[i_love_hina]

Living in the Bay Area allows me to buy headphones and Craigslist them to break pretty close to even.  Bought AD700's on Amazon in 2009 for $84, since they were over $100 on Amazon recently I was able to sell mine for $80 on CL.  Bought my DT770's in late 2009 for $160, sold on CL for $150 a year later.  Yeaaaaa.

 

[randybandicoot]

I'm sorry, I'm about to be that annoying little raincloud everybody hates.
 
I'm a student at one of the more prestigious (read: expensive) universities in the U.S., here only by the grace of scholarships and by taking student loans like they're water and I've been wandering the desert for 40 years. It's certainly not easy being a student audiophile. For me and, I suspect, many of you, money's always tight, even for the basic necessities like food and housing and clothing, and little is ever left for other things. 
 
I know it seems like a get-out-of-jail-free card, taking student loans, but it's not worthwhile to take them to spend on things you don't absolutely need. It's not money they just give out, it's money you have to pay back, and with interest. 
 
In economics, my field of study, there's something known as the rule of 70. If you have a loan with an interest rate, divide 70 by that number, and it'll give you the rough number of years it'll take for that loan to double in cost. If you have a federal loan, which, unsubsidized, has a 6.8% interest rate, it means that by the time you're done paying that loan back, given that you take the ten years they give you to repay it, you'll almost have doubled your initial costs (70/6.8 = 10.29). So, are those headphones you're buying worth twice what you're paying for them?
 
I'm there myself, and I feel your pain, but it doesn't usually make sense to borrow to feed your hobbies. If I'm being honest, I've done it. I used some of my student loan money to buy a fancy road bike about year ago. It wasn't a wise move, a cheaper one would've sufficed, and I regret doing it. Now, I do my best to set aside $20 a week to buy the things I want. Sometimes more, if I want something enough that It's worth not going out for a while or eating cheaper food. It's a huge pain in the butt, and gratification is never instant, but it's let me buy some great stuff without sinking myself even further into debt. I started with some Shure SE-115's, which aren't brilliant, but they were enough to tide me over until I could buy something on the level I wanted. I currently listen through some fantastic 600-ohm Beyer DT-880's I got from Amazon and and a really nice iBasso PB-1 and DB-1 combo I got through the Head-Fi classifieds. Worth every penny I paid. 
 
But they wouldn't have been at twice the price. 

 

[SanJoseCanJunkie]

 
Now there's an education that pays off - literally
 
Quote:

 
In economics, my field of study, there's something known as the rule of 70. If you have a loan with an interest rate, divide 70 by that number, and it'll give you the rough number of years it'll take for that loan to double in cost. If you have a federal loan, which, unsubsidized, has a 6.8% interest rate, it means that by the time you're done paying that loan back, given that you take the ten years they give you to repay it, you'll almost have doubled your initial costs (70/6.8 = 10.29). So, are those headphones you're buying worth twice what you're paying for them?

 

[turimbar1]

@randybandicoot ive been there, I was there, the only reason i was able to buy other cans (besides the hd555s, that 5$ was a really big deal for me at the time) was because i got booted and I now go to community college and work 25hrs a week, lol so I really cant afford my cans, but I will enjoy them until I have to sell them to pay for student loans 

 

[ohhgourami]

Quote:

Even if you don't join, though, your chances of getting a good job goes through the roof with a college degree.

Not to burst your bubble and leave the topic at hand, IMO a Bachelor's doesn't mean much these days.  Yes you'll get a job, but not a very good one, at least not to my standards.  I know engineers with Master's that haven't found a job for over a year.  The economy is really really tough.
 
 
Back to the subject at hand, it definitely is tough being a student audiophile.  I'm kinda broke saving up for an HE-6, so reterminating my DT-880s will have to do for now except a soldering iron cost $90...  Not everyone has it tough, my best friend is deciding whether or not to get a Reference 7.1 and get an LCD-2 or wait til the C32 comes out..

 

[turimbar1]

 
@juman the principle behind it is the same (electromagnetism), but the execution is completely different. orthos have very small circuits within a diaphragm that has solid magnets on either side, when the signal goes through the circuit, it creates a magnetic field proportional to the amplitude of the signal, when this field comes into contact with the magnets, the magnets repel and attract the membrane from either side, this creates a strong push-pull effect. 
 
one good thing about the ortho approach is that it is straight resistance, no phase or impedance matching problems. a moving-coil or dynamic driver has, well, a suspended coil wrapped around a magnet, so it has a certain inductive resistance in it that changes with frequency, also the mass the driver is moving is larger (the coil and the diaphragm) than the orthodynamic (which is just moving a thin membrane) which allows the ortho to have excellent transient properties (it can be described as being "fast" because of its ability to change from one freq to the next very quickly). 
 
