[Dusty Chalk]

My wife (at the time) got me my first pair of really good headphones. I heard a bass note on the Orb's U.F.Orb that I had never heard before.

Then, recently (like 1999 or 2000), my over 20 year-old Pioneer Project 100A's (that's right, older than most of you!) finally bit the big one (I played an audio CD of samples by Uwe Schmidt through them called Atomizer, I believe, which even warned me, "watch the bass on your speakers!"), so I got a set of Polk speakers -- full range, compared to the Pioneers -- but by that time, I was already bitten by the bug.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Neruda, I understand why you don't want to talk about this topic... I remember VERY WELL one of your earliest posts on HeadWize; you had nothing better than those Sony "Sports" verticals and Koss KSC-35's (though you did try the Sporta Pros and took them back due to their overly tight fit). That really early thread of yours led to an online "paintball war" - which meant that it went out of control (though I don't want to get into any more details about it).

 

[Joe Bloggs]

My journey started with a notebook computer and software digital EQ

I was dissatisfied with the output from my notebook to my earbuds. (MDR-E837 at the time, still pretty good, if you ask me, if they aren't broken) I started fiddling with the EQ...

3 months of fiddling culminated in a complex procedure for determining the frequency response of headphones without using a dB meter, and what I felt were fine-tuned EQ settings for the E837 that, when burned onto CD and played through the discman, was superior to the Mega Bass settings on my pcdp.

Then the E837 broke

and I got a cheap pair of bigger phones. (AIWA HP-X225, somewhere between supraaural and circumaural) I went about EQing the phones but when I'm finished I found that I couldn't get my pcdp to play the EQed tracks loud enough...

I started groping about for an amp or a more powerful pcdp. Finally settled on the Porta Corda and the HD580. I had wanted an amp more than I wanted headphones... but now the X225 hangs gathering dust

and I haven't done much with the EQ recently either...

though that may change when I get a better output for my computer, so that in order to experiment with the effects of digital EQ on a high-quality output I don't need to burn files to CDs.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

Quote:

Neruda, I understand why you don't want to talk about this topic... I remember VERY WELL one of your earliest posts on HeadWize; you had nothing better than those Sony "Sports" verticals and Koss KSC-35's (though you did try the Sporta Pros and took them back due to their overly tight fit). That really early thread of yours led to an online "paintball war" - which meant that it went out of control (though I don't want to get into any more details about it).

*Digs in headwize archives* Dig dig dig...

Wow looks like Neruda was introduced into the world of Hifi headphones in style... can you say 'dragged kicking and screaming'

Don't worry old buddy, this will be something to point to and tell your kids about when you are a grandfather

and you have these antique headphones framed over your mantle and your grandchildren point to them and say 'hey where did you get these from?' You'd say, 'Well well well, it's a long story. A long long time ago, there was something called HeadWize...'

[/gibberish]

 

[dhwilkin]

My first interest into good sound came when I decided I wanted something better than stock headphones. So what did I do? Go to Wal-mart and buy the biggest pair of circumaural headphones I could find (Koss TD-65), because that was kinda like what they used in the big music stores in the mall, so it must sound good.

Anyway, the interest waned for several years, but after hearing my roommate's new Cambridge DTT2500 computer speakers, I was determined to get some really good speakers for myself. I eventually ended up buying my Videologic Sirocco Crossfire, which I must give credit for re-kindling my love of music. Since I had decent speakers, I figured my headphones should be at least that good as well, which led me to Headwize. Wasn't much info on cheap, closed headphones at the time, so I ended up getting a pair of Senn 200s. Now, much later, here I am on Head-fi, w/ all this equipment and loving music more every day.

 

[HeadWired]

Actually, two paths of mine converged and crashed here on Head-Fi.

Story arc A--I've always been interested in audio/video but my only focus was movie watching. So the sound I went for was accurate reproduction of film. It was about 10 years ago that I was finally in a place where I could afford truly high-end home theatre. But I knew much more about video/film than I did about sound. I just knew what sounded good and when the right elements were there or not. I relied on my advisors to help me with the sound set up.

