[commando]

I've gotten into my headphones in a pretty big way recently, and in the last three months i've gone from owning a pair of sony MDR-V700s (I know, I know) to having 3 pairs of headphones, a sonica, a pimeta, a PPA with AOS DAC and diamond buffer, Shure E3s on order, plus misc and shipping for a total of about US$2000. Now that's a pretty insane amount of cash to spend in such as short time on listening to music, when most people are happy with a pair of cheap headphones out of their PC at work. I just paid for a holiday in Australia for myself and my girlfriend and that cost a lot less than all that gear!

Sure, my system sounds pretty good, but now i'm listening to my 271s running out of my PC, and even this simple setup sounds reasonably nice. It doesn't have quite the clarity or highs of the PPA/CD3K combo, but it's 80% of the way there for about 20% of the cost. Also, the CD3K just can't match the bass slam of the 271s, and if I connected the 271s to the PPA they'd sound even better.

I'm seriously considering selling my brand new PPA, CD3Ks, and possibly the pimeta, and just getting some decent mid to high range closed cans. I'm still not sure what the ideal compromise headphone is, perhaps Beyer 250-80s or 250-250s, and running them out of my sonica/pimeta.

sigh i'm just thinking that having so much money tied up in this stuff isn't the best investment I could make. On top of that the CD3Ks bass is a little dissappointing (the clarity's fantastic) and the PPA/DAC really didn't make much difference to the soud quality. Sure, I can afford it, but it seems kinda silly. At least most of that gear will hold it's value on the 2nd hand market reasonably well.

Thanks for listening to my rant, have a nice day

 

[Dan the audioman]

Dude, I feel your pain.

I may not have spent $2000 in 3 months...but I did start out just last December with a simple sony pcdp and sony ex51 earbuds. Now, my main rig is a Harmon Kardon cdp, a gilmore v1 amp, and the grado RS-1's!! (now if you ask me, thats a huge step...not to mention the DIY stuff, the etys, the ihp-120, and all the other amps that I've gone through)

Right now with my current setup of the Rs-1's with my gilmore, I am pleased enough to hold off any major upgrades...though I do want to get the SR-71 sometime soon.

Regards,
Dan

 

[Zuerst]

Hmmm... at the height of my pursuit for hi-fi sound I bought an a900 and a pair of ATH-EM9r and was so ready to hunt down and buy an pair of W100 or maybe the HD650 and stuff to power those to their full potential. A month or so later both my em9r and a900 are sold and I'm back with my little sony buds and canalphones. Sure they don't sound as good... blah blah blah... But for my purpose, there really is no reasons to drop the cash. I can easily afford a R10 and all the equipments that's needed to power it but it really doesn't make sense to me at this point in my life being a college student and all...

But I still want that W100...

 

[loveheadphones]

i think we've all gone through this line of thinking one way or another. To make you feel better... I just got through reading some postings on candlepowerforums.com... some people have like 30 different expensive flashlights. on bladeforums.com, some people have 20 different knives (they're all being used!)... and imagine if you started modding your computer for gaming. Well, there's lots of ways to rationalize =).
I think if you're not hurting anyone (including yourself), then it's okay. But when buying stuff like this gets in the way of a relationship or necessities, it's not okay. Don't feel so bad

 

[dj_mocok]

ouch... computer gaming, thats probably the worst of all....
im into it, but luckily im not so serious yet...
its just not fair at all, first, for the video card, you might need to lodge close to 1000 dollars for it, and what you know, a year or so later, your card will become like rubbish, too slow, and soon it will lose its value and become worthless...
not to mention other stuff such as memory, etc...

hifi is much better, the value doesnt drop so quick, and once you bought it, it will last you much much longer than PC stuff... there is no such thing as , after 2 years, your amp or CD player or headphone are so out of date, you cant even use them anymore...

so i think, just try to find a system you are content with, and then stick with that for awhile (a few years), maybe til one of the components is not working ?

 

[myself, aka me]

Oh gee, Sorry mate.

I sold my headphones and now i'm debating the next move. Stax?

