[nk126]

 
Not easy to get stuff here, no high end audio stores so only Best buy and some others like Walmart, Sears, Etc.  Best thing about Hawaii is the diversity of the culture, food here is great, lots of different cultures with their own unique foods so its hard to lose weight, also have many great restaurants with interesting fusion between various cultures and the women are great looking due to lots of interracial marriages and many are fairly active due to the great weather.  My current GF used to live in NYC and she doesn't miss it at all.

Now I'm yearning for Hawaii instead of dessert, lol. I've been three times now, 2x Big Island and 1x Kauai, and it's been too long since I've been back. Went for the first time on my honeymoon, in fact, and met a guy at the pool who told the typical romantic, "Came here on vacation and never left. That was 30 years ago." story. Couldn't quite convince my wife to do that with me! Gotta get back before long ... really want to do a trip to Japan, as well. I've never been.

 

[DavidA]

 
Now I'm yearning for Hawaii instead of dessert, lol. I've been three times now, 2x Big Island and 1x Kawaii, and it's been too long since I've been back. Went for the first time on my honeymoon, in fact, and met a guy at the pool who told the typical romantic, "Came here on vacation and never left. That was 30 years ago." story. Couldn't quite convince my wife to do that with me! Gotta get back before long ... really want to do a trip to Japan, as well. I've never been.

If you ever get back to Hawaii look me up, I live right next to the start of Waikiki, this is a picture from my kitchen:

The two towers are the Hawaii Prince Hotel and that is Ala Moana beach to the right of them.
 
I grew up on the Big Island, one of the most laid back places back then, fishing is still the best of all the islands and if you golf then some of the nicest are there also.
 
Japan is another of my favorite places to visit, helps that I have a super rich childhood friend who lives there, gave me his second SR-009/SRM-007mk2 since his daughter didn't want it.

 

[StanD]

  If you ever get back to Hawaii look me up, I live right next to the start of Waikiki, this is a picture from my kitchen:
 
The two towers are the Hawaii Prince Hotel and that is Ala Moana beach to the right of them.
 
I grew up on the Big Island, one of the most laid back places back then, fishing is still the best of all the islands and if you golf then some of the nicest are there also.
 
Japan is another of my favorite places to visit, helps that I have a super rich childhood friend who lives there, gave me his second SR-009/SRM-007mk2 since his daughter didn't want it.

Her loss your gain. I grew up in NYC. There used to be a nice audio store district, I think it was on 47th Street. I remember salivating at the stuff at Harvey Audio. 48th Street was and still is the place to get musical instruments. When I was in college I used to fix and modify Electronic Music Synthesizers for the stores as well as musicians and did factory service for all the major brands. This opened a lot of interesting doors. Headphones improved quite a bit since then.

 

[nk126]

Beautiful! For sure, when I get out that way again I'll give you a holler. 

 

[nk126]

  Her loss your gain. I grew up in NYC. There used to be a nice audio store district, I think it was on 47th Street. I remember salivating at the stuff at Harvey Audio. 48th Street was and still is the place to get musical instruments. When I was in college I used to fix and modify Electronic Music Synthesizers for the stores as well as musicians and did factory service for all the major brands. This opened a lot of interesting doors. Headphones improved quite a bit since then.

I spent almost 10 years in NYC just out of college. I'd go down to 48th and drool over the drum kits at Sam Ash and Manny's every so often (and another shop, Drummers' World, a few blocks away). Every time there'd be at least one cat in there just blowing people away on one of the demo kits. Nobody you'd ever heard of, so to speak, but NYC being what it is, some serious players would swing by those places all the time. 
 
Never regretted leaving the city to move out here to Cali, but it's fun when something like your post sparks memories of my time there. So much could happen just going about your daily business in that city, man.

 

[StanD]

 
I spent almost 10 years in NYC just out of college. I'd go down to 48th and drool over the drum kits at Sam Ash and Manny's every so often (and another shop, Drummers' World, a few blocks away). Every time there'd be at least one cat in there just blowing people away on one of the demo kits. Nobody you'd ever heard of, so to speak, but NYC being what it is, some serious players would swing by those places all the time. 
 
Never regretted leaving the city to move out here to Cali, but it's fun when something like your post sparks memories of my time there. So much could happen just going about your daily business in that city, man.

