When browsing this subreddit, you often come across that phrase, diminishing returns.
I’m German, English is my second language, and there isn’t really a German phrase for this concept that would be on everyone’s mind when talking about this concept like ‘diminishing returns’ seems to be.
It’s a really neat concept and is true for so many hobbies, or things one can buy in general, but it is also ultra subjective, isn’t it?
Like, if someone has a 2000$ headphone but doesn’t really like it, and then spends 4000$ on one that they do like - does objective performance matter? I think the difference between the 2 could be 5%, but if it’s 5% in the right direction, they make the difference between selling it or keeping it and being happy.
I think there are people out there who don’t really shop in the 2-digit price category, or even 3-digit one, only 4 and above, for whatever reason - but they just wouldn’t be happy with a 500$ headphone, knowing that there is better stuff out there if you just spend the money.
I don’t really have a point, I just got a bit philosophical about that phrase I guess.
I feel like there are dimishing returns and also elistism where a person who normally buys expensive stuff would be perfectly fine with how a 500 dollar headphone sounded if they did a blind test and didn’t know the price.
There is a lot of confirmation bias and also a brain bias when spending money. I’ve heard great audio at 300 that rivals 2000+ because I listen with my ears, not my eyes or bank. Plenty of people claim (with no measurable proof) that something is better than something else.
This falls under the technical performance (measurable performance) vs. prefered sound signature ( subjective performance).