Most surprising purchase of 2009?

Mine were the STAX 4070 monitors, I like them so much that I think I use them more than my 007's IMO They are without question the best closed headphone ever made, the R10's lag way behind. Its strange why there arent so many owners of these...

Because these are quite expensive and bulky?

Ultrasone HFI-580 for 55$. One man solt it, 'cause he can't listen to their harshy highs. Well, he knew nothing about ultrasone burn-in :-) Most dissapointing to me seems JBL 420. Take it cheap for everyday usage because of leather pads & headband. But they were mega awful. Koss porta pro are hi-end phones compairing to them!

The K240 Sextett.
Really enjoyable headphone, especially for the price tag.

i went from 0 to 4 headphones in 2 weeks (Alessandro MS1i, Audio Technica ATH-AD700, Sennheiser HD438, Sony MDR-XD200). thought i catch up since i am a late bloomer. enjoying every single pair. head-fi-ing is actually a pretty good hobby

1) I walked into a store to buy a pair of 225s and walked out with a pair of 125s instead.

2) Buying ANOTHER Dac before the year ended. The uDac was my 5th one this year.
[Previously: Fubar II, Fubar III, DacMagic, Keces 151.]

I came from nothing and bought a whole new set of gear. An ipod, a D4 amplifier and the ESW9-phones. All in about two weeks.

Instead of a TV which I've wanted for years... Damn this site.

GuyDebord: I vote the 4070s the best 'phones for vocals, bar none (and there are others that might agree with me), so I know where you're coming from.

There were quite a few surprises for me:

The Stax Lambda Nova Signatures I picked up for ~$220 which blow away every headphone I've heard up to, and sometimes over, $1000.

The Grado HF2: I never thought I'd ever own a Grado, yet these have to be the most fun one could buy for ~$500, even straight out of an iPod or iPhone.

The iPhone 3GS: Surprisingly satisfying with IEMs, despite the rest of my expensive gear.

The Audio-gd Reference 1: The first DAC I've owned that simply disappeared, seemingly allowing the music to come through as if the DAC was not there at all, with detail on the level one would get if one were present at the recording.

The Sennheiser HD-800s: The most controversial headphones of the year, epic in their achievements, if not always their enjoyability when listening.

MS-1i for sure. They're my dedicated work phones and how sweet they sound for their price tag!

I had 3 this year.

1. I was going to get a 32"-ish TV for my bedroom and ended up getting a 52" Samsung with a Blue Ray player.

2. This was way unexpected as I'm not really into music on the go, but I bought 2 pairs of Ultimate Ears TripleFi10's which will be getting custom shells made for them. They were, of course, purchased at the Amazon/Logitech sale price.

3. I bought a Smith & Wesson M&P in 9mm.

Probably (at least, audio-related - there were many other Bigger Things in '09) my AKG k240s.

I don't really need "nicer" headphones or dedicated amps anymore. The k601's may even go soon, actually.

Mine were as follows:

1. I bought a crappy pair of JVC Marshmallows which, after tweaking the EQ on my iPod, actually sounded pretty good.

2. I bought a pair of UM3Xs which, unamped, outperformed all my other IEMs - including the TF10, SE530, Er4P and PFE. But those same earphones were the least improved by amping. The ones that surprised me amp'd were the PFEs. With a strong amp, the PFEs are not only clear and wondrous but rumble with the best of 'em.

3. For $20, I got a guy at a flea market to make me a pair of wooden shells for my knockaround SR60s. When I removed the plastic, not just the backs but the front grills as well, those SR60s throbbed like nobody's business. Removing the plastic turned out to be hugely important to maximizing the effect of those shells. Another surprising trick in getting bass extension out of an SR60 was to pop the screens fore and aft to open up the airflow.

4. My first experiments with thicker gauge wire (16 AWG) seemed to impact the bass, but when I double-checked it, I couldn't duplicate the results, leading me to question my original results.

5. I bought a beautiful M^3, with a walwart, then separately bought a STEPS PSU from rds. The difference in sonic silkiness blew my mind.

6. I bought the world's ugliest M^3 from a guy in China with an enclosure from Hell. But when I hooked it up, it actually sounded terrific.

7. I bought a Cmoy from biosciencegeek earlier in the year, got into opamp rolling and was surprised to find that my tastes tended toward the fast and aggressive AD chips over the smoother chips from Burr Brown.

8. I bought an SR-80 from a guy, hoping to fix its "wiring" issues only to discover that it was in worse shape than I'd thought. With nothing to lose, I took it apart and was surprised at what I found.

JH13s. The last thing I thought I wanted to ever get was another pair of iems, since I was fond of my UE11s, but rarely used them, and had no need for a portable rig. After hearing the demos at CanJam, I got impressions made on the spot. They completely changed my listening habits, and I now use them more than my other headphones due to their sq and the fact that I can use them almost anywhere at any time. Wonderful!

The Marantz DV6001 what sound for 249.00