[B-Dawk20]

I was looking into one of our fellow headfiers thread about his new HD650's so it got me wondering, what is YOUR story been like in the journey to higher audio? What were your steps along the way? Or if you are like me, what are your goals in the future? You don't have to post a big wall like I'm about to do, but you can show your purchase progression if you'd like.
 
 
I first started caring about my audio when I started getting into computers just a bit. Being a lowly college student, I couldn't really get much as far as parts upgrades were concerned but I knew I did want a sound card. At the time I was using the "El Teriblé" that are apple ibuds but the sound card did improve my audio experience and I was so happy. I didn't actually start caring about headphones until a year later where my friend introduced me to his PX100s and the whole world of headphones...
 
At the time I didn't know, but he just seemed to be regurgitating information from generalized charts he had seen on 4chan that ranked headphones in tiers....I now come to hate that type of thing but that is neither here nor there. He stayed steady with his PX100s but recommended I'd get the Koss Portapro to get a low end step up in my audio. Boy was I shocked at the time. The pure difference in sound quality between the buds and those Portapros were just so amazing that I couldn't get the thought out of my head...I wanted...MORE. And so it began, my journey took me through various websites like headroom and such and passed over this little forum here. The more and more I read, the less I realized I really knew about this whole audio business. From Amps to DACs, it was all foreign and I just read until I started getting it.
 
Before I realized it, I needed to start my first entry level cans. Some research around here brought it to my attention that those charts that my friend fondled over before were ****! I couldn't believe how many different cans there were out there and the amount of quality bang for your buck, revered items there were. So I threw those damn charts away and did some real powerful searching finding that the best cans for me at the time were the AD700s from Audio Technica. Now I'm not gonna lie, these puppies were disappointing to say the least for the first day and I felt discouraged about this whole audiophile bizz...then as a wise head fier once told me it would, it happened, the revelation. I was sitting listening to some choral stuff and I stopped what I was doing, looked up widened eyed, and "Whoa....whoho!" it just blew my mind dude. All these different layers of music I had never heard and the soundstage was just booming. Hell, I didn't believe much in soundstage before that lol. As I've gone on, I've learned to appreciate my AD700's(a year old now) so much. I always get a fresh wave of goodness when I go out and listen to stuff at other peoples houses and come home to these.
 
 
Now here I am right now, on the verge of my next purchase. I wanted to shy away from Audio Technica just to see what other companies have to offer but my next purchase has sent me in the direction of he M50s. A supposed good contrast and other side of the entry gate of audio. I want to hear the sound of more fun sounding cans with good bass that will bring alive the other side of my music.
 
My future plans involve getting some type of amp/dac to see how my current headphones do from them(though 2/3 supposedly take little benefit from an amp and the M50 I'm not sure of). Then it is on to the $200-350 range of headphones for me ^_^

 

[Marximus]

I've gone through a crapload of headphones.  I started with the MDR-V6s, when I joined Head-Fi in February of 2007.  They were exceedingly uncomfortable for me.  Then, in no particular order, I've owned ATH-mM50s (twice), D1001ks, D1100s, D2000s, A700s, AD700s, SRH440s, SRH840s, DT770-600s, DT880-250s, DT990 Pros, HD485s, HD555s, HD600s, recabled K701s, DR150s, QP45Xs, K240Ss, Pro 750s, SR-60s, HFI-780s, and now HD650s, DT990-600s, and IM-590s, along with KSC75s and Pro35As.  I've had many of these for a very short while; I'm not a big believer in burn-in, and if I don't sense something promising in the first few hours, they're gone.  I've listened to the HD650s for about an hour, and I'm considering selling them.  If I could remove the sibilance from the DT990s, they'd be my perfect headphones.  I'd like to think the ones for me are out there somewhere, but as you can see, I've tried a lot within my budget (~$300ish), and I've pretty much run out of options.

 

[Marximus]

Actually, the HD650s are starting to sound more promising.  More news to come.

 

[jasonb]

i have always been into car and home audio, but just recently got really into headphones. this is the list of headphones i've been through lately:
 
-a whole bunch of random junk from my childhood,
-Sennheiser CX300-II IEM's (died, didn't last very long),
-Skullcandy Titan IEM's (sucked and were returned),
-Klipsch S4 IEM's(to sibilant and peaky, so they were returned),
-Sennheiser HD205(hate them, should have returned them),
-Brainwavz M2 IEM's(still have and still like them, my current portable IEM's),
-Sony XB500(my bass cannons, very rarely used),
-Koss UR-40(the gateway into my current HD650, my first experience with an open back headphone, a real headphone revelation for me),
-Sennheiser HD650(my current headphones, had no idea headphones could be so enjoyable)
 
all of the headphones i listed were purchased between May of 2010 till current. right now i am satisfied and will be done spending money for a while, especially since i have no money left. i just made a giant leap and will be cutting myself off.

