Trip Down Memory Lane - What's the first IEM/headphone/earbud you used?
Jun 16, 2020 at 6:37 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 11

baskingshark

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Hi friends, hope everyone is staying safe during this coronavirus period!

As per the above post, what's the first audio gear you used? Not talking about kids toys or those stock buds that come with our phones, but legit IEM/headphone/earbud?

I think I used some old Phillips on ear headphones about 20 years ago while I was studying music, forgot the model but I couldn't appreciate audio gear then. Haha back then, it was simply appreciating the music as it is, now I'm ashamed to say, I have gone too deep down the rabbithole and nowadays use gear to appreciate the music. =(

I think I also used some Beats earphone which I only got cause all my friends were using it and it was celebrity endorsed. Even back then, I couldn't appreciate audio gear but I thought the sound was crap.

My true first taste of audio gear would probably be the Westone UM1 about 15 years or so ago. I got it for stage monitoring and I was very happy with the sound quality, but wow how time flies, it's still working fine today, but been surpassed by some other sets.

Look forward to hearing your first audio love!
 
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Jun 16, 2020 at 11:12 AM Post #2 of 11
My dad used to work for Audio-Technica when I was younger. Once every few months, he'd bring home samples of headphones and IEMs. I had dozens of them lying all around the house. I wasn't an audiophile back then, but I found the wood-cupped ones tremendously pretty.

My first true audiophile product was the Ultimate Ears MetroFi 220. I lost those earphones a few months later, then bought the Shure SE535 during a sale. I've not looked back since. That was close to 10 years ago (mid of 2011).
 
Jun 16, 2020 at 4:33 PM Post #3 of 11
My first high end headphone was the AKG K501. Really liked it a lot. AKG has some great products. I’m thinking of getting the AKG C414 microphone for recording since I am in some ways an AKG fanboy
 
Jun 16, 2020 at 4:42 PM Post #4 of 11
My first high-end iem was UE TF-10, and this is like a cliche since it was so hyped up, and looking back, it was a meh experience. And then I researched for the cheapest bang for the buck iem, which was Hifiman RE0, which sounded pretty thin, but still pretty good fidelity for the price.

I think the most notable iem was UERM, and it was the universal demo. At the time when I got the custom made, I also had the Hidition NT6 which I found to have better technicalities. Looking back, it might have been that the UERM universal demo could have been better than the custom I've gotten. And it all went downhill from there with ovrepriced iems. The biggest overpriced disappointment was JHA Layla, and then I've become real skeptical of JHA crap onwards. Started noticing a lot of overpriced crap for not much improvement or crappy tonality. Once you see the reality, your interests fades. Reality = overpriced crap.

As for full-sized, I start out with HD650 among the trio of the big mid-tier headphones back in the days. Other two being K701 and DT800 600 ohm. Same here, lots of overpriced crap came to market with the trend of overpriced-ness. BAD TREND! Overpriced crap = I lose interest in the hobby since I have better things to spend all that money on.

And look what happened to this forum. Commercial, and lounge is nothing like it used to be. It happens when things become commercial. Content degrades. It's like when you get a bunch of spam that didn't used to get a bunch of spam?

Looking back, it's always been gear cycling. It's like your ears get used to the gear, and you move on to another one. That is the reality of the hobby.
 
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Jun 16, 2020 at 7:24 PM Post #5 of 11
Growing up, I loved these. Sony Mega Bass. I used them with my Walkman and Discman. I was an even bigger bass head back then.

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Jun 16, 2020 at 8:58 PM Post #6 of 11
Growing up, I loved these. Sony Mega Bass. I used them with my Walkman and Discman. I was an even bigger bass head back then.

I found classic Sony stuff to look good. They had their days, and I remember the days when cassette players coming out of Japan were really cool lookin. When I was in Asia I remember seeing stuff that were much better than the cheap stuff that was sold in the US. There a lot of cool Japanese tech that didn't get release in the US during the 90's. I think 90's was the years when Japan really shined. Great cars, Anime, electronics, etc.. What happened Japan?

By the way, Sony D25 is a really great looking discman.
 
Jun 16, 2020 at 9:01 PM Post #7 of 11
What happened Japan?
South Korea

I did like that Discman. My older brother had it, and I was jealous, but it had “digital Mega Bass” which I didn’t like nearly as much as the classic analog boost. It just sounded weird and muddy.
 
Jun 16, 2020 at 9:17 PM Post #8 of 11
My first high-end iem was UE TF-10, and this is like a cliche since it was so hyped up, and looking back, it was a meh experience. And then I researched for the cheapest bang for the buck iem, which was Hifiman RE0, which sounded pretty thin, but still pretty good fidelity for the price.

I think the most notable iem was UERM, and it was the universal demo. At the time when I got the custom made, I also had the Hidition NT6 which I found to have better technicalities. Looking back, it might have been that the UERM universal demo could have been better than the custom I've gotten. And it all went downhill from there with ovrepriced iems. The biggest overpriced disappointment was JHA Layla, and then I've become real skeptical of JHA crap onwards. Started noticing a lot of overpriced crap for not much improvement or crappy tonality. Once you see the reality, your interests fades. Reality = overpriced crap.

As for full-sized, I start out with HD650 among the trio of the big mid-tier headphones back in the days. Other two being K701 and DT800 600 ohm. Same here, lots of overpriced crap came to market with the trend of overpriced-ness. BAD TREND! Overpriced crap = I lose interest in the hobby since I have better things to spend all that money on.

And look what happened to this forum. Commercial, and lounge is nothing like it used to be. It happens when things become commercial. Content degrades. It's like when you get a bunch of spam that didn't used to get a bunch of spam?

Looking back, it's always been gear cycling. It's like your ears get used to the gear, and you move on to another one. That is the reality of the hobby.
I think it was actually the Roxanne that started the trend towards really expensive earphones. Prior to its introduction, the best IEMs peaked at slightly above $1,000, if memory serves me correctly. It was also around the same time that the driver craze went into overdrive. But, yeah, still JH Audio.
 
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Jun 16, 2020 at 9:39 PM Post #10 of 11
I found classic Sony stuff to look good. They had their days, and I remember the days when cassette players coming out of Japan were really cool lookin. When I was in Asia I remember seeing stuff that were much better than the cheap stuff that was sold in the US. There a lot of cool Japanese tech that didn't get release in the US during the 90's. I think 90's was the years when Japan really shined. Great cars, Anime, electronics, etc.. What happened Japan?
They've stagnated quite a fair bit since their halcyon days in the 80s and 90s. It'll be nice to see a resurgence of great Japanese tech again.
 
Jun 16, 2020 at 9:41 PM Post #11 of 11
They've stagnated quite a fair bit since their halcyon days in the 80s and 90s. It'll be nice to see a resurgence of great Japanese tech again.
I’d really like to see Japan and S. Korea really duke it out for tech supremacy, while we, the consumers, reap all of the benefits.
 

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