Any audiophiles?

Yay for socially acceptable things that end in '-phile'!

After spending most of the evening feeling unreasonably excited about the way the newest update to my headphone rig sounds after burning in, I found myself wondering: "Hey, I wonder if anyone in the Felarya community likes this stuff too?"

So, are there any Audiophiles out there? Anyone else spend a bit too much money on high-end audio gear? Find yourself listening to kinds of music that you don't normally like for hours and hours just because of how good the recording sounds? Would know exactly what someones means when they tell you something sounds "muddy", "woolly" or "too liquid"? Get mad at anyone that so much as touches your speakers because it entails half an hour of repositioning them, a few millimeters at a time before finally selling them and getting headphones? (I could go on...)

Me I'm mostly a headphone guy, and I like to build my stuff myself as much as I can.
I do have a decent set of Bowers & Wilkins speakers, but I have a run-of-the-mill Pioneer home theater amp to drive them - less than stellar. Along with the 12" sub it makes for fun movie nights and gaming though!

For listening at my computer:
*NEW* HRT Music Streamer II+ --> Monster M650 RCA 4' Interconnects --> My home-made solid-state headphone amp (If anyone is interested enough to know the specs I'd be happy to tell you, but in the likely case of nobody caring I won't post a full write-up unless someone asks ) --> Good 'ol Sennheiser HD-650's -or- Beyerdynamic DT-770 Pro, 250 Ohm version. (Seriously looking at the new HD-700's though... *drool* But i think I'll get a nice new professionally built vacuum tube amp first.)

So if you are, give a shout! I always like to hear about other people's rigs and their impressions on different gear and music.

I know the odds are really, really small. And I fully expect this thread to remain empty, but I figured, why not? And even if you're not an Audiophile and just have a question regarding audio in general, what all that stuff does, is surprised that vacuum tubes even exist anymore, or why anyone sane would even consider dropping 1000$ on a single pair of headphones I'd be happy to answer them!

I'm not really an audiophile but I do like hearing sound well. I only have a FiiO E7/E9 amp setup with a pair of ATH-M50S. I also have a really old crappy set of Plantronics headphones. Really, you can easily tell the difference between the ATs and the Plantronics, but the latter are a lot more comfortable for longterm use. Like, ridiculously so. I'm going to have to see about actually going to a store that sells these types of headphones in the future so that when I buy another 'up-there' class of headphones I get some that won't crush my ears after 2 or 3 hours of use.


Edit: Also, Monster cable, really?

My dad's an audiophile...

aethernavale wrote:

Edit: Also, Monster cable, really?

Haha you spotted that! Yes really. I couldn't really justify getting anything else, they're a decent enough set of cables, and you can't argue with free! I would never give Monster Cable any of my money. You can get better for much less...

That's a quite good kit actually Aether, after that point is where the value for the money starts dropping drastically IMO. Those M50's are very good headphones for the price, I almost got a pair when I went out to get a set of closed-back cans, but yeah, they're ear-crushers. I didn't mind that part much (I've had way, way worse if you can believe that) but I did wind up going over budget as usual and going for the dt-770's for when I listen to more bass-heavy music. You should check them out when the time comes, they're really comfy and keep your ears cool with those big velour pads.

Well if it counts I work on my own sound when producing my university animation projects. I hate when people just download sound straight from the internet without at least trying to make their own stuff first, and besides many websites have gotten wise to the act and make you pay for the privilege.

I use sound editing software such as Logic pro which allows you to edit imported sound files as well create musical tracks, so I do create my own music as well. Only been doing it for three years, I have no previous musical experaince and I can't read music but I get by. Quite recently I composed my own version of the first part of 'Ave Maria' for a project. I learnt it by following youtube tutorials.

No idea if that's of any interest, but there you go