ruthieandjohn
Stumbling towards enlightenment
(Formerly known as kayandjohn.)
I have been to other headphone meets, and this by far was my favorite. Not only the organizing, most of which took place well before I was aware of the meet (THANK YOU zabzaf and Audio GUY!!), but the event itself.
As zabzaf said, the people were ALL great. Furthermore, the size was just right... larger ones give a sense of frantic urgency of trying to get through all the headphones in a noisy room before the day ends, and smaller ones, of course, don't have the selection.
I particularly liked zabzaf's pointers on meet etiquette (don't unplug without permission, don't put your Elvis pompadour pomade on, ...).
Headphones make up a unique market... overwhelming segmentation (lots and lots of different brands and models chasing a limited number of folks who care about their difference in sound), a mix between the objective (e.g., frequency measurements) and subjective (presence, sound stage, taste), and the conflicting facts that 1) since measurements don't tell the story, you prefer to try before you buy, vs. 2) any one audio shop, and indeed any collection of audio shops within the same town, will only have the tiniest fraction of the available headphones to try.
The answer? Headphone meets like this, perhaps also augmented by headphone "tours," where one or more headphones are shipped around the country for auditioning, as Todd The Vinyl Junkie (TTVJ) did with the new Grado -e series of headphones. One vendor (can't recall the name... has "sonic" in it I think but not "buysonic") has a tool to let you hear, on your computer, reconstructions of sounds from various high-end headphones to let you compare, and apps such as Accudio let you transform the frequency response of one headphone into the frequency response of a similar headphone.
But there is no substitute for listening, preferably comparatively, over a long period of time, with source music you already know, and in a quiet room.
Of course, many vendors have generous return policies (try for up to 30 days and send back for a refund).
Anyway, headphone meets lift the spirit, inspire the muse, empty the wallet, and support headphone sales!
As zabzaf said, the people were ALL great. Furthermore, the size was just right... larger ones give a sense of frantic urgency of trying to get through all the headphones in a noisy room before the day ends, and smaller ones, of course, don't have the selection.
I particularly liked zabzaf's pointers on meet etiquette (don't unplug without permission, don't put your Elvis pompadour pomade on, ...).
Headphones make up a unique market... overwhelming segmentation (lots and lots of different brands and models chasing a limited number of folks who care about their difference in sound), a mix between the objective (e.g., frequency measurements) and subjective (presence, sound stage, taste), and the conflicting facts that 1) since measurements don't tell the story, you prefer to try before you buy, vs. 2) any one audio shop, and indeed any collection of audio shops within the same town, will only have the tiniest fraction of the available headphones to try.
The answer? Headphone meets like this, perhaps also augmented by headphone "tours," where one or more headphones are shipped around the country for auditioning, as Todd The Vinyl Junkie (TTVJ) did with the new Grado -e series of headphones. One vendor (can't recall the name... has "sonic" in it I think but not "buysonic") has a tool to let you hear, on your computer, reconstructions of sounds from various high-end headphones to let you compare, and apps such as Accudio let you transform the frequency response of one headphone into the frequency response of a similar headphone.
But there is no substitute for listening, preferably comparatively, over a long period of time, with source music you already know, and in a quiet room.
Of course, many vendors have generous return policies (try for up to 30 days and send back for a refund).
Anyway, headphone meets lift the spirit, inspire the muse, empty the wallet, and support headphone sales!
