[Spastic]

I let one of my friends try my A2000X sourced from the Fostex HP-A3 DAC/Amp to some orchestral and instrumental music, he described it as 'transparent' and was wowed at the quality of the strings. I have recommended him the Ultrasone HFI-780 as he is heavily into trance. 

 

[eimis]

Quote:

On first attempt, my friend could not hear a different between HD650 and AD900X sounding and I was like What?? 

 
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They probably expected the lyrics to change.

And probably how hard the bass hits (closed headphone) would be the winner.

LOL 

 

[penmarker]

Don't you guys feel like ******** laughing at them behind their backs? To be fair, they don't really have experience with quality audio. I feel for them because I was once one of them too.

 

[streetdragon]

Okay this isn't about headphones but it involves non audiophiles.
Well, I was once budget speaker shopping to replace my cheapass tinny congested weak and harsh portable speakers. So when i wanted to test some sets with my own source, i asked him to to turn down the bass knob. He turned it up. I told him again to lower it. He maxed it out. "nevermind-" I interrupted him, and turned it down to neutral.
The second day, i went to another shop to test more speakers. So before i started i asked where the bass knob is situated. (because i know it would be turned up) so the shopkeeper pointed it out to me but at the same time turned it up even higher. It was annoying because everything became a boomy muddy mess so i immediately turned it down. At the end of the day all the demo speakers had their bass settings at neutral. Talk about community service.

 

[Armaegis]

I once bought a set of used speakers from a guy, and to demo them he cranked the bass AND the treble knob all the way up (plus the "loudness" switch). When I tried to take them back to normal, he looked at me like I was crazy.

 

[ssrock64]

Quote:

Don't you guys feel like ******** laughing at them behind their backs? To be fair, they don't really have experience with quality audio. I feel for them because I was once one of them too.

This thread is partially about venting our frustrations at the non-audiophile world. That part is the one that leads to ridicule of non-audiophiles on occasion, and yes, it's narcissistic and presumptive of us. However, the other major part of this thread is taking those same people and helping them hear quality, and sharing our stories of their change from apathetic to audiophile.

 

[streetdragon]

Well crazy people think people are crazy

 

[Audio Jester]

Headphones have been my hobby for a long time and way back when I started down this rabbit hole my friends were very dismissive.  Some of them love to bring up my "crazy" audio hobby from time to time and they all have a good laugh at my expense.
 
I purchased an Eximus DP1 to go with my TH900's recently.  One of my friends decided to take me up on my offer (one of many) to come and try my "silly headphones".   After playing him a few songs he took them off and just sat there.  He was quiet for about 5 minutes, just sitting there and shaking his head.  He finally looked at me and said "I had no idea that music could sound that good".
 
He now has list of music that he wants to listen to on my system.

 

[jipan]

I understand this one perfectly. Sometimes I want to tear my hairs out because of the salesman keep turning the bass and treble knob higher and higher and higher.... Oh the horror!!! *shudder*
And that's why I bring my IEM to block the noise out and only open them when I could turn the bass and treble and what-not down to sane levels.
 
ps:I'm rather sensitive to treble....
Quote:

Okay this isn't about headphones but it involves non audiophiles.
Well, I was once budget speaker shopping to replace my cheapass tinny congested weak and harsh portable speakers. So when i wanted to test some sets with my own source, i asked him to to turn down the bass knob. He turned it up. I told him again to lower it. He maxed it out. "nevermind-" I interrupted him, and turned it down to neutral.
The second day, i went to another shop to test more speakers. So before i started i asked where the bass knob is situated. (because i know it would be turned up) so the shopkeeper pointed it out to me but at the same time turned it up even higher. It was annoying because everything became a boomy muddy mess so i immediately turned it down. At the end of the day all the demo speakers had their bass settings at neutral. Talk about community service.

