on electro-chemical signal transfers). Or, before you buy a couple thousand currencies worth of high end headphones, cables and amplification, maybe you should spend a couple thousand currencies on going to live acoustic music concerts (to train the brain).
(check out "Immersive Sound: The Art and Science of Binaural and Multi-Channel Audio". Edited by Agnieszka Roginska, Paul Geluso - search Google for "berlioz symphonie fantastique off-stage echo")
Hey Joshua Valour! Can you review the Beyerdynamic DT 900 Pro X?
Oof the crispy warmth of your voice in the begining segment is wonderful!
I’ve been waiting for a video like this
Same here
same, was really intrigued listening to them
Same
This was a very cool video, Josh. I really like your family. More out-there stuff like this in the future, please. It really is a breath of fresh air to see something light-hearted from such a professional reviewer as yourself. Really good stuff, mate!
Would have been interesting to throw some ‘cheap’ headphones in the mix to see if they could tell the difference. Also would have been useful if the actual price was listed on screen while they were guessing at prices.
This one was made really, really well. I would love to know more about your methodology on the testing but at the same time, I like that we don't really have to know everything to understand where everyone's opinion is coming from. Just like some of the other comments here, I think it would be more interesting if the participants could bring their own headphones for comparison and maybe listen to their own choice of music as well. Either way, I really like this one. Keep up the good work. Super Crisp video.
Would have loved to see some live listening reactions
I love that your family each ended up preferring a different set of headphones.
Are you sure these are normal people ? They sounded very knowledgeable 😂
I'm wondering if they didn't 'secretly' watch some of Josh's videos. It would makes sense that they've at least watched some of them, giving them an indication on what they should focus on, when listening to different headphones.
Possibly my fave video of this type - thanks, Josh!
I suspect they knew the rough pricing of hi end gear from knowing you, because very few, non-audiophiles, people would guess that there's even such a thing as a 500+$ headphones. Honestly it would have been more entertaining to have them see the difference, between the shit headphones they're used to to even cheap-ish decent headphones in the 80-150$ range.
This was absolutely by far the most refreshing video I have ever watched regarding headphones. It was real people giving honest opinions. EVERY other video to date is someone trying to come up with adjectives that better describe something you eat opposed to something you hear. I am tired of people describing the complexity of headphones like it was
Coq Au Vin that was prepared by Alain Passard ! Do they sound good to my ears or not ! WELL DONE SIR !
Great idea, excellent presentation. It was fun, I thought and brings to our hobby a sense of perspective. Your alert and perceptive family members were/are very likeable. It takes courage to be on test, so to speak, in a public presentation and I am appreciative.
Thank you and your family.
This only solidifies the fact that everyone has different tastes and it just shows even on a “blind test” on pricing, the more expensive doesn’t mean the “best” for certain preferences.
Honestly, some older stuff with bad mastering sounds pretty meh on say the Senh's HD800's, and would actually sound "better" on crappy "Beats".
mistake to think like that, you have to be educated and experienced to evaluate things.
@@sudd3660 not all the time, preferences and tastes still goes a long way in this hobby. All of these headphones have different tunings as well and that goes well with certain genres and music tastes of the listener. Obviously having more knowledge about what is good is nice to have, you can’t love a headphone that was tuned the opposite of what your preferences are even if it’s the more expensive one.
@@CRANEREVIEWS yup, if you listen to stuff that isn’t well mastered, it’s better to go with headphones that are more forgiving.
This was my favorite video from your channel. The best part about being an audiophile for me is trying to make things more accessible so I can share them with my friends and family. Seeing their reactions to different sound signatures (even if they strongly disagree with my preferences) is nothing short of magic. I live for this stuff. Great idea for a video, keep up the great work !
This was such a cute video and I enjoyed it! Hopefully you'll revisit this concept and make some of the changes that have been recommended by others in the comments.
Bro you're going to ruin your brother with his newfound audiophile bug 😂
I wonder what Josh told them before on what criteria they're supposed to judge the Headphones on, bcs i feel that that has turned out pretty well and they were able to form their opinions sufficiently for people who are not into the hobby. The video was quite long though, i could imagine a lot of people who are not regular viewers of this channel that could be attracted by the theme of the video, might not watch this through to the end. Them guessing the prices and saying which their favorites were, i could imagine is what most people only want to hear about.
Your videos are always of great quality, but I especially love the concept for this video
I enjoyed that, Jason reminded me of when I first started, each time I got something better, I could rationalize paying more. This audiophile journey is addictive 😍 Audiophile Anonymous, I think I'm in denial 😅 Later.
The younger guy is an audiophile waiting to happen...
0:46 is it just okay to cover it with your hair when you wear headphones as a girl? there's no difference when you move out your hair from your ears? I do see a lot of girls wearing headphones like this. won't it be like a different sound?
I believe that there would be a small amount of muffling in the sound. Can’t be sure though, since I’m not a girl
@@ducksbewildin1443 yep I think it'll be muffled sounding.
It's minimal. Like maybe a 2 percent difference in my experience
its pretty much the exact same as someone with very long hair
i mean there is a difference but you reeeeaaalllllyyy need to nit pick in order to notice it
so wholesome, loved it! thanks to your family :)
your dad is a very smart great old man. take care of him
I'm impressed how close their guesses were for the prices. I don't think I would have guessed it so well if I didn't already know about many headphone prices.
They were probably given the price range and had to guess which headphone would fit into that price range.