 

[B-Dawk20]

I don't really attribute my AD700 experience to burn in, just more so a transition from being used to one sound and finally "breaking my ears in" to another type. I've never experienced burn in so I'm not one to talk really but I do think this might be apart of the whole experience. Anything suggestive like this whole burn in ordeal must partly be psychological imo. Whether that partly matters in retrospect or not is something I cannot answer.
 
Quote:

I've gone through a crapload of headphones.  I started with the MDR-V6s, when I joined Head-Fi in February of 2007.  They were exceedingly uncomfortable for me.  Then, in no particular order, I've owned ATH-mM50s (twice), D1001ks, D1100s, D2000s, A700s, AD700s, SRH440s, SRH840s, DT770-600s, DT880-250s, DT990 Pros, HD485s, HD555s, HD600s, recabled K701s, DR150s, QP45Xs, K240Ss, Pro 750s, SR-60s, HFI-780s, and now HD650s, DT990-600s, and IM-590s, along with KSC75s and Pro35As.  I've had many of these for a very short while; I'm not a big believer in burn-in, and if I don't sense something promising in the first few hours, they're gone.  I've listened to the HD650s for about an hour, and I'm considering selling them.  If I could remove the sibilance from the DT990s, they'd be my perfect headphones.  I'd like to think the ones for me are out there somewhere, but as you can see, I've tried a lot within my budget (~$300ish), and I've pretty much run out of options.

 

[Marximus]

I really loved the AD700s, except for the lack of bass.  They were so airy and soundstagey...

 

[wilyodysseus]

I started with the PX100 two years ago. Now, I'm moving into Stax. In between, I went through a bunch of cans including the AD700, which yesterday I passed-on to my buddy as a complement to his M50's.
 
One of the things I enjoy most about this hobby is that even after I feel like I have pretty good experience of something as fundamental as soundstage, a new piece of gear can completely change my understanding. I stumble around in the dark for a while thinking I've hit the end of the road, making modest upgrades or lateral moves, but that a-ha moment tantalizes me with the possibility of what else I'll discovery in the future.
 
Whether my next upgrade is the Stax 407 or the LCD-2, I'll enjoy the journey.

 

[B-Dawk20]

Yeah dude, I still freak out when there is random sounds, atmospheric noise, or other stuff going on. I just have to look around and make sure someone isn't calling me in my house or something lol. I definitely am going to be happy to get some real bass back in my life soon. The AD700s have bass and it is there....but that is it. No thump or raw power. I am going to have a field day with these M50s

.
 
The one thing I know is that I'll definitely be switching on and off between the cans. Movies and such for the AD700s. Casual listening for the M50s. Dunno about intense listening sessions though...

 

[Uncle Erik]

I've been into music forever. My cousin is a vinyl junkie (somewhere over 6,000 LPs) and he dumped records and tapes on me as long as I can remember. I took up clarinet at nine, progressed into the big clarinets, bassoon, tenor and bari sax, trombone, and tuba.

On the other side, I've always enjoyed electronics. I took electronics shop in high school, have an amateur radio license and started out restoring old radios. That made for a love of tubes and, eventually, into building tube hi-fi gear.

I've built and bought a lot of stuff over the years. With any luck, this year I'll finish the "dream" projects when my workshop (eventually) gets finished. I have a lot of stuff I really want, but only in parts. When that's done, I'll listen for awhile then slim down the collection of gear. It's more than I need and some of it needs to be sold to fund other endeavors.

One of those is a kit car I've been looking at for a couple of years. The other is an old house down in the desert (about 120-130 years old) that desperately needs a loving owner. Potentially beautiful, but needs everything. If it's cheap enough, though, it'll be worth it. I'd get more use from those than having 30 or 40 pieces of gear that only get occasional listening time.

 

[B-Dawk20]

Haha, I'm a music guy too...just on the flip side. I'm a vocalist. Baritone/Tenor, kinda hard to differentiate nowadays since my voice did the old spin on me and instead of my range dropping(which it did somewhat when I was in my early teens), it has shot back up. I can't really hit the lows like I used to but my higher register is really coming in...I can't wait to go back to college and get back into major choirs again, do my thing.