Story arc B—I've always loved music. When I was a kid, I used to lock my bedroom door and I did what a lot of kids did. NO, NOT THAT—I'm talking about lying on the floor with my stereo speakers jammed up against my ears. I found that with my cheapie stereo I could hear fine details with close proximity to the speakers and lower volume. That intrigued me, but none of the headphones I tried matched the speakers-on-the-ears experience. Alas, somewhere along the line, I decided that adults don't lie on the floor w/ stereo speakers pointing directly at their ears and the whole thing fell behind me.

After college I began to make my living as a singer. When I was still a puppy I worked in NYC and on the road in the chorus of shows. But my only experience with personal audio was still the crappy headphones that came with the many walkman/CD players I had bought. I always thought it strange that a trained singer didn't have an "audiophile ear". But I just shrugged it off and thought that's one of life's little jokes. I also thought that I had probably ruined my ears by spending so many years in loud discos in the 70's and early 80's. End of story, I thought.

Fast forward to several years ago. I work for American Airlines and we use those (ok, I'm just going to say the word ) BOSE Quiet Comfort headphones on our international flights in first class. I was VERY impressed w/ the noise canceling quality of them but I just thought they sounded very …well…BOSE-ey. I could tell there was coloration and no integrity to the intended sound at all, but again I thought that was just that I had a bad ear. I mean, everyone raved about them, you know? So I bought a pair and that became "tolerable" to listen to my PCDP at home. At least it was better than the 90.00 earbuds I had tried. And to me the noise canceling aspect was worth the price since I fly so much.

So a few months ago I thought, "Gee, I wonder what other people think of the sound from these headphones. Maybe this is how I'm supposed to be hearing." So I sat down at my computer and typed in HEADPHONES into Hotbot.com.

And so there I was minding my own business, not bothering anyone and I FOUND YOU GUYS. I read every thread I could find about everything I could think of. I stayed up until 4:00 AM that night and the ENTIRE next day reading everything I could on HEAD-FI, HEADWIZE and on HEADROOM's page. After lurking for weeks, I decided to try out a TA from Headroom. I was extremely impressed. Wow. Much better, but not perfect. So then, I ordered the Cosmic Traveler Package w/ ER-4S from Headroom. I figured that I couldn't beat the 30-day guarantee so what did I have to loose?

I'm completely struck dumb trying to find the words to describe what I have been experiencing since then. I know you know what I'm talking about. I feel like I have 40 years of wasted listening to catch up on. I really want to express my thanks to you all on these forums for helping me with your participation. I appreciate how kind you are (for the most part

) to each other. Of course my financial adviser is cursing your very being, but what the hell. I ain't takin' it with me!

So as they say in B-movies…this could be the start of a very meaningful relationship!

Steven in Dallas

 

[edog]

I first got a pair of Sony MDR-V6's in my junior year of high school, after getting one of my first jobs. They seemed incredible at the time.

When I got to college, somebody stole my V6's, so while I was interning in Boston, I went to a local hi-fi store and picked up Sennheiser HD200's. The HD200's combined with my newly acquired JVC microsystem and my Sony MZ-R55/MZ-E90/MZ-E95 MiniDisc players temporarily put me in a state of bliss. Other than MiniDisc, I didn't get too much high-fi stuff in college, because there was always a shortage of money. This was exacerbated by the girls I was seeing.

After I graduated from college a year and a half ago and got a full-time job, and especially after I joined Head-Fi last October, I went crazy with the headphone stuff. I then got the Grado SR-60's (which I still like very much). I also dabbled with the Sony 888's and EX70's (these seemed very good before the Ety's). Then, I decided to get Etymotics ER-4P's and shortly after, the ER-4S conversion cable from Dan Pumphrey. The Ety's very harshly revealed the shortcomings of MP3. Furthermore, my CD collection was starting to grow too large for me to record any significant chunk of them to MD, so I got a Panasonic SL-CT780 CD player.