Way back, when I was an early teenager I bought a pair of Koss Pro 4A headphones that was on sale at Manny's on 48th St. Years later one of the ear pads leaked, they were oil filled. I was so disappointed and getting replacements were not so easy as getting pads from Hifiman. They were considered to be very good headphones, by today's standards maybe not so much.
One summer when still in High School, I worked at Terminal Music fixing electric guitars.

 

[nk126]

Way back, when I was an early teenager I bought a pair of Koss Pro 4A headphones that was on sale at Manny's on 48th St. Years later one of the ear pads leaked, they were oil filled. I was so disappointed and getting replacements were not so easy as getting pads from Hifiman. They were considered to be very good headphones, by today's standards maybe not so much.
One summer when still in High School, I worked at Terminal Music fixing electric guitars.

Where is/was Terminal?

 

[nk126]

Any thoughts on the Matrix HPA-3B? Just dropped on Massdrop.

 

[StanD]

Where is/was Terminal?

It was on the same block on 48th Street in Manhattan as was Manny's and Sam Ash.
Music Row is history, very sad. Same as the Audio stores that used to be on 45th Street. One could drop and and listen to the latest audio kit. A couple of years ago J&R closed up, I used to work across the street from them and could audition headphones there. J&R said that they were remodeling and opened a small satellite store, only the big store remains closed, kaput.

 

[Sonic Defender]

  It was on the same block on 48th Street in Manhattan as was Manny's and Sam Ash.
Music Row is history, very sad. Same as the Audio stores that used to be on 45th Street. One could drop and and listen to the latest audio kit. A couple of years ago J&R closed up, I used to work across the street from them and could audition headphones there. J&R said that they were remodeling and opened a small satellite store, only the big store remains closed, kaput.

Sign of the times, very sad for us old enough to remember life before the Internet when everything took a lot more effort, but I suspect the richness of the whole experience was more meaningful. I remember going through very cool audio shops and the like as a teenager. What a huge thrill that was. Now we browse online shops ... (which I am mostly okay with, just a little nostalgic at times).

 

[Midgetguy]

  Sign of the times, very sad for us old enough to remember life before the Internet when everything took a lot more effort, but I suspect the richness of the whole experience was more meaningful. I remember going through very cool audio shops and the like as a teenager. What a huge thrill that was. Now we browse online shops ... (which I am mostly okay with, just a little nostalgic at times).

Well I'm part of the current generation (22 and already spending too much on audio gear

) and I think that the death of brick and mortar audio stores is a sad thing. It's not as bad in NY I guess as it is in the PNW cuz at least you guys had nice audio shops at some point in the past. But the end result is the same: no nearby shops to try out the newest headphones, DACs, or amps. I really wish there was a place to do that, but the best you can possibly do up here is find a Magnolia. Otherwise, I'd have to drive 3 hours up to Canada to try out cans at the Headphone Bar. I managed to go there once, but only had about an hour to speedrun through headphones. Got to try the HE400S while I was there and it's very different from what I expected cuz I have an HE560.

 

[StanD]

Unfortunately there are few  if any remaining places in NYC that you can try out the good stuff. If you're interested in cr@p like Beats, drop into any Apple Store or any other consumer driven madhouse and expose your ears to mainstream junk.

 

[Midgetguy]

  Unfortunately there are few  if any remaining places in NYC that you can try out the good stuff. If you're interested in cr@p like Beats, drop into any Apple Store or any other consumer driven madhouse and expose your ears to mainstream junk.

Pretty much the same situation up here in Seattle. You can find Beats, earpods, and the low-end B&W stuff, but nothing nice. I tried out the Edition X along with some other headphones 3 hours away at the Headphone Bar, but 3 hours and across a national border is fairly hard to justify for me.

 

[Soundsgoodtome]

Isn't there a headphone shop in the UW area? I remember someone mentioning one before. If not we have a meet 4-5x a year and one happens to be tomorrow in Woodinville.

Pretty much the same situation up here in Seattle. You can find Beats, earpods, and the low-end B&W stuff, but nothing nice. I tried out the Edition X along with some other headphones 3 hours away at the Headphone Bar, but 3 hours and across a national border is fairly hard to justify for me.

 

[OrganMonster]

That is too sad to hear. I was born and raised in New York city. Back in the 1950 and 60's was so much fun going to the camera distinct and the stereo district. My dad and I got into so much trouble up there spending more money than we should have spent. But at least you can listen to everything before you bought it. That was pure satisfaction.