 

[tdockweiler]

I'll try to keep this all short and avoid giving my life story.
 
The earliest memory of a really good headphone was the Koss TNT/55. They often sold these at Radiohack under a different brand. A guy from my church told me about these when I was 10 and I eventually got a pair for 50% off for $20 and loved them.
I never had any other good headphones until I got my first Mp3 player. My first good headphone was a Bose Triport. Yes, it was good, but at the time this was coming from $10 Sony headphones, so don't hurt me! I actually loved them but at the time I had no clue about good sound. I didn't even know about all the Bose hate. I also for some reason was quite fond of these ultra cheap Philips ear-clips. I liked them so much that I bought the same pair when my first died. I also tried some Fontopia earbuds and always hated them. Later spent $99 on some Shure IEM but thought they sounded terrible. I think I had the PX100 at the time and disliked them.
 
After my Bose Triports I "upgraded" to some HD-580's. I think I had no clue that they were probably severely underpowered at the time so I hated them. Stupid me. I stuck with my Triports. No joke! Once I got a decent paying job I eventually was able to buy expensive headphones. My first real pair I believe was either the DT-990 32 ohm or AKG 701. I wasn't aware of Head-fi back then and had no clue the k701's were so power hungry. I had an Airhead back then and mostly used my k701's with a receiver. When I had less money I was forced to sell one of them and and compared each side by side and had to let the DT-990 go despite how comfy it was. When I had both of these I did have the HD-650 for a few weeks but immediately sold them because I disliked everything about them. I don't really remember why.
 
I got tired of hauling around an amp or using a receiver so I took a huge risk and got the Triple Fi 10. I absolutely loved those so much that I did not use a single other IEM or headphone for nearly 3 years! Eventually my ear canals started feeling funny and I got tired of putting foam in my ear. I wanted to find a headphone that sounded exactly like my Triple Fi 10. I never had much luck with that. At this point I had found out about Head-fi.
 
I basically tried maybe a dozen headphones before deciding on the Shure SRH-840. It seemed to have my perfect sound signature. My pair I think was defective or something out of the box because they kept falling off my head. The 2nd pair I later tried fit OK. I eventually got rid of the first pair because of them falling off my head and due to poor comfort. I downgrading my preferred sound a bit and got the M50s. I was never Wowed by the sound and I can only say I liked them and that's about it. I eventually found the Koss Pro DJ 100 and have been addicted to that headphone since. I also tried the k240 Studio and found that it's also another near perfect budget headphone. I think in total I've tried about 2 or 3 dozen headphones in just a year.
 
My biggest regret is not getting a full desktop amp earlier. My opinion is that all of the very best headphones need to be amped. There's a few that don't, but not enough very good ones! Once I got my amp it made this addiction worse. The reason I got my desktop amp is that I wanted to drive my HD-600 without a receiver. The Airhead just wasn't cutting it. After I got my HD-600 I found that I was getting tired of it's laid back sound signature. Once I got my k601 I loved that so much that I sold my HD-600. Now that I had an amp I gave the D2000 another chance. I absolutely loved it. It was completely different than how I heard it the first time around. Unfortunately I just did not have enough time in the day to keep and listen to two main headphones. Due to minor financial problems and problems feeling guilty about having two $200+ headphones I was forced to get rid of the D2000. Man, that was the worst decision I ever had to make about a headphone. It hurt since I liked them so much! I preferred my k601 though and planned on using that as my primary headphone. My goal was to keep one primary headphone and one for portable. I think when I acquire more money I will buy the D2000 again. I got the D1100 to hold me over.
 
It took me even longer to find the perfect unamped portable headphone. I alternated between the Maxell DHP-II, modded UR-55, Beyer Dynamic DT-235 and ended up with the KRK KNS-8400 which I love. It's near perfect to me and extremely comfortable and is easily driven. To supplement this, I've bought the Denon D1100 to add as a bass heavy headphone just for fun. I hope I like it. So far if I had to pick my favorite headphone I've ever had out of the few dozens, it'd be a tie between the k601 and DJ100. DJ100 is just the most fun headphone to listen to for me. The only headphones or IEM to ever really impress or "Wow" me with the sound are the Triple Fi 10 and DJ100. This is really quite sad considering how much I've spent on headphones! k601 is really impressive, but it's quite neutral and just doesn't have the same effect. Basically that's close to perfect too. I've found the DJ100 and k601 have my near perfect sound signatures. I could keep only one of them and be perfectly happy. Quality of vocals is my #1 priority so if I can find any that can top these for under $500 I'll definitely try them. There is an Audio Technica headphone on my list to try, but the design just isn't for me and it's hard to find in the USA it seems.
 