Then, I realized that the SL-CT780's headphone output was somewhat low quality and decided to look into portable headphone amps. First, I built my own cmoy, which turned out very nicely. Then, JMT's Penguin Mint-housed CHA47 amp caught my eye -- it really made my Ety's sing. Finally, I've recently acquired Jan's Porta Corda, which is spectacularly rugged and has an insane battery life.

Just yesterday, I had my first chance to audition a co-worker's Senn 580's, and I had a very good impression of them. It looks like I'll get an HD600 instead, accompanied by a new home amp. The Porta Corda seemed a bit strained when powering the 580's.

This hobby is expensive but fun... Unfortunately, now I have less credibility when I complain about my girlfriend's addiction to clothes and apparel shopping. She also likes her MZ-E95 MiniDisc player quite a bit and doesn't like MP3's played on the Rio Volt SP250. She also seems to like "borrowing" my Ety's (with different tips of course!). Clothes + apparel + audio =

 

[redshifter]

when i was about 13 or so i walked into a stereo shop and asked the salesman for some high end headphones. he was really kinda creepy and he didn't take me seriously. he pulled out a pair of akg 240m phones and proceeded to tell me there were 12 drivers in there. "dontcha see them?" he said pointing to the black fabric covering in the earcup. i said "ummmm, no", but was getting a little nervous around this weird guy, so when he invited his coworker to come in (who was even creepier) to convince me i high tailed it out of there and went to the big "box" store down the street. their i bought a pair of sony "buddah khan" dj headphones, which were my first good headphones until i bought the v6 a few years ago. headwize & head-fi hooked me up with some better cans, the sony cd-1700, but i had actually been looking for those months before i found these sites. i will give credit to head-fi for clueing me in on etymotics, though.

 

[pawwh98]

Well, I started rather early:

OK, actually my first halfway decent portable headphones were some Sonys I bought for ~70$ many years ago, I don't even know their model number anymore.

They broke a few years ago after heavy use, and I had a hard time finding a replacement. From the limited supply of the local warehouses, I picked MDR-V100s, although they didn't sound good they were the best I could find.

Only recently I had a little too much time on my hand and started investigating in the internet. I first found audioreview.com and upon the information I gathered there I ordered Grado SR-60s and Sony MDR-7506s.

My first impression of the 7506s wasn't the best and I gave them a not so good review on audioreview that caused someone to reply, who later recommended head-fi.org to me.

Now I feel that I have a source of reliable information from people who know what they're talking about, in contrast to audioreview.

The next step from here was replacing my MD-player with a Sony MZ-R50 and building a pocket amp, and now I only need Etys to reach mobile headphile nirvana

 

[coolvij]

I went to cmoy's earbud page back in the HeadWize library....and.......learned about how great my 821s actually were, with equalization. (chych - more than an update is necessary...).

Then I got KSC-35s. Then I got 888s. Then I got a JMT Penguin (best buy, yet). Then I got Sennheiser 495s, cables, a new CD player...........and 40 cds....in one year.........i feel poor.

 

[88Sound]

It all started back in the 70's with a Sony Stereo, had a Dual (brand name pronounced do-all) turntable in it, am/fm & two Sony Speakers, got it as a present when I was 14. Got closed headphones with a volume control in the cable...don't remember the brand.....absolute crap.

My introduction to good headphones were Senn HD414's in 1974, they were a revelation compared to anything I'd heard at that point, grey plastic with yellow ear pads. jump to 89 got Sony V6's by doing comparison's at the local Hi-Fi store, find it interesting they are mentioned so much these days. Loved them, did a lot of listening with the Sony D-25 & V6 combo, just excellent, also was in a blues band for years that practiced in a studio that had the V6's as monitors. I was in an original band where the bass player stepped on, broke, and stole my V6's!

