Hi. My name is Raphaël. I live in France.
I began listening to music on headphones with mid-90's walkmans, I have a fond memory of my blue YPPY series unit. In the early 2000's, I had a minidisc portable unit, a nice blue Sharp. Mid-2000's was all about ipods and supposedly ipod killers, like the Samsung unit I bought and really enjoyed. Regarding headphones and earphones, I never bought the cheapest options neither really good ones. Ten years ago, for my 30th birthday, I received a pair of AKG K518, I liked but mistreated them. Currently, my daily listening is made on a lowcost smartphone and 17€ JVC in-ear earphones. I've grown tired of bassy-sounding phones and these are nicely balanced.
The last time I heard music coming out of a high fidelity system, it was in the listening room of a shop in 2002. My audiophile friend, back then, had taken me there. We had listened to some AC/DC, Stratovarius, ABBA and some Wagner if I remember well. I ended up coding the first website of a friend of his who was starting an online business of selling cables and audio components for audiophiles.
So what am I doing here, registering on an audio buffs website? Weeeell, I'm turning 40 next friday and my midlife crisis will be consisting of a Shanling Q1 and a Focal Listen Wireless that are awaiting me in a shop in a near-by city. I wanted to get them from an actual shop and am quite lucky that a french online retailer of good audio equipment has some 15 shops all over the country of which one is not far from my home. I gather that for a first step in the world of high fidelity portable audio, these two might be good. What I have heard and read about them suits what I am looking for. I intend on using FLAC and other lossless formats. And I'm really looking forward to get my hands on the Q1 and the Listen because I have had a hard time these past few months discovering new music on subpar equipment.
Regarding musical tastes, mine are eclectic. Yeah, I know, that's not original. Among my favourite artists, you will find Judas Priest, Noir Désir, Patti Smith, Lou Reed, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Leonard Cohen, The Bellrays, Nirvana, Akala, Carpenter Brut, Deller Consort, Tina Turner, London Grammar, Le Matos, Syl Johnson, Queen, David Bowie, Ennio Morricone. I do not know their respective discographies by heart, I just know that I usually like listening to their music. Recent discoveries include King Crimson, Gordon Lightfoot, Laura Jane Grace, The Weeknd, Spice, and any ambient playlist I can find on youtube to isolate myself from the surroundings while reading on the bus. I prefer albums to playlists.
