A Beginner's Guide to Audiophile

There is plenty to read out there and there’s nothing wrong with reading, but I think that you know all you need to know right now. You said you like quality sound. To me, that means when you listen to certain headphones, you think they sound good (quality) or less good (lower quality). That’s all you need to know. If more audiophiles would do that they would be a lot happier. But instead, they read reviews and articles about what other people tell them is good, buy  it and then get stressed out when they can’t understand why they don’t like it. Just giving you another perspective.

+1 chayro

@katzkov 

The most important parameter to headphones (and speakers too) is frequency response - that is, how smoothly and perceptibly even the headphone reproduces the audible frequencies (20 Hz - 20 kHz). Everything else - driver material / type, headphone construction, etc. - can be considered 'window dressing'.

Currently, research relating frequency response to sound quality has produced the Harman Target curve. This is a frequency response for headphones that was obtained by measuring the response of sonically neutral speakers in a well-treated listening room using a head / torso simulator and further refined by listeners (trained and untrained) over a series of experiments. This would be your best shot at hearing a 'reference' or 'neutral' frequency response.

Several headphones follow the Harman curve - the AKG K371 ($149), the Mark Levinson No.5909 ($999) well as the Dan Clark Audio Stealth ($3999).  Any of these headphones can be used as a reference. Importantly, there's little correlation between sound quality and price. For example, I've owned or listened to plenty of expensive headphones from the HD 800 to the Focal Utopia, STAX SR-009 and the DCA Stealth. The headphones I use daily are the AKG K371's. They sound very close to the Revel Ultima Studios I use in my stereo.

If you don't happen to like the sound of headphones tuned to the Harman curve, use an equalizer to find which frequencies need a boost or cut. Using your adjustments along with measurements of a headphone's frequency response can give you a better idea of which headphones would be better suited to your personal taste (if you don't feel like using an equalizer is a permanent solution). This frequency chart can help you in that process - EQ Cheatsheet.

Here's some more reading on the Harman curve in case you're interested:

Headphone Measurements Explained

Where Are We At With The Harman Curve?

Are There Valid Objections to the Harman Curve?

Get Robert Harley’s book: The Complete Guide to High End Audio. I re-read it every few years. All questions will be answered.

If your interest continues,  get a subscription to Stereophile and The Absolute Sound. 

I agree that Harley’s book is probably a good place for you to learn many of the concepts and jargon that describe and embody high-end audio.  But the BEST thing you can do is go listen to as many headphones as you can with your own music, and then all these aspects of sound will become more relatable and — most importantly— you’ll start to form your own opinions on what sounds good to YOU, and in the end that is all that matters.