[Hellbishop]

Great thread. Thanks paconavarro

 
 
When first using headphones for the day let them warm up by slowly raising the volume every ten to fifteen minutes til they're at the normal volume you usually listem to them with.
 
Make sure to keep the source hardware dust free to prevent any electrical damage etc.
 
Make sure to dry out your ears after bathing otherwise you might end up with some temporary muffled hearing or an ear infection.
 
When switching headphones always lower the volume to zero before disconnecting one and plugging in the other.

 

[koolkat]

I suppose this is to protect your ears rather than the headphones.
 
Some closed headphones tend to sound softer than open headphones.
 
Quote:

When switching headphones always lower the volume to zero before disconnecting one and plugging in the other.

 

 

[dyl1dyl]

Turn on your tube amp a while before using it

 

[Hellbishop]

Quote:

I suppose this is to protect your ears rather than the headphones.
 
Some closed headphones tend to sound softer than open headphones.
 


 

I was thinking more about the headphones since the sudden loud volume especially on cold headphones might over stress or damage the drivers.
 

 

[Hellbishop]

Quote:

Turn on your tube amp a while before using it

I also unplug my stereo reciever before going to sleep and when plugging it back in the morning i dont turn it on right away for five to ten minutes. Then i do as you mentioned leaving it on while i go cook up some breakfast.

 

[Parall3l]

Never lend some else your IEMs, unless you want to get a new pair of tips that aren't covered in ear wax. Its amazing how dirty someone's ears can get. 

 

[paconavarro]

- Velour earpads can absorb a lot of smell so try to use your HPs after bathing, if you use them almost ALL day (like me) let them breathe by taking them out of your head, specially on places with warm climate.
- Get an extra pair of pads before trying to wash or clean the pads in your HPs, just in case you blow up things.
- Be sure that the cables in your system (amp - dac - hp - transport or whatever) have the right length and are not to tight, you can damage the cable or even the connection in the equipment.
- Try to listen in a quiet environment, that way you dont have to pump the volume too high, remember your ears is the most important asset when you love music and HPs.
- If you like to hear at high volumes understand that you need to lower the time of exposure to loud music, check the image below:
 

 

[keph]

Quote:

My first half-decent earbuds fell victim to a rabbit. Drivers were intact though the wire was split neatly in eleven pieces. I really felt like reaching for the holly hand grenade.

ARGH rabbits makes me remember what it did to my Nudie jeans..
 
 

 

[paconavarro]

- Create a Gear Testing Song List (GETSOL 

) with songs you are very familiar with, so you can detect the big and small details between equipment.
- In your GETSOL You must have at least: Classical, Jazz, Rock, Vocal & Electronica. Of course you can add what ever genere that you like.
- Please use at least 320kbps MP3 files or FLAC/ALAC/WAV in your GETSOL.
 
 

 

[Lurkumaural]

A couple of people mentioned the proper way to coil and store your cable:

 
Great thread.

 

[.Sup]

To clean velour pads and get rid of the odour I use this rug cleaner:
 

 
Fill up a jar or a can big enough to accept a pair of pads with warm or cold water. Pour some Vanish in and rub the pads against each other. Leave the pads floating and do the same procedure after an hour. Leave them in the water for at least 3 hours. Afterwards wash the pads and leave them to dry for week. Do not use any other drying procedure other than drying on room temperature.
 
 

 

[paconavarro]

^ Great Tip... the pads on my dt990s need a good cleaning!!!

 

[djviciouscycle]

Remove the headphones from your head before making any adjustments to the headband. This will reduce cracks.

 

[paconavarro]

- Take care of your cables, specially with the heaphones plug, avoid twisting or bending it too much, if thats the case you should get a 90 degrees connector.
 
- Look for music players beyond iTunes, like fidelia, Play, Vox, Audirvana, etc. they make such a difference.
- When using Eq for fine tuning lower freqs you dont want instead of boosting freqs you like.
- VTS, AU and fx chains are very useful if your player can handle. In my case I use a bit of panning because my left ear hears less than my right ear, using STTool I can center the sound.
 

 

[.Sup]

If you wan't lots of radio stations and unlimited music with good quality without adds look up for some online premium radio stations which are really inexpensive considering how much music you can listen to.