Ultrasone Proline 2500: my first real headphone. For all of ultrasones faults these gave such a real tactile feel to things.
HD6xx: Comfort is real and audio doesnt have to put pressure on my ears. I no longer need to be afraid when i want to use headphones with a sinus infection.
Focal Radiance: I usually dont go for warm cans but these showed me things can be warm and still detailed. And treble doesnt need to be sharp or even forward to paint a complete picture.
Cowon Daps: portable sq in a simple form. Theyll have you believing in EQ and DSP.
ZMF Aeolus + Hagerman Audio Labs Tuba
~First âhigh endâ headphone, coming from trying a bunch of headphones that didnât give me what I was looking for or was an upsetting chi-fi hype train.
~First time with a tube amp. Destroyed the stereotype of âwarm and gooeyâ tube amps, by providing an experience that was almost entirely better than the Atom and RNHP I had. Greater clarity and detail overall, only lacking in impact in comparison.
ZMF Verite
~Bought after being so impressed by the Aeolus. Was such an extreme difference in capability I wasnât able to listen to the Aeolus really anymore.
Audio Technica ADX5K
~Made me wish I had just gotten this over the Verite. The Verite was a great all-rounder, but the vocals on the ADX5K ;_;
Aqua La Voce S3
~DACS MATTER
Double Helic Complement C Cables
~Get a mention since they proved cables could make a sizable difference in perceived sound, and they did so for my adx5k and th900.
Luxury & Precision P6P Pro
~You have no idea how happy I was to have a portable setup that actually measures up to my desktop setup (and at the time I bought it, it was actually better!) Will have this thing forever.
Nighthawk carbons are hardcore really demonstrating giving a headphone appropriate time. Itâs. A headphone I revisited literally months after originally having at home just on loan having tried it on and off occasionally to it becoming a permanent fixture on my desk Iâve basically gone through every period of mental states that I had to through with my other headphones but in a much slower fashion where it took me a week to decide to keepthem for the most part it took me months of revisiing where every revisit I like it more and more now itâs literally taken the place of main headphone for basically everything.
they where my travel cans for a bit, would take them with me camping/cabin/vacation and once i settled down after lots of fun and what not, i was always pleased at how well they sounded
Being a avid listener to alt rock from the mid 2000âs to lo Fi hip hop and a lot of modern bed room produced music plus being a general big fan of biodynamic sound . Just definitely a good match with my overall preferences.
Nirvanaâs Nevermind, U2âs Achtung Baby, Pearl Jam Ten, REMâs Automatic for the People, Metallicaâs âMetallicaâ, and Radioheadâs Pablo Honey shaped my formative years.
I decided to take the Hawks out for a spin today (Itâs been a while b/c the HP-2 has been my daily driver recently.) Iâm so happy with these every time I listen. They have become like a comfortable old chair or a favorite broken-in jacket to me. They are always going to have a special place in my collection and I think they are hard to replace because not much sounds like them.
In order of experience:
A proper tubed amp/electronic @Andy77 â this one is directed at you. It is truly worth the inconvenience. The presentation, staging, depth is unrivaled. If you want to fool yourself into a realistic performance, it is definitely not mandatory, but I think it helps.
LampizatOr Amber 3 - destroyed everything in its previous path when it comes to how natural it sounds. It gave it all of the intangibles that we look for that the other components didnât do as much.
Getting off of the damn computer and using a dedicated server - DO IT
P6Pro - the feeling in jumps/tiers of the Amber 3, but in portable form. End game. Like tubes, the inconvenience of the UI is worth it because it sounds so damn good.
Hyla Sarda - began the rabbit hole of what IEMs can do and made me quickly give up headphones.
64 Audio IEMs - too damn comfortable. Stage is awesome.
This definitely. The inconvienece is small and the payout huge, and really once you get into a routine of warming them up it becomes a non issue. Learning just how next level 300b tubes are rn with the studio b. Iâm likely tubes for life from this point forward.
Yes still wows me every time I listen to my setup. The timbre and natural tonality is truly next level and adds so much nuance to the music, the layering of instruments combine with the depth and blackness of the stage provide such a special experience. It brings out the best in my music and gear. The fact that this dac released for $2700 and has risen to $4400 and is still considered a great value and competitive speaksfor itself imo.
Audio technica ath-w1000 showed me that older/vintage headphones can sound as good or better than more expensive modern ones if you like their tuning, I never even considered vintage before the w1000 I just assumed recent ones sounded better.
this is still of course taking into account that it is being turned off at night, but realistically i think you could expect 2-3 years of 24/7 use, which would be somewhere around 17k-25k hours. I donât quite buy the 10-20 years they quote, itâs possible with minimal use but definitely a best case scenario,
Thatâs what I would suggest doing. I personally wouldnât do 24/7, but on in the morning and off in the night gives it ample time to get warmed up if you turn it on early in the morning, and doesnât waste tube life for no reason at night. You basically just want to avoid multiple on off cycles throughout the day.
yes this is exactly what i do on my days off. On work days i leave it off while at work but when i come home i turn it on and then go shower and eat before listening so it is nice and warmed up by the time i listen. Sometimes when i have multiple days off in a row I will leave it on the entire time just for convienence
Audioquest Nightowl - 1st hi-end headphones at the time. I thought it sounded so real and organic since I had no referenceâŚI was wrong. lol
Holo Spring 3 - found out how important the source really is. I knew it in my head but first-hand experience is, of course, something else.
Room treatment - showcased how superior speakers are to headphones when in an ideal environment. I will now always tell myself to spend money on treatment first even if I had to live with inexpensive speakers for a while. also opened my eyes to how difficult acoustics are (putting thin-ass foam in front of you is just plain stupid). ticks me off when I see improper placement of speakers; at least make an effort itâs a free upgrade!
