[pawlowski6132]

For the life of me I can't understand why everyone here has so many pairs of headphones?? From reading many posts, I've read about people wanting a variety of "sound signatures." Is this correct? Help me translate this, if possible, to the world of two channel speakers systesms. In this world, one I'm more familiear with, it seems like we strive for THE ultimate sound. Yes, we go through many speakers, but, we don't keep one pair for this type of music and another pair for that type of music. Yes, it would be expensive and cumbersome. Am I to conclude that, the only reason it's not done is because it's expensive and cumbersome relative to cans?? I just can't believe it's true. Either the speakers present fidelity or they don't. Why would headphones be any different?? Obviously y'all can't be wrong and I must be missing something. Please help.

Signed, too many Christmas Margaritas in Detroit. Go Wings & Pistons!!!

 

[cotdt]

It's a lifestyle...

and unlike hi-fi speaker models which vary only somewhat in sound, headphones tend to vary a great deal between different models. so people want all the different sound signatures.

 

[Chris Allen]

I haven't been into this for very long, but it is a hobby (at least to me and I would assume most other people on this board as well). If you ski, do you use the same skis for downhill as you do for cross country. If you bike, would you use a road bike on a mountain. I hope you answered no to both of these questions. Different headphones for different situations. If you find that your set up works for you, that is great. It just means that you won't have to spend anymore money. If John Smith desides that he can't listen to rock on his Sens, and gets a pair of grados, well that is his decision. He just doesn't want to mountain bike on a road bike. (not saying sens can't do rock). Just remember, it is ultimately up to you. If you don't want to buy more phones than don't.

 

[Kirosia]

Members w/ many phones do it to annoy those of us who can only budget one high-end phone.

It's hard to find an *affordable* headphone/amp/source/cable/etc setup that can excel at all music, so people buy different phones that do certain genres really well. And cmon, they're pretty cheap compared to speakers, having more than one won't kill ya in most cases.

 

[pawlowski6132]

No...I get the hobby part. Trust me, I spend more time on it than I care to admit or my wife can tolerate. I can't keep my system stable for more than a few months; swapping this and tweaking that. But, anything in the chain can have as much if not more of a sonic impact than the phones. For those of you that have multiple cans, do you also keep multiple cd players (e.g., upsampling and SACD and DVDA?) and multiplle sets of cables (e.g., copper, silver?) and amps (solid state, tubed, balanced, single ended??)

 

[Arainach]

At the VERY least, I'd say everyone should have two pairs of cans: One for quality at-home listening and one for a portable rig. After that.... it's a matter of experimenting, trying different sound signatures and different combinations of equipment.

 

[pawlowski6132]

Now THAT makes sense. Different functions. I guess like a home office setup vs. a HT setup vs a dedicated listening room setup. But, I still think the majority of members here that permanently keep multiple headphones around.

 

[NotJeffBuckley]

All of my headphones are for home use, but some are for when I am in a particular mood. It's not "a lifestyle," as one fanatic put it

, but rather an enjoyable hobby and a worthwhile posession. If you love music as much as I do, you enjoy having access to different "takes" on it.

 

[RnB180]

I listen to different headphones to change up the sound once in a while.
Listening to the same material with different headphones gives you a new experience with each one.

I cant just listen to one indefinately.

The reason WHY I cant do this with high end speakers, is

1. they are expensive as heck
2. a pain to position acousitcally and lets not think about disconnecting and reconnect and reorientation and recalibrating speakers on a whim.
3. Space constraints.

Thats why you dont see it done with speakers, I come from a home theater background before I ever got into headphones.

Headphones are just cheaper, take up less space and convenient in terms of swapping out.

and yes I do switch up sources, cables and amplifiers once in a while.

 

[Mercuttio]

At first, I wanted one pair of headphones to do it all. Portable, home, everything. That didn't really exist, so I have a couple of pairs for different things. My Beyerdynamic DT 880s are pretty good with most things at home, but they're not really portable due to their open nature and impedance. Hence, I own a pair of earbuds, and two pairs of closed cans.

Now, once you spend a few months with one type of sound, (Beyer in my case) and you sample some of another flavor, (Grado in this case) you want to diversify your lineup. Some of my music just sounds better with a Grado headphone (I like Radiohead better on them), and some sounds better on Beyerdynamic (Rilo Kiley, and many others).

Granted, I haven't been into this very long, and I was pretty sure I could just get one set of headphones and be done. Alas... instead...

CURSE YOU HEAD-FI!

 

[jbloudg20]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NotJeffBuckley All of my headphones are for home use, but some are for when I am in a particular mood. It's not "a lifestyle," as one fanatic put it , but rather an enjoyable hobby and a worthwhile posession. If you love music as much as I do, you enjoy having access to different "takes" on it.

Absolutely! I love to switch up which headphones I'm listening to, and to suit a specific purpose. For example:

I use my Grado Sr325i's to completely rock out. They are so fun to listen to, and creat a high-energy environment for me to enjoy. However, they get fatiguing.

So when I want a fun, groovy sound but want to stay away from the fatigue (and have a slightly lowered energy level) I listen to the groovalizers, the K240s. These are also my headphone of choice for Trance music.

When I want to study, or just chill out with my pal Beethoven, the Sennheisers HD600s do it for me.

 

[Wmcmanus]

I really don't know, or at least I can't explain it in any rational way, but it sure is fun.

 

[Hirsch]

In a speaker rig, you have one preamp, one amp, and one set of speakers. You tune the speakers to the room they're in...and that's it. You choose components carefully for the one particular purpose, simply because switching out speakers is a serious pain in the butt.

Headphones aren't all that room sensitive

They also occupy a relatively small area compared to a set of good speakers. So, trying something different becomes fairly trivial (from a logistical, if not an economic standpoint). I do have setups in just about every room in my place. Each has its own amps and headphones (not to mention my work rig).

Besides, it's really fun to annoy Kirosia with my profile

 

[1911]

exactly..cause they are relatively cheap and it is fun to switch around....it is fun to aspire to become the next keeper of the phones...although i cant bring myself to order a beyerdynamic after listening to jahn 770 darth beyers.....they sounded like they had a curtain over them....but i am intrigued by the descriptions of the 880 so maybe at the national meet i will get a chance..

 

[fureshi]

i think it's human nature to be curious and with all the choices out there in this hobby, it's difficult to stick to just one set of headphones for the long term. unfortunately this website only fuels our curiousity and allows us to understand the variety of choices that get us to our ultimate goal of the best sound.