 

[braillediver]

Just do it. The only thing that counts with this hobby after all is your own happiness.

I’m not sure what your point is though. Some people eat at McDonalds and some people eat at gourmet restaurants. So what?

Some people spend ungodly amounts of money on their automobiles and some drive beaters but they both get to where they are going. So what?


The only thing to mention is Source First! Maybe your headphones are resolving everything that your source provides so the difference between the different ones will be minimal or non-existent.


You’re obviously questioning what you’re doing so there’s a problem. This compulsive behavior is probably reflected in other aspects of your life though.


Time for the Head-Fi 12 step program. The first step is to quit cold turkey and send me all your gear for safe and proper disposal. It’s the least I can do.


Mitch

 

[plainsong]

I've been going crazy for a while now too. Before I got the Ultrasones, I balked at paying over 150 bucks for a headphone. Well that was an eye-opener after which the sky was the limit! Heheh, my bank account said differently though. But then I fell in love with the Nad C542 and had to do an emergency liquidation of most of my gear to get it and the Perreaux.

But now I feel a light at the end of the tunnel... at least for the foreseeable future. I know it never really ends, but this will be a plateau that I will visit for a while. Once I get some IEM's and the Senn 650s, there's not much else to do until I do a source/amp upgrade. And as I said, that won't happen for a while. Time to just sit back and enjoy the tunes.

I just need 800 bucks. If someone could paypal that to me, I can take a break from this insanity right now.

 

[acs236]

I'm sure we'll all come to our senses some day.

 

[oneeyedhobbit]

Every once and a while I see these threads come up: someone urging us to stop, "Hey guess what everyone! I've found out the secret! There is a point along the diminishing returns curve where we can stop and be happy! We don't need to spend insane amounts! Sell your stuff, scale back!"

Now, don't take this the wrong way, but you haven't had any great personal revelation. I'm sure most of us here realize that what we love first and foremost is music, we just value accurate reproduction of our music. But, we wouldn't necessarily need perfection to enjoy it. I love my system to death, but given a choice between no music or 128kbps mp3s, I wouldn't be an audio snob and turn them down.

Still, for many this is a pleasurable hobby. As stated earlier, we love our music--nothing wrong with trying for the best possible reproduction of it. I think the joy of this hobby is trying to discover just how close one can come, and experimenting with different pieces of equipment.

No one will think less of you if this doesn't describe how you feel. Sell what you don't need or want, and enjoy your music regardless of how you play it.

 

[Duncan]

Zuerst has a great point there...

All of my headphone listening these days is done with a Sony SRF-M10 radio, and a pair of Sony MDR-EX71 buds... virtually everyone will laugh at that, but I only listen on the road, and to me - its all I need... I actually enjoy the music, rather than analyse it, and that suits me perfectly

 

[PinkFloyd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duncan Zuerst has a great point there... All of my headphone listening these days is done with a Sony SRF-M10 radio, and a pair of Sony MDR-EX71 buds... virtually everyone will laugh at that, but I only listen on the road, and to me - its all I need... I actually enjoy the music, rather than analyse it, and that suits me perfectly

Can I be the first to laugh out loud?

 

[Duncan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PinkFloyd Can I be the first to laugh out loud?

Go for it!

My meager little £100 set-up gives me more continual enjoyment than my system that comes in around the £1,000 mark...

now you tell me... whose laughing now?

 

[PinkFloyd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duncan Go for it! My meager little £100 set-up gives me more continual enjoyment than my system that comes in around the £1,000 mark... now you tell me... whose laughing now?

Good to learn you're easily amused Duncan

 

[Duncan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PinkFloyd Good to learn you're easily amused Duncan

aint that the truth!

Whilst i've been spending literally thousands of pounds on upgrade after upgrade, isn't it ironic that its a downgrade thats done me the most favours...

Now, lets not be elitist here... at the end of the day, if I am enjoying what i'm listening to, then that is my perogative - and I'm happy about it.

Who wants to be tied down by cables rigged up to a CD player anyway when there are so many hot girls, and hot nights to soak up?