[KaiFi]

Sharing a room with my brother as a young kid. Even after I got my own room around age 11, I didn't want to play music out loud knowing that my parents or siblings could hear it and might be annoyed by it. Living with other people just means headphones make more sense to me unless you all want to listen to music together (which I have done sometimes, living with roommates in college). My foray into audiophilia began in 2014 when I received Sennheiser HD598 headphones for my birthday along with a Fiio E17 (I didn't know anything about open vs. closed back then, I just knew that the combination sounded better than anything I had ever heard before and there was no going back to on-board audio and cheap headphones).

 

[Codyyy]

play on a digital piano and one day wanted better headphones and the rest is history…

 

[ST33L]

Ha… the only way to listen to music loud at night as a kid. Not the best equipment, but it solved the problem

 

[Happy Camper]

Listening to Cardinals games on the west coast with a transistor radio and a mono headphone bud. I was like 9-10.

 

[CowFish]

First started listening to headphones when I was a school kid and had to take the bus to school. Sony Groove ear buds and Sony Walkman!!!!
We're talking mid 90s...

 

[SyntheticusHeadphonius]

When I was in highschool the Beats Studios were new-ish and all the rage, I used to think they sounded amazing but I couldn't afford them, but I still wanted good headphones.

Around 2010 I got myself some Shure SRH840s since they were on sale for $120. Loved them only really finding out they sounded better than Bose and Monster after buying them. Glad I did too as it prevented me from ever buying Monster headphones.

My SRH840s broke a few years later and I replaced them with the ATH M50s since they were all the rage at the time. Found the M50s excellent. Over the years I acquired a few other headphones like my Sennheiser HD25 1 II's, a pair of Grado RS1i which I bought as my last device around 2013. Hadn't really bought new headphones since.

I jumped back into the Hobby though and This Year I bought a pair of Sennheiser HD650s as I always wanted to try it, and decided to upgrade my RS1i to a GS1000e.

After those purchases I'm likely done for now. Other pairs of headphones I might buy would be AKG K701 due to nostalgia, but otherwise, pretty much settled.
Tl;DR
Wanted Beats, after hearing them at best buy, couldn't afford them, bought headphones I could afford at the time that were better.

 

[droido256]

For me it was when I got my first Walkman when I was a kid, and began trying different headphones with allowance money. Mostly Aiwa, Sony, and no name ones.

 

[Trihexagonal]

I spent a lot of time working in factories standing in one place in front of diecasting machines or assembly lines doing repetitive movements 10-12 hours a day. Listening to music through headphones made the time go by quicker.

I worked for a guy who had a contract with the Army Corp of Engineers to mow all their property for over 100 miles on each side of the Mississippi River. All the fresh air, sunshine and exercise you could handle at Union scale driving a 4-wheel drive mower, running a walk-behind mower or carrying a weedeater from sunup past sundown.

All the equipment was loud and you' were pretty much to yourself all day (I ignore Timmy Tinnitus and pretend he's not there but he can't take a hint ) so a Walkman and headphones were a must. I still have my Walkman. It has a digital display but it's not nearly as nice s the ones I see pictured here.

I live in a apartment building so I wear them all the time when I listen to music,. That's most f the day, awake or asleep a lot of the time.

 

[bobmysterious]

I’d always wanted a hi-fi system. So when I got to the point in life where I could begin to afford it I started with headphones because, financially, they were more accessible to me at the time. Much more so than a nice two channel setup. At least I thought so. I bought an Aqua La Voce, Eddie Current Zana Drux Super and a set of Audeze LCD-X’s. Well it’s been years since I started developing my system and I’m thoroughly pleased with it. You can see it listed in my signature. The last piece I’m missing is a room I can put it all in. When I move in the next year or two I’ll have the ability to have it all in one place, as it’s separated into two systems in the house currently. Logistically it works better that way. I spend most of my time with my headphones though so I can nerd out on this site because my headphone rig is right next to my desk.

 

[Shane D]

I first started listening to headphones quite a while ago, because i was poor, and i could not afford good speakers.
It really started for me when i was watching an old Vladimir Horowitz perform a live DVD concert in Russia, from '1986, and then I got into Mozart, and classical and that added one more genre to my collection to love.

So, i read some magazine article around that time that talked about "good headphones being the equal of expensive speakers".
From there, i saved my money, bought a set of Senn HD600s and absolutely wore them out over time and by use.
Those were my gateway drug, and thats very common as so many headphone lovers, started with the mighty HD600s.
Mine, completely fell apart, but the drivers still work.

As i continued to evolve over time as a person, i had a few careers, and now i am blessed and can afford to buy the gear i want, and i continued to prefer headphones over speakers, tho i had some nice sets of speakers in my studio,... Some ADAMS, some Dynaudio, and others.
The conundrum is that, once you are able to afford the headphones you want, this in no way insures that you will like what you buy.
As a matter of fact, you can't pay enough to buy a perfect sounding set of headphones.

For me it was going back to apartment living. I sold my 5.1 system and tried to enjoy my towers. I even bought a sub woofer hoping for a 2.1 system. Before long my landlord told me that was not going to work. In 2015 I decided to go back to headphones.
I am actually probably much more into music at 61 than I was as a teenager. Lots of headphones, multiple amps and almost 7000 pieces of Music. I now buy at at least one or two songs every week.

I have never owned more music and it has never sounded better.

 

[botmann]

I can't say I started going back to headphones because it's always about what I have available and the situation. I think for movies, tv shows, and sports, I prefer more of home theater situation over headphones. If it's late at night or lack of space, headphones are great.

When out and about, headphones are a default. One, I'm not disturbing anyone else. I can listen, I mean damage my ears, as loud as I want (assuming IEMs or closed back). With music, I find headphones makes listening to music a more personal experience. I enjoy it more over the home theater; I do enjoy the HT movement of air. Plus, there is no comprise on what I want to listen to, which may be the case in non-headphone situations where it may be a group.

 

[Surf Monkey]

My grandfather was a Navy officer in WWII where he worked in communications. As a result we had a ton of headphones around (I grew up with my grandparents) and other radio gear. Not to mention his more modern hi-fi setup (circa late ‘60s early ‘70s.) So I had ample opportunities to sit under them. I spent a lot of time when I was maybe 11-13 listening to short wave radio in headphones and from that point on records->CDs->MP3->etc. All of which to say it’s been in my blood since day one.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Nice thread!

I was into car audio back in high school and in my early 20s. Nothing fancy and a typical kid on a budget. Then went thru the Walkman/MD/CD phases. Had various budget HPs/earphones that I cannot recall the make/model these days. Somewhere along the way, dabbled a little in home theater as well.

Then one day, I met my HD650.

And the floodgates opened....... wide......

Yeah, the original Walkman was a HUGE part of my music and tech loving development. I was absolutely glued to one when I was 15-18 or so.

 

[Surf Monkey]

HD600s were the gateway drug for many of us.

Not so much a gateway for me as a major eye opener. I was exposed to them as a teen when my then band went into a studio to record a demo. The engineer played it back on HD600s and I was blown away. That’s what caused me to become interested in higher end headphones. Before that I was all about Sony. Full stop.

 

[Trihexagonal]

Yeah, the original Walkman was a HUGE part of my music and tech loving development. I was absolutely glued to one when I was 15-18 or so.

I have a shot of mine handy. I have that one and one that's a cassette player only.