How you became an audiophile.

let me start the ball rolling...

started off as a guy who know nuts about this, but after being influence by my older brother (let me use his UM!) I got addicted. Saved up all my pocket money to buy myself a better earphone (UE 5 EB). And that's how I got started.

started with a yamaha home theater system! used it for music and thought it was the best in the world.. after that i saw the akg81dj and thought that 100 for a headphone was crazy and took 1 month to save for it.. from there i found out what i was missing in songs! thus my  journey started as in audiophile

and now... i have spent over a thousand... fun journey :D

My dad went to a Bang & Olufsen showroom, and ended up buying everything that caught his eye. He also bought me a pair of B&O A8 earbuds. When I found out they were over $150 I was like you have to return this, but the sound was so good, it was such a step up from the iBuds and $30 headphones, I couldn't live without them. I later decided to get a full size pair of headphones and unearthed this site, and with the help of my highschool friend I ended up starting my journey in hi-fi.

knew it was time to get a headphone. saw one. asked a question. heard abotu audiophilia. and started. this was less than a year ago btw. look at the date i joined. that was the month i essentially became an audiophile

I found some budget earphones that I thought sounded better than the Bose Triports that I had.  "WTF?" I thought.  Then I started searching on google for other brands and

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mad Max 

I found some budget earphones that I thought sounded better than the Bose Triports that I had.  "WTF?" I thought.  Then I started searching on google for other brands and

my journey was the same.. i looked at headphones. beats and bose were on my list...and then i odn't know what but head fi was a site i saw. thought about. made a post..and voila 

and since them i've come a long way. when i first started. you don't know how much(you might) it meant when i saw whenever someone with the rank of headphoneus supremus helped me. it was like..ok the other members suggestions are obsolete. that rank looks fancy and nice! wow. it was like an angel. a supremus helping me? add that into teh reviews tehy posted on headphones to get..and my audiophile journey began. and just a month ago. i finally attained the rank of headphoneus supremus, got a free complimentary set of headphones from head fi and am now able to go into the ever coveted headphoneus supremus only thread here on head fi :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mad Max 

I found some budget earphones that I thought sounded better than the Bose Triports that I had.  "WTF?" I thought.  Then I started searching on google for other brands and

same story I had the Bose Triports back in 2002 or so I think.  They broke and where I moved to they had a little "mom & pop shop" that stocked Grado.  The SR-80s maul the Triports in both price and performance and the rest was history.  I've moved on from Grado to Sennheiser and Denon but that was the beginnings of headphone land.

As for my home theater journey that goes back to the late 90s I was just blown away when I was a teenager at the incredible sound/power watching movies at the local movie theater.  I wanted something like that in my own place.  Rest is history I put it together one piece at a time as I could afford it.  Now it sounds just as good if not better than going to the theaters lol.

Well I'm not really sure what the qualifications for audiophile are or whether I meet them but I've always loved music and wanted it to sound good.  I didn't always know what sounding good meant, when I was a kid I begged for one of those all in one bookshelf 5 speaker systems with built in cd changer (you know, the cheap ones that always broke) because it was Sony and labeled as "Hi Fi" so I was convinced it had to be the best sound ever (and yes I'm slightly embarrassed to admit to this).  Then for a while I thought my Discman and sony behind-the-neck band headphones were where it was at, followed by the same with the Klipsch Promedia 5.1 computer speakers when I was in high school.  (Though those actually are pretty good, especially for computer speakers, I still have them).  I've installed better speakers/head unit in every vehicle I've owned.  

I guess you could say I've always been looking for better sound though for quite a long period of my life I didn't necessarily have a good idea of where to find it.  Much more recently (last few years) Amazon was having a big sale on the HD555s and while searching for reviews I stumbled across one here on head-fi.  Ended up buying them and while I was impressed I immediately wanted more, google led me back here again with the mod to remove the foam pads at which point I bookmarked the site (and was effectively doomed ).  After a lot more research on here I currently have a setup I really enjoy (Foobar 2000 on my desktop -> Fiio e7/e9 -> Ultrasone HFI-2400) and yet I keep reading reviews and wanting to try more headphones (actually just ordered the Crossfade M8s and planning on getting some Ultrasone Pro 2900s soon).  I still consider myself a noob and I really hope this doesn't lead to my eventually dropping multiple thousands on a setup (I'll need a raise first, lol) but I'm enjoying the journey.  

Moral of the story: Head-Fi is dangerous to your wallet.

^ i absolutley love stories like urs :) the change and journey is always just interesting to me and yes. Head fi is dangerous to ur wallet. Its less dangerous when u get to headphoneus supremus. Ppl recommend u stuff less and dont talk to u like hmm maybe u need this or that. Its just easier to avoid. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by bowei006 

^ i absolutley love stories like urs :) the change and journey is always just interesting to me and yes. Head fi is dangerous to ur wallet. Its less dangerous when u get to headphoneus supremus. Ppl recommend u stuff less and dont talk to u like hmm maybe u need this or that. Its just easier to avoid. 

But how much wallet damage is required before you can reach Headphoneus Supremus? 

Quote:

Originally Posted by AltairDusk 

But how much wallet damage is required before you can reach Headphoneus Supremus? 

not much?

$300 ipod touch-already had

$100-some CD's

E5-$25

L9 LOD-$15

E17-$140

Optical cables-$20

SRH440-$80

HFI 580-$118

PL11-$10

MP8320-$8

that's really it.......needless to say. i didn't include the cost of everything i have bought for audio. the above was just stuff after i realized audiophile....let's not include the Macbook Pro. the external hard drives, my Blu ray CD drive. ASUS gaming motherboard(i count enthusaist class as higher than gaming). logitech Z623, APC backups power supply and power "cleaner".....and all that stuff i have downstair(check my profile) then it gets expensive. the top is just the stuff i bought bc of head fi and stuff.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AltairDusk 

But how much wallet damage is required before you can reach Headphoneus Supremus? 

just to take a sample of my setup (minus the source)...about $600.

Audio-GD (or Nuforce Icon HDP) amp/dac approx $400

Sennheiser HD600 - $200 used

Use the USB connectivity of said dac to your PC...voila.  Happy listening.

Wow that's not bad at all, nowhere near what I assumed $-wise.  Guess that's my reminder about not making assumptions.