[andrzejpw]

This will be sort of fun. What was the moment/product that started you on your way to this hobby? Ex: mine happened about a year ago. I was reading the hot deals forum at anandtech, when someone mentioned that amazon.com had Sennheiser MX500s in stock and had a good price on them. I figured "hey, I've got a $10 certificate to burn, and I wonder if it'll be worth it." Unfortunatly, amazon was out of stock.
The kicker? One of the replies to the post was a link. www.headwize.com to be exact. That's the start of the money pit I like to call headphones. I started reading the posts, etc. Pretty soon, I ordered a pair from sennheiser for 17.95 shipped. When I got them, I didn't really notice much of a difference. I listened to them for about 2 weeks, and then put on my sister's street styles. yeagh! That's what made me realize just how horrible bass boost/street styles are. It sounded like mud being thrown around inside.
So, I kept on reading, and, as luck would have it, we were going on a trip to Europe that summer. Poland was number 1 on the list, but we would also visit Germany. Mmmmm, Sennheiser. . . so, while in Poland, I bummed Internet time off of my cousin in his dorm. I found the cmoy amp. My cousin is an electronics genius, so he helped me build a cmoy for about $5(electronic parts here in the US are EXPENSIVE).
In Germany, I found sennheiser HD580s for 300 DM. I found them in a different store(Media Markt) for 270 DM, but they were sold out!) Hmm, tax forms at the airport. . . The net price was $125.
So, for christmas I received a denon 370. Yahoo! A real source!
Fast forward to today, almost exactly a year after. I'm now deciding between MG heads and Littles.

Wow, this is more than I wanted to write!

 

[gloco]

Hehe, good topic.

I started back in late 2000, i just went thru one piece of crap headphone after another with my Minidisc unit and was getting fed up with bad sound out of a unit i spent good money on. In came headwize and head-fi, i walked away with the Grado SR60's as a Birthday present to myself in late October and man, there was no turning back!

After that. i decided i wanted a good closed can and in came the Sony 7506's (i didnt ask around regarding the V6=7506's) so i wound up spending $115 (including shipping) from marsmusic. I got these in May 2001. After a few months and having this constant mental nagging, i took the plunge and went all out: bought a used pair of Sennheiser HD580's, new pair of AKG K501's, used old ass Stax (which have the best midrange out of the bunch), bought Sennheiser 495's, which turned out to suck ****, traded them for the Grado SR80's, bought the Grado SR100's, then the 200's. Oh, and not to forget the Altoids and Cmoy amps which rock and various pcdp's for the hell of it. Plus, i now own four minidisc players (one of them being a recorder).

God...i love gadgets

 

[Nezer]

I didn't know how good headphones could be until I heard the Portapros that came with my PJB100...

Knowing that was a cheapie headphone I wondered how good good could be. Several hundred dollars, a Porta Corda, Corda, AKG K-501s, and a pair of Senn HD600s later...

I guess the paradigm shift happened around late August/early September of last year.

 

[ray4jc]

well....

i'm a fairly new convert......

as best i remember i was looking for an mp3/cd player and a google search led me to this forum.....

so..i began reading...ditched the mp3/cd craze and will soon have an md player.....

and of course i had been looking for hi-fi cans as well...but....since they cost way too much in the tweeter store i went to....i bought a pair of HD497's offline......

now...i'm well on my way...to building a collection of hi-fi headphone/audio equipments.....thanks everyone for the great info and helpfulness.....

ray

 

[Calanctus]

I'm a PC gamer (far from the only thing I do with headphones, and less so now than 2 years ago). I read somewhere that Thresh (at one time the best Quake player in the world) used headphones for better sound placement in-game...then I read this review of the Sennheiser HD600s. I remember thinking, "There's no way I'll ever spend $350 on a pair of headphones...but maybe I'll spend $100."

So I did...one thing led to another:
-I began listening to more music
-found Headwize
-then Head-Fi
-spent $1000 on new phones and an amp
-what next?

