I'm a bit of a nOOb to the who audiophile area but are these really worth this price for in-ear headphones? How much of a difference and would I notice the difference between these and say a £180 Shure headshones or a £100 Shure headphones?
Ahh that's the magic question!
Is there a difference? - Yes!
Can everyone hear it? - No!
Unfortunately there isn't a pro-rata increase in quality with the increase in price. Like most hi-fi the small increments in quality come in large price increments.
It also depends on what you'll be plugging them into. Some earphones are best when amped and fed via a decent line-out; others are voiced for a simple headphone out and don't improve much even with a good amp.
I wish I could give you a graph showing the percentage improvement in sound as the cost increases but that would still be based on my ears.
£50 will give you a big jump over say standard Ipod buds
£100-£150 and you'll be reaching the most cost effective peak (imo)
£500+ will give you better but may not be worth it in terms of cost to some and lost on others.
It's a little like PC's. Take a budget Dell pc versus the fasted gamer Dell pc. The people wo do a little web surfing, emails and Word will be fine with the budget and think you mad if you bought the gamer version - the gamer on the other hand...
Steve