[ivanrocks321]

For me I got a pair of bose AE about 2 years ago for travel on the plane, I was convinced that they would help reduce noise level that I could get through long flights among crying babies and my dad snoring next to me. Plus i assumed the were good sounding to for the price. I was greatly disapointed and had mentioned it to a room mate in college who was a 4-chan nut. He mentioned "Head-Fi"  and that it looks like a lot of people are into audio. Shortly after that I started to think I had holes in my pocket since I was missing a bit of cash, but realized I had actually spent it on decent audio stuff. I have no regrets so far since I value my music, gear, and made many friends along the way. 

 

[melomaniac]

growing up I played music more than I listened to recordings, and most stereo systems I heard as a kid/teenager/student were nothing much. but I used to sit at my parents' fireplace at night for radio broadcasts of exciting music. some european stations many years ago actually not only programmed weird and unusual things, they also commissioned new music - whether new jazz, or new "serious compositions", or new fusion improvisation events - or even just new orchestrations of classical music. you'd tune into a small radio, transportable like a boombox, and be part of something truly amazing. I haven't found a radio station in many years that does that for me... as for becoming a so-called "audiophile", I guess it's what happens after you tire of being a record collector or a concert hound or a barfly or a weekend musician - or simply when you find that you can afford both the space and the gear to put into the space. when I broke my wrist and gave up on turning pro, I started building a serious stereo system, built speakers, even built synthesizers and amps way back when. when that got old, I decided to find gear that would satisfy and last: voila - an audiophile.

 

[pigmode]

Quote:

Before you really got into truly listening to music, and just used and iPod and a pair of $50 headphones, did you often find yourself imagining what your music COULD sound like? 
 
Also, what led you into becoming an Audiophile?
 
I currently use my iPod with a pair of $50 headphones and very often find myself imagining my music sounding much more beautiful than it is.
 

No. I started with a full on rock'in JBL L100 speakered vinyl based system, purchased at dream-like discounts through the Army PX system in Germany.

 

[Fastnbulbous]

I wouldn't necessarily equate audiophilia, so to speak, with "truly" listening to music. My first experience was probably my grandparents' stereo from the '50s that was a cabinet that included a record player, shortwave radio, and storage for cocktail glasses! Built in speakers coming out the sides, didn't sound too great. But I listened to their jazz and polka, and my mom's 50s and 60s rock 45s with keen interest. At night in bed or camping on riverbanks on family canoe trips, I think I "truly" listened to my tiny A.M. radio with loads of passion. I made my first mix tape of favorite ELO songs using an old 60s tape recorder, propping the mic up to one speaker of mom's crappy Montgomery Ward stereo and flipping the balance to that speaker, hah. I couldn't afford the real Sony Walkmans when the came out, so I had a cheap knockoff from Sears. Getting an Aiwa double cassette boombox when I was 15 was truly an upgrade. I grew up playing in band and orchestra, and I knew what live music sounded like, so it's not like I wasn't aware of the sonic limitations of my cheap gear. I just had no other choice.Hearing pro audio gear at my college radio station wasn't a revelation, but it was certainly a pleasure. My gear has evolved slowly -- that boombox lasted 9 years. Maybe longer, as the first girlfriend I lived with inherited it. Infinity speakers with a subwoofer was my big splurge when I was 23, along with a Sony receiver. I finally retired them 15 years later, and got some Rega R3 speakers and AKG K701 headphones. I've got a couple more headphones and amps since, Wharfedale Opus speakers, etc.  So it's been just over 5 years that I've been using nicer gear, but I've been truly listening for a long time.

 

[earthpeople]

For me, it was listening to a friend's car audio system and my subsequent exploration in that area. After spending some time learning and putting together my own system, I noticed that my car sounded way better than anything else I've ever really spent time with. I decided to step up to the next level with headphones and shortly after I joined head-fi. woooop!
 
And for the record, I upgraded my front stage speakers, got an amp for them, and changed out the headunit. Definitely was not just "adding subs for booming bass!"

 

[Proglover]

my Sennheiser PX100 cord was bitten through (if that's correct English), corroded, by the cat.
 