I went to the same Hi-Fi store and could not find V6's, chose Denon AH-D750's, I hate these, don't even include them in my profile, I had to find something better.....enter the Internet!

After finding Headwize I decided that I wanted to try Grado's, just by chance I looked into a local High End store and they had 1 pair of SR325's (black housings) they had used as demos, I bought them for $200. Through a strange set of circumstances ended up with a new pair of SR325's (silver) also.

Now after finding this site I am officially on the 'primrose path', got RS-1's next, then an RA-1, then SLCT-570, the ETY-4S's, sent my D25 for repair and ordered a D25S for backup.

I must say I find it a miracle that I can experience this level of audio quality out of such small components. I can be watching Sponge Bob Square Pants with my daughter while listening to a remaster of Miles Davis and John Coltrane in my ETY's that was recorded before & shortly after I was born. I'm 44 now and am incredibly amazed and thankful that technology has brought me something so wonderful, enriching and unexpected.

I'm somewhat of a dinosaur compared to a majority of members on this site but I can only wonder what will be available to many of you when you're my age (in 25-30 years)

P.S. Thanks to eric343 for my new avatar!

 

[KR...]

I have a story but it's long and boring, and I really don't feel like typing it out.

 

[andrzejpw]

Well, it started on anand. The hot deals forums. Someone said that amazon had a good deal on sennheiser mx500 earbuds. I was intrigued, since I had 10 bucks in mypoints giftcs. They said to check headwize.com for more info. Well, I got my mx500s from sennheiser. After about 1.5 weeks, I listened to my sister's street styles. YECH. She was using it with an audiovox pcdp.

So, I kept on reading headwize, then head-fi. I made $190 working sound at my high school for dance studios(damn it. Watching little, 8 year old girls dance in skimpy costumes. I felt like a sicko). I set aside this money for headphones.

We had a trip planned to Poland over the summer. We'd fly into Frankfurt, go to Poland, go out from Poland, go to Braunschweig(sp?) for a while, then frankfurt/the USA. During that time in Poland, I kept on reading head-fi. Since Germany is the land of so many phones, I kept on asking, WHICH ONES? I finally decided on the Sennheiser HD580s. During the summer up to the trip back, I got my Electronics guiness cousin to help me build a CMOY. (Sub $5! We get jacked here in the US!!!)


Well, in Germany, I got my HD580s. About $125. So, when I got home, I finished my cmoy(opamps/putting it in a case). TIll that time, I kept on listening through my sharp mt90 MD player. So, Christmas now comes. What did I ask for? A denon 370. My AWESOME parents got one for me.

So, in the span of oh, about 8 months or so, I've gone from WHO WOULD SPEND $20 ON HEADPHONES!!!??? THE THINGS THAT COME WITH THE PLAYER ARE GOOD ENOUGH!!!!!

To: Denon 370 -> cmoy -> HD580s


So, I'm only 15 now(16 in June). I get sort of scared when I realize where I might be in say, 10 years?

 

[anishbenji]

My story started in February, last year. I was into mpegplus (now called musepack), a high quality compressed music format and listening to them through a pair of very cheap Philips headphones. I was in India at the time & was coming to the US for my graduate school in August. I knew there was better audio available, and once I come to the US I would be able to afford some decent sounding equipment. I realized I would be able to afford better sounding equipment if I went with headphones.... So searched for headphones through Google. Up pops a link to Headroom and Headwize.
Fast forward to today. I have a Senn HD580 and Porta Corda. Today, I received my Sony SCD C333ES (yay!) and I'm listening to all my CDs again. I still have to buy some SACDs and a power supply for my Porta Corda.
Headwize and Head-fi have helped me focus my search and decide on what I wanted, without wasting money on things I won't. I guess I'm lucky to say these sites might have actually save money on my searh to find audio nirvana

 

[RickG]

Quote:

How did everyone get into high-end personal sound? (headphones)

Well, when I was just a child, I was dropped on my head and.......