[aimlink]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyll Hertsens /img/forum/go_quote.gif I've started another thread on it, but it's worth mentioning here that we have a new home page up on our web site,.......

That's a great face lift for the home page. Congrats!

 

[Tyll Hertsens]

Quote:

Originally Posted by n_maher /img/forum/go_quote.gif I simply love the honesty.

I've always felt, even in a crappy situation, if you're rightly motivated and you do your best, and then tell people what you're doing, even if it isn't perfect, they'll get it.


Quote:

Originally Posted by Nate And I also hope to see Tyll at a few more meets. NYC in two weeks buddy, be there.

Kinda depends on how my belly button is doing, whether the HD800s show,
and a few other things, you'll know as soon as I do.

 

[Anouk]

Hello tyll and others,
I just finished reading this thread from beginning to end and it took me a few hours I can tell you! I am sorry, tyll for the people you had to let go. I hope headroom will survive and come out stronger in the end. I too bought my first high-end head-fi (and audio for that matter) component at headroom and your phenomenal site was what got me into this hobby in the first place.
I wish you a lot of success,
Greetings, Anouk,

 

[Born2bwire]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyll Hertsens /img/forum/go_quote.gif So many great comments, but they're going to have to wait. Tomorrow I go in for some minor surgery (belly button hernia) and if I don't finish the main part of my tale today, tomorrow Stevieo will probably show up at my house, duct tape my belly button, and make me sit down in front of my machine. So, rather than that, I'm gonna finish up the tale today and then let you guys comment. I'll start answering stuff again sometime through the weekend. Where were we? Oh yeah, my job discription .... I stare at the blank piece of paper, and then look back at the coach, "What do you mean dream job?" "It simple, what do you do best? You should be doing what you do best." I look back at the paper for a second, and then write, "Strategic Product Line Development" I'm a gadget geek to the core of my being. I love widgets and gizmos and even know the difference the two. (Sorry, trade secret.) The technological world out there is incredibly complex and fast moving, HeadRoom is a small company, and our ability to actually do anything meaningful out the is VERY minimal and tricky. We have to find a series of somewhat connected holes within our mission that other people aren't filling. I'd be spilling too many uncooked beans to talk about this in too much depth, but as an example, some of you have mentioned a DAP. That would be a horrible error for us to pursue. It would put us in competition with Apple and Microsoft, and goodness knows who all else. We're much better off finding a way to embrace those devices and make then sound as good as if we built them without having to invest in a cube farm of programmers to try to do something half (or less) as well as the big boys. No, it's critical that there's a very clear eye on the strategically sound and continually profitable way forward. An eye that knows how to see the little stepping stones to hop to and from. And that eye is I ... er, me. Then I wrote down "Crazy Ukulele Player." The coach looked at me and said, "What do you mean by that?" Well, when you bring out people into public spaces, you have to send messages to them, but that's pretty tactical. There's also strategic messaging where you basically precondition and lead the people by playing things that cause people to think a certain way and become unprepared for what's next. For instance .... a ukulele. I'll fess up, this thread is just one long rant to make this transition as easy as possible without a lot of people grabbing their torches and pitchforks that we don't want to spend the next year hiding from. But it's also a simple view of the truth. And it's also me just talking to my imaginary friends. The point, I guess, is that I'm good at yelling at people and playing desultory tunes about what we're doing. The coach nodded, "What else?" I sat for a long time. Almost anything else I could think of needed to be part of the system and more closely under the authority of the new boss. I didn't say anything for a minute or two as I thought. Then the coach said, "What's yours? What do you need to do that which you do best?" "The BAND!" I said. "The band? What?" I told the coach that if I'm gonna do a lot of messaging and getting our painful shirts in front of writers and enthusiasts that I've got to have the band. So if anyone wants to join me on the closest street corner for a jam session, I'm good to go. He nodded.

Tyll, I support your decision. It scares us, Lord knows we've all suffered. Sometimes you just have to strike out on your own to find happiness and if that's spending days, unwashed, wearing shirts that desperately need the volume turned down, standing out in God's country playing the ukulele to an undeserving public, then Tyll, I salute you!


Just, for all of us, keep the shirt buttoned from now on please. We can't take in the majesty of your navel in real life. It's too much.

 

[immtbiker]

Did somebody say "Deliverance"?

Oh, wait, that was banjos. (yuk, yuk)

 

[fallsroad]

Quote:

Originally Posted by immtbiker /img/forum/go_quote.gif Did somebody say "Deliverance"? Oh, wait, that was banjos. (yuk, yuk)

They squeal like pigs a little differently out there in
Montana.

