The difference between different headphones is often easier to tell than the difference between different file formats&#x2F;encodings.<p>Also, if you care about the social signals, don&#x27;t buy Beats if you don&#x27;t want to look like someone with more money than sense ;) (Mileage obviously may vary between environments, but it seems like the one things most people know about headphones is &quot;Beats aren&#x27;t good for the price&quot;, even if they never really looked at the topic in detail)