This video proved nothing but the Fact that *Everone has a Different perception of music* as well as that every headphone is better and worst for a certain music genre :)
Also that we REEEEALLY need for the Pandemic to go away,so people are able to go to the stores and Properly LISTEN to multiple pairs before they able to pick one that Really fits the style of music they prefer to listen...as well as overall suits their music perception.
*Thank you Josh for this curious experiment.I strongly belive that such Are Needed,in order for people to have a proof of everyone's feel and understanding of music is DIFFERENT..because belive it or not - there are a LOT of folks today who doesn't really belives this and they Actually thinking that *everyone has the exact same understanding and feel of music and that 1 Great headphones for ONE person,would Undoubtedly mean that it will be AS GREAT for the other person* ,which ubviously not true and videos like This One ☝ is a live proof of that.
Ones again Thanks a Lot Josh.
I live in Seattle (like Josh) and I don’t know of any store I could go to and listen to any of these headphones (much less all 3 in one place).
@@brad_wilson
I only know 2 stores that haD a Very High End headphones and overall an Audio equipment here in Toronto,but *Both of them Still got their doors Closed and moved their businesses Online* which is Sucks.. cuz in my opinion,it is Very Important for anyone to be able to put their hands on the Demo models,to have a better understanding of if the item is For Them or Not.
@@brad_wilson Up the road from you guys in Seattle :) In Vancouver BC we have a brick and mortar store HeadphoneBar that had all demos to listen to from mid-fi to flagship models but the pandemic forced them to close the store but have a strong online presence. Hopefully with the recent lifting of restrictions they will open up again. I agree that one needs to demo live and compare as much as possible.
It must be the potterhead in me but if the old gentleman looks like if Snape reaches Dumbledore's age.
Maybe try cheaper headphones next time? Like expensive vs cheap?
This. Part of the fun of these kind of videos is discovering whether people think less expensive headphones sound better than more expensive ones.
I want them to hear 20k setups
This is like having people who don't drink wine taste between cheap and ultra expensive wines, their answer would be eh this one is a little bit better. Learning to appreciate music and sound takes time, training and interest.
I've learned that high-end headphones are a lot like specialty coffee...for the ordinary person with no experience or proper context, it's very challenging for them to truly conceptualize what the differences are. Also just like coffee, everyone has a personal taste therefore no one hifi headphone/specialty coffee is gonna be the right one for every person.
Nice video, your family did great. I kept waiting for one of them to mention the intimate presentation vs the sense of space. They were so close to saying it.
I like that, "normal" people; shouldn't we just be calling them "people with cash still in their bank accounts"? 😁
Not really. People find other ways to blow money (I own a Diana V2) on other things like girlfriends, cars, coffee (drugs), etc. That usually adds up way more than $3k on headphones you can always sell and get 2/3 of your cash back.
@@jpined14 This is good point. If you buy open box, you can probably sell it for the same price
What a great little test. Your family all seem great, and their feedback was so well thought out.
Счастливые люди, они не болеют аудиофилией :)
Great video. Would be cool to have an everyday user listen to random low budget, mid, budget, and hi budget headphones to see if they can pick out which one is the most expensive.
Review dt900 pro x vs 1990 pro
That's what I want
I wanna know how the DT 900 Pro X compete with the 1990s.
For people who aren't familiar with the hobby, they were pretty articulate with their descriptions
I've been having friends over to try out my Arya's. They're all used to Beats, and assume that Apple Airpods and/or Bose are "High end" xD. The first reaction is always "these headphones look RIDICULOUS", then I have them listen to a song of my choice, then a song of their choosing. Wish I would've recorded their facial reactions =). I ended up giving my Hd6xx to a buddy of mine who fell in love with the Arya's, as well as my hd58x and 4xx to 2 other blokes that enjoyed the experience. I like to think that I can slowly create audiophile addicts one step at a time. Oh, and I DEFINITELY wish I could've recorded their reactions to the price of the Arya's xD.
That was a great video! This is your best video so far! Very refreshing. VS listening to 'Audiophiles' who insist that their current, super expensive FOTM is the best ever because it must be because it cost them like $4k. Your family were super good at guessing which ones were more expensive too. I think it is great that they all liked a different one. Because we all like different headphones. And just because they cost more does not mean they will sound better to you. I have heard most TOTL headphones including Susvara ($6k) & LCD-5 ($4.5k) etc and my two favorites LCD-XC ($1300) and E-MU Teak ($500) cost far less. Thank you for the great video.
Their impressions are much more accurate than most "trained reviewers" when compared to the frequency response.
Great video. Shows how spending more doesn't mean a thing. It's all personal preference. I have Sennheiser HD 700. Really like them even though a lot of ppl didn't. But I like a lot of sharp highs. Thank you for your time.
i gave my brother M50s and that impressed him.. i showed him ONE lossless song he knows very well with my dac and he was like "I'm hearing stuff i different hear before." specifically about how good the drums are
The younger guy has a great presence. Awesome confidence and well spoken. He should have a TH-cam page. And I don't know if its just me but i think he just may have be converted to a Hifiman fan :) I own the Hifiman Ananda and they blow me away time after time. I am dying to hear the Arya, OG and Stealth.
Nice try, younger man in the video. You ain’t slick
Great video, great family! Every expirement participant has argumented opinion and very good presentation of it. Wish there will be more of them on the channel!
It would've been cool to see them bring in their own dailydrivers, whether it was samsung earbuds or koss porta pros. Good video.
I think it's really awesome they go so much into detail. Very well done.
What a great video. Thanks for putting that together Josh. Cool concept!