[Ficcion2]

Nothing is forever, so why not enjoy it while you can?

Precisely. I’m not getting any younger and this money isn’t going with me.

If a few hundred or even thousands will make you go bankrupt you’re either a starving student (been there) or don’t have your priorities straight.

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

Well it used to be something in the vicinity of: I WANT THEM ALL NOW!!!
Nowadays I’ve come to my senses and sawed off seven of my many heads in order to cut down on the coconut collection.
I go for cans that I like the sound of....tadah!! And that usually entails a warm to neutral tuning without too much aggression in the mids and treble.
I rationalise my purchases with backhanded semi-wisdom such as the classics:
Well everybody’s entitled to at least an openback and a closed.
Oh yeah...a planar is certainly warranted as well.
I definitely need something light and breathable for hot summer days.
.....aaaand so it goes until I am storing headphones in the shower.

 

[iFi audio]

Started with popular choices like HD660s and IFI Micro but I knew I wouldn’t be satisfied for long.

Well, this combo should last you for a while!

Funny that I’ve gotten some flack (and have read plenty) from some members that think people are idiots for going over their certain budgets.

I overstepped my budget more than once in pursue of new cans, but it's a hobby. As long as you're happy about how you spend money, that's the important thing.

 

[bagwell359]

I don't try and get cans that have different focus (but I started that way). I have found I don't like closed, don't like "fun" cans, don't like very bright cans, don't like very dark cans, hate pumped up bass cans too.

I love the Voce the most of all cans I've heard, but can't afford that set-up. In order I bought (and kept) the HD-600, HE-500, HEX v2, HE6se - basically variations on a theme, also modded them, and added EQ which brings them all together a bit. I bought and sold: LCD2-F, X00 Mahogany, Alera, HE5se, (and way old: AKG 240, Stax 303, HD-650) and tried to sell 4XX, Fostex FH500RP.

I'm interested in the E2 and Arya - or - sell off a few cans, and getting a used Voce and a cheap Stax transistor amp used. I'll finish my BH Crack by the Fall for the HD-600.

I'm pushing the schedule while I still some money and a pair of ears.

Will be buying a used Stax amp this Fall, then will sell some stuff (collectables and stereo stuff) and make the move for a Voce.

1 E-stat amp - Voce ((((((((((((((((((((( any advice on the amp (under $1200), later I'll get a high shelf model))))))))))))))))
1 OTL tube amp - HD-600
1 Ragnarok 1 - for any planars remaining (HE-500, HE6se ?)

Been at it long enough to arrive at conclusions. Eventually all those pieces will be antiques, but I won't care because so am I.

 

[Shane D]

My only "plan" was trying to find out what I like. It has taken over five years, 10 amps and 20 pairs of headphones.

I have learned what I do like and that I bore very easily. I just bought another pair two weeks ago putting my current count at 7 pairs of headphones and they all sound VERY different.

Worst of all is that I can't stop thinking about other headphones and looking for sales.

 

[plmon]

My initial plan was just moving up the budget ladder until I reached a point where I didn't hear significant jumps in quality between headphones. I recently made my way up to a STAX Basic system, which I feel like will be as good as it gets under $500.

Now I'm just interested in checking out a variety of makers and trying different types of sound. The moment I keep chasing is when I hear a different side to music and I just spend a bunch of time going through my song collection all over again.

My current approach is trying out mid-level flagships from a brand since they're usually their most widely heard offerings and I can build up a good reference. Not to mention it's much much easier on the wallet.

 

[Ficcion2]

Well, this combo should last you for a while!



I overstepped my budget more than once in pursue of new cans, but it's a hobby. As long as you're happy about how you spend money, that's the important thing.

iFI makes memorable products.

I sold my Micro BL only cause I know I’ll get the iCan Pro as my SS amp or maybe now I should wait for the undisclosed Diablo project??

Eithe way it’s been money well spent.

