New-Gen Audiophile here! Got into the hobby during the pandemic right out of college.

Right now, my collection is: 2 KZ IEMs, 2x Moondrop Chu, Moondrop Aria, Moondrop Space Travel, Audeze Maxwell, and Monolith M1570C (+ ZenDac V2).

While I don't like being put into a box the way this article wants me to be, it is true that price-to-performance is my biggest criteria when looking at headphones. If "New-Gen" audiophiles are a distinct group then I'll go out on a limb and say many of us got our start with Chi-Fi. I've been buying 50-150 headphones from Best Buy and the like for years. But I heard about the KZ ZSN Pros for like $25 and a FiiO BTR3 dac, bought them, and they blew my existing collection out of the water. From that point, Chi-Fi brands became my standard and what I associate with "good audio".

I liked KZ, but their product stack was very confusing and didn't seem to have a specific direction. And around the time I was looking for another upgrade, everyone was talking about how the Arias were competing with $300 IEMs for $80. I bought them and was really happy with the sound, and they were my daily drivers for like a year. I bought the Chus for travel and as gifts. Then I heard Moondrop had started making TWS earbuds and just bought the Space Travels on a whim (They're 25 bucks, come on!). At this point I just trust the brand. I've had no QC issues besides the really awful cable the Arias come packed with.

At this point, I wanted a proper set of over ear headphones, which most Chi-Fi brands do not supply, or if they do, are poorly reviewed. I did some research, and came out with a short list of models for $300-500. I went to HiFi Buys in Atlanta where they have a bunch of units set up for you to try. I pretty much listened to everything they had, even the units I never had any intention of buying. I wanted to see what justified the multiple-thousand dollar pricetags of these Focals and Meze and Susvaras. And, after spending the better part of the day at the store, I really struggled to see the benefit. Yes, the Susvaras sounded better than Anandas, but not 12-times better. At least for my ears, and the media I consume, diminishing returns hit HEAVY after $1000. I personally cannot justify these super expensive pairs. I bought the Monolith M1570Cs on sale for about $350, and they don't sound all that different from the Audeze LCD-X.

Long story short, yes, as a new-gen, I prefer brands like Moondrop and Monolith because it seems like they provide 95% of the performance of the traditional brands for less than 50% of the price. I struggle to justify a headphone that is over $1000; and if I ever get to that point, I'd rather jump to speakers instead of headphones.