Lumient
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2006
- Posts
- 534
- Likes
- 10
Five months and a hundred posts have passed since I joined this great forum. Mostly I have been browsing the old threads and gathering information. Almost all of my posts have been made to Music game –thread, addictive way to spend time (when I should be studying or working...). I have enjoyed especially those posts where people have written about their journey in the world of headphones. As this is my 100th post, I’ll try to do the same.
My first memory of headphones would be from the early/mid-eighties when I got my first walkman as Christmas present. It was Unisef Z-1, big and bulky red portable C-cassette player that came with headphones with cool orange pads. I don’t remember what it sounded like at all. It got thrown away when it eventually got broken. I managed to find similar player from ebay, but I’ll probably won’t buy it. No need to spoil fine memories.
As time passed I got and purchased several entry-level Sony Walkmans. They were in heavy use, so I had to replace them in every one or two years. I didn’t think about the headphones and their quality at that time at all. Just used the one that came with the Walkman. I only remember that I was very impressed at one time when some Walkman came with phones that had super-overblown bass response. I think that almost every pre-teenaged boy is a basshead
By the mid-nineties I had dumped my portables and was listening only my stereos. I got carried away with audio equipment and still: the bigger and bassier sound, the better. Until I bought my first good speakers B&W CDM-1SE’s. After that I learned to appreciate more neutral sound and updated my hi-fi equipment accordingly. I went to the other extreme and ended up spending more time updating and tuning my equipment than listening to the actual music. When I realized this I ditched my gear and settled with Sherwood FX-1 cd-receiver and Acoustic Energy Aego2 –speakers. No regrets.
Back to the headphones. It was not until last year that I actually got back using headphones when I bought second hand Sennheiser PX-100s (the old version) to use with my laptop. There was good synergy between those two and the moment I plugged those phones in is still my favourite headphone moment. I had enjoyed listening to music with speaker-setup, but with the headphones it seemed like the music came alive.
For a few months I was very satisfied with the PX100s. Those phones suited my hearing very well as I have a mild case of tinnitus (too many loud rock concerts). Eventually I thought of upgrading. I bought a few PCDPs: Iriver IMP-550, some newer Sony and a Panasonic from the mid 1990s. Then I got Headroom Airhead, probably first or second gen. and Echo Indigo for my laptop. Along with a bunch of mini-to-mini interconnects. I barely had these for a few weeks when I started craving for DAP. I ended up buying Iriver IFP-890 second-hand and first gen. Ipod Shuffle. At this time I thought that I needed new headphones. Some headphones I got with the equipment that I bought. I ended up having two PX100s, Koss UR40, Koss KSC75, Koss the Plug (should be Koss the Yuck), some Sony, Thomson and no-name earbuds and finally Sennheiser HD485.
The turning point for me was getting the HD485s, it had the sound I had been looking for. It had the dark sound that pleased my taste and ears. The bass was a bit too much at first, but it settled down. Or I got used to it. Anyway I seriously like these phones, no urge to upgrade anymore. I started selling my other phones and also equipment.
The only new purchase I made was Sony D250 PCDP I got for around $35 from ebay. It suits very well with HD485s as it is a bit bright sounding. The other PCDPs sounded thin, shut-in and non-dynamic, especially the control and the depth of the bass in D250 is very good. No need for portable amp with this. And I have never liked to have extra cords and gizmos around. I like to keep it simple. HD485 + D250 setup is in the bedroom for those moments when I take the time to really listen to some good album from the beginning to the end. As the world is getting more hectic every day I really feel that I need these moments with my favourite equipment and music.
I’m also keeping my PX100s as I really enjoy them. One for the laptop and one for my shuffle. I’ll have ripped most of my favourite albums with iTunes to my laptop. I decided to sell my Echo Indigo also as it makes little difference with the PX100s compared to the decent-enough headphone out. However I rarely listen anything from the laptop directly as I just transfer 1-2 albums I’m going to listen on-the-go to my shuffle. Fast and convenient. When using the shuffle I’m not tied to my computer all the time. I’m not very keen on the idea of me being tied both physically and mentally to my computer
I also have Iriver IFP890 that I drag around everywhere in my backpack, mostly because of its voice recording ability.
