Why have we become audiophiles.

I actually started getting into better sound when I started DJing. I wad auditioning DJ headphones and realized the kind of sound I could get vs your typical iBuds. 

 

Ended up with a pair of DH1200s and then Senn. HD25-1 IIs and it was all downhill from there. 

My journey was a cross between wanting good sound and something to relax while laying down at night, after several IEM purchases at my local shopping mall I thought beats tours would be what I was looking for, after all they were the most expensive right? Not long after the purchase I read reviews about them which lead me to Head-Fi. The rest just get's messy with several buy/try/sells, conflicting opinions and complicated internet jargon.

A mixture of coincidence and then obsession. My first headphone purchase was a pair of UE200's and they were great. I was then influenced by my friend who had a pair of earpad headphones to purchase a pair of earpads. At that time I didn't really understand the concept of sound quality, and I made the mistake of buying the earpad phillip's o'neils. My friend then introduced me to the idea of sound quality through his TF10's, and as a result I was prompted to buy CAL!'s after the fatal mistake of stumbling upon Head-Fi. From there, it was a downward spiral in my search for better sound.

Listened to my friend's shure 535 and it opened my eyes. Now it's my curiosity to always try something different

I guess I've always been one. I grew up with my Dad's gear, but headphone gear got to me once I graduated,

got an apartment and had to tune things down a bit. I also enjoyed the intimate presentation of headphones over speakers.

 

And along comes Head-Fi and the optimization of headphone gear. Down the rabbit hole we go.

when my friend got me a HD202 as a birthday gift and when the same guy upgraded his SRH240 to a SRH940 for himself half a year later. i bit on and wanted to get good sound too, so i jumped in (i am more audiophile-ish than him by a little now)

It begun as an obsession to the best possible headphone sound, and now it has developed to different audio gears collection.

My dad was an audiophile and so is my brother. I don't consider myself one, but I like music and went to music school to become a music teacher/performer. I know how actual instruments sound like, and hearing accurate reproduction of instruments and vocals through speakers and headphones allows me to enjoy the music the way it was suppose to. The downside is, I easily get fatigued listening to less than acceptable quality, not because I am an elitist, but my brain tries to automatically compensate and organically EQ the music so I can enjoy them equally even with subpar quality.

In order to reduce hearing fatigue, I tend to buy audiophile quality products which makes me sort of like an audiophile (In denial) but causes a different kind of fatigue that instead of my ears, its my wallet that feels.
Edited by Annafrancesca - 12/16/12 at 1:43pm

I was born audiophile 

In college we had a high end audio shop in town that was spectacular....once exposed to the difference there was no going back.  A sad moment was when a new car dealership showed off the SiriusXM feature to me with such pride....I had to ask them if it was broken or something.  It's both a pleasure and a curse. 

like all the rest of us

i have always loved getting the best equipment even if i dont intend to use it professionally.

 

started off with those sleek sony behind the neck headphones because i just found them to be so aesthetic.. my first headphones that i actually paid for ...used them with my sony discman around year 2004.

 

then i started doing some djing and  sound mixing at home and realized i needed headphones which have good bass for monitoring the beats.

 

ended up getting Sennheiser HD205...now this is what i would call my first real pair of headphones.

 

 

 

i guess senn hd 205 was the moment i realized how good music can sound, then ended up on head-fi and couldn't resist the upgrades.

 

today, i cannot even gym without a $300 pair of earphones.

Edited by Nocturnal310 - 12/16/12 at 7:50pm