Had to get new ones, was curious, bought KSC75, still curious, found head-fi while googling for something better then those 2, when I chose en first heard the DT770's, I was hooked.

 

[MomijiTMO]

^ Yeah bitten through is correct. Damn those kitty cats .
 
I just wanted some decent headphones. Look where that got me lol.

 

[Wharfrat]

I would hardly qualify as an audiophile in the sense of being an expert on any aspect of the hobby, but if the experience of a greater consciousness manifests itself as love and that love is spurred by anything musical, be it the music itself or the equipment that renders it so, then I hereby deem myself an audiophile.  QED, lol.
 
Well, how did it happen?  July 1, 1979.  Psilocybin.  The lights dimming and my buddy saying: "Goodbye, floor!"  
 
My first revelation was not so much the music itself but the emotional power it manifested in a sea of people at that first Grateful Dead show where the crowd literally played the band and its ownself as if it were some organic gestalt alive and wondrous with the moment and the beat.  "Stella Blue" sealed it for me with that aching loneliness, "those dusty strings one more time"....  I started out as a Deadhead and just grew recently into other genres mostly because of the investment I made in a buying a tube headamp and Senn 555 running through a Marantz 8001 SACD player...Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" CD and Diana Krall got me going away from the improv rock I favored because it tugged at a different emotional space and mood.  I realized music made me feel many more kinds of emotions I previously had no reaction to, mainly because I wasn't really listening for those feelings, as it were.
 
And then I found Head-fi. Now its into finding that moment again where I am as infinitely nothing as I was that night, lost in the groove.  Great equipment gets me there more surely than anything else, short of being there live.
 
I become one of "Us" a couple thousand dollars ago, with so much blood to give ahead.  But I daresay, it was in my bones all along to be this way.
 
Proud to be out.
 

 

[jazzjazzjazz]

went to music school in highschool. played jazz bass. got into the file sharing community and was introduced to flac. 
 
before then i  always thought limewire and such sounded lame, but i had no clue what good sq sounded like. i took a computer science class and my classmates introduced me to flac and music forums. 
 
stoked that i finally have work and can buy decent headphones

 

[OrionPax]

I've been playing drums for about 13 years now, and it must have been after around 4 years I needed new headphones to practice with. I read a few different articles on phones and settled with the Shure E2c. After listening to them, and what they could put out, I was hooked on this adventure to find better (and eventually the best) sounding headphones.

 

[deadlylover]

I was all nice and happy with the built in laptop speakers, then I had listened to a mate's Audio Technica AD700.
They were the FOTM at the time, so I had to get a set ASAP, and I did.
Was seeking an upgrade and I stumbled across the Stax basic system.
And before I knew it, the O2's had appeared out of nowhere.
 
I can count the number of headphones I've owned on one hand, so I suppose I was pretty lucky to have found the right sound for me.
But what do I know, I've only heard about 5 different headphones all up.

 

[yifu]

I was happy with stock iBuds with the useless "bass boost" EQ on my iphone until 8 months ago. It would distort so easily when the bass actually kicks in but i didnt care.

 

[Marcus_C]

I was happy with the stock buds on my cd player until they died. I went into "blackburn & swallow" and listened to some sales hype. Came out with the best earphones I had enough cash for and since then (2002 ish) I haven't used any stock buds.

 

[hamyqueso]

This is my first post but this looks like a good place to start.  I got my first pair of "real" headphones 6 months ago because my stock iPod headphones were falling apart.  It was really just a spontaneous decision to get some better headphones so I started researching headphones that, while on the cheaper end of the spectrum, were much better than the apple earbuds.  So after that new and confusing ordeal I came out with some Shure SRH 440's.  This was the first step for me in becoming more interested in the audiophile world.  After listening to the shure's i realized how much I had been missing when I listened to my music.  Now I've just joined head-fi and I'm already formulating a my dream set up.  But I have to control myself! I'm too young to be broke 

 

[violinvirtuoso]

I used to always listen to a pair of JVC Marshmallows (not that bad, as far as super-budget headphones go). After a while, the wire started fraying, so I decided to google best headphones. And there was head-fi with a hundred different threads with "best headphones/IEMs/earbuds under $xxx". And then I was hooked.