A decent dac amp sould noticeably improve mostly the technical performance of those hd600(which btw are said to be notorious for scaling very well when paired to a better amp) and if you notice a difference from different devices you have that indicates that you should benefit a lot from a proper amp.

Also dac is what generates the analog signal from the digital stream aka turns 1s and zeros into an analog signal and a better one should hep you avoid all the usually terrible built in circuitry so when you have the sub 10 bucks apple dongle available that should be the minimun requirement for you.

I'd say get a decent dac amp or a stack or an apple dongle with an amp connected (i got the very cheap topping dx1 (100$ dac amp that could totally drive the hd600) recently and i am very happy with my purchase- sound improved noticeably).

Again, I get why people want wireless audio. That it will (and already has) become the default is a forgone conclusion. You don't have to convince me of the value of something which is already the default.

A DAC is a peice of hardware that takes the digital signal from your computer (skipping your sound card/internal audio) and converts that in to an analog signal that your headphones can understand. An amp amplifies that signal (louder).

If you get worse or quieter than ideal sound from your computer you might benefit from a DAC/amp as it would bypass your computer's audio hardware

You might be served well enough by a dongle or want something else. HD600 isn't particularly hard to drive but it's high impedance might be an issue

>no average consumer will ever spend thousands on headphones.

they don't because apple or other mainstream company hasn't had the balls to charge thousands for headphones, but people are absolutely fine with paying a premium and beign overcharged, it gives them status

>no average consumer will ever spend thousands on headphones.

they don't because apple or other mainstream company hasn't had the balls to charge thousands for headphones, but people are absolutely fine with paying a premium and beign overcharged, it gives them status

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Have you managed to remove the vacuum effect on your earbuds?

Have you managed to remove the vacuum effect on your earbuds?

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>The popularity, convenience or (eventual) quality of wireless audio is not the thing in question.

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>they're BETTER for the average consumer than any wired IEMs

and? You know what was also for the average consumer? Apple wired earpods that came free with your phone. There has always been 2 distinct markets that have coexisted and these markets will continue to exist because the niche of audio is exactly that, a niche. There will always continue to be high end products like the Focal Utopia or Hifiman Susvara because they don't need to appeal to the general market and have been getting by just appealing to the niche because no average consumer will ever spend thousands on headphones.

>so what are we gonna do?

What's for us to do in this equation? I already said the popularity of wireless audio is the status quo.

>does enough people really care?

What if they do? The only option they have to continue on with their convenience is to keep buying new ones.

I agree with you and also do the same and plan to do the same.

sadly good smartphones aren't beign manufactured with headphones jacks anymore, there was an "outrage" of people, even regular consumers that got angry, but it was not nearly enough people to make a dent in apple sales or affect the market in any meaningful way.

wired IEMs will still exist in the future, but for a very reduced consumed market and not what were used to. I can even see chifi brands like KZ going only wireless in the future or releasing their own brand like CCA that will only focus in wireless. it will happen eventually...

>Emphasis added. Be careful when using absolute statements. We're a community of psychos that put audio fidelity (whatever that means to each of us) above everything else.

I know and I say the "only" future because there's no way around it. what are going to argue audio purist when the wireless technology finally overpass wired and is capable of reproducing music at the same fidelity if not better than wired earbuds?

also, the implementation of wireless headphones/earbuds has been very limited yet, there's tons of features that they could add but haven't, like having different factory fine tuned EQ attached to the earbud memory so users can select the one that they like the most from the get go instead of EQ themselves, or the earbuds beign able to recognize the genre that you're listening to, and changing the EQ on the go to the song that you're listening. I can see all of this and more happening in the future.

I'm going to be even more bold, wired iems are going to become soon the "dumb"phones of the headphone market. wireless WILL catch up, the arguments against it will become thinner and thinner with time, you just watch.

I feel that's the majority here. You and I both

>it's in every possible way inferior to wired audio

yeah, it is inferior, but NOT THAT inferior, the difference it's starting to become meaningless, most people won't care about EQ, frecuencies bands, or of the earbud is made of moon rocks, they want stilish shit with easy convenience.

I'd argue that they're overpriced, you can find good pairs of Lenovo TWS earbuds in AliExpress for less than 20$, and they're genuine and as I said, good enough for most.

No one wants to hear music blasted through someone's microphone in mono over Discord or Zoom or whatever voice app you use.

Yeah turning the ANC off rids it of it

I mean discord and stuff, sorry should have worded that better

Usually if I turned ANC off on my earbuds the sensation goes away. But if you want ANC, you gave to live with the cabin pressure feeling.

> there’s the convenience of seamlessly going from listening to music to talking with friends without switching the audio device.

So you have headphones on when talking to friends? In this situation wouldn't speakers be better so everyone can hear the music?

It’s why I’m not going down the IEM road, personally. I don’t like them for desktop listening, and would prefer wire free on the go. Everyone is different, but my S12 and Q5k will be the last on the go setup with wires for me. After this, I will go TWS. However, I think both will continue to exist, preferences and whatnot.

lmaooo I can see that happening too.

latency in cheaper wireless products it's so bad that you can't even watch a movie because voices will be out of sync with what it's beign presented on the screen. that will change tho, the technology it's getting everyday better and cheaper, it will get to a point we're even cheap wireless headphones will have an unnoticeably latency

> too long didn't read: TWS earbuds are the only future for IEMs

Emphasis added. Be careful when using absolute statements. We're a community of psychos that put audio fidelity (whatever that means to each of us) above everything else.

> sales for wired products will not even make a shadow in the soon to become massive, wireless market.

That's already the case and has been the case ever since Apple released Airpods (if not sooner). But the wired IEM resurgence in the past 5ish years took place despite such a small market percentage wired IEMs make up.