[funkle II]

Post your examples of when headphones (or other hi-fi gear) have made you say "holly $***!" because something surprised you that you've never heard before in a familiar track.

Been listening to this for 30 years. Then the other day, I heard the the trailing echos at the very end of the track with THX AAA 789 > Nightowls


Another one is Kiss by Prince, which I've probably heard hundreds of times (involuntarily, not a fan). For some reason I listened to it (on the Nightowls), and it was a completely different song than I've ever heard. I never noticed the panning soundstage effects & layering because the tune has always been background. I did shout "holly S***!" and made my wife & daughter listen to it, after which they shouted "holly s***!"

 

[Spareribs]

1) For me it was when I discovered headphone tube amps for the first time. My first tube amp was a cheap Little Dot model and I was listening to a David Gilmour solo album and the holographic airiness was a revelation to me. I would say that was my turning point and what really got me into hi fi.

2) Another one was actually recently about 2 months ago when I listened to the budget Tin T2 IEM >Topping NX4 amp/DAC> IPhone Tidal stream. I was so impressed despite it being a budget rig. The recording was Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On.

3) I’m embarrassed to admit this but I had never heard the Sennheiser HD 600 until last spring of this year and I was really impressed! I can’t believe I waited all these years to get it. Amp designer Ray Samuels was the one who recommended those headphones so I finally took his advice years later. A month later, I bought the Schiit Modi $100 DAC and JDS Labs Atom headphone amp which is also $100. And was shocked how really nice it sounded at that low price.