[Dondoh]

I am painfully new to the head-fi world.
I am headed off to the nearest hi-fi shop and I was wondering what to bring.
I suppose a couple of cds of music I know and love.
No way I will come off as an audiophile when I arrive, but any suggestions of what to listen for, or anything to bring would be great.

 

[Bizzel]

I take two of my best and worst quality CDs from a selection of genres, that way I can hear how a headphone works under the best conditions and when fed with less than perfect audio. Make sure you try and match the volume of the headphones you try, a louder volume often equates to the impression of better quality.

 

[The Actual]

Hm, bringing poorly recorded albums on purpose is actually a good idea I had not thought of.

If you have anything like it, you might try bringing a pair of your own reference headphones or make sure you are familiar with something they have at the shop. I used to sometimes bring my Etymotic ER4P with me just to do some immediate and direct comparison.


Most importantly, take your time.
Happy listening, I hope you can find something you really like.

 

[goober-george]

don't mean to hi jack this thread but does guitar center have any good headphones to audition?

 

[MaloS]

Bring some old, poorly mixed record as said above.

Then I pick my usual reference records, good quality by particular instruments in use:
Liquid Tension Experiment 2 (percussion, synth, distortion guitar)
Patricia Barber - Live a Fortnight in France (percussion, voice, piano)
Something by Schostakovich
Either Shpongle or Younger Brother for pure synth/bass work

 

[facelvega]

Apart from music, I like to bring a pair of my own headphones that I know very well as a reference. Also, depending on where you're going to audition, you might need to bring an amp. But this would apply to someone already waist-deep in the hobby, not necessarily you, Dondoh.

Of course we don't know where you live, so we don't know which audio store you'll be visiting, but you'll likely find that high-end audio shops tend to have only a few decent pairs of tester headphones available, usually mostly Grado because they're the company that maintains closest ties to old-fashioned brick-and-mortar stores.

 

[krmathis]

I bring some audio CD's that I know well, and if possible my SR-007 as a reference.

 

[Dondoh]

Wow, this place is the nuts!
Ask and ye shall receive!
Thanks for all the replies.
I am in North Carolina, (Piedmont area) if anyone knows some good stores.
I would really like to hear some Grados and some Sennheisers at least.
As I said, I am very new to this. So maybe waiting for a meetup would be a good course of action.

I might just buy a lower priced model, or even a used model here, to tide me over...

 

[facelvega]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dondoh /img/forum/go_quote.gif maybe waiting for a meetup would be a good course of action. I might just buy a lower priced model, or even a used model here, to tide me over...

Very good plan. The classic first good headphone on the cheap is a Koss KSC-75. Grab one of those, or something similarly good, and see if that whets your appetite.