The quality of materials is inferior, the technology is decades old, and the difference between high-end and low-end Bose headphones is often pieces of material intentionally included in lower-end models to degrade sound quality to differentiate between the different price points (admittedly, Sennheiser did this same…

Oh no, I meant custom molded tips. You can actually cast and mold tips that fit on where you’d normally put the silicon tips. They seal like a custom, but fit your universal. The service usually runs 100-150 bucks. Not quite as good as the real deal (the whole body helps transmit sound in a true custom), but a…

I think you hit the nail on the head: Bose provides a sound signature - basically a classic disco smile, hence the bass - more than they do any particular level of quality sound reproduction.

In my experience, it’s mostly the feel of the sound that changes, if that makes sense. Lossy filetypes cut off the frequency spectrum above and below certain threshholds (just above and below the limits of human hearing). I find that MP3 files (mostly those at and below 256kbps) sound slightly cold as a result -…

Depends on what the quality means to you, IMO.

Love the TripleFi’s. My first set of real headphones were a set of UE Super.Fi 5 Pros which came out just before the TripleFi 10s. I never owned a pair of the TripleFi’s myself, but always loved their sound - some absolutely amazing universal IEMs, those. Have you ever considered getting custom molded tips?

I just assume you mentioned Bose headphones to troll the audiophiles in this thread.

Worth noting that entry level custom IEMs from companies like JH Audio (I rocked a JH-5 for years before finally upgrading to some JH Roxannes and their 12 speakers per ear worth of sweet glory) price in around this range too and, given the added isolation and the much greater degree of mechanical contact between the…