fewtch
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2003
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I've found that for me, when I dislike a piece of gear there's a "good kind" of dislike, and a "bad kind." The good basically means that I stick with it anyway, on a strong hunch that I will come to appreciate the strengths of the gear enough to forgive its weaknesses.
An example of "good dislike" was the AKG K501... I didn't like their sound much the first few times I listened, but felt strongly that if I kept listening I would come to like them a lot (and indeed I did). Currently going through this with my new CD player as well (Rotel RCD-855), I hate the player's soundstaging but really appreciate it's strengths in other areas and would have to spend big to get them (i.e. analog sounding highs and black background). Also I hate that it won't let me listen analytically, but that's good... maybe it will cure me of the disease of audiophilia
.
One example of "bad dislike" for me was the Senn HD280 Pro. Although I only heard them out of crappy gear, I could just tell immediately that I would hate them no matter what they were plugged into. Ditto for the AKG K240s.
So does anyone else dislike stuff in two ways, or do you just immediately get rid of it and move on when you don't like a piece of equipment?
I guess "good dislike" amounts to compromise, which not everyone is willing to do when it comes to audio gear. Yet I've found certain rewards in compromise that are not available when laying down big sums of money trying to find perfection (and inevitably missing, because IMO it doesn't exist). This may be anathema to some people, but that's the way I see it.
An example of "good dislike" was the AKG K501... I didn't like their sound much the first few times I listened, but felt strongly that if I kept listening I would come to like them a lot (and indeed I did). Currently going through this with my new CD player as well (Rotel RCD-855), I hate the player's soundstaging but really appreciate it's strengths in other areas and would have to spend big to get them (i.e. analog sounding highs and black background). Also I hate that it won't let me listen analytically, but that's good... maybe it will cure me of the disease of audiophilia
One example of "bad dislike" for me was the Senn HD280 Pro. Although I only heard them out of crappy gear, I could just tell immediately that I would hate them no matter what they were plugged into. Ditto for the AKG K240s.
So does anyone else dislike stuff in two ways, or do you just immediately get rid of it and move on when you don't like a piece of equipment?
I guess "good dislike" amounts to compromise, which not everyone is willing to do when it comes to audio gear. Yet I've found certain rewards in compromise that are not available when laying down big sums of money trying to find perfection (and inevitably missing, because IMO it doesn't exist). This may be anathema to some people, but that's the way I see it.