--
Calanctus

 

[kerelybonto]

One day sitting in my dorm I realized how many hours a day I sit around with headphones on. So I decided to get some good ones, got the V6, got the SR80. Building a CMoy. We'll see how far this goes. ...

kerelybonto

 

[Duncan]

I started in August 1993 reading a What-HiFi review of IIRC the D303 Discman with MDR-A21L Vite headphones... and it was very well reviewed so I rushed off to my local Sony dealer to get a pair to go with my Panasonic walkman...

They sounded great so I read all of the headphone reviews at the back of What Hi Fi, saw that the BeyerDynamic DT311s were well reviewed for £40... got them and fell in love with the sound

Upgraditus soon struck when a couple of months later the Sennhesier HD320s were well reviewed... and it was when I picked those up that my dealer said that there was a lot better sound to be had... and he let me audition a pair of HD565s, I was hooked!!

Within another couple of months I had the HD565s in my arsenal, but then I lost interest for a few years... just listening to my HD565s because I 'had' them... no other reason.

In february last year I was looking for a new pair of earbuds for my D777, and started searching the web for reviews... at that point I came across Chu Moys article about earbuds... and saw that there was a link to the Headwize forums... went there, and... haven't looked back

 

[Dusty Chalk]

I think I've posted this before -- if so, I apologize.

My headphone introduction...well, there wasn't any real "moment", per se.

But into audio, it was very striking.

I went into this local (all tube) store -- Deja Vu Audio. I thought to myself, (oh, cool, they have in store concerts...whoever that drummer is, he's fantastic...)

(It's at this point you can see where this story is going.)

They were playing a Buddy Rich CD in the next room. I actually went in there looking for the drummer. I asked what system that was. Went home, did some research, realized that it actually was a bargain by high-fi standards (Spendor S3/5's, Jolida JD102B), eventually bought that exact system. Well, except the CD player (Arcam 9), I was having a hard time with that.

 

[lini]

I guess it must have been around 1980/81, when I got my first half-decent headphone. It was a supra-aural Sennheiser (HD-20? - it should be still around somewhere at my parents' place...), I had wished for - I believe I had read some interesting product news or review about it before. At that time I didn't have a proper hifi-system, yet, but my stepfather had brought a Braun Regie-series receiver and a Braun PS-550 turntable into the family, which I could abuse, too.

A little later I got a Hitachi mini-system with detachable speakers, which was quite nice, but had problems with its cassette mechanism. So only a year later, I "finally" invested in a receiver (SA-310?), tape deck (RSM-245X) and turntable (SL-5?) from Technics and a pair of the good old Canton Quinto 510 (small 3-way closed bookshelf speakers, which I still use today in my computer rig...). A little later the Sennheiser had to make way for my first really good headphone, the AKG K240M - probably ~ 1984. That was probably the point of no return - and upgrade-hell started, when I swapped the original Technics T4P-pickup with one from Audio Technica that was a lot better...

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

P.S.: Btw, if you're looking for information on old stuff or even want to buy some, www.springair.de is worth a look. They also have plenty of photos.

 

[jms007bnd007]

Well, my roomate this year at college started going to bed at 11:30, and I go to bed around 1:30. So I decided to get some headphones so i wouldn't wake him up. While I was at it, I decided to get some good headphones. I started looking at Sony's, and eventually found the Headroom website. I ordered a pair of Senn HD280's from them, and then while they were being delivered I found this little site.

Why oh why did I ever have to find this site? I know that I will never be able to earn money again without immediately thinking about what kind of new sound equipment I can buy with it.

 

[kelly]

When I was five, my parents had one of those big console stereos made of wood. It had an 8-track and a turntable and the bottom was filled with vinyl and tapes ... and a pair of big bulky closed circumaural headphones. It strikes me that people took headphones more seriously back then than they do now. I spent many hours listening to Crosby Still and Nash, Seals and Croft and Alice Cooper.

I did not truly discover high end audio until I was about 18, when I heard a $100k tube powered vinyl based system. Finally I heard the Martin Logans about a year later, fell in love and then knew it was only a matter of time. I'd already taken an interest in home theater by then.

