Do average consumers place Audio Quality above features like ANC (strawpoll)

[killswitch6000]

What the above title says

 

https://strawpoll.com/polls/eNg6RrpEWgA

 

Vote in the link and/or give ur reasons as to why or why not below. the title of the strawpoll is wrong so pls ignore that 

[YoungBlade]

Obviously, everyone who can hear cares about audio quality. Everyone has a threshold where, below a certain quality level, they'll return a product. The difference between the average consumer and an audiophile is the degree to which they care.

 

What are you trying to ask about?

[killswitch6000]

3 minutes ago, YoungBlade said:

Obviously, everyone who can hear cares about audio quality. Everyone has a threshold where, below a certain quality level, they'll return a product. The difference between the average consumer and an audiophile is the degree to which they care.

 

What are you trying to ask about?

I should probably rename. but the actual question is if people care about ANC and other features more than Audio quality. 

[YoungBlade]

4 minutes ago, killswitch6000 said:

I should probably rename. but the actual question is if people care about ANC and other features more than Audio quality. 

I doubt someone would want to use headphones where they have to pay extra for features like active noise cancellation but the audio itself has no range, and everything sounds tinny or mushy, or where when listening to a podcast, the mid-range is so crap that the podcaster sound like you're listening to them through a wall.

 

This is like asking if consumers care more about ray tracing than performance when it comes to graphics card. Ray tracing is nice, but unless the card can meet a certain performance bar, it's a moot point. This performance bar differs from person to person, but for the average consumer is probably going to be something rather basic seeming like "able to maintain 60fps in Fortnite and LoL." Audio quality is going to have a similar bar - one that seems trivial to the enthusiasts, but going below that will be a problem for the average consumer.

 

So what do you mean by "audio quality?"

[killswitch6000]

8 minutes ago, YoungBlade said:

I doubt someone would want to use headphones where they have to pay extra for features like active noise cancellation but the audio itself has no range, and everything sounds tinny or mushy, or where when listening to a podcast, the mid-range is so crap that the podcaster sound like you're listening to them through a wall.

 

This is like asking if consumers care more about ray tracing than performance when it comes to graphics card. Ray tracing is nice, but unless the card can meet a certain performance bar, it's a moot point. This performance bar differs from person to person, but for the average consumer is probably going to be something rather basic seeming like "able to maintain 60fps in Fortnite and LoL." Audio quality is going to have a similar bar - one that seems trivial to the enthusiasts, but going below that will be a problem for the average consumer.

 

So what do you mean by "audio quality?"

I mean Beats with noise cancelling and a similarly priced non noise cancelling headphone which sounds world's better. Audio quality is subjective. but will people be willing to give it up for ANC. The answer differs from person to person. so, a strawpoll

[YoungBlade]

2 minutes ago, killswitch6000 said:

I mean Beats with noise cancelling and a similarly priced non noise cancelling headphone which sounds world's better. Audio quality is subjective. but will people be willing to give it up for ANC. The answer differs from person to person. so, a strawpoll

I would say that Beats meet the expectations of the vast majority of consumers - just look at the reviews on sites like Amazon, 4.4 out of 5 stars for "Sound quality." So most people probably wouldn't care about better audio quality and wouldn't subjectively agree that the headphones sound "worlds better." I'm sure most could tell a difference, but I doubt they'd consider the difference to be as big of a deal as you might think.

 

Most people use cheap, off-brand headsets that are going to sound way worse than Beats do, just like how most people use cheap 1080p 60Hz monitors. The headphones I use are these cheap "OneOdio" ones that I got on sale for $25 years ago. They're comfortable enough that I can wear them for hours and they sound good enough that I don't feel the need to upgrade them. It isn't that I don't notice the difference with nicer headphones, but I'm unwilling to pay $150+ for something that sounds only marginally better to me, and most people probably feel the same way.

[OfficialTechSpace]

Unfortunately, the average consumer isn't too bright. They often take the words of inexperienced tech influencers as fact, and then get hostile with anyone who says otherwise. There's a naivety in the industry that allows for such products to exist, and even receive false praise from consumers. Don't feel bad for them though, this is due to no fault but their own. All of the objective information and measurements are readily available at their fingertips, they just don't bother looking.

 

Personally, I'd take sound quality over features any day. The insufficiencies are obvious from the very beginning of testing, especially now that I have my own neutral target to measure compliance for. Pictured below is my HiFiMan Ananda's with a custom EQ-correction profile.

 

[SimplyChunk]

I hate anc.  it really hurts my ears.  I'll take my second hand, falling apart HD579s over any high priced earbuds or cans with anc built in to them any day of the week

[mariushm]

I care

I care enough to go with a motherboard that has ALC1200 onboard audio instead of older onboard audio. I don't care enough to get a DAC or usb  / optical output.

 

I care enough to get some $60 headphones but not enough to buy $2-300 headphones.

 

Don't actuallyl care about Active noise cancellation, I don't work or live in an environment where I'd need it.

 

So basically it's a useless poll ... everyone cares about audio quality to some degree.

[Tan3l6]

Can't vouch for average consumer, but I made my choice.