Please vote - UM Miracle, JH13, ES5 or UE Capitol for ljokerl?  

I joined Head-Fi just a little more than a year ago, and was struck by how well-organized the forum is, how civilized and helpful the members are, and just how much they give back to the community. Be it audioelectronic knowledge, help with purchasing decisions or product reviews, to name a few, thousands of little contributions are made each day in the form of posts. Most of these posts are small at just one or two lines, but others are gigantic compilations, which eventually exceed the character limit and are expanded into even more posts.

This brings me to two of the most useful threads on Head-Fi: ljokerl's massive portable headphone and IEM comparison threads. It's a great reference; people link to them all the time, and the threads have helped countless others, including myself. Every time I visit them, I'm simply amazed - dumbfounded, even - at how comprehensive and immaculate they are. This is one guy, who's written probably at least a hundred pages' worth of reviews, and shows no signs of stopping. He thoroughly deserves his 'contributor' title. In fact, he deserves some kind of commendation. A reward, if you will.

I'm sure many others feel the same way. So, I'm hoping that together, we can give him this commendation.

Let's buy him a token of our gratitude.

This is not a new concept; it's already been done before (Ti Kan with an HD800 and krmathis with a beta22, both of which are very well deserved). Incremental payments of $10 (or more, if you're feeling generous) will be sent to an organizer through PayPal, then once all the money has been gathered and, the organizer will order the gift and ship it to ljokerl. Simple enough. Please take the responsibility of paying the PayPal fees yourself, if there are any.

Of course, some people might not be comfortable with a grand total of $1000 or so in the hands of a sub-500-post newbie with no trader feedback. That's why I'm hoping a more established member will step up and take control of matters.

I'm really excited about this, and I'm hoping that we can make this happen.

Don't disappoint me, Head-Fi.  

January 4, 2011:

There's been a fair bit of debate over what to get - full-size vs customs, but I'm fairly sure it's been settled. rawrster will be organizing the fund, possibly with some help from poetik. At ljokerl's discretion, we'll put things to a vote (for what we want to see reviewed most, I guess)- UM Miracle ($930) versus JH13 ($1099) versus ES5 ($950) versus UE Capitol Records ($1000). 

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Yeah, I thought about which product would be most suitable, and he already has 1964 Ears customs, not to mention full-size headphones are a bit more of a 'statement' product. But you guys are right - footing the bill for high-end IEMs is equally appropriate (not to mention the GS1000s are pretty polarizing). I'll drop him a PM asking.

Okay, okay - I sent the guy himself a PM an hour ago, asking what he would buy with $1000. (Sorry, I'm not good with subtlety.) But for now, I'd appreciate it if this thread weren't clogged up with suggestions on how to decide. Thanks to everyone interested; I'm grateful for your support. But all we can do now is wait and hope we get a reply fast. There seem to be no objections, so I'll take the responsibility of gathering the money in PayPal and ordering the gift.

I also edited the first post, seeing as matters are slightly different now.

Just got an informative reply from ljokerl, here's the gist of it:

• one grand is far outside his budget. All the better for us to pitch in!
• enjoyed auditioning T1 and LCD-2; he would buy LCD-2
• in terms of customs, basically UM Miracle or JH13

I sent e-mails to Audeze, UM and Jerry Harvey. To be honest, I'd much rather go for the LCD-2 so as to avoid dealing with impressions and the like. I'm not saying it wouldn't work to buy customs on one's behalf, but it's just not as simple.

Actually, scratch that - Audeze only accepts orders through PayPal. I'm so stupid; I didn't read the webpage thoroughly. Let's buy ljokerl an Audeze LCD-2 as a token of our gratitude.

I'll start accepting payments now. PM me and I will give you an address to make the payment to.

Remember - $10 USD or more if you're feeling generous, but please make it a solid amount (so no payments of $10.01 or the like).

Please make the payment as a gift. Please pay the PayPal fees, if applicable.

Make sure you indicate your username in the 'email to recipient' box. Also, I am located in Canada, not the US. Sorry for any inconvenience.

The LCD-2s are $945 plus $22 domestic shipping, making a total of $967. I would like to aim for $970, although I am not sure if there are any other fees surrounding the purchase.

I'll soon assemble a list displaying users and their respective contributions, and put it in the thread (likely the original post). To those living in the US - are there any other extra fees I should be aware of?

Quote:

Originally Posted by rawrster 

Well there's the month long wait before paying for the LCD-2

Yes, I've already placed a pre-order. Fortunately, Audez'e won't ask for payment until the headphones are finished. I'm positive that in that time, we can gather the money.