[juman231]

Before I got into headphones, I was using the stock earphones that came with Cowon. Surprisingly, I could tell the difference between those and the apple earbuds, and thought I had the "Golden Ears." Then, when the time came for me to buy my first touch screen MP3 player, I decided I'd buy a nice headphones as well. Then, being a "savvy" buyer, I went to Amazon, typed in "headphones" and used the filter function to find headphones with the best review: Audio Techinica ATH-M50. 
 
Fortunately, the hype wasn't all bubbles, so I enjoyed them quite a bit. The first time I realized headphones' potential was about half an year later, when I listened to the Klipsh S4 for the first time, and just thought they were so muddy. 
 
I'm still using my M50 right now, and having used it for such long time, I think know what I want in my next headphones.
 
I probably can't afford it for the time being, but I'm glad I got into Head-Fi 

 
 

 

[moouers]

My headphone progression went from a pair of Sony MegaBass headphones that came with my cassette walkman, to a pair of Aiwa headphones, then to the Sennheiser HD-280 and finally to my current Sennheiser HD-650.

 

[manveru]

My journey began my first semester of college while I was taking a music class. It was held inside of a theatre and the professor played music samples through the sound system there. Henry Purcell...Dido's Lament...I never knew that music could sound like that. I tried to hold back the tears forming in my eyes. I've been a musician all my life, but oddly enough I never had gotten very deep into experiencing music. After that I went home and realized that everything I had been using to listen to music previously sounded like ****. I started doing research online. I learned what lossy and lossless meant, bought a pair of SR60i, started listening to more than two genres of music, and my library has grown from 24 GB to 170 and climbing. Because of my living situation it's not practical to pursue a stereo system, so I have been slowly but surely working at building a satisfying headphone setup.

 

[Entranced]

I bought a pair of earbuds for $99 which at the time (I was still in high school) was an expensive purchase for me. They were a bass driven model by Sennheiser. I was instantly blown away by how much better they sounded than any other earbuds I'd had up to that point, which were the stock earbuds that come with iPods or Walkman mp3 players. My next purchase would be the Sennheiser HD 555.. which was THE headphone that changed me into an audiophile. It was around that time that I also started to listen to electronic music and began noticing layers of sound I hadn't realized were even there before. After a few embarrassing public moments with the 555's (Do they ever bleed sound!) I got a pair of Shure SE 435's for portable use. Now I'm using the Sennheiser HD 800 for home/computer use and the Shure SE 535 IEMs. Never going back to standard consumer headphones again

 

[yifu]

Before i was an audiophile, most of my music was at 96kbps or 64kbps WMA/MP3 format and everything was stock or $5 and under. Surprisingly, i listened to music way more than i do now.

 

[exnx]

for a while I just had my iPod with the earbuds that came with. then they would break and I'd get some moderately better looking earbuds, but didn't know or really care about the specs. I was much more concerned with my music collection rather than the sound quality or listening experience of it.

my first step into audiophilia was realising I could rip my music in lossless, which would have better sound quality. I noticed that I could hear the difference, and the rest is history. well, still recent history.

 

[Hifianddrumming]

 Before I was an audiophile, I was one of those tweens you hate that keep bragging about their "Skullcandy Skullcrushers." My cousin introduced me to a pair of Grados that after one second of listening to I pushed away and said "these are crap. They have no Bass and they're uncomfortable." Deep down I was admitting to myself that those sounded so much better, but I wanted to be cool and content with the skullcandies. It was on the plane ride from Vancouver to LA that my Skullcrushers broke. I bought myself a pair of HD280s in LA, and I was utterly blown away. It felt like I had missed out a whole world of Music before. I was pretty content for a while, but all I had was 200kbps MP3s of badly recorded heavy punk. I decided to experiment and go outside of my comfort zone, and try some classical, jazz, classic rock etc.. I ended up really liking Muse and Radiohead, and I got into some modern Prog rock like Oceansize and Porcupine tree, as well as the older pink floyd-ish stuff. I got into classical and jazz as well, but I didn't admit that to anyone.
 
 Than, I discovered FLAC files. I downloaded all my music in FLAC, illegally It sounded outstanding though. But I was craving something more. I was going to buy beats by dre, because I kept hearing that "they're the best." But at the last second, I stopped myself, and got some MTPCs. It was about a week after that I found head-fi.
 
