Question to people with muliple headphones.

[kool bubba ice]

Does this turn into a collection endeavor at a certain point? I know we choose differnt cans for certain strength's.. But having 5 plus headphones really limits the use of how much you listen to a certain headphone. Not criticizing mind you. I currently have 4 headphones & am going to get the DT990 most likely.. I also want like 5 more.. Is there a fine line between collecting headphones & actually getting enjoyment out of them all?

 

[facelvega]

I think you could own six headphones before becoming a collector: 2 office, 2 home, and 2 portable, each pair sounding different from one another. If your listening habits include all these places, you'll still get plenty of use out of all of them.

As a collector, though, I'd say you can own up to around ten or twelve pairs before they get redundant and some start to just gather dust. Whenever I start getting well above this number, I sell a few pairs. I'm at 11 pairs for the moment, planning to add a few more soon, but of the 11 I'm only really attached to 5, and keep a 6th (an IEM) for practicality.

But I could also say that I have a clear scheme: stats at home, orthos for the office (plus one dynamic), and orthos and armatures for portable use.

 

[fhuang]

i was thinking the same thing. last night, i was looking at my desk and all of them are here. that's 7 of them. 3 home, 3 portable and one(k181) in between. at first, i thought that's too much but once i think about how i use them, no i still need a couple more, ie dt770, hd650, and dt880/k701. this is my hubby, my only hubby so i suppose it is alright.

 

[hardstyler]

I have definitely become a collector. I ask myself why do I need all these headphones just to listen to electronic dance music. Its a bit silly I think

Having said that I will definitely buy HD650 one day. And another amp

... and Cambridge CD player

 

[Zorander]

I actually seek to cut mine down to just a few select phones. As you said, the headtime you can give each of them is not practical, if you're going to give them all a fair share.

The first step to that is to stop buying any new phones for now.

 

[Quint]

For me—and just me—two headphones are enough. I used to own five, but I found myself always drifting back to the two I have now, so I systematically ditched the other three, because they just weren’t getting enough use. When I did use them, I did more out of a desire to justify my investment than because of sound quality. But that’s just me. My friend is a big headphone collector, and I think it’s really cool. Nice way to hear a lot of different things.

 

[mrdeadfolx]

I have 4 pairs currently, and absolutely none of it is for collection purposes. In fact when I get a new pair I usually give away/sell a pair to friends.

 

[jamess71]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quint /img/forum/go_quote.gif For me—and just me—two headphones are enough. I used to own five, but I found myself always drifting back to the two I have now, so I systematically ditched the other three, because they just weren’t getting enough use. When I did use them, I did more out of a desire to justify my investment than because of sound quality. But that’s just me. My friend is a big headphone collector, and I think it’s really cool. Nice way to hear a lot of different things.

So Quint what two were the keepers?

James

 

[ph0rk]

I keep the ones I like, which will be around 6 after this next transaction

You also can spread wear and tear out over several phones, have beaters, etc. Or, in my case, supply the woman with a k601 or dt770 while you wear an hd650 to watch a late movie.

 

[nickchen]

Key problem about this hobby (any hobby?) is that it becomes dysfunctional when being in stagnancy state. From time to time, simply something has to happen, be it handicrafts, swapouts or purchases.

 

[LawnGnome]

Personally I want a higher pair of dynamic cans from all the bigger manufacturers.

So I still need some Sens, AT's, Ultrasone, and maybe the JVC Victors dx1000.

 

[appophylite]

I have almost 9-10 headphones, but in reality only 3-4 actually get healthy use:
Koss A130 as my primary Home cans
Koss PortaPro as my sometimes Home cans, but most often, portable cans
Koss KSC 75/35 as my secondary Portable cans; their use is determined entirely by which sound signature I am feeling at the moment.

All my other headphones are either loaned out to other people or are waiting in my closet to be loaned out because I know they will receive more use from other people than they will with me.

I also don't intend to make a collection any larger than the 4 phones I currently use full time, except one more good/stellar high end can in the future.

 

[OptionTrader]

I find myself accumulating headphones as technologies and tastes change. So, I have been collecting since the early 70's.

Currently, my headphone rotation is between the K1000 and the Edition 9. When I travel, it's the Etymotic ER-4.

 

[ericj]

I don't believe i could argue that I'm not collecting.

About 2/3rds of my collection - which isn't all listed in my profile, it totals close to 50 pair these days - does get used semiregularly.

I have a job where they don't care if i listen to headphones all day long. Every few days my whim changes and i bring in a different pair.

Eventually, it would only make sense for me to get rid of some of the excess. For example i have both middle and late production sextetts, a 1st generation k240-M, a k260-pro, and a k141-m (Edit: And a K240-DF! Doh!). Ultimately, these are all variations on "the k240 sound" and I don't really need more than one of them, two at the very most.

But if i offered the k260-pro in the forsale forum, there's what, me, fitz, facelvega, and two or three other people here who even know what the heck it is. I'm not going to get much money for it.

And i hate going to the post office. I'll go to the post office for a friend, but not for $30.

 

[Shahrose]

i plan to eventually get the highest headphone in 3 manfacturers' lineups. beyerdynamic (have), ultrasone, and sennheiser.