Snowed in and have nothing better to do so here goes...
1) Electronic, classical, technical/experimental metal, blues, pretty much anything that isn't made for the lowest common denominator.
2) Anywhere.
3) Random (matches my lifestype).
4) Don't remember. It may have been HE90/HEV90/some Meitner Dac, or it may have been the O2/BH or O2/SRD-7 Pro/Dared VP-20 setup that I have here. All of them pale compared to some of the best speaker setups I've heard.
5) Speakers, but headphones are more practical, especially when you've got a family.
6) Not really, but they're catching up. They've already surpassed dynamics IMO (this is balanced-armature IEMs we're talking about here, not dynamic ones).
7) Moderately loud, but this is silly since everybody more or less thinks they're listening at moderate and safe levels even when they're not. I'm probably borderline, but then again I can't even walk into most clubs and concerts without earplugs.
8) Just use whatever you're most familiar with as long as it challenges your system. I use a lot of different records, from classical to electronic to death metal to everything in between.
9) They're one and the same. Anyone that thinks neutral isn't musical doesn't know what neutral is. Most of what gets called neutral around here really isn't. It's cold and analytical.
10) Take everything you read here with a grain of salt. Actually, scratch that. Try an industral warehouse-full of salt.
11) Dynamics suck - with some exceptions. At least as far as headphones go; the best speaker setup I've heard was dynamic and single-ended throughout. Ironically, it was much closer to planar headphones than dynamics in most respects. But then again I grew up on electrostatics so to speak, so what else do you expect me to say?
12) No. I like what I like and I don't care where it comes from as long as it's good. At the moment a lot of what I have is Stax but there are few choices when it comes to electrostatics. Also, I think people need to be critical of their gear; fanboyism is dangerous for the hobby.
13) Yes. My progression was pretty typical - at first it was "omg bass" (pre-head-fi) then it was "omg highs" (when first discovering head-fi) now it's "omg mids" (like most audio people). I used to be after maximum resolution until I realized that most of what I listen to isn't good enough to stand up to the scrutiny of a really resolving system. So now I like a bit of coloration in my rig. But maybe it's the source that's letting me down and I'm simply using colored components to cover it up. If/when I get a source that sounds the way I want, I think I'll be able to max out the resolution and still enjoy it. The best speaker systems I've heard were simultaneously extraordinarily detailed and very enjoyable, but then again the music was also recorded just about as well as it could possibly be.
14) I like the tube sound, just about everything I have is tube (or hybrid), but properly implemented solid state will sound like that too. Really there isn't a "tube sound" per se, at least at the high end.
15) Comparing composers and artists is silly. But FWIW I like Rachmaninoff, Liszt, Bach, Shpongle, and Nick Gunn. I used to like Porcupine Tree but then they got popular and started to suck.
16) Not yet. But we'll get there eventually.
17) It was a custom-built DAC at a high-end mastering lab. I wish it was my own but I don't even want to think about how much it would cost.
18) Moon Audio helped me out a few times in the past, was very communicative and catered to my bizzaro custom project requests.
19) Spritzer (is awesome).
20) Music, games, movies, and sometimes just as earplugs or earmuffs. DT770s are better as earmuffs than headphones anyway.
21) Stop letting MOTs get away with shady behavior. Ban the shills and the trolls. Ditch Huddler. Try to hold onto your best members instead of pushing them away.
But it's too late for any of that. So enjoy the music.
