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Author Topic: New Members - Introduce Yourself (2.0)  (Read 58093 times)

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Schopenhauer

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Re: New Members - Introduce Yourself (2.0)
« Reply #200 on: December 22, 2014, 04:33:09 PM »

I believe Dana's internet name was nwavguy...
I want to believe that.
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knerian

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Re: New Members - Introduce Yourself (2.0)
« Reply #201 on: December 26, 2014, 09:32:35 AM »

Hello everyone.

I'm approaching 40 years old and have studied music most of my life, playing classical piano and enjoying classical music.  I listen 95% to classical (orchestral and solo/chamber instrumental, very little vocal) and 5% jazz and movie soundtracks.  I had the HD600 and ETY 4S about 14 years ago but didn't have any further interest in the hobby until this year when I learned about Massdrop (and being older and having a bit more disposable income than in my youth) and was lured by their cheap headphones/IEM's, it's gradually sucked me back in, I started getting my feet wet with some stuff with no research, i got the Q701 (just because they were cheap and there were like 1500 people buying them), the beyer T1's (just because they were flagships and heavily discounted off of MSRP, not really a great reason) and then some cheap amps (just because they were cheap). 

Now I regret some of those purchases because I do not want to screw around with all this stuff, I don't want 10 headphones and 5 amps, I want 1 good setup.  1 great one.  Head-fi always pops up on searches but wading through there is ridiculous, threads are hundreds of pages long.  Googling various headphones just produces reviews that are complete bullshit, every review is glowing and I just can't figure out what increased sound stage and liquid smoothness and succulent audio nirvana means.  I found this site while googling HE-6 and immediately could see that there was good info being exchanged with very specific descriptions of all this gear, nothing nebulous and indecipherable.

I recently got the LCD-3F, HE-560, and HE-6 and have the HD-800 on the way as I want to hear what all the rage is about.  I've listened to the LCD-3F for a few weeks and just don't understand it, maybe it's my taste, but they sound murky to me compared to everything, maybe it's the genre of music I listen to, maybe my ears just suck.  I returned them.  I tried to hear what everyone was raving about but I can't hear it.

Now I am listening to the HE-560 and HE-6, honestly can't hear much of a difference between the two, they are being driven by the EF-6.  I prefer them immensely to the LCD-3F though.  They sound better than my Q701 (my T1's are in a different location and so unavailable to compare directly)...but not hugely different, if i'm not doing a direct A/B comparison with 10 second clips, then the Q701 sounds just fine to me.

Beyond that I don't know what to listen for, after I'm listening to music for 30 seconds I'm not thinking about how the phone compares to another phone, and I can't even tell many differences most of the time, I'm listening to piano music, to orchestral music.  I read some threads here, the one by purrin about neutrality/shike makes me think that I don't even need hifi, maybe mid-fi is good enough, as I only listen to classical and I see how he doesn't even use classical to evaluate gear, he uses recordings that expose weaknesses of rigs at certain freq spectrums (sorry, this is what I gathered from limited reading Im sure it's much more complicated than that).  The Q701 are good enough for me, I like the Hifiman orthos but I need to be constantly AB-ing them side by side with the Q701 just to even appreciate the difference.  After I have even my apple earbuds in for a minute the music sounds fine!

BUT!!! part of me always feels like I'm missing something, that incredible sounding rig that will change my enjoyment of music forever!!  Part of me also curses myself for ALREADY spending so much time and money searching for an "incredible" gear setup when I could have just been listening to music, and deep down knowing that the sound won't sound hugely different regardless of what rig I use (at least to me, maybe my ears could be brok en).

So i'll hang around and read some more, learn some more, educate myself.
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Deep Funk

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Re: New Members - Introduce Yourself (2.0)
« Reply #202 on: December 26, 2014, 09:48:07 AM »

In case of doubt, lend your ears the experience of the Koss KSC75.

That little headphone is just awesome  :)p8
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Few things keep me sane: my loved ones, my music and my hobbies. Few is almost an understatement here...

knerian

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Re: New Members - Introduce Yourself (2.0)
« Reply #203 on: December 26, 2014, 05:30:39 PM »

In case of doubt, lend your ears the experience of the Koss KSC75.

That little headphone is just awesome  :)p8

Ha, perhaps so.  I think it is like I just last week learned how to operate the gas and brake pedal of a go-kart and then yesterday went out and bought the top of the line Ferrari, Lambo and PAgani and am trying to figure out which one of these three to keep.
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Claritas

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Re: New Members - Introduce Yourself (2.0)
« Reply #204 on: December 26, 2014, 06:51:32 PM »

Welcome aboard knerian. Ye be adding to the counterpoint of our old sea shanties.  :)p5
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Deep Funk

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Re: New Members - Introduce Yourself (2.0)
« Reply #205 on: December 26, 2014, 10:23:40 PM »

Ha, perhaps so.  I think it is like I just last week learned how to operate the gas and brake pedal of a go-kart and then yesterday went out and bought the top of the line Ferrari, Lambo and PAgani and am trying to figure out which one of these three to keep.