 

[ruinedx]

Music
1x top of the line (HD820)
1x mid-range more portable/easier to drive (HD700)
1x most portable (HD25)

Gaming
1x noise cancellation for isolation (GSP600)
1x open back for environmental awareness (GSP500)

 

[whitedragem]

In response to @Skyediver s’ original post,

I place headphone listening second to home hifi, and so will not give it the budget that it may deserve.
My headphones are chosen as supplemental to the ultimate audio rig for speakers at home.(hifi is a hobby I enjoy, equal to photography and above computing tech)

The audio rigs in the house cover a nice Vinyl setup, several surround setups (some small, some grand), and a nice 2 channel setup for feeding the house music.. (there are a few other 2 channel rigs scattered around the house, and I am not afraid of using paired bluetooth ‘speakers as soccer goal posts’ down at the park).
I choose to completely ignore my car audio setup, but will happily feed it from good sources, whether than means a high quality portable DAP (and possibly DAC) or Vinyl recorded to tape (don’t knock it till you’ve tried it,.. flogs the six stack CD player in a ‘high end’ default car setup).. True,.. having nice parts chosen for headphone sound can greatly augment car-fi..

The home stereo rigs get all the focus, as I raised the firstborn from early on to sleep during sound around the house. So I am lucky in that I can do late night TV watching with the surround sound and not in ‘midnight mode’. To be fair we like our home to have bedrooms not up against a theatre zone etc.

The design, for me, has always been neutral equipment, with speakers/cans tailoring the sound.

Regarding headphones; mostly evolved due to great ‘head-fi’ gaming concepts. Having owned sound cards since the first ones came to market, and many many iterations since (presently use an Asus Xonar Essense STX) stuff like the Aureal Vortex A3D 2.0 was truly amazing and made me realise that I’d always need a ‘good headfi rig’.

I learned at sixteen years of age that the amount of audio that one can get from earbuds and a walkman was phenomenal bang for buck/value for money,.. and that it would be disappointing if at any point in my life I was without at least that much sound quality. (music can free the soul and personal music can allow a person to soar to much ‘happy heights’ anywhere)

SO regarding chasing joy and headphones/hifi as a hobby.....

I like every time my hifi acquisitions can help my head-fi goals. When I bought a Denon DCD-s10, in could be used as a DAC seperate to it being a world class CD player.
I have assembled a few budget rigs where a musical fidelity x-cans (a tube buffer) can preamp some nice vintage power amps etc.. a lot of the kit crosses over.
When evaluating home hifi, I always assess what does it bring to my head-fi rig. Sometimes a purchase omits a need (like buying a Rotel RCD-971 CD player, sans headphone socket), but sometimes it feeds back admirably (a Chord Hugo DAC/preamp)..

Like many I need headphones to cover many bases - especially as I listen to most music genres. Probably less classical than jazz,.. and more 90s rock/ and vintage prog rock than alternative styles and pop. Not enough Country - it just makes me feel ‘hick’ even though it resonates with the heart the most and is calibrated as being the healthiest genre (generally speaking) for our soul. (classical aside).

Heavy metal and rap is the smallest part of my collection, and I don’t own any Bob Marley, but some industrial and ‘heavy stuff’ in the forms of Nine Inch Nails/Tool/a Perfect Circle etc creeps in..
(partly due to being great test stuff for hardware.. I find Nine Inch Nails/Supertramp/Parsons(or Floyd) and some beaut classical stuff as frequent system check discs.

So for gaming I generally need an open back flatline sound (for HRTFs); presently needs met with some AudioTechnica ADG1Xs / Audeze Mobius cans. (the audio technica had a more neutral sound vs some Beyerdynamic T90s which had a bass hump)
For music, like many, I see strengths of different designs.
Having owned some Yamaha Orthodynamics, they didn’t meet ALL my needs, so I moved them on. Then I realised that the best budget friendly way to do headphone sound isn’t ‘one set to rule them all’ but to have differing sets to cover the needs of certain genres.
My child learned this recently, having grown up on some Sennheiser on ear Momentums (whilst being apart of the choir for years, vocals ruled supreme), and turned down many other headphones.. wouldn’t use any of my $500+ price point Sonys’, denied the Bowers and Wilkins P5 and P7 etc.. Then discovered industrial music and fell in love with Meze99s (“its like they were built to do Tool”)
But having a penchant for Tori Amos and Kate Bush etc, has need for other headphones, so also has some Ultrasone cans (mostly for long listening session due to their shielding and ‘technology‘)

I think many people hear the differences between technology types (eg planar and electrostatic),.. and we all have a growth / journey ahead of us when it comes to learning stuff regarding audio (and theory not always equalling reality/reality not always equal to theory)..

