[baskingshark]

Haha confession to make, I'm guilty of the above.

Whenever I'm walking down the street, or in the subway/bus/airplane, I'll inevitably have to check out what gear other commuters are using. Though I would say most of the lay consumers are not "audiophiles", and majority of them are using wireless buds/headphones and stock buds that come with phones, or some pirated Beats stuff or Chinese unknown brand gear. Most of them are also using their gear (with mic cables) to make calls/do business rather than listening to music.

I'm not a fan of wireless gear or stock buds, so I usually ignore those. In fact I'm thinking that it is not optimal to use earbuds for travelling, as the isolation is poorer than IEMs/closed back cans, so at best one might not be hearing good sound quality and lose the bass frequencies with those, or at worse, one might damage hearing by boosting the listening volume to override the travel noise (in poorly isolating areas). Though I can understand some folks wanting to have a bit of poorer isolation so as to avoid danger when crossing roads etc, but I think protecting our hearing is important too.

Occasionally I'll see some fancy/branded gear being paraded and this gets my attention. Like wow this guy has good taste or has some $$ to splash. Or nice DAP here. Or this guy is a basshead for sure, or wicked, this hypetrain IEM was just recently released and he already has it? Or wow, this gear is about 10 years old and it is still in usage? Or nice, I should read some reviews on this set that this guy is using.

Any of you folks do this too? =)

 

[megabigeye]

Yep! It's like a reflex for me. Have headphones, will stare! I'm sure there are a lot of people that think I'm checking them out or looking into their ears.
Nope. I don't care about you, just your headphones!

I used to sometimes see one guy wearing HD 600s, a lady wearing HD 800S and once saw somebody with some fancy looking Ultrasones, though I don't remember (or never knew) which model. I don't know what the heck the people with the Senns were listening to, but it couldn't have sounded good because they were in a very heavily trafficked area with a lot of noise.
I've also seen people with CIEMs, iBasso IT04, lots of Shure and Westone, some NuForce something-or-other back when they were popular, a few custom cables, and precisely one person with an amp connected to his phone. Just a couple days ago I was staring into somebody's aural socket trying to figure out what they were wearing... Looked like an older Shure IEM, but the guy looked like he'd have been about eight when the E2C were around. Maybe a clear Brainwavz B200 or B400? Dunno.

I've also tried to engage a few people in conversation about their IEMs, but mostly they just wonder why I'm talking to them. Every now and again somebody will share some enthusiasm. I once convinced a stranger to come to Head-Fi and buy a FiiO amp.
I once sat next to a guy on a train that was really excited (like, really excited) by my FiiO X5 + E12A setup, but it turned out he was on his way to a concert and had dropped acid. I'm pretty sure he'd have been excited by a cardboard box.

 

[baskingshark]

Yep! It's like a reflex for me. Have headphones, will stare! I'm sure there are a lot of people that think I'm checking them out or looking into their ears.
Nope. I don't care about you, just your headphones!

I used to sometimes see one guy wearing HD 600s, a lady wearing HD 800S and once saw somebody with some fancy looking Ultrasones, though I don't remember (or never knew) which model. I don't know what the heck the people with the Senns were listening to, but it couldn't have sounded good because they were in a very heavily trafficked area with a lot of noise.
I've also seen people with CIEMs, iBasso IT04, lots of Shure and Westone, some NuForce something-or-other back when they were popular, a few custom cables, and precisely one person with an amp connected to his phone. Just a couple days ago I was staring into somebody's aural socket trying to figure out what they were wearing... Looked like an older Shure IEM, but the guy looked like he'd have been about eight when the E2C were around. Maybe a clear Brainwavz B200 or B400? Dunno.

I've also tried to engage a few people in conversation about their IEMs, but mostly they just wonder why I'm talking to them. Every now and again somebody will share some enthusiasm. I once convinced a stranger to come to Head-Fi and buy a FiiO amp.
I once sat next to a guy on a train that was really excited (like, really excited) by my FiiO X5 + E12A setup, but it turned out he was on his way to a concert and had dropped acid. I'm pretty sure he'd have been excited by a cardboard box.

Yeah I also try to identify what model IEM I see in others' ears, but sometimes it's difficult for customs. Also sometimes women with long hair have their IEMs obscured, so might not be too wise to stare too hard or risk getting arrested or something hahaha.

I've always wondered about folks who wear some open backed Senheissers in the subway. For one the isolation is gonna be suboptimal, but I see them driving some high impedance Senns from weak portable sources, so I'm not sure how good the sound they're hearing is. But well, to each their own, as long as they're happy with their gear and music!

 

[Solar1971]

To the OP.
You’re so funny. I’ve never really looked at other people’s audio gear.
Mostly because I’m still very new to this scene, but also because I can’t
Tell what gear people are using based on the outward facing half of the IEM
Shells they’re wearing. Lol. Maybe one day I’ll be able to glance at people
And tell what they’re using. But as for now I would have to STARE at them for
a while before being able to have any chance at determining what gear they have.
Lol, and that would be awkward. Hahhaaahaha.

 

[Sebastien Chiu]

As someone who takes a lot of public transportation to campus / work, I totally understand this look. When I see something special on someone (or heck, even something in the 100+ range), it's a really strange reflex.

"I know what those are!"

I know I'm in a lower income area and that's why I never see high end stuff in the wild. People also look at me strange when they notice my custom k10cs in my ears.

I just smile, because people are missing out on a whole new aspect of life without this kind of audio, but then again - that's why we're all here to bridge the gap!

 

[Redcarmoose]

I’m a rather scary looking person and yes, the public in general IS wondering about why I’m looking at them so seriously.

 

[Solar1971]

As someone who takes a lot of public transportation to campus / work, I totally understand this look. When I see something special on someone (or heck, even something in the 100+ range), it's a really strange reflex.

"I know what those are!"

I know I'm in a lower income area and that's why I never see high end stuff in the wild. People also look at me strange when they notice my custom k10cs in my ears.

I just smile, because people are missing out on a whole new aspect of life without this kind of audio, but then again - that's why we're all here to bridge the gap!

hey mr Noble audio do you guys make any good IEMs that are sub 150$ ?

 

[chickenmcnug]

I found myself doing this a lot when I was using public transport while on holiday in Singapore, but hands down the most common I saw were Air Pods. Never noticed anything high end.

 

[FastAndClean]

i do, most of them here in Norway use Bose over ears, NC Sonys and apple earbuds, after that the second hand online store is full of them

 

[Solar1971]

i do, most of them here in Norway use Bose over ears, NC Sonys and apple earbuds, after that the second hand online store is full of them

because over ear might keep there ears from freezing off. Lolol warm ears are nice to have.