 

[eimis]

So I got HD650, put them on and almost cried. That's not too surprising since I kinda expected them judging by reviews to be up to my taste. But I let my technology-ignorant girlfriend try them. She said: "They play music so wonderfully", "I'd listen and listen to these, they are very, very good", "these are a lot better than those [fa-003], you may sell those right away" (I had lent moded fa003 to her for some time). Those words sounded on par with stuff like "i love u", etc.. [JK] She was playing some songs over and over...and that means something about hd650. I'm surprised they got through to her. Gotta give my dad try them since he was unimpressed with my previous headphones. Gear: win8 > yulong d100 > O2 > hd650

 

[Leliana]

My mother was very skeptical when I told her I had brought a $700 headphone in the HE-500 and thought that I surely had wasted money on some fluff product. After she listened to a few songs she was floored and frankly shocked. I decided to put on 2 hours of Pink Floyd (her favorite band) for her to enjoy after that. She could not be happier, and as such me and my mother (and dad) all get to listen to my headphones. Dad's reaction was "yeah pretty good", he is pretty hard to impress admittedly
 
My workmate thought that his Sony IEM which came bundled with his Sony Walkman were better than my Westone 4. He said "my earphone's bass is way better and way more present", I think he meant to say "I enjoy my bass flabby, muddy and overbearing to the point of ridiculousness"

 

[bearFNF]

Heh, so couple days ago a coworker that lives in my apartments came by to talk about going tot he shooting range, he see my rigs sitting on my living room table and asks, "what is all that stuff?" So, I go into my audiophile speak explaining what my Taboo MKIII, schitt stacks, and Stax rigs are all about.  His eyes started to glaze over, so I just stopped and said do you want to hear them?  Heh, 45 minutes later he is completely into finding out what they all cost, and where I got them, until I started quoting prices...dang almost had him converted.  I backed off and showed him some mid-fi and entry stuff and got him back to being interested.  We'll wee where it goes...
 
The follow-up and the reason I decided to share this is:
Today he and I got back from the range teaching some people firearms safety and how to shoot and I ran into a couple that lives in the building. The wife says, paraphrased: "Sue (my buddies wife) said you have a lot of tech stuff in your apartment, can we see it?"  they are Japanese and do not speak English very well but do understand it well.  So I bring them in to show them my workbench and the projects I am working on (a portable amp I am building and a soundcard I am modding my home built computer etc).  They are both very impressed.  I take them to the living room and show them the headphone rigs and their eyes get big,  I again go into the audiophile speak, but they are all "Hai, Hai, and oh, oh, and ah, ah"  They were getting it!!! I went on for a while, then realized, They want to hear it!!  So, I hooked them up with HD800's and Grados.  A few minutes later they were all smiles and would have stayed a lot longer but their three year old was getting fidgety (she tried to grab the tubes on the Taboo, pretty lights and little kids, needless to say I was keeping very close tabs on her).  I had even tried to put some headphones on her and that calmed her down for about five minutes, until she ripped the earpads off...they were ATHM50s no harm done.  But when that happened they decided it was time to go, but expressed interest in a more extensive listening session later.  They both liked the HD800's more than the Grados.  The next time I will get them to listen to the Stax.

 

[Armaegis]

Nice.
 
How's that new Taboo treating you? 

 

[NightFlight]

bearFNF


You sound very trusting. That's nice, but while people talk they do it in the most innocent terms and sometimes it can land on the wrong ears. Speaking from experience. Depends where you live and circles, but you can loose all your gear to a thief. Audio gear is one of those things like bikes. Liquid value.


Then again you seem to be fond of the range... and I digress. Just be careful.

 

[bearFNF]

Quote:

Nice.
 
How's that new Taboo treating you? 

Very nice so far, I will bring it to the next meet so you can see what you think.
Quote:

bearFNF


You sound very trusting. That's nice, but while people talk they do it in the most innocent terms and sometimes it can land on the wrong ears. Speaking from experience. Depends where you live and circles, but you can loose all your gear to a thief. Audio gear is one of those things like bikes. Liquid value.


Then again you seem to be fond of the range... and I digress. Just be careful.

The people that are in this building all know each other for the most part.  The man from that couple works where I work so is not a total stranger (not many of those around this small town anyway).  I have lived in this building for ten years now, the little old ladies in the building keep tabs on all the comings and goings.
 
Thanks for the concern, though.