[Xinze]

Been wondering for a while regarding all those people lurking around head-fi, especially those with audio rigs exceeding $10,000:
 
What is the general age group of Head-Fi? The place seems much more mature and civil than any other forum I've been on.
 
What % of the people actually work in a field involving audio? It makes sense if it's your job to work with sound so you need some expensive gear, but how many people who are in this just to chase after "pure and clean sound" like me?
 
Estimated income range of average Head-Fi user? I know there would be the occasional low 30K USD/year guy coming to about how awesome beats are, only to be disappointed, but I have a hunch that the number is not over 100K USD/year either.
 
Is there true "sonic perfection"? What about just for one individual? With cash-no-object, will a person eventually find that pair of headphones that he will like above ALL others?
 
Estimated active (weekly/biweekly) Head-Fi community #?
 
 
 
 
Just plain interest, curiosity have been getting to me. Any knowledge about any of my answers would be attentively listened to.

 

[ImperialX]

The reason is because you generally can't afford audio equipment until you have a stable and decent income. Even if you're young, you'd have to be working quite hard or have some pretty decent brains to make enough money to sustain this audiophile interest. That's why the mental age of the posters here on Head-Fi are in general higher than just your random forums on the Internet, or I should hope.
 
Most of the people on here are around 30 ish, with many significantly older and are semi-retired. Younger people like me (19) are rarer because they usually don't have the means to sustain this hobby. I personally make money with eBay, do some tutoring here and there to sustain this interest. 

 

[Deltaechoe]

Chalk me up for one of the younger ones, in college and broke, the only way I can sustain my hobby is to build high end speakers and sell them locally.  Sometimes it's nice to have access to a good lab and good precision equipment

 

[ImperialX]

 
Quote:

Chalk me up for one of the younger ones, in college and broke, the only way I can sustain my hobby is to build high end speakers and sell them locally.  Sometimes it's nice to have access to a good lab and good precision equipment

This is what I mean. Even the younger members of this forums have a high mental age. You won't find college students spending all their money on booze and smokes in here - they just can't afford to buy any of the products we talk about!

 

[skamp]

I wish head-fiers would stop equating having money and spending money on audio gear to maturity… I just spent €280 on my Denon AH-D2000s and I have the maturity of a 17 year old! kthxbai

 

[Oregonian]

I'm 50, make $110K a year, own 4 Fiio amps, 6 iPods, an iPad, 2 iPhones, love Pandora, LOVE the Equalizer app for the iPad/Phone................and own 4 headphones.  Bose AE2, Sennheiser 428, Skullcandy subwoofers (weak moment), and my fave, the Sony XB500.  Also have two DAC/AMP combos from Fiio for my laptop and desktop..............and kickass Altec Lansing speakers with sub for the PC as well. 
 
50 going on 18.................

 

[tamahome77]

That's a high  salary.  What do you do?

  I make so less but spend so much.  Luckily I don't have a family yet or a wife.
Quote:

I'm 50, make $110K a year, own 4 Fiio amps, 6 iPods, an iPad, 2 iPhones, love Pandora, LOVE the Equalizer app for the iPad/Phone................and own 4 headphones.  Bose AE2, Sennheiser 428, Skullcandy subwoofers (weak moment), and my fave, the Sony XB500.  Also have two DAC/AMP combos from Fiio for my laptop and desktop..............and kickass Altec Lansing speakers with sub for the PC as well. 
 
50 going on 18.................

 

 

[Staal]

I'm a 21 year old student with a yearly income of around the equivalent of 40K USD - before taxes, and taxes are brutal here.
 
I do find that if I don't spend all my money on booze and fastfood I'm definitely able to buy nice stuff for myself now and then including head-fi gear.
 
I don't necessarily think income has much to do with headphone preferences. Sure, being broke and young may mean you never had the chance to hear any expensive audio gear, but I truly believe that many people honestly think the Beats sound good simply because they haven't heard anything better. Also worth considering is the fact that even broke young people (like me), can scrape together the cash to buy expensive stuff they shouldn't even be able to afford. It's all about preferences.
 
 

 

[ImperialX]

 
Quote:

That's a high  salary.  What do you do?

  I make so less but spend so much.  Luckily I don't have a family yet or a wife.

 
Without a family or a wife chewing through the income, you can live a very good life even with something like $40K.

 

[rawrster]

I believe the majority of the head-fi who th ose kind of rings are older and have a higher disposable income where they can afford to spend on stuff like that. When I was still in school there was no chance I would be able to afford what I can now so income is definitely part of it. Also if you don't have family members to take care of that also helps with the amount of money you can spend so spend it all while you are single

 

[ImperialX]

Yeah, any amount of salary in a first world country will allow a single person to live a very comfortable life. It's only when the family comes along that you encounter monetary issues.
 
Oh, and if you gamble/drink...uhh, yeah.

 

[Draygonn]

The reason Head-Fi acts more mature than other forums is due to the quick banning mods. Any personal attacks or trolling will get you booted. There are tons of younger head-fiers (majority I would believe) but the bad apples are tossed out.

 

[devouringone3]

There is a lot more youngsters, below 30, and more like near-20, than you might thinking, depending on where you come from and where you like to go on Head-Fi.
 
They're all interested into Grados and modifying them, threads... and Fostex T50RP modding, but overall cheap stuff that they modify. They are also the ones coming to ask about which headphone or which amp to go along, and populating the threads of "Come ask your questions here before you make a new thread asking for which gear to buy" type.
 
They are a sub community of Head-Fi in my opinion, just like the really-high-end type people speaking about cables and having speaker rigs, but that later one being a lot smaller! and more aged/experienced.
 
Also youngsters are not interested in ^ v ¯ _ This _ ¯ v ^ quite of "meta-, observation from above, grown-up" (searching for a better word) thread.
 
 
22 years old here, and student without a salary. And I've just spent the economies I had from all my life, buying HP1000s (and being stupidly radical about it), not even caring about buying a standalone DAC or Amp. But it's about to change because I've found a Grado HPA-1 amplifier . For 850 EUR..
 
D: ! And I'm considering buying it.

 

[ImperialX]

 
Quote:

22 years old here, and student without a salary. And I've just spent the economies I had from all my life, buying HP1000s (and being stupidly radical about it), not even caring about buying a standalone DAC or Amp. But it's about to change because I've found a Grado HPA-1 amplifier . For 850 EUR..

Wow, you sure love your audio to spend all your money on that.
 

 

[Spareribs]

If you have a decent job or real good job, it is possible to spend $10,000 on a very nice stereo system. Say $2000 on a headphone amp, $3000 on a speaker amp, $1500 on speakers, $2000 on a couple high end headphones and $1500 on a good DAC or digital player. This of course does not include a vinyl rig though.
 
Total: $10,000.
 
Is this a lot of money? IMO, no. Save up for about 5 years (assuming you have no major financial problems) and before you know it, you have the money without even putting it on a credit card. A quality rig like this will last many many years and out live your car. Yes hobbies are expensive but compared to other hobbies, if you shop smart, the audio hobby can be cheaper.