The diary entries of a little girl who is now 30! ~ Part 2 - Page 97

Originally Posted by jgray91 

@warren, I just did the shop for fun since I thought that kino pix just fit Scotty's face, our rather neck.

Originally Posted by MuppetFace 

More of my rambling thoughts on this hobby:

 

http://www.head-fi.org/t/629755/would-you-sell-your-whole-collection-for-just-one-sr009-amp/30#post_8741534

 

Kind of TL;DR.

Originally Posted by MuppetFace 

My rather verbose two cents, for whatever that's actually worth.

 

I currently own over 200 pairs of headphones and earphones along with 15 different amps. If I could only own a single rig however, it would be a Stax flagship (SR-Omega, SR-007, or SR-009) and a high-end stat amp (DIYT2, BHSE, LL, or Electra). No question in my mind.

 

I've always approached this hobby from the mindset of a collector and archivist. To that end, the headphones themselves have been the object of my desire, both as a cultural artifact (their design, their context) and as different means of exploring music due to their various colorations.

 

If I were to have a single rig on the other hand, I would approach it from a completely different paradigm. The headphone I'd choose would be the one I felt best fulfilled its role as a headphone, not a cultural or personal artifact. For me this means the headphone that transmits music while not transmitting itself as much as possible, ie. the headphone that best gets out of the way and disappears (this includes wear comfort), the metaphoric window onto a recording. This isn't just a matter of frequency response however, but also listening involvement and spatial reproduction which can be highly personal factors. The Stax flagships when properly driven by a capable amp are the closest I've come to this through a pair of headphones as the vector.

 

While I personally think neutrality is a good thing, my definition of transparency has changed a bit over time. It's not necessarily a matter of neutrality, but rather it's defined in a negative sense by a lack of distraction. That's what I mean by "gets out of the way" ultimately. For some people, a neutral headphone might make its presence fully known by virtue of the fact that it's not making its presence know. Think deafening silence. A lack of coloration thus becomes a coloration. I think when one starts listening to the music and hearing past the headphones, then one has reached a state of transparency. In other words, for me transparency isn't so much an attribute as it is a process. One can listen past a pair of $20 earbuds and experience the music itself more than someone using music as a tool to feed a pair of $2k headphones. I don't think there's anything wrong with the latter however; it's merely a different set of needs and priorities.

 

For me personally, the SR-Omega, SR-007, and SR-009 have the least wrong with them and are thus the least distracting for me the most consistently. I can still enjoy music using a $20 pair of earbuds, but it's extremely circumstantial and takes a lot of effort. It's a classic case of ignorance accommodating bliss.

 

As an aside, I think there's a tendency for some head-fiers to fixate upon the "magical" quality of music. When we take part in head-fi, we enter into a symbolic order of established terminology and norms, and we're granted a language to use in speaking about our experiences and an audience for doing so. The catch is that we must distance ourselves from the immediacy of that experience to speak intelligibly about it. Our primordial enjoyment is now subjugated and contained within the order of audiophile culture. There is however a remainder left over, as it can't completely incapsulate that experience. It's felt in the discrepancies between impressions, the inadequacy of certain terms, confusion, etc.  I think on a certain level head-fiers desire to reclaim this, to recreate this pseudo-magical experience, and so they constantly chase one new product after another in an attempt to fill that void they feel, however as soon as they reach a new product---be it a new flagship IEM or miracle DAC---they discover that it's not quite "it" and so they move on to the next one. Desire is only desire insofar as it remains unfulfilled. Audiophile culture largely creates that desire with the promise of a headphone (or any other device) that truly captures the experience one longs for, truly gives the user that unbound primordial enjoyment and sense of satisfaction. Of course such a product doesn't exist, nor will it. But that's not the point. I think we know this on some level, yet we go along with it anyway, placing value in "the journey" so as to maintain our sense of order and purpose within this hobby. It's not necessarily a bad thing in that sense.

 

However I think this is perhaps the biggest obstacle for some people in having just one rig.

Originally Posted by Tilpo 


"Breaking news: MuppetFace is actually an 18 year old boy"

Originally Posted by warrenpchi 


"Breaking news: MuppetFace really IS a little girl nearing 30"

Originally Posted by DigitalFreak 

Well, my streak of bad luck continues to march on. Today I went to check my PO Box for my new player and found nothing. Surprised I then decided to check the tracking to be greeted with two messages. The first one was processing error delivery delay possible. The second, delivery attempted card left indicating where item can be picked up. Freaked out that the package was mislabeled of delivered to the wrong PO Box I immediately called the post office support line. According to the rather pissed off sounding person on the other end what probably happened was the package was put on the wrong truck doing the wrong route for delivery. The package was then returned and rerouted and was then scanned as delivered once it left the processing station for the second time. Long story short I'll probably have my player tomorrow. The word probably didn't sit well with me. Keeping my fingers crossed Canada Post isn't feeding me a pack of lies to buy time. If it wasn't for bad luck I wouldn't have any luck at all. Excuse me, I have to wolf down a sandwich before I leave to finish off my shift at work.

Originally Posted by rroseperry 

I have to admit, I don't get why people love the HE phones so much. The sound is good, but they're heavy and the fit is awkward.

Originally Posted by maverickronin 

That annoying.  A birthday un-present?

Originally Posted by 333jeffery 

I just bought some HE500's this past weekend, and I love them. Wonderful clarity and they give the music a solid feel that my Sennheisers never could. With my Lyr/Bifrost setup, classic rock sounds spectacular. Jack Bruce and Robin Trower's "Seven Moons" comes to life, and Deep Purple's "Wring that Neck" gave me chills. It's no slouch on jazz, either. As for the fit, it suits big heads quite well. Though I do wish it was a tad bit lighter. Thanks to those that recommended them.

Originally Posted by jgray91 

Originally Posted by Magick Man 

I bought one of these for a local school to give away to a student as a prize, and it's a sweet little UB.

http://www.vizio.com/thin-light/overview
Even makes a cool hackintosh with a little work.

Originally Posted by Magick Man 

"Romney Wins Election In Landslide"

Originally Posted by gelocks 

Why are you returning the HE-500 if I may ask? Thanks.

Originally Posted by Sylverant 

Quote:


It looks great! In fact, I like most everything about it, save for the HD4000. I have an HD4000 in my Intel i7-3770k and it's okay; the desktop version (in my experience) will play just about any game @1336 x 768 on low-medium settings. As for the HD4000 on a laptop, well...my brother let me download 3 of my steam games to his computer so I could try it out, and it performs roughly the same more or less; it isn't going to handle games that render a lot of textures or real time global lighting.


I've tested an Alienware with a 660M at a Microcenter -which was great- and I've used the Nvidia 640M 2gb in my brother's computer. In my experience, the i7+640M 2gb has played Fifa 13 on 1080p with everything maxed Ultra with no slow downs, Sonic Generations completely maxed, and older fps shooters like Fallout New Vegas on Very High HD+ (1600x900); for me the 640M 2gb is a good compromise.


Edit: of course, I haven't mentioned real FPS shooters for a reason; if it's any more than Borderlands a 640M probably won't like it.