[Canman]

You know it happens. You are enjoying the music when all of a sudden you start analyzing sound quality instead. My name is canman and I suffer from audiophilia nervosa. Few things in life give me more enjoyment than immersing myself in music and a great system helps me get there. But sometimes a high end system gets in the way.

I listen to my Koss KSC-35 and iPod more than anything else. It’s my escape from audiophilia. The KSC-35 is my favorite headphone because when I use it I listen to the music and never think about the headphone. The headphone is comfortable, sonically balanced, and its cheap. The more I learn about high end audio, the more I appreciate the KSC-35. Better equipment does not always yield more enjoyment.

What’s your choice for simply connecting to the music?

Pic attached: Porta Pro drivers on KSC-35 clips (sounds identical to KSC-35)

 

[lucky]

All three of my phones at different times--my EP630 when on the move, my AD700 when on my bed, and my RX700 when looking for a contrast to the former.

 

[Peyotero]

Your thoughts on audiophilia is the same reason I never bothered to "move up the scale" from the portapro's. Just modded the hell out of it over the years.
It seems kinda obvious to me what will happen if I try to go the hi-fi route. It just will never end. And I'll never be contempt with any purchase that I'll make, regardless of budget.

The only other phones I purchased are the pk3's, which serve me as bed time phones and portables and they give me the same plesure. Of course I wonder about the pk1's from time to time, but then, if I'll get them, it'll be a whole new pandora box. You know, amps, better sources etc. Again it'll never end so I'll prolly never buy'em..

I've auditioned some Grado's, AKG's and Senns. None gave me the same funk that the vintage Koss gives me...

Guess I'm after the groove and not "pure sound quality" after all. Hence the low post count, too.

 

[mypasswordis]

I was also happy with just my KSC75 and then started upgrading from there with the AKG K501. I suffered from extreme upgrade-itis, ending up with over 15 headphones, until I got the Jecklin Electrostatic Floats. I still have around 15, but some of them aren't quite functional, and the others are in various states of mod-itude. The Floats are like a better KSC75 in the sense that they allow me to just listen to music without me constantly being bugged by flaws in frequency response or whatever else.

 

[lucky]

Yup; you've got to know where to stop. I went through this with other hobbies, and realized in those, too, that it's the work, and not the tool, that's worth celebrating.

 

[jonathanjong]

Stop? What do you mean...stop?

Hmm. I don't really think about headphones when I listen to music, at least not since I left the iBud world. Back then, the tinniness (etc.) of crappy headphones used to piss me off. Now, despite being cognizant of the flaws in my setup, I can enjoy music thoroughly via any of my headphones. The hobby is...somewhat distinct from my enjoyment of music. I enjoy the thrill of the hunt for the perfect sound for me, etc. So, of course, sometimes my listening is devoted to figuring out what kind of sound I'm looking for next. But mostly, it's just enjoying the music, iBud-free.

 

[dreamwhisper]

Sometimes I analyse my music heavily and it kinda bugs me, sometimes I don't.

The ksc75's for me have always been my default headphone.
What's the difference between them and the ksc35?

 

[NiceCans]

I have come to believe that you can never be totally satisfied unless the performance is in your living room.

But once you get over the 'fever' and settle into some decent gear you can become very content and enjoy music more than you could prior.
Which is why I still have my ksc75, px100, er6, and in the right circumstances I can enjoy each as much as my pl750 and k701.

And yes I can enjoy the music without thinking about about the gear and what would sound better.

It is really all about the music after all.

 

[Shoewreck]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NiceCans /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have come to believe that you can never be totally satisfied unless the performance is in your living room.

Wrong. Once the performance is in a room you begin thinking about acoustical threatment, geting a bigger room and so on.

 

[rds]

I think you guys are missing something that jonathanjong alluded to. The hobby itself is not necessarily the means and end to some elusive audio nirvana.
For diyers especially, the enjoyment of building and understanding the electronics, as well as the persuit of the most esoteric designs, is definitely not all about making music sound better. It's more a curiosity in how things work. Of course we end up with nice equipment and we love music (almost everyone does).
More generally why can't music reproduction be a legitimate hobby in its own right? I've always been interested in how things work and the physics of music reproduction is very interesting already. Combine that with my interest in music and the result is logical.
Think of Aphex Twin, an EE, who is talented musician and gets his hands dirty in the very foundation of music making (the equipment). You may know that he actually designs and modifies equipment to get exactly the result he's looking for.

 

[Canman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rds /img/forum/go_quote.gif I think you guys are missing something that jonathanjong alluded to. The hobby itself is not necessarily the means and end to some elusive audio nirvana. For diyers especially, the enjoyment of building and understanding the electronics, as well as the persuit of the most esoteric designs, is definitely not all about making music sound better. It's more a curiosity in how things work. Of course we end up with nice equipment and we love music (almost everyone does). More generally why can't music reproduction be a legitimate hobby in its own right? I've always been interested in how things work and the physics of music reproduction is very interesting already. Combine that with my interest in music and the result is logical. Think of Aphex Twin, an EE, who is talented musician and gets his hands dirty in the very foundation of music making (the equipment). You may know that he actually designs and modifies equipment to get exactly the result he's looking for.

The hobby is different things to different people. jonathonjong said it really well: the hobby is somewhat distinct from the music. There is enjoyment to be had from finding your sound, building a system, and trading gear. That's why I am here. Sometimes its hard to separate the two though and it takes away from the enjoyment of the music. Sometimes I don't want to think about audio reproduction. When I just want music I just put on my KSC-35 and enjoy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dreamwhisper The ksc75's for me have always been my default headphone. What's the difference between them and the ksc35?

The biggest difference are the clips. I don't like the metal KSC-75 clips because they are heavy and don't stay on my small ears well. There are sound differences from how clip keeps the driver on the ear. For me, the KSC-35 sounds bassier because the driver sits closer to my ear. The two headphones have interchangeable clips. The driver is different too. They sound very similar but I like the KSC-35 slightly more.

 

[wang228]

Agree. Among all my audio systems, nano + ksc35 gets the most of my head time.

 

[jonathanjong]

Seriously? Looking at your sig...Wowza. Then again, it's your only portable... Do you do most of your listening away from home?

 

[wang228]

yes, seriously. But you are right its my only portable. It sounds pretty good though...and i have three pairs.

 

[erikzen]

The Koss KSC-35 is the only headphone I ever bought twice. I sold them as I was upgrading but ended up picking up a pair again. They are a good sounding headphone that's really practical. I can't imagine being without them now. It took a lot of upgrades to realize how fun they are.