The "Week-with-a-Crappy-Can" Challenge! OR "See how much of the experience the MUSIC carries!" - Page 2

Quote:

Originally Posted by NamelessPFG 

If we're talking "before you started spending lots of money on headphones", then I could probably survive for a week with my Sansui SS-20 (something my stepfather had lying around and never used). It does need new earpads and is rather heavy, but it sounds decent.

 

But if we're talking "worst-sounding headphone in your collection", that means I have to suffer with the GE H-22 (which I got well after getting into Head-Fi) and its total lack of extension for an entire week, hoping my ears don't bleed. It's comfortable, but it'll take extreme EQ to make it sound even halfway decent.

That brings up a good point. I guess we can't put a restriction on EQ, or even modifications, in order to get through the week. That could actually be really interesting--if a headphone is so bad it compels its owner to redesign it just to try to make it usable, it just might spur a new DIY craze for a particular model. "Hey, I made a Sony V150 sound like an LCD-2! Just do x, y, and z, and deposit your disbelief in the nearest suspension-inducing receptacle" or some such.

Also, vintage headphones are fascinating, if for no other reason than some of the designs and interesting ideas (e.g. AKG's variable-distance drivers) that fell by the wayside as the general idea of what a "headphone" is evolved. I miss the innovation and build quality of that period (and I say that from the standpoint of somebody who was born in the modern era of headphones), though from what I understand even midrange headphones from today are usually significantly better than the majority of designs from back then.

I wonder if that means that today's crappy headphones are on the level of midrange vintage cans?

Quote:

Originally Posted by SBranson 

 

Another anecdotal analogy to instruments...  As a pianist, I've been playing the same keyboard for over a decade.  Sounds alright with my Grado 125's but I once sat down and played a Bosendorfer that I was told was on sale for only $90,000 and I swear I sounded like a WAY better player on that piano..

The Boesendorfer has always been my favorite piano, and it would be the greatest joy to actually play one. I've actually got a VST version of a Model 290, and while I love it to bits, I'm under no illusions it will ever live up to the real thing.

I appreciate the general point of your post. Of course having good gear helps to fully enjoy the experience. I certainly would never choose to listen to iBuds or my V700 when my DT880 and SRH440 (and, if all goes well, in a few months a Phonak PFE 111/112) are available. My headphones are my window into the music, and sometimes I just lay back and marvel at everything I can hear with them.

But sometimes I think people go too far in the other direction, especially here on Head-Fi. They start listening to the gear more than the music, and they get bogged down in FOTM and can shuffling. I can certainly understand searching for something you like--I went through two other headphones before I got my first keeper. But somewhere in the madness, I think, the true reason we buy these things can sometimes take a backseat, and that's to help us enjoy the music to the fullest.

The goal of this thread is to remind everybody that, though they may have been aware of the shortcomings of their old headphones even when they were all they had, they still managed to enjoy the music with them. If we spend a week remembering how it used to be, we'll be that much more thankful for the wonderful equipment we have.

And maybe, just maybe, we might get to relive that moment, that revelation, the first time we ever heard really good sound, when we finally get to use our best headphones again at the end of the week. I know that I for one wasn't thinking about soundstage, imaging, or tonal balance that first time. I was too busy being blown away by the music. The guys behind the desk at GC may have thought I was nuts when I started practically head banging on the display floor, but I didn't care. I can't remember a single thing from any of my analytical listening sessions. But I've had some pretty memorable ones just relaxing or rocking out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by obobskivich 

Wait, a person is actually going to wear those V700s? Yikes.
Anyways, interesting concept to think about. I'm sure some of my normal listening fare are "clunkers" compared to some of my other normal listening fare, but I don't own anything that's explicitly "terrible" (or beat up) anymore.

I'm not sure anybody could wear the pair in the second picture anymore. Half the pieces have been borrowed to repair the ones in the first picture.

I do actually have something that might be worse. I've got a pair of the first generation iBuds. One side doesn't work anymore, though, so it wouldn't be useful for this challenge. I've also got the crappy pack-in "headphones" that came with my last PCDP, but both the foams rotted off and I never actually used them.

I guess the point of this challenge is to use something I actually thought was good and/or spent a lot of time with. Neither of these things got any real use (other than maybe once or twice just to laugh at how bad they are), so they don't really fit the spirit. Plus, neither is really in working condition. The V700, beat up as it is, still works, and since it was the inspiration for this thread, I guess that means it's my choice.

Unless...

...there's always this:

No idea where this came from. I spotted it in the storage barn this past summer, and I remembered it just as I was typing the past post, so of course I had to go out in the middle of the night and get it. I have no idea if it works. I'm a bit afraid to put it anywhere near my ears. There might be things living in it. I seriously don't remember this at all, but it was with a bunch of my old toys so it must have been something that went with one of them. Maybe the goose-shaped one that played cassette tapes, though I haven't seen that in years.

So, yeah. I'm going to lint-roller those foams off and see if it works. It probably still doesn't qualify for the challenge, but I'm just curious. It reminds me strongly of Reese's Pieces, but I doubt it sounds very sweet.

EDIT: Okay, scratch this. Not only does it not fit (it's clearly made for a little kid), it has almost literally no bass and no treble, and yet manages to be fatiguing at the same time. It sounds like somebody is holding two telephones up to my ears. Halfway decent soundstage, though, and surprising imaging from something so rudimentary. Also, it proves a point I may have made before, which is that once you know that details are in a song, you can hear them even on the crappiest of equipment. I just heard the amp buzz at the beginning of Natalie Merchant's "Jealousy," which I first noticed on my DT880.

Maybe these things will improve with burn in. 

I think it may have been designed for kids to listen to cassette tape recordings of nursery rhymes or something, since it focuses entirely on the midrange. Therefore it's technically disqualified since it's not a purpose-built music-listening device. Doesn't stop Natalie from being pretty damn awesome as always, though.

I couldn't tell you, having never personally heard any of those planephones. It's been over ten years since I was on an airplane, and I can't recall the flights ever offering a movie, so no headphones.

You might find this article amusing, though. Tyll Hertsens actually tests one of these airplane headphones with his equipment and offers his thoughts. This one definitely falls under the "no matter how disappointed you might be sometimes with your headphones, they're better than this" banner.

http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/headphones-united-airlines-flight-962

That KPH-7 definitely doesn't measure that poorly for what it is. I imagine it's probably better than most of the pack-in type headphones that used to come with PCDPs. I wonder if they even bother with those headphones anymore, as the style seems to be for iBud-like things these days.

For that matter, do they even sell PCDPs in big box stores anymore? It's been many years since I bought one, so I would have no reason to even check.

Also, come to think of it, I did use headphones on a plane once. It was actually a weird setup from what I remember. It wasn't electric. Well, on some level it had to be, but they would give you the 'phones and you plugged this rubber tube (like a stethoscope) into a hole on the armrest, and it would channel sound into your ears from (presumably) a dynamic driver sealed in a chamber. There may have been passive drivers in the earcups. Of course I was way too young to think to check for any of this, but even then I must have been mystified by how it worked because I remember all these details now.