[spbach]

I'm looking for places to try new headphones before making the purchase. I've seen some places that sell the DT 770's, 880's, 990's, Q701's... but I'm looking for something more unique like Grados, Higher end Beyers, and maybe some HiFiMans. Can anyone help me out? 

 

[jackskelly]

I live in Houston and unfortunately I don't think there's really a store where you can try out high end headphones here. I've looked before and haven't found anything. The closest thing I can think of is trying out a couple of brands, like Bowers & Wilkins, at the Apple store. Sadly there really aren't many places in the entire United States where you can try out high end headphones. The only country I've been too and seen that is Japan. What I've mainly done is try to read reviews and forums to find headphones I'm interested in. Buying from somewhere like Amazon, which has a good and relatively easy return policy, will allow you to try out the headphone and return it if you don't like it (within a month or so).

 

[pbui44]

Here are some places:

http://www.soundsgoodtomehouston.com/

http://www.sweetspotaudioandrecords.com/#2694

http://www.evansmusiccity.com/

http://www.musicansfriend.com/

The last one is a part of Guitar Center, which is all over the city, so you can pick a location and call them to see what they have. The Best Buy in The Woodlands, Katy, and next to the Galleria mall has the largest headphones areas in their Magnolia sections. Call those locations first to see what they have as well.

Edit: If you want to hear my HE-4, PM me your cell number and we can audition at a Starbucks.

 

[spbach]

Thanks guys! I'll check them out.

 

[Schiff]

This seems as good as any other post to second the above inquiry.  I haven't found anywhere in Houston that's truly dedicated to high-end audio, be it headphones or hi-fi, generally.  The few places I have found are home theater focused and while plenty concerned with sales, don't bother to create a sufficient listening environment to critically evaluate any equipment on hand.
 
While we're at it, just what type of enthusiast community is there in Houston?  For being such a large city, I'm unaware of any.  Seems a shame, and at the very least, it's definitely frustrating.

 

[pbui44]

As I have posted, there are places, they are just at different places throughout the entire area.

Also, you will never have an appropriate listening area until you try it out in your ideal listening area. I tried a bunch of stuff at CanJam in Denver, and while I could compare headphones, amps, dacs, and other equipment thoroughly, I had to leave many side notes for myself for many reasons. There was a good amount of conversation noise, many people coming and going at all times, and emitting interference from other audio equipment. I did manage to try out the Stax line in a designated hotel room, but only cancelled out the conversation noise, as people were moving around a small room and you could hear emitting interference from other audio equipment better. Not just that, I apparently missed the designated Abyss room on a certain floor, so there was just too much space to cover in one day for me. That's okay, it only had very minute advantages to the SR-009 and not better overall.

Eventually Houston head-fi meets will be better organized to match Chicago, LA, and NYC meets, but it will need help from the Houston Audio Society, as they meet up annually.

 

[EVOLVIST]

Yeah, Houston sucks for audio gear and the ability to try it out. I've looked and I don't even know anybody in this city who wants to listen to DACs, amps, demo gear, or whatever's audio related.

You would think the 4th largest city (it might have even passed Chicago for 3rd) in the nation would be brimming with audiophiles. But no!

Actually, I'm frustrated to the point where I feel like giving up. Ha! And I just got an SPL Auditor headphone amp, too! But finding a DAC with balanced XLR inputs in this city? Forget about it!

 

[sfviahouston]

I thought I would resurrect this thread, currently struggling to find anywhere in Houston for any high end headphones/amps/DACs. Any updates?

Specifically I’m wanting to try LCD3