New to the World of Audiophilia

I've always appreciated good music. Recently, I've learned that what I know about music is like a snowflake on the tip of an iceberg. My friend just gave me a lot of good music, ranging everything from indie to metal to classical to electronica and even a little country and rap. Many, many, many good bands that a lot of people have never heard of. Shame really...

Anyway, now that I've got all that good music to listen to, I need better way to listen to it. I've got some Klipsch speakers on my computer, and a few good songs in FLAC format, so that's an improvement over stock. Now I need more!

With that, I've got a few questions:

Firstly, I'm looking into a good set of headphones. Over the ear, passive noise cancellation, and affordable (up to $300, preferably). I don't need active, as I like to listen to music in my room or while traveling, and there's usually not a lot of noise to cancel out. However, I don't know what makes a set of headphones "good," per se, but I'd like to learn. My friend can get me a good deal on Bowers and Wilkins P5's, but I'm hearing a lot of reviews saying they don't sound as good as they cost. However, they seem to be really comfortable and well-built, but it's the sound that matters to me. Comfort would be nice, though...

Secondly, I'm wondering about iPods and other portable players. Say I've got a good set of 'phones. Would the player itself limit the quality of music? I know it's MP3, so at least it's a level playing field in that regard. I guess I'm wondering, will one brand of portable player sound better than the other? I've got an old iPod Video, and I'd like to not replace it if I don't have to.

Lastly (at the moment, anyway), what musical files should I look out for, and what makes them good? My friend told me about FLAC, and how it's superior to MP3 as it's a lossless audio file. However, I don't understand all this nonsense about compression and whatnot.

Edited by Magoo - 06 February 2011 at 10:23pm

Think so on the files? I listened to some of the FLAC files, and thought they had a bit more clarity, but I didn't have the band's MP3 files to compare them to. That said, it could have been psychological. My friend told me that FLAC sounded better, so maybe I imagined it did...

Hm. I'll bear that in mind. Does that apply to hardware as well? I know a good set of speakers/headphones can make a world of difference, but what about various players? Portable MP3 vs. Computer, etc.

Yeah, I saw those Beats at Best Buy. Don't know much about 'em. The sound demo seemed nice, though.

Something about the fact that they are made by Monster and promoted by Dr Dre makes them seem gimmicky.

I like my Denons.  The only thing I dislike is that they have a good bit of static at low volume.  But how often do I listen to them at low volume?  

Given that there's a huge difference between a pair of $5 headphones and a pair of $40 headphones, I certainly hope there's still a difference at $200.

Granted I'd never pay $200, or $100 for headphones.

ParielIsBack wrote: Given that there's a huge difference between a pair of $5 headphones and a pair of $40 headphones, I certainly hope there's still a difference at $200. Granted I'd never pay $200, or $100 for headphones.

This. The only time i would drop close to 100 on headphones is if i were traveling on a plane in the near future...the engines are pretty damn loud even in a 747

mp3's are a lossy method of audio compression. You lose the highs and lows associated as the recording is "flattened" with the software to allow more songs per mb.

Edited by FreeEnterprise - 07 February 2011 at 11:00am

Magoo wrote: Hm. I'll bear that in mind. Does that apply to hardware as well? I know a good set of speakers/headphones can make a world of difference, but what about various players? Portable MP3 vs. Computer, etc.

I wouldn't know for sure, sorry. However, I feel that excluding bottom of the line products, any player made around the same time would sound about the same as any other similar one.

DaveEllis wrote: Something about the fact that they are made by Monster and promoted by Dr Dre makes them seem gimmicky.

Agreed. Celebrity endorsed products like that are almost always crap.