I find the editorial by the OP about Asian factory workers a bit out of place. But if you want to buy overpriced crap, get some Beats headphones! They sell for hundreds, but I hear they are made of about $15 worth of material. I bet the people who make those are paid really well!

For my part, sound is not all I pay for in a set of cans. For the last 20 years my primary phones have been Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro (first 250 ohms, now 80) Reference Headphones. I first got them in the mid 1990s for medical transcription and have found them to be the most accurate, comfortable, and durable I had ever used, with the added benefit of providing wonderful passive acoustic isolation.

That last is important for rejecting ambient noise (critical as a transcriptionist in an office environment) and containing noise (bleed) when tracking in the studio. The comfort was also essential, as I wore them for eight hours on shift, plus more in my home studio. Even wearing glasses I could have them on comfortably for 10-12 hours a day.

Accuracy is a given, and apparently isn’t that hard to achieve. I paid $50 and $100, respectively, for Audio Technica M40fx and Sennheiser HD-280 phones that sound almost as good as the DT 770 (they lack the dynamic range and aren’t as comfortable).

A kicker is durability. I paid $86 for my first pair in 1997 and they lasted for 15 years. I replaced the ear pads, but the drivers themselves wore out. In cost per year, that makes them ridiculously cheap. You will pay $150-$175 today, but everything is replaceable now, so I expect my ROI to be similar.

Bottom line: When buying commercial-grade phones, you are paying for—and receive—much more than good sound. Your $30 Apple Earbuds may sound almost as good, but they will not be as comfortable, last as long, or offer the other benefits that a professional set will.

And that is my considered professional opinion.

Richard

"My primary musical instrument is the personal computer."