[ReDVsion]

My mother immediately said "I want a pair" after listening to my DT880s for about 2 minutes. I don't know if she'll ever go for one, although I think the K501s might suit her better. I think she's also in the "will never spend that kind of money on headphones" camp, although she said that everyone should own a pair

. My dad was pretty impressed as well, but not as vocal about it (then again, he's more used to high-end headphones than my mother is... he at least owns a pair of K240 Studios). He did seem pretty impressed with the soundstaging/detail of the beyers.

Oh, and this was all unamped

. I wonder whether they'll think after I get these properly driven.

 

[miroslav]

I brought my Ultrasone Trackmasters to test a friend`s recently bought PC, plugged them directly into lousy on board cound card and played a tune from the Ultrasone binaural recordings CD (sounds of water)..

"This is better than 5.1 " were his exact words.

 

[ServinginEcuador]

Congrats on the compliment Tim. Must be nice to have your mom plop on your headphones and give a compliment like that.

 

[philodox]

I set up my headphone system for my wife's parents once... and this was before I got the DIO... her mom said "Why does it sound so good?" (probably confused because my nec cdr looks like a pile of garbage)... then the dad sat down and didnt stop listening untill the whole louis armstrong CD was finished... the whole time with a huge smile on his face...

on the other hand, I had my dad listen and, while he said "That sounds really clear" or something like that... I didnt get the big WOW reaction from him... and my wife is the same way, although with her I think it is partly just trying to contain my spending

I had a friend over the other day and had him listen while I did the dishes... afterwards he asked how much the setup costed... I listed out the prices for each component and each cable... he said "Well, it sounds a lot better than listening to music on my cheap computer speakers, but not THAT much better"

He and my wife both freaked out when I told them the price difference between my K271S and my K240S... lol, they think that they sound exactly the same... *sigh*

 

[Anacondastan]

Most music lovers could care less about what they listen to music through, even though they readily admit to better fidelity when heard through and audiophile approved rig. They'd much rather spend $400 on actual CD's rather than on an amp or a pair of cans.

You see they enjoy music for what it is and for what it's not; they are little interested in manipulating the sound until it sounds like the they imagine it should.

Where is the freedom in always longing for something that isn't there? I guess they are the sane ones and we the mad-men?!

Music, after all, is to experienced not investigated to the point were every real and imagined flaw or virtue is mentally cataloged.

It's an out of control treadmill we are on.

 

[gradofan]

My brother thought I was crazy for putting so much money into building an audio system. He also said, "You're an idiot. All that gear sounds the same. How could you own four headphone amps, 20 pairs of headphones, two CD players, and EQ. It's all the same!"

He kind of changed his opinion lately. He's actually used words like "smooth as butter" (describing the Earmax Pro), "dry and really clear" (Stax), and "deep, deep bass but no emotion" (Sugden Headmaster). While he'd rather mooch of my system than buy his own, I'm really happy to find him in listening to my system every day. In fact, he's started to use different cans for different music like I do. He uses the HD600s and Sugden Headmaster for rap, the HD600 + Earmax Pro for vocal-centered music (for instance, Norah Jones), and the Staxes whenever he wants the music-from-emptiness sound.

He hasn't listened to his $20 headphones and PCDP in months, even though he once said they sounded the same as my Grado SR-80s. He's pretty rational, though, so I think he'll eventually plunk down maybe $500 or so; he'll have a killer rig, but he won't spend the extra thousands it takes to get that "magic" that keeps most of us in the game. Oh, and he doesn't have ADD like I do

.

 

[sml1226]

My dad doesn't see it. He defends it by saying even cheapie iBuds sound better than what he was growing up with so he doesn't really find any differences between the cheap and higher end gear of today.

My mom hasn't heard them yet, but she is more open to these things. She knows today's music suffers from loudness wars and knows how to use her equalizer (now). So I'm going to have to get her to listen.

Still, this is unamped, and unmodded, so the ability to impress my dad with them and justify my spending is still on its way (maybe).

My friend was amazed at the Grados today. And after putting his on, I can see why. Muddy bass, overwhelmingly so. The highs on his seemed to be there, just completely overpowered. I didn't have anything but my iPod at the time, so I couldn't really EQ them to find out, but wow, I'd forgotten how bad some of today's gear can be.

EDIT: hmm... Bump... I guess. Thought this was a more recent thread, guess that's another one :confused_face: