I Can’t Stop Buying Headphones. Am I the Problem?

I have a drawer full of (somewhat) expensive headphones, and even more that I’ve sold, gifted, or thrown away over the years. I’m by no means an audiophile, but despite my best efforts I can never just be happy with a single pair. Is it me, or is it the headphone makers who are wrong?

My Headphone Journey Has Been Long

The first ever set of headphones I used was a revelation to me. I was about six or seven years old, and we had a pair of over-ear headphones hooked up to the family Hi-Fi of which I didn’t know the brand or anything else. All I know is that the music sounded so much better on these headphones, where I could close my eyes and pick out every instrument from my mom’s classical music compilations.

I don’t think I’ll ever experience such a huge jump in music fidelity and immersion ever again in my life, but ever since, I’ve always been chasing the headphones that would give me that same sort of feeling. That warm, balanced sound, where you can pick out and unpack the layers of music in the soundscape. Money is always an issue, and for a long time I had to simply deal with whatever perceived imperfections my current headphones had. After all, it’s way more productive to focus on the positives, than fixate on a minor flaw!

Things were definitely complicated by the death of the headphone jack, and the rise of Bluetooth headphones. I really love the convenience of true wireless buds, but especially in the early years the actual listening experience on something like standard Airpods was shockingly bad.

The Perfect Headphones Just Don’t Exist

For me, I don’t think I’ll ever find the “perfect” set of headphones for my needs. I definitely don’t want to walk down the path of madness represented by audiophilia and headphones that cost as much as a used car. I’m sure those open-backed, gold-plated, wired headphones sound amazing hooked up to an equally expensive amplifier, but the fatal flaw here is practicality. I don’t just need my headphones to sound great, they should be usable where I need them.

I’m sure there will be plenty of people recommending the best all-round headphones, and goodness knows we take a crack at finding the best headphones every year, but I think in my case it’s a sisyphean task and a fool’s errand all in one.

There Are Levels of Survival We’re Willing to Accept

So at this point in my life I’ve settled into a sort of comfort zone where I’m OK with imperfect headphones at basically any reasonable price. Currently I use Samsung Buds 2 Pro, which are the best true wirless earbuds I have ever used in every category. They almost (but not quite) don’t make me wish for full-sized phones when I use them.

My wired headphone needs are handled by a pair of Sony WH-1000XM4s, which are also my traveling over-ear headphones. I really love these overall, but to me, they do overemphasize bass a little and the pass-through could be better. My daily drivers are still the AirPods Max, which I wear all-day, every day during the week.

These are the headphones I have the least complaints about personally, except that they do not support wired, lossless audio. Since, even if you pay the egregious amount for a compatible cable, you are pushed through a lossy digital-to-analogue process and then again from analog-to-digital, rather than the one-time conversion you’d get with headphones that also have analog input support.

Playing Musical Chairs With My Headphones Is the Best I Can Do

Each of the headphones I currently own has some piece of the puzzle that would add up to the last pair of practical daily all-purpose headphones I’d need, but as of today there’s just no way of combining all of those positive attributes into a single product.

So, picking the right headphones or the right job is really the best I can do, but above all else, I needed to curb my pointless nitpicking of otherwise brilliant headphones to the detriment of my own enjoyment, and that’s by far the hardest thing to do.