I feel most people who listen to classical music or like soundstage (eg gamers or certain genres) are going to want open backs.
People who want to share their living space (eg in bed at night beside a partner) have call for closed backs.
People who want to travel on public transport, or not want to spend the money on equivalent sound quality ‘over ears’ will want IEMs/earbuds.. The amplification ease means that a ‘pocket fi’ rig can really shrink in size.
Oh and Noise Cancelling is a thing, so don’t exclude some nifty headwear in that category

What has thirty years of head-fi pursuit led to for me?
I whittled down fifteen sets of headphones in the last decade..
My primary over ears are some Ultrasone Edition 5
My go to earbuds are some Cardas Ear Speakers
Noise Cancellers would be either some Definitive Technology Symphony 1s (if I can about sound and have a rig), or some Sony 1000s (acceptible for voice calls too)
And to be honest my competitive gaming cans (the ADG1X/Mobius) don’t get much use, probably because the sheer comfort that you get when you fold all your headphone budget into one set to rule them all (my Edition 5 ultrasones’) equals so much comfort that ‘why bother with anything else’.

And if it isn’t comfortable, then no matter how great the sound is, they just wont get worn. (a sad thing I learned with some Audeze Sine on ears)...

So comfort being greater than or equal to sound quality is probably a good weighing. (and don’t knock people for choosing it- they probably are more ‘head-fi’ than we give them credit, simply due to needing to keep a set on their head so often as to put comfort first)

Could I survive on one set?
Nope- I reckon minimum I would need one set ‘studio flatline’ and one set to enjoy music. (to be fair this can be re-equalisation nowadays),.. so I probably could whittle it down.
But then life circumstances change and the ‘open back‘ flatline (eg Hifiman Sundara) will no longer work in a situation it was planned to be in.. So I suppose a closed back set of on ear studios that can be driven from low powered amps, well,.. would be my preference. (and is why that is what I chose as my ultimate set).

Oh, and second hand bargains should never be overlooked whilst all the fools buy flavour of the moment stuff.
When I bought a Vioelectic V100 due to someone ‘upgrading to an O2, made me laugh. Same thing with hifi seperates.. sometimes an golden oldie ‘top tier’ part, will trounce most modern ‘5 star’ flagships.. everything is built to a pricepoint, and stuff gets cheaper to turn more profit/pay more patents..
I suppose headphone evolution really kicked in in the last fifteen years.. but for front end technology.. I’d consider buying stuff that wasn’t made in the last ‘couple of years’ quite happily.
(eg my Questyle QP1R isn’t the newest DAP but as a transport it kills most of the market and are ‘budget’ second hand parts really, whilst I bought mine new, I’ve advocated to ‘many’)

 

[Quartzwald]

I try to have

1) Good dynamic headphone -- Clear
2) Good planar headphone-- Arya
3) Closed back for office or outside use -- CD900ST & Sine
4 An IEM -- Sony IER-M9

I also have an RS1i (old headphone, but I like to keep it around) and an IE800 (got it for $200 so couldn't resist -- still sounds great and I use it if I want a more comfy IEM). I'm set for the foreseeable future and any future purchases would need to be great deals or something that I really wanted to try.

As for the rest of my gear, I have an AMP/DAC (DX7 Pro), and amp for more sensitive stuff (Magni Heresy), a more powerful amp that I probably don't need (Topping A90), a portable amp/dac/bt receiver (Qudelix 5k), and a DAP (Sony WM1A) to cover different use cases. Some other bits and pieces from my previous setups I keep around for the office.

 

[HBen]

awesome topic:

I think my methodology goes somewhat like this:

1) Generally testing as many headphones and associated gear as possible be it in specialized headphone shops, events, friends homes etc.- if possible with my own reference tracks and some of my own gear or some gear I know.

