interesting and funny thread;
i agree with you about "super tight budget solutions" Spareribs,actually i am enjoying cheap rig cause i cant afford (or i dont want to) more!
its nice to see how many factors and variables of any of ourselves dictate whether we are able to afford or not expensive eargasmic hifi equipments...
in my personal case is not the money -or almost- the primary problem is between desiring an headphone (or whatever hifi rig) and get it,here in brazil there is no cheap electronic device and practically no hifi market;or at least,medium-hi quality is really ,really expensive,so just rich people can afford first class equipment (an iphone cost here about 1250 dollars,i found a m80 at 500 dollars,a gtx460 about 700 dollars).
i am a cook,and atm moment i am working in a highly respected restaurant where my earning are a little higher than the same average professional category ,underrated and sub-payed;i can get 800,900 dollars per month,so i can save some money as i have no kids,but definitively i refuse to buy any high quality product here,i find our cost of life and cost of hi-quality products so damn expensive,if you analyze our economic and social situation.
and anyway the most of hi-fi devices are not even commercialized around here so i cant even try anything before buy it,so blind (or deaf) deals all the time!!
i have been working in some european countries in the past and sometime i feel a little pissed off because i should have a greater setup to honor my recordings!!
salute
listening to : Gattaka,music is my blood