[grape ape]

I've been buying mid-fi and hi-fi headphones for about 10 years starting off with grado sr-80's and I've gone through all of the upper-end headphones of major manufacturer's (senn, grado, alessandro, AKG, AT et al). I've owned a few headphone preamps, portable amps, interconnects, tried to understand burn-in, all of it. One thing that's remained constant is that my fiends and especially girlfriends have thought and still think I'm insane for getting into this hobby. I'm not arguing with them. At my income level I probably am nuts for spending too much on gear.

How do your friends, family or partners feel about the hobby?

 

[Redcarmoose]

It is looked at as good by my friends. They know that without a distraction I may use my intellect for evil ways resulting in the end of the world.

 

[3X0]

They tell other people that don't know me that they know a guy who spent over a thousand dollars on headphones.

 

[grape ape]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3X0 /img/forum/go_quote.gif They tell other people that don't know me that they know a guy who spent over a thousand dollars on headphones.

OOH, that's a good one. I should have put that in the poll options. I've been that person before too. I haven't spent a grand on headphones yet but I'm sure that it'll happen one day.

 

[MrGreen]

I sold my friends for the sake of this hobby.

 

[apatN]

I don't really see my situation but voted "dude, you're nuts".

 

[TheAudioDude]

They think I'm pretty insane and that it's a huge waste of money. It usually goes something like this:

"So my tube amp is coming in today, I can't wait"
"Oh cool, is that for your surround sound system?"
"No, it's for my headphones"
"O_o What the hell is wrong with you? Hey Bob, guess what he just bought for his HEADPHONES!"

I do have a couple of friends who understand though (and push me to buy new things), but they're also into electronics like me. I try not to talk about audio-related things with the friends at work who think the ear buds that came with their iPod are better than any other headphone you can buy..

 

[Kirosia]

Kirosia has no friends or girlfriends to judge him

 

[krmathis]

Probably just "plain old nuts"...
But then again most of them have their own hobbies on which they spend considerable amount of money.

 

[yeahx]

I already had raised eyebrows when I swore by nothing less than $30. I like the fact that phonak PFEs look like cheap no names, but I still tell people if it comes up. Lately my shirts havent done a good job of covering my clipped on rig so I have had to explain the amp.

 

[thechungster]

Even when I bought £50 IEMs, they still went "You're crazy!"

 

[jhanby]

Yep, It goes like this :

Me : Maybe I need a new pair of headphones
Dad : You've already got a pair of 100 quid ones, what more could you want ?
Me : ...

 

[Armaegis]

I don't make enough money to spend on gear for people to call me crazy yet

 

[Hopstretch]

If I had friends, they would worship me as a living god.

 

[Uncle Erik]

The only friends I discuss headphones with are my friends from Head-Fi.

No one else needs to know what this stuff costs.

If asked, I always traded or bargained for something. For example, I only put about $100 into the HD-800 when asked. I don't bother to tell them what I sold to make up the rest.