The KSC75 is even more awesome than that. It is the antidote against all audio snobbery or other forms of snobbery. It is like the AC Cobra, everybody with tools and a shed can build one. Thing is, the original English design hides a monster that can eat an Italian race car alive.

When the AC Cobra under its kit exterior started, no one blinked an eye. Then, it started to race and other race car manufacturers wondered "what is this rubber burning ass-whooping automotive being called the AC Cobra?" The rest is history...
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knerian

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Re: New Members - Introduce Yourself (2.0)
« Reply #206 on: December 27, 2014, 02:48:51 AM »

OK so I want to ask, what the hell purpose do expensive headphone cables serve?

Are we supposed to believe that Sennheiser or Beyer or whoever is going to offer a $1000-$2000 headphone with state of the art transducers but use CRAP for their cables?

Or how is one supposed to believe that a special cable, even if it is supposedly made of superior material, delivers the signal better, once it reaches the connector on the headphne, it's no longer using that specific material.  Right?  And the connector on the headphone then is wired to reach the transducer, yet that wire is made by the original manufacturer and not the aftermarket company, so again, how is this signal now jumping over that bridge between the connector and the transducer????  Or the amp's output jack, that's not made by the aftermarket cable company, so.... I don't get it.

How does one justify spending $500 for a cable using 16 or 32 conductors tied by an Eagle Scout with special acoustic knots??
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JoelT

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Re: New Members - Introduce Yourself (2.0)
« Reply #207 on: December 27, 2014, 03:02:35 AM »

OK so I want to ask, what the hell purpose do expensive headphone cables serve?

Are we supposed to believe that Sennheiser or Beyer or whoever is going to offer a $1000-$2000 headphone with state of the art transducers but use CRAP for their cables?

Or how is one supposed to believe that a special cable, even if it is supposedly made of superior material, delivers the signal better, once it reaches the connector on the headphne, it's no longer using that specific material.  Right?  And the connector on the headphone then is wired to reach the transducer, yet that wire is made by the original manufacturer and not the aftermarket company, so again, how is this signal now jumping over that bridge between the connector and the transducer????  Or the amp's output jack, that's not made by the aftermarket cable company, so.... I don't get it.

How does one justify spending $500 for a cable using 16 or 32 conductors tied by an Eagle Scout with special acoustic knots??

This topic always get's dangerously close to subjectivist/objectivist BS, but here's my take: I think there are potentially a number of reasons to change cables, sound being only one. You may need different connectors, a different length, or the stock cable construction may be cr@p (such as with my HE-6 :( ). Or, you may just want to look like a balla at your next meet - people certainly do buy them for aesthetic reasons. Or, you may not like a certain material in the cable and prefer how something else sounds - the SPC stock cable of the HD800 comes to mind - not a fan of it personally. I guess what I'm getting at is that someone may have relatively pragmatic reason to purchase a cable. I agree with your assertion that they're probably among the lowest items on the proverbial totem pole that impact sound, but I do hear subtle differences. Your mileage may vary.
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knerian

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Re: New Members - Introduce Yourself (2.0)
« Reply #208 on: December 27, 2014, 03:32:31 AM »

This topic always get's dangerously close to subjectivist/objectivist BS, but here's my take: I think there are potentially a number of reasons to change cables, sound being only one. You may need different connectors, a different length, or the stock cable construction may be cr@p (such as with my HE-6 :( ). Or, you may just want to look like a balla at your next meet - people certainly do buy them for aesthetic reasons. Or, you may not like a certain material in the cable and prefer how something else sounds - the SPC stock cable of the HD800 comes to mind - not a fan of it personally. I guess what I'm getting at is that someone may have relatively pragmatic reason to purchase a cable. I agree with your assertion that they're probably among the lowest items on the proverbial totem pole that impact sound, but I do hear subtle differences. Your mileage may vary.

Yeah i think so, I just saw a picture of one with all these braids and using like way too many wires and I just don't understand it from a technical point of view, all of the other reasons you list are valid.  The claims are hard to swallow though, I don't think I've ever seen aftermarket cables marketed WITHOUT claims of improving sound.  Just wondering if I was missing something.
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Anaxilus

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Re: New Members - Introduce Yourself (2.0)
« Reply #209 on: December 27, 2014, 07:52:14 AM »

Or how is one supposed to believe that a special cable, even if it is supposedly made of superior material, delivers the signal better, once it reaches the connector on the headphne, it's no longer using that specific material.  Right?  And the connector on the headphone then is wired to reach the transducer, yet that wire is made by the original manufacturer and not the aftermarket company, so again, how is this signal now jumping over that bridge between the connector and the transducer????  Or the amp's output jack, that's not made by the aftermarket cable company, so.... I don't get it.

Totally wrong thread and wholly off topic. However, I dislike this argument enough to respond to it so here goes. If you drive the same way to work each day at the same time, but one day there's an accident that has to be cleared causing one lane to be blocked off and traffic to merge, do you get to work at the same time as the other days?

I also really hope your statement is not indicative that you believe actual 1's and 0's flow along analog cables in digital sources.

But by all means welcome and feel free to use the search button or start a thread to continue the dialogue.
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