[beeman458]

Hi all.
 
Just curious, when have you arrived?  When is good enough, good enough?
 
You've tweaked and modded to your heart's delight and your emotions jump every time you play those songs that cause your spirit to soar but like a fool's fool, you continue unabated with your headphone sojourn.
 
You can no longer listen to YouTube as just the thought turns your stomach like the expected sound of finger nails on a chalk board.  You find yourself, like a big city junkie, looking for better recorded tunes in the discount racks of the local recycled CD store cause you don't want to be accused of breaking the bank.  Must keep new music coming .  "Feed me!"
 
It started out small, an inexpensive referb'd headset, some out of print IEM's from Singapore, some knock offs from Hong Kong and it grew; the need for better sound definition, base, treble, sound stage, blossoming notes.  But that wasn't enough.  Noooooo!  Power supplies, cables and a steady stream of better recordings as you want more and more, better and better.
 
Where does it stop and when have you arrived........without wanting more?

 

[joelpearce]

Don't most of us always feel like we're close?
 
That's the whole addiction thing.  When I just get that next pair, I'll have the perfect setup.  I think I've said that 4 times in the past few months.  Now I just got one more pair today, with another in the mail.  I still have one other I'm shooting for, and I've been telling myself that's the end of the road.  Will it work?  I doubt it.

 

[Uncle Erik]

I'm not exactly sure. For me, it was somewhere around the time I bought the HD-800 and O2 last year. Both make me very happy and I haven't bought any new gear since. I've bought some parts for DIY stuff, but haven't specifically bought any gear.

You need to listen to a bunch of equipment and then figure out where the point is that you stop getting additional benefits. It helps if you go to some meets where you can try a wide variety of gear.

 

[NapalmK]

I've bought a lot of cans in the past few months since joining Head-Fi and each one of them has offered something I liked. None of them have been perfect though some have been very close. So far I'd say my AD2000 comes closest to what I'd consider perfection but it's not the best. I have several cans as each one serves a different purpose as each shine under different circumstances. All in all I'm pretty content at the moment and my buying is now more out of curiosity than any hope of bettering my current setup. If I want to get a better setup that means a much larger commitment money wise and not enough improvement, imo, to be worth it. Of course my view may very well change in direct proportion to my financial circumstances.

 

[VALIENTE]

I have arrived audio nirvana already with my Energetic Grado SR60!

At $69, Grado SR60 is Simply Amazing!

 

[JamesChappell]

When i bought my M50's. They sound perfect to me...planning to get the HD650's soon. 

 

[Mr Joboto]

iPod into ESW9 did it for me. For my full-sized setup I'm not too sure yet, as I haven't exactly been able to use my DACMagic yet, but so far the Compass into Talisman feeding HD650s is pretty much brilliant.

 

[ford2]

 
 
The grass is always greener on the other side.

 

[charliex]

I believe I'm there now (see my sig) - time to sit back, listen,enjoy and maybe do a little tweaking here and there.

 

[kingtz]

I think I'll be set with headphones for a very long time, so now I really just need a decent desktop amp. Once I get one, I'll be happy with my setup for a while. The only thing I'll continually and restlessly keep searching for is high quality music and rip flacs.

 

[Olimoronio]

I don't know about arriving but buying $150 phones for $30 shipped sure brings a smile to my face.

 

[KingStyles]

There is no audio nirvana. That is why all our wallets hurt and upgradis runs wild on these forum members.

 

[peli_kan]

I've always been in audio nirvana.  This isn't some copout response. 
 
Ever since my first garage-sale boombox, I've considered myself blessed to have the gift of music reproduction.  From that boombox, I'd use a headset mike to record radio broadcasts into my family's computer so that I'd have a low-fi copy to play back later.  I didn't have my first pair of headphones until well into highschool. 
 
Oddly enough, I never considered myself music deprived.  I've played violin, percussion, and piano, and participated in countless recitals, marching band performances, and concerts.  I'm lucky enough to have music be a integral part of my life and a facet of who I am.  Therefore, every additional headphone, amp, or speaker has been exactly that, an ADDITION.  Musical enjoyment is not a zero-sum game.  The existence of a superior headphone rig does not make yours any worse sounding; to believe so would be to flawed in its bowing to relative instead of absolute assessments.  Our brains are hardwired to make evaluations in relative terms.  If freed from this irrationality, we could instead view audio equipment in more absolute and logical terms. 
 
I find it strange that we refer to "audio nirvana"by those terms.  Nirvana literally means "blowing out," where the "fires of greed, hatred, and delusion" are extinguished.  Furthermore, in the buddhist tradition, this state is reached by removing oneself from the cycles of desire and instead reaching a state of "deathlessness" where consciousness is reordered and the empty nature of all phenomena is seen. 
 
Perhaps the term "audio nirvana" holds more clues than intended. 

 

[krmathis]

For me it was back when I bought the SR-007BL in July 2006.
Since then it has been mostly experimenting with different headphones, amplifiers and sources. But not really looking for another step up, but rather just variance in sound reproduction on the same level.

 

[Kloug]

I found nirvana in 1985 with a Realistic PRO30 orthodynamic headphone. It was my reference for more than 20 years and it still work fine! Until recently, I was in admiration of the Shure SRH440, but I finally met the Audio-Technica ATH-AD700, wich is my new reference. It's still not the perfection I keep seeking but it's close to, considering my limited budget.
 
For portable use, I'm very happy with the Monster Turbines. But again, I would like to try the Gold and Copper Pro editions.