The ortho also needs more power because the field produced by the circuit on the membrane is not that large, and there are limits to how close you can put the magnets to the membrane (dont want them hitting). 
 
electrostats are even crazier, it has two super-charged plates with a thin, charged membrane in between them, the voltage (and polarization) of the plates changes according to the amplitude in the signal thus moving around the uniformly-charged membrane. it has excellent transient properties, and is a more simple design than orthos, but requires special amps that can power it without messing with the signal, it is especially good at rendering high frequencies, but the weight of the membrane is not enough to provide powerful deep frequencies (which requires the ability to move lots of air, this is main gripe the orthos have with the electrostats, also the fact that the best electrostat is 10x the cost of the best orthos)
 
dont even start me on armature drivers, I could do this all night! lol

 

[customcoco]

Quote:

If this works, tell me. -0-~~

of course
the only problem is that I need an amp for the c32.
so, hey above you know what you have to do!

 

[tisb0b]

I think I'm doing pretty well for being a student and an audiophile. Although living at home and in a country with decent minimum wage laws does help quite a lot. 

 

[powerlifter450]

An endless cycle that we're all stuck in. I don't have the desire to do this with my home surround gear, just my computer audio, DACs,Amps,Phones, The best quality media etc. I've sold off two pair of headphones and have one more FS on Amazon. I've also got two other sets coming in, the near impossible to get FA-003, and some stock Fostex T50RP V2. The Fostex I understand need some modifications to sound good, I've msgd Smeggy on another board about this. Buy used on ir not buy new and resell but, if you buy new epect to lose 20% of your purchse price for the most part.

 

[customcoco]

I think i'll buy the sr80i now, an that i'll buy a total bithead for it in a few months.
but I can't find any used that can be shipped to europe
I will try to buy this then resale it 1/2 weeks after then buy another rig etc...
any advice?

 

[juman231]

I think both the sr80i and the total bithead are well regarded headphones and headphone amps so you'll have no problem selling them. But it's not like you HAVE to. If you like them, keep them and keep listenin'

 

[blufox4900]

Not to burst your bubble and leave the topic at hand, IMO a Bachelor's doesn't mean much these days.  Yes you'll get a job, but not a very good one, at least not to my standards.  I know engineers with Master's that haven't found a job for over a year.  The economy is really really tough.
 
 
Back to the subject at hand, it definitely is tough being a student audiophile.  I'm kinda broke saving up for an HE-6, so reterminating my DT-880s will have to do for now except a soldering iron cost $90...  Not everyone has it tough, my best friend is deciding whether or not to get a Reference 7.1 and get an LCD-2 or wait til the C32 comes out..

 

[dye1337]

Quote:

I think both the sr80i and the total bithead are well regarded headphones and headphone amps so you'll have no problem selling them. But it's not like you HAVE to. If you like them, keep them and keep listenin'

mod the sr80's and you'd be shocked.  I modded mine and they honestly sound every bit as good as the gs1000 I heard.  New cables, opened up the drivers, and new pads (actually modified hd201 pads to fit)
 
I'm also a student as well so I know what it's like to be tight on money.  Modding is largely the way to go when you're on a quite tight budget - if you're good with your hands that is. 

 

[customcoco]

Quote:

I think both the sr80i and the total bithead are well regarded headphones and headphone amps so you'll have no problem selling them. But it's not like you HAVE to. If you like them, keep them and keep listenin'

Of course, but as the only headphone I have ever had (apart from the skullcandys) was the sony mdr v300 it's my only comparison point. 
I want to learn and hear as much thing as I can until I find what I can really live happy with. 

 

[Satellite_6]

 
Quote:

Not to burst your bubble and leave the topic at hand, IMO a Bachelor's doesn't mean much these days.  Yes you'll get a job, but not a very good one, at least not to my standards.  I know engineers with Master's that haven't found a job for over a year.  The economy is really really tough.
 
 

I would imagine that it depends a lot on what your profession is. . . I'm planing on majoring in Geology and FWIR it's not that hard to get a job in earth sciences. . . (maybe I'm just being optimistic though)
 
Just posting to say that I'm a college student. . . and the only reason I can afford the HD 650's is because my dad is awesome. . .