Hopefully I can stop buying headphones. Today I was thinking of trying the DT-880 250 ohm version, but I guess after thinking about it, I don't need another full sized headphone so I got the D1100 instead. So that's it for now. I have a lot of the headphones I've tried in the last year in my profile.

 

[melomaniac]

long and arduous roads indeed... (btw uncle erik I hear you about the desert house, but no to the kit car - happier than ever with leasing - troublefree... wish they did leasing with some superhighend audio stuff, I'd be into that). anyway, I played a number of instruments, some seriously well and some seriously badly, since I was a kid. I built speakers when I was a teen, got into AKG and Beyer headphones when I had some cash from my first summer jobs (car assembly night shift - then security guard - then gold courier - then interpreter - and so forth all through college). never made enough money playing music, so dropped out of performing almost completely during college, moved to a few different countries as a student and afterwards, and the big speaker rigs were too tough to move with: so headphones became more important. then as I decided california was it, I got back to some of my favorite flavors from way back when (including my cello, and a bunch of records I thought lost that I tracked down used), and built two systems around magnepan speakers. now headphones are important to me at work, at home, on planes, and for all sorts of travel, and I love my transporter and music server even more than my tube amped headphones or my noise-reducing IEMs

 

[estreeter]

My journey ? One step forward, two steps back.
 
A very wise man once told me that the Clip into a pair of Ms-Pros was as good as it got before you descended into a nightmare world of audiophiliac delusion. I really should have listened - it would have been quicker, cheaper and better for everyone.

 

[B-Dawk20]

Care to elaborate lol? Not really following you <_<

 

[soundeffect]

I would like to say nice thread to read.
 
  My journey started with my cheap jvc portable which broke on me while watching movies on my laptop (really I just needed it to be recabled, but didn't know that time).  I went bought two $10 headphone, one was a sony and other were koss.  From my memory the sony sounded tiny, but were clearer while the koss sounded full, darker, and more bass.  At the time, I thought wow the koss sounds so much better (I wish I can rehear them now that I know better, the sony are probable better).  I decided to return both of them and start to look up into headphones with bass.  The M50 were bought and I fell in love and intrigue in what headphones can provide.  I tried to top them off with bass and quality, this led me to the xb700.  After the xb700, I wanted to understand soundstage so I ended up buying the ad700.  afterward, I wanted something with punchy bass because I learned that the bass of the xb700 were all deep sub bass without a lot of punchy bass.  I decided to go for something portable at the same time has that punchy bass, the es7 came about.  All of this was to try and top off the M50, but the M50 hold itself well. I decided that I couldn't handle the es7 uncomfortable ear pad and slightly lacking on deep bass.  I went and purchased the esw9a, I was blown away by how something so small has such quality.  I was sold that I like these even better than the M50, even though the M50 can still hold itself up to the esw9a. This gave me hope for portable.  I then wanted something to replace the M50 for full size.  I bought the d2000, first reaction, I wasn't sure if I like them.  I was quite disappointed.  The bass wasn't as I expect.  I though they weren't that bassy as people describe them to be.  I went ahead and decided to buy the d1100 since they were new and supposely the bass were extreme.  I decided to give them a try and see if it was true.  Lol,  the d1100 bass showed me my limit in the bass I can withstand.  I was satisfied with bass at that point.  Although I thought they weren't perfect.  The sound presentation were really different to the d2000.  The headphone sounded dark, recess mids, vocal were hit and miss to me with songs.  It made female voices sound unnaturally too dark and the soundstage were smaller than the d2000.
 
  This is when I realize the d2000 is as perfect as I want them to be.  The bass started to sound quiet perfect as it adequate for me to still enjoy everything else.  I'm not sure if the d1100 did this or is it burn in.  The headphones are closed, comfortable and don't make my ears sweat in long session listening, good soundstage, perfect highs that doesn't pierces my ears, natural sounding vocals, and the mids are very slightly recessed, but are still in a good position.  Overall, I'm satisfied and am currently waiting for my amp.  My current dream team are the D2000 and the esw9a.  I think once I find the amp to my liking, I will be done for awhile.   Hopefully one day I'll get the d7000 as I really like the look of wood.