mnagali
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2010
- Posts
- 340
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- 13
this hobby is a slippery slope .__.
to think i was perfectly happy w/my ibuds just last year and would've thought anyone crazy for spending more $$$ on earphones than on their player, let alone even $50.... then those got crushed, and my journey began...
instead of simply replacing them, i opted for a similarly priced (discounted) sennheiser mm50 (aka cx300 w/mic) at about $25... then curiosity led me to paying $5/pair for tiny pieces of foams (complys)---craziness!!! i missed the december deal, but a nagging voice inside me eventually got me to buy some TF10vi being resold on ebay ($130). i bought a budget amp (E5, $20), coughed up some cash for a LOD ($25), and now considering investing in an even slightly better amp (E7, $85?).
and deep within me i have urges for even more!!! replacing my cables (altho the idea of parting w/iphone functions of the 10vi is still holding me back here) for $30-50 --- cables that cost more than what i would've allowed myself to pay for TWO earphones <1 year prior... and now contemplating $150 to create custom molds of my TF10s (the customization costing more than the earphones themselves!!!) just for that extra bit of comfort & seal... i can't believe i'm not already satisfied with them as they are, and willing to pay that much more to squeeze just that bit more of performance from them. and oh yeah, i've even considered getting a pair of Shure SE530 to complement my TF10s (even tho i know i won't nearly get as good a price markdown on those), just to fully appreciate ALL of my music.
LMAO i'm crazy... atleast thats what my sister, friends, and girlfriend all say... they can't believe any of this is worth all this, and then i let some of them audition my stuff, and then they just pause. they still think i'm crazy to have spent all i have, but they can understand better now why. i've already convinced some friends to take that first step by buying alternatives to ibuds
i hate how this has really altered how i listen to music in such a short amount of time. it's hard to settle for less once you've encountered better... my old ibuds and sennheiser eh-150 are now crap, and my bose speakers & sennheiser mm50 are just okay, but still leaving much to be desired. i also noticed that the biggest jumps in SQ are the cheapest and occur earliest on, with each subsequent upgrade costing more and more, yet being less pronounced each time. this hobby is indeed one of diminishing return value. is it worth it? hell yeah!!!
i've read some pretty impressively insane setups people have, so i know that i'm just barely getting my feet wet... but i look forward to where this hobby will take me, esp once i stop living off med school loans, and the doctor salary rolls in
//update 3/11/2010:
I'm re-reading this a month later and I'm smiling at my state of mind when I first wrote this. I really got in over my head when I first bought my TF10s and joined HF. I'm realizing I'm more of a budget-fi'er that got lucky on these TF10s, so I think I've hit an endpoint now that I've had them customized (well, maybe I'll still get that new E7 dac/amp once it comes out if reviews are good). It's still fun to read about other earphones tho, but I don't nearly have the budget yet to support where I'd like to take this hobby heh.
to think i was perfectly happy w/my ibuds just last year and would've thought anyone crazy for spending more $$$ on earphones than on their player, let alone even $50.... then those got crushed, and my journey began...
instead of simply replacing them, i opted for a similarly priced (discounted) sennheiser mm50 (aka cx300 w/mic) at about $25... then curiosity led me to paying $5/pair for tiny pieces of foams (complys)---craziness!!! i missed the december deal, but a nagging voice inside me eventually got me to buy some TF10vi being resold on ebay ($130). i bought a budget amp (E5, $20), coughed up some cash for a LOD ($25), and now considering investing in an even slightly better amp (E7, $85?).
and deep within me i have urges for even more!!! replacing my cables (altho the idea of parting w/iphone functions of the 10vi is still holding me back here) for $30-50 --- cables that cost more than what i would've allowed myself to pay for TWO earphones <1 year prior... and now contemplating $150 to create custom molds of my TF10s (the customization costing more than the earphones themselves!!!) just for that extra bit of comfort & seal... i can't believe i'm not already satisfied with them as they are, and willing to pay that much more to squeeze just that bit more of performance from them. and oh yeah, i've even considered getting a pair of Shure SE530 to complement my TF10s (even tho i know i won't nearly get as good a price markdown on those), just to fully appreciate ALL of my music.
LMAO i'm crazy... atleast thats what my sister, friends, and girlfriend all say... they can't believe any of this is worth all this, and then i let some of them audition my stuff, and then they just pause. they still think i'm crazy to have spent all i have, but they can understand better now why. i've already convinced some friends to take that first step by buying alternatives to ibuds
i hate how this has really altered how i listen to music in such a short amount of time. it's hard to settle for less once you've encountered better... my old ibuds and sennheiser eh-150 are now crap, and my bose speakers & sennheiser mm50 are just okay, but still leaving much to be desired. i also noticed that the biggest jumps in SQ are the cheapest and occur earliest on, with each subsequent upgrade costing more and more, yet being less pronounced each time. this hobby is indeed one of diminishing return value. is it worth it? hell yeah!!!
i've read some pretty impressively insane setups people have, so i know that i'm just barely getting my feet wet... but i look forward to where this hobby will take me, esp once i stop living off med school loans, and the doctor salary rolls in
//update 3/11/2010:
I'm re-reading this a month later and I'm smiling at my state of mind when I first wrote this. I really got in over my head when I first bought my TF10s and joined HF. I'm realizing I'm more of a budget-fi'er that got lucky on these TF10s, so I think I've hit an endpoint now that I've had them customized (well, maybe I'll still get that new E7 dac/amp once it comes out if reviews are good). It's still fun to read about other earphones tho, but I don't nearly have the budget yet to support where I'd like to take this hobby heh.