2) somewhat organizing my thoughts on an excel-list (with the silly name "Ben's headphone overview and aquisition plan" where I keep track of stuff like:
- which TOTL headphones exist (plus some others on my radar) with
- commens on what I liked and disliked about them and possible filters like
- headphone type (open / closed / etc.)
- technology (dynamic, e-stat, planar, ...)
- cost
- weight
- currently own / tested / would like to aquire
- ...

3) aquiring a ton of gear "to test" to be able to test headphones on a bunch of amps/dacs at home and to see if I can find some synergy that I like for different kinds of music I like to listen to.

4) having fun the process and listen to music whenever I find the time

5) always keep telling myself that I will or could eventually get rid of stuff I don't like that much later ... which in the end for some unknown reason doesn't really happen

Depending on your music style, living situation etc. you might need anywhere between one and a multitude of headphones to have all your bases covered. Hard to make a recommendation here.
Like some posters already elaborated some people may only listen to certain music and don't want or need diversity while for others having different headphones to cover different music styles etc. is totally plausible.
Find what's fine for you and be happy with it - that's all it takes i guess

 

[FullBright1]

I look for the words, : "new" "audiophile" "planar", "v2", "leather".

If i see those words, letters, numbers, or phrases.... , i'm instantly in.

 

[arielext]

Once had about 30 headphones, most of them the cheaper AKG variants and some hard to get by like the Grado head-fi 2, Sennheiser HD580 jubilee and later on Sennheiser HE60. Lost the battle for the closest to the summer dresses of the missus and trimmed the collection down to
- (at least) one good open-back
- (at least) one good closed-back
- a good headset for work
- a good closed-back for the office (the what? ... )
- good IEMs while travelling
- something for when I walk the dog

So yeah, I bought a new closet

 

[Malevolent]

Sadly, my headphone collection methodology seems to be following these steps, of late -

1) Do I like it? - Yes! - I should buy it!
2) Can I afford it? - Yes? - Let's buy it! Let me ask my wife..
3) Does my wife allow it? - Yes. - Awesome! I'm buying it!
4) Do I have any more space for it? - No. - Ah, crap. Oh, well.

 

[tdl2024]

I'm still new, so very early in my journey. Started on this in April just wanting something to replace my crappy Sennheiser GameZero's and now I'm still going down the rabbit hole. At the moment:

• What’s your headphone collection methodology?

I'm thinking along the lines of cameras (I'm a photographer), where there's no perfect camera that does everything well...you usually need to buy 2 or 3 to have all your bases covered (low light performance, high resolution, fast speed, etc). So with that in mind I'm thinking just keep it simple:

1. Open back pair for home that can handle most classic and alternative rock, 80's pop, folk/country, and the rare classical or instrumental stuff
2. In ear pair for when I'm at work (retouching on site with other people around) that doesn't really leak noise so as not to disturb others. Needs to be a jack of all trades though
3. Closed back pair for when I want to hear a little more bass heavy stuff like 90's hip-hop, RnB, MoTown stuff, Dance/Electronic, etc

• Do you have some type of master plan to your purchases, and if so, what is it?

Well, it's still early so I'm sure it'll change down the road...but I hope to just get something "good enough" and not invest too much haha. I'm thinking short term I'll try:

1. Want to try either Arya or HD800s (or HD8XX if the rumors are true). Maybe consider LCD-X if I can find a store to try them in first (worried about comfort)
2. Have iSine 10 I'm fairly happy with (they're not perfect but I got them for super cheap), but might look into an IEM because I worry about the leakage even though there's very little that I can tell. Most likely I'll add either the Moondrop Blessing2 or EarSonics ES3 and that'll be enough for my needs for this category.
3. Ordered the E-Mu Teaks, so I'll give these a try. If they're not good enough I guess I can resell and look into the TH-900's or MDR-Z1R's as an endgame.

And that's it (outside of probably having to upgrade the amp/dac for #1). I don't think I'll ever need more than 4 or 5 pairs of HP's, and with that I should be covered for all type of listening. Fortunately with standards so low I should be able to get there fairly quickly.