To the end of this long post I’d like to thank all the members of the Head-Fi. I’ve never come across any other forum where there’s so many helpful and nice people and so few egoistic and irritating people. I’ll probably stay because of this, although I’m completely satisfied with my gear right now. A big thank you for this goes to Head-Fi for helping me to find the right equipment for me and therefore being able to love music even more. I even revived my guitar playing hobby recently and maybe this will be the last Head-Fi inspired purchase:
Remember to listen to music, the gear should always come second.
My first memory of headphones would be from the early/mid-eighties when I got my first walkman as Christmas present. It was Unisef Z-1, big and bulky red portable C-cassette player that came with headphones with cool orange pads. I don’t remember what it sounded like at all. It got thrown away when it eventually got broken. I managed to find similar player from ebay, but I’ll probably won’t buy it. No need to spoil fine memories.
As time passed I got and purchased several entry-level Sony Walkmans. They were in heavy use, so I had to replace them in every one or two years. I didn’t think about the headphones and their quality at that time at all. Just used the one that came with the Walkman. I only remember that I was very impressed at one time when some Walkman came with phones that had super-overblown bass response. I think that almost every pre-teenaged boy is a basshead
By the mid-nineties I had dumped my portables and was listening only my stereos. I got carried away with audio equipment and still: the bigger and bassier sound, the better. Until I bought my first good speakers B&W CDM-1SE’s. After that I learned to appreciate more neutral sound and updated my hi-fi equipment accordingly. I went to the other extreme and ended up spending more time updating and tuning my equipment than listening to the actual music. When I realized this I ditched my gear and settled with Sherwood FX-1 cd-receiver and Acoustic Energy Aego2 –speakers. No regrets.
Back to the headphones. It was not until last year that I actually got back using headphones when I bought second hand Sennheiser PX-100s (the old version) to use with my laptop. There was good synergy between those two and the moment I plugged those phones in is still my favourite headphone moment. I had enjoyed listening to music with speaker-setup, but with the headphones it seemed like the music came alive.
For a few months I was very satisfied with the PX100s. Those phones suited my hearing very well as I have a mild case of tinnitus (too many loud rock concerts). Eventually I thought of upgrading. I bought a few PCDPs: Iriver IMP-550, some newer Sony and a Panasonic from the mid 1990s. Then I got Headroom Airhead, probably first or second gen. and Echo Indigo for my laptop. Along with a bunch of mini-to-mini interconnects. I barely had these for a few weeks when I started craving for DAP. I ended up buying Iriver IFP-890 second-hand and first gen. Ipod Shuffle. At this time I thought that I needed new headphones. Some headphones I got with the equipment that I bought. I ended up having two PX100s, Koss UR40, Koss KSC75, Koss the Plug (should be Koss the Yuck), some Sony, Thomson and no-name earbuds and finally Sennheiser HD485.
The turning point for me was getting the HD485s, it had the sound I had been looking for. It had the dark sound that pleased my taste and ears. The bass was a bit too much at first, but it settled down. Or I got used to it. Anyway I seriously like these phones, no urge to upgrade anymore. I started selling my other phones and also equipment.
The only new purchase I made was Sony D250 PCDP I got for around $35 from ebay. It suits very well with HD485s as it is a bit bright sounding. The other PCDPs sounded thin, shut-in and non-dynamic, especially the control and the depth of the bass in D250 is very good. No need for portable amp with this. And I have never liked to have extra cords and gizmos around. I like to keep it simple. HD485 + D250 setup is in the bedroom for those moments when I take the time to really listen to some good album from the beginning to the end. As the world is getting more hectic every day I really feel that I need these moments with my favourite equipment and music.
I’m also keeping my PX100s as I really enjoy them. One for the laptop and one for my shuffle. I’ll have ripped most of my favourite albums with iTunes to my laptop. I decided to sell my Echo Indigo also as it makes little difference with the PX100s compared to the decent-enough headphone out. However I rarely listen anything from the laptop directly as I just transfer 1-2 albums I’m going to listen on-the-go to my shuffle. Fast and convenient. When using the shuffle I’m not tied to my computer all the time. I’m not very keen on the idea of me being tied both physically and mentally to my computer
To the end of this long post I’d like to thank all the members of the Head-Fi. I’ve never come across any other forum where there’s so many helpful and nice people and so few egoistic and irritating people. I’ll probably stay because of this, although I’m completely satisfied with my gear right now. A big thank you for this goes to Head-Fi for helping me to find the right equipment for me and therefore being able to love music even more. I even revived my guitar playing hobby recently and maybe this will be the last Head-Fi inspired purchase:
Remember to listen to music, the gear should always come second.
