Nadim
Head-Fier
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2002
- Posts
- 65
- Likes
- 0
Greetings, Citizens of the Cans!
After recently coming to the realization that I've spent a fair amount on my home speaker system, but actually do most of my music listening through second-rate Aiwa headphones at work, I decided I should really rectify the situation. I read a lot of the reviews here and elsewhere, and lurked for a while, while trying to determine what to buy. I would like closed phones to cut down on the background noise at work (and so as not to annoy others), and have read lots of good things about the Beyerdynamic cans.
Here's the rub, however. I wanted to give the 250s and 831s a listen, so I could decide which sound I preferred (not to mention fit, comfort, etc.), but I can't find a single hi-fi store around that carries anything other than Senns or Grados. Some of the conditions at supposedly high-end showrooms are truly atrocious (one store had all the phones running into a central, hidden switch, and from there into a crappy source with 3 CDs that couldn't be changed by the customer, at another store the salesperson didn't believe me when I explained that there was such a thing as a dedicated headphone amplifier). I'm in the middle of Silicon Valley, too, not exactly out in the boonies.
So, I guess what I'm looking for is other people's recommendations on good places to go to do some listening before I buy. Apparently I missed the headphone tour, so I guess that's out. Am I doomed to just buy several pairs online and return most of them?
These concerns go doubly for headphone amps. My instincts as a skeptic and a EE force me to think twice (and audition thrice) before plunking down a large amount of cash on a headphone amp. As a skeptic, because (as a lot of posts lead me to believe that people are doing) spending a hypothetical $1000 budget on a $50 source, a $700 amp, and $250 transducers seems to go against all rules of common sense from the speaker world. As a EE, because I have a hard time with the concept of that you can "drastically" improve the sound of a set of headphones by adding a connector, a cable, an attenuator, a low-gain booster, and another connector and cable to the signal path to an input signal that was already capable of driving the cans as loud as I want to go.
Before you shoot me, please note that I'm not saying I don't believe that they make a big difference, just that my inclination leads me to be skeptical in the absence of directly listening for myself. However I can't find any stores in the area that carry so much as a single headphone amp, so I'm at a loss as to how to go about that most fundamental aspect of shopping for audio.
Anyone know of good places to be able to demo some of this stuff, so I can stop doing so much research and start enjoying the music?
-Nadim
After recently coming to the realization that I've spent a fair amount on my home speaker system, but actually do most of my music listening through second-rate Aiwa headphones at work, I decided I should really rectify the situation. I read a lot of the reviews here and elsewhere, and lurked for a while, while trying to determine what to buy. I would like closed phones to cut down on the background noise at work (and so as not to annoy others), and have read lots of good things about the Beyerdynamic cans.
Here's the rub, however. I wanted to give the 250s and 831s a listen, so I could decide which sound I preferred (not to mention fit, comfort, etc.), but I can't find a single hi-fi store around that carries anything other than Senns or Grados. Some of the conditions at supposedly high-end showrooms are truly atrocious (one store had all the phones running into a central, hidden switch, and from there into a crappy source with 3 CDs that couldn't be changed by the customer, at another store the salesperson didn't believe me when I explained that there was such a thing as a dedicated headphone amplifier). I'm in the middle of Silicon Valley, too, not exactly out in the boonies.
So, I guess what I'm looking for is other people's recommendations on good places to go to do some listening before I buy. Apparently I missed the headphone tour, so I guess that's out. Am I doomed to just buy several pairs online and return most of them?
These concerns go doubly for headphone amps. My instincts as a skeptic and a EE force me to think twice (and audition thrice) before plunking down a large amount of cash on a headphone amp. As a skeptic, because (as a lot of posts lead me to believe that people are doing) spending a hypothetical $1000 budget on a $50 source, a $700 amp, and $250 transducers seems to go against all rules of common sense from the speaker world. As a EE, because I have a hard time with the concept of that you can "drastically" improve the sound of a set of headphones by adding a connector, a cable, an attenuator, a low-gain booster, and another connector and cable to the signal path to an input signal that was already capable of driving the cans as loud as I want to go.
Before you shoot me, please note that I'm not saying I don't believe that they make a big difference, just that my inclination leads me to be skeptical in the absence of directly listening for myself. However I can't find any stores in the area that carry so much as a single headphone amp, so I'm at a loss as to how to go about that most fundamental aspect of shopping for audio.
Anyone know of good places to be able to demo some of this stuff, so I can stop doing so much research and start enjoying the music?
-Nadim