[nickchen]

I want competence and fun - and I bet I'm not the only one. I guess that is why Grados and Alessandros are so popular among HP freaks.

 

[denl82]

I remember during one of the initial nights I owned my old dt880s, I was listening to some smooth jazz - can't quite remember - had the lights off, zoning out on the music while I lied in bed.

It was quite magical, the utter imaging of the headphones tricked my mind into thinking that I was listening to a live band. I "woke up" from my semi-consciousness and was like Whoa!

A few months down the road, the ultra-capabilities of the dt880s turned it into a tediously-detailed music freak, or something like that.

So I guess it's all how one looks at it. Now with my HP-M1000, I get a headphone that tight-ropes a fine line of being detailed freaks, and just being pure fun with the hardest, most relentless bass I've ever heard. So right now I'm in category 1 and a half=]

 

[dookiex]

If you go a d read my posts in Beats, you will understand why I bought up the subject of fun and audiophile listening. That entire 20+ page thread was filled with countless bashing and comparisons between the Beats and headphones that really do require more than plugging them into an iPod unamped. My point was that the thread was about a particular headphone made with a particular purpose but people discounted the phones solely based on the fact that they are aimed at the mass market. It's kind of rude to take my words out of context.

 

[JayG30]

So if I listen to my music through an amp than that means I'm trying to be "analytical" and not having "fun" with the music anymore? Because, again, I disagree with that.

I'm really struggling to understand what you mean by fun and analytical and how they are defined. The examples I've seen thus far just fall really short to me.

I did think about this more last night and thought "perhaps" what you are trying to say is that someone that really dissects their music wants something as near to the original source as possible. They want to be as close to neutral as they can. This way you don't get coloration in the music that was not recorded in the first place. This allows for a level playing field, allowing much better comparisons and analysis.

On the other hand, most everyday people have a preference for either a bright or warm sound. They either like a little extra in the high or low frequencies. They don't really care if it sounds exactly as it should because the coloration of the music sounds better to their ears. The music tends to be more "fun" to listen to for them.

Perhaps that is what you are trying to say, I don't know. But if that is the case I still don't think you should purchase your headphones or speakers because you favor a certain sound. Here is why. If you buy a speaker/headphone that favors either a high or low frequency, and moves away from neutral to much, you will find that to ever get accurate reproduction you will constantly be fighting hurdles to get there and more than likely never will. On the other hand if you have a pair of neutral speakers adding some bias to certain frequencies is very easy. Where as removing coloration in the sound at the hardware level is next to impossible, adding coloration to the sound afterward is as simple as using some type of software EQ. That's why people spend tons of money and time trying to find speakers and headphones that produce a neutral sound, which is becoming harder all the time. With a speaker/headphone that is neutral you can get the best of both worlds. You have your analytical and with a little added EQ you can have either your warm or bright sound as well. People (audiophiles) for years have been begging the manufacturers to set a standard and keep all speakers as close to neutral as possible.

 

[Golden Monkey]

Both types of listening are fun, as far as I'm concerned...I love the way music sounds with my gear, and a lot of time, I'm just listening to things because they are so detailed, resolved, etc. It's fun to hear the differences in say, a zinc pipe and a copper pipe (I'm thinking in industrial music terms, like Einsturzende Neubauten), or to hear fingers flying across frets, but this doesn't detract from the overall enjoyment I get from the music itself.

A lot of times I am listening to the quality of the recording or the mastering, and when it's bad, it's just bad. When it's good...man, it's fun. I love hearing width and depth, natural reverb and reflections, attack and decay. My system allows that like never before.

It's easy to get caught up in listening for flaws in your setup, but in the end it all comes down to listening to the music. I find myself constantly amazed by hearing things I never noticed before.

If I spent all of my time just listening to music for music's sake though, I couldn't really call myself an audiophile. Conversely, if all I did was listen to my cables, components, and power cords, I wouldn't be a music fan. It all goes together.

 

[dookiex]

That is very very true Golden Monkey. JayG30, your points are very valid and gets me closer to my whole initial postings on the Beats. Sound quality wise, they are some of the more non-biased phones in the mass market which is a step closer to answering the age old question of "Why can't we have both?" It closes the gap between mass market products and hi-fi products which is advantageous to everybody in the end. I became very upset with 20+ pages on the Beats with mostly non-critical compressions and instead flooded with "They suck. Period" without much of a reason. If you look through that entire thread, there's a few good impressions with informative critiques but it has been overshadowed by biased comments with very little if any grounding. By the way, I did visit the Apple store again yesterday after work. I bought along my HD595s and Ultrasone Pro 650s to make a better assessment on the Beats. I'll go type that up right now, nothing else to do at work, it's been a slow week so far