 

[morphsci]

Well I came to headphones a little late in life, around 2000 or so, just in time to see the (gladly temporary) demise of Headwize and the beginnings of Head-Fi (That's right kiddies, there wasn't always a Head-Fi). Headroom was instrumental in making sure Head-Fi was nurtured at its inception by helping to develop it as more than just an online community. As Tyll stated:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyll Hertsens /img/forum/go_quote.gif Isn't it odd that something as intimately internal as headphone listening has spawned this buoyant social activity of folks hauling baskets of gear to meets, listening to each others music, admiring the geeky DIY handiwork, and having dinner and giddiness together afterward as if they were life-long friends....which,of course, they are. How did this happen? Why does this happen about something as silly as headphones? 'Cuz it's not about the headphones really, it's about the people...

My entrance into the world of headphones was like many, due to the very existence of Headroom. Many others previously have stated many of the virtues of Headroom such as the overall honesty of the site as well as the wealth of information, not just on the web site, but in all the people who work there. Never, once have I either asked a question and not gotten an honest and satisfactory answer. Any minor "problems" I have had were handled with the utmost professionalism and were always resolved beyond what I expected.

However Headroom is not just a player in the headphone audio field, they have been pushing forward the limits of what we consider acceptable audio perfomance of headphones, headphone amps and sources. Tyll also said it best (as usual).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyll Hertsens /img/forum/go_quote.gif Sometimes I think this hobby isn't so much about headphones as it is around headphones.

That is what seperates Headroom from most of the competitors. Expanding the horizons of headphone listening. The audiophile desktop is a great example. It was possible because someone had the vision to see its possibility as well as a dedicated team to pull it off. As long as those two components are in place, both Headroom and the headphone hobby should be able to move forward successfully.

Good luck Tyll.

 

[boomy3555]

Even Long before I heard of Head-fi, I remember buying my first pair of Sennheiser HD201's from Headroom off a Google search and then the RS130's and so on and My recent purchase last week of a yummy set of Denon AHD7k's. I always tell people that I don't do anything headphone with going to Headroom first. I remember taking the time to read the history and technical stuff like how the crossfeed works and I was always so amazed that you were able to take you geek dream and make a company from it. I always assumed that it was still that way but maybe now it's time for the company to run along side you instead of in front. You've got to being having ideas for Headroom headphones, Tube and hybrid amps, smaller portables, interconnects, etc. and now you can get back to geeking them out on paper and making them a reality. You do really have your dream job back again.
Congrats.

 

[JMCIII]

Hey Tyll, question. Now that Apple is licensing companies to bypass the iPod's internal DAC, is there any talk around Camp Headroom of creating a portable amp/dac that could pull off this same thing - taking the digital bitstram and running it through a higher quality DAC/amp? That way you could help market those HD 800's (or any other top quality headphone or IEM for that matter), which at their price are going to have a tough road to hoe in these tough economic times?

 

[Tyll Hertsens]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JMCIII /img/forum/go_quote.gif Now that Apple is licensing companies to bypass the iPod's internal DAC, is there any talk arounf Camp Headroom of creating a portable amp/dac that could pull off this same thing - taking the digital bitstram and running it through a higher quality DAC/amp?

Oh yeah, we've talked about it. The only problem is that it costs $10,000 to put you foot into the Apple "Made for iPod" door. Eeek! But we'd love to do it obviously.

 

[The Monkey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyll Hertsens /img/forum/go_quote.gif Oh yeah, we've talked about it. The only problem is that it costs $10,000 to put you foot into the Apple "Made for iPod" door. Eeek! But we'd love to do it obviously.

I thought there was one more zero in that figure?

 

[Tyll Hertsens]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Monkey /img/forum/go_quote.gif I thought there was one more zero in that figure?

No, my understanding is 10 grand will get you talking to the right folks.

Making a product? Well, that'll cost more---prolly closer to $50,000 though.

 

[imademymark]

alternatively you could just make a portable version of the iwada, and give it optical/ usb outputs so we could use it with any one of the portable amp/dacs out there. considering how much people pay for the imod+portable v caps, and that this should theoretically easily better any imod/vcap combination, and that i really want one

, could you make one?

 

[JMCIII]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyll Hertsens /img/forum/go_quote.gif Oh yeah, we've talked about it. The only problem is that it costs $10,000 to put you foot into the Apple "Made for iPod" door. Eeek! But we'd love to do it obviously.

Yipes. That's cold man.

Oh well, it was a thought. And who knows, maybe someday......

 

[LFF]

Tyll, best of luck to you and your dream job! I hope both you and the company move forward successfully in your future endeavors.

Hope to see you at CanJam2009!