I bought myself a nice little FiiO DAC/AMP and some Grado sr-125is (now woodies.... yum). I was, and still am, flabbergasted. How can anything sound so good? And for christmas, I'm getting an ADL GT40, and a Pro-ject turntable. I'm also saving up for a p
air of 325is, and life in my audiophile fantasy is looking up.
 
 Side note: I'm in the process of getting all my music legally. I'm buying CDs, downloading what I can legally in FLAC, and I won't let myself listen to my pirated music. I just bought this
 
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Resistance-CD-DVD-2LP-USB/dp/B002JP9WN0

 

[zowie]

Long before I was an audiophile, I played several instruments, often in ensembles, and so knew exactly what music sounds like.   There are self-described audiophiles who don't actually know how real instruments in real rooms sound.
 
If the question is when did I decide to start spending money on good reproduction equipment, I always loved audio gadgets and played around with reel to reel and stuff, but it was when I bought the once much hyped Radio Shack PCD 3400 and a pair of Grados that I realized how much more music was on the recordings than I was hearing from my not-at-all bad Yamaha/Denon gear.

 

[zeno]

The very first headphones I ever bought were AKG K340s....I still have them, that was in January 1986....I got lucky I guess. I went to a place that was not a "cunsumer" oriented place, it sold equipment to the professional musician and music recording industry but did not know it when i went there, so all they had there was good stuff. I bought the AKGs not knowing they were anything special....I bought my JBL 4411 Control Monitor speakers at that same place at the same time. It was called "PRO-COM Systems in Pittsburgh. I do not think they are around anymore. I then bought Bose Tri-Ports for my iPOD years later, the Tri-Ports literally broke in the first few minutes of use, one of the channels went out, so I then found about the Grado SR60s  from Head-Fi and got them for my iPOD, and love those. Glad the Bose Tri-Ports broke.

 

[Radioking59]

Before: I tried to keep CD purchases under $5.
After: under $30

 

[buckles]

Gosh, this takes me back to when I was about 8 or 9. 
I used to steal my Dad's Sennheiser Headphones these things were vintage 1980 something. Great set of Cans. I used to hook them into his massive old school Sanyo Record player (Solid Wood, Vacuum Tubes, the lot...(I didn't realise how good I had it! lol) I'd listen to all his Vinyl...I was curious, I'd listen to all sorts of Music, from Chris Rea to the Beach Boys, U2, Neal Diamond and Jenny Morris. Sadly, (when I look back) it broke one day and Dad decided to buy a Pioneer Stereo (back in the mid 90's when a 3 Disc CD Player was $1K lol)..
I'd still listen to Music, lots of Music but we started again with the CD Collection. 
 
My Mobile Sound Experience started with a Walkman that resembled the shape of a slice of Pizza. Then I would listen to Dad's Sony Walkman cassette player..
My First Discman was a Kenwood unit (with a flimsy transparent lid) but it had great anti-shock memory which compensated somewhat. 
I was late to the Apple iPod scene and for a short time settled for the stock headphones etc. I didn't even know all these headphone brands existed (like Beyer, Grado, Ultrasone etc.)
Initially, I was using my Sony MZR 60's Active NC's for at Home (reserved for travelling) but I ended up unsatisfied  with the experience. They're still good for travel mind you. Bye Bye Crying Babies.
 
So I started researching and soon discovered my friends were also getting heavily into the headphone scene. They had invested in HD-650's and Burson Amps. One had a set of SR325i's.. Then, a couple of months ago, I had a set of Grado SR80i's (I called this an experiment- I didnt know how good these things could be) shipped from the US and WOW! I loved them, I was able to distinguish individual instruments, plectrums hitting strings, backing guitars and vocals.. though one of the headphones dropped off the rod. Sent them back for repair but the shop I bought them from refunded me instead. They weren't prepared to pay shipping back. 
SO.. I found a local Alessandro distributor and bought a set of MS1i's ..even better IMO! ....I hooked them up to a CMoy Amp and have quite enjoyed the warmth it bought to my iPod source. 
Now I'm an addict. I recently shipped in a set of MS-Pro's i'm hooked. I love them. The detail and depth they deliver makes me smile every time. It's about as close as I will get to being there. Next on the purchase list is a Schiit Asgard (though a Burson would be nice too). I've just bought a Sieben iPod Dock to hook my future Amp up to and I'm going to have to call it quits for while after that... I have a wedding to save for hehe... 
It's turned Music into a Journey for me.