[avriette]

Seems people are kind of giving the "how I met HeadRoom" story. I'd like to add mine. Years ago, 2000ish, when my little sister headed to college, I gave her my "mobile office," which included a ballistic nylon briefcase, g4 powerbook, 5gb iPod, a set of noise-canceling panasonic headphones, extra battery, and stuff like this.


I felt great about it, as I'd given her enough to get started, but I realized that I had kind of bitten off more than I could chew. I had to come up with a new laptop AND headphones, and I thought the Panasonics were the best I could get (at the time they were about $120; now they're about $30). I started doing google searches for things like "best headphone" and so on, because I wanted something to match my new powerbook. I wound up finding Headphone.com, and I got myself a pair of Etymotic ER-6's, which I thought were way too expensive. Of course, when I got them in my ears, and really learned how to use them, I learned that there was a whole other level of headphone quality out there. I immediately picked up a set of Senn 590's because I figured if the Ety's were that good and I could use them on the metro (I live in DC), I wanted something just as good for use at home. I fell in love immediately.

Despite the fact that I thought that I had spent too much on my headphones (and boy did my wife, too!), I bought the Little amp about a year later. Again, I learned that there was a lot more going on than I knew. Around this time my wife replaced her computer, and she was going to buy new headphones as well. Instead she stole my ER-6's, and I naturally wound up getting ER-4's, right? Wow. The amount of high-end gear we had was really piling up, but all I could see was a need for Senn 650's and a more portable (e.g., plane-sized) amp.

So I finally got my Senn 650s for the office, installed the Little in the office with them, I got the Total Bithead for the Ety's and when I had to go on the road with the Senn's, and I got the travel cases/bags for all of them. I am thoroughly and totally in love with the company.

My wife now earnestly believes that she needs the Shure 535s because she wants something that will top her ER-6's, and we're at laptop-replacement point again (funny; she went from vaio to powerbook and is going back to vaio!). I find the whole business of her picking out that set to be kind of funny given her previous reactions, but what really trips me out is the fact that she asserts that I obviously need to replace my ety's as well. Heh. Somehow, somewhere along the way, she kind of self-indoctrinated and now she's an evangelist (she works as a Mac Genius, and simply tells people who want good sound "go to headphone.com", even though Apple of course stocks the ER-6i) and understands what "three drivers" means and why the Senns (and to a lesser extent the Etys) need amps.

What amazes me most about the company, though, is the earnest, repeated, consistent help from everyone I've ever worked with there. To me, the above is a lot of money, even though I see people with much more expensive rigs haunting the forums here. When I spend money like that, it's really important that I feel like I know what I'm getting and who I'm getting it from.

The first person I got was named, I think, "Ros" (like from Night Court) on the phone when I called for a question about the Senns before I bought them. I then began emailing Jamey who was, I mean, really... He was He-Man of headphones. I would ask questions and he had all the answers, knew what I needed based on these convoluted emails I'd send him. I've literally dealt with Jamey for years and was shocked to learn he had left. When I forwarded the "bounce" email to sales@, I was again very impressed, this time by Jorge.

The company doesn't just impress, or "not disappoint." They continually exceed what I expected of them, which was high to begin with. If it weren't for the people there, I would not enjoy music half as much as I do today. I never knew that music could be so rich –*I was literally losing big parts of my music (even in something as simple as Sublime, you can hear a lot more with a good set of cans, but with something as deeply complex as Pink Floyd – Echoes for example – it's positively revelational).

So, I could say "keep up the good work," but I have no doubt you will. When she finally gets that vaio (her biggest question is whether she wants the smaller pink one or the bigger silver one, if you can believe that), we'll be getting the next set, and I just can't wait. I'd normally dread a purchase of that size. So instead, I will say "Thank you, Headroom." And it's for more than just cans. It's for enjoying music and learning more about it, in a way that can literally be life-changing.