>>106975802
Not that guy, but here are my boomer-tier thoughts as someone who regularly uses both headphones and speakers that are all in vastly different price tiers:
1. Don't obsess over objectivity. Total frequency response, maximum power handling, and THD are probably the most important, but most objective arguments focused on specs and graphs which are rarely relevant to the subjective experience. You might like your audio balanced bright, neutral, or turbo niggerbass. Your ears might not pick up tiny amounts of distortion that comes through. That's fine. Accept it. Unless you're mixing records for other people to listen to, you shouldn't buy some ultra neutral studio monitors if what you actually ENJOY is niggerbass. If unsure, try before you buy.
2. Diminishing returns hit hard. Mid-range/price audio IS premium audio. Cheap shit is cheap shit. $10,000 speakers are not necessarily more ENJOYABLE than $1,000 speakers, but a $100 setup will not compete with a $1,000 setup.
3. Don't be afraid of EQ. If it makes YOUR hardware sound better to YOU, use it. EQ works best when you use it to push frequencies DOWN instead of pushing frequencies UP. An unpleasant treble spike can be fixed with EQ by pushing frequencies DOWN. Trying to get more niggerbass out of your tiny speakers by pushing the bass UP will distort, clip, and sound like shit.
4. At any significant volume room acoustics are very important for speakers. Reducing major echo/reflections and having some decent bass traps matters. Cheap meme foam on your walls will do less than a good amount of carpet, couches and strategically placed bookshelves full of books.
5. Speakers: size and power matter. If all else is equal: 12" sub > 8" sub; 8" woofers > 5" woofers, etc. Speakers sound better and last longer when played well below their maximum power handling, so buy more than you need. What you need depends. I need less at my desktop than in my living room.