It was when I got my first job after college in 1996 that I needed headphones good enough to get me through the day and a CD player. These were the Panasonic 320 and the Sony V6. Within a year or so, the Rush albums were remastered and it did indeed do a great job of getting me through the day. I already knew of the Sennheiser HD580 and HD600 and Headroom but didn't have $400 to spend. I became very tempted at one time when the HD600 was "on sale" for $350 and included the Dolby Surround thing.

Last winter I came to Headwize and HeadFi in search primarily of amp and closed headphone reviews for my new job that is somewhat boring and not very interactive with other people (ie, ideal for headphones). I wanted really good but small enough to take to work. I was debating the Supreme at first. I ended up quickly ordering an MG Head and then soon after the Corda. I figured I'd keep one and sell the other or use one at home and one at work. I also ordered the DT831 since they were considered to be "the best closed headphone" and I was at the time too closed minded to give the Etymotic a shot. Three days after the MG Head arrived, it had already been posted for sale. The upgrade had begun and to this day has been relentless.

 

[darkclouds]

andrzejpw: that's pretty funny cause I bought my pair of senns495 through surfing on anandtech. It was one of those late nite insomnia compelled impulse purchase (by the way, that's when I do most of my spending). I was just strucked by how good they sounded. So I decided to check and see what was out there.
I then discovered headroom, then headwize, and finally headfi. Naive little me decided to "ended it all" by purchasing a pair of HD600. I was wrong because according to HEAD-FIERS, I needed an amp. So I asked JMT to build a cha47 to go along with my 600s. Then I thought I needed a cute little penguin amp. Then the Mg HEad looked cool... then sr80, sr125, er-6, sr325, sr-300, rs-2, the sha-1 supposed it end it all again, then the zotl (to compare to the sha-1, supreme/cosmic, ksc-35 (because of the hype). And finally, I thought the K1000/AQ1005dti would "complete me". I was wrong again. I had to go to the headroom tour and listen to the blockhead. I'm presently looking into DACs with balanced output.
Oh yeah, somewhere along the line, I picked up the cardas senn cables, various pcdp, mdp, mp3player, a denon 370, ART DI/O w/ Bolder cables and a sony 555es. And it all started approximately 9 months ago. One more thing, just recently recieved a 9V TA from Tyll for helping out. Hey, at least it was free

So, errr... thanks a bunch guys.

edit: Forgot to ask. Is it just me? Because every purchase I've made always felt like the final one. I mean, I'm making plans toward the blockhead in about 8 months or so. And this really do feel like the final final purchase. Maybe someone should just smack me upside my head

 

[Vertigo-1]

Quote:

Originally posted by darkclouds edit: Forgot to ask. Is it just me? Because every purchase I've made always felt like the final one.

Heh, no it's not just you. And here I thought my 9000ES would be staying for a while...

I think I ran across Headwize 5 years ago after getting the 888s. I was reading the famous Hoffman article about earbuds, and there was a link there to the Headwize forums. This was way way back when there were probably less than 50 members on it. I signed on, starting defending the 888s, asked some questions about the Etymotics, and it all went downhill from there.

 

[Quincy]

My entry into headphones came because I wanted to make a decent hearing aid. My right ear is deaf, and I've found the audio quality of hearing aids is below that of the worst headphone out the worst headphone jack on the worst portable CD player. And people use hearing aids for an ear that already doesn't work well. Auugghh! .

In searching about DIY audio amps, came across Headwize's and Headroom's websites. Still haven't finished the DIY hearing aid, but I've got lots of headphones and enjoy listening to music again.

 

[fredpb]

Hey Quincy! I know about the bad ear problem. My right ear is superb, but the left one, well........

But here is the thing. I lose the highs with the left ear. But when using speakers, or even good head phones, it's amazing how the brain compensates. I can still barely enjoy music.

I still don't know for sure how I damaged the left ear. Touch tone phone dialing on the left ear all the time? Gunfire? Or

sitting next to the big wall speaker in the nudie bar

. The latter was probably it.