icenine0
02-07-2005, 07:56 PM
About a year and a half ago, the wide, wide world of music had just opened up to me; Pixies, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the Ramones, Brian Transeau, Electronica, B.B. King, Bill Withers... Prior to t3h interweb, I had little to no interest or knowledge of the art, but MP3s and Rhapsody whetted my appetite. Soon, my tastes were wide and insatiable.
And suddenly, my RadioShaq compuspeakers weren't cutting it; I was tired of tinny bass, crackly treble audio butchery. "Debaser" at an appreciable volume would nearly detonate the damn things.
And as much as I loved listening, a speaker big rig was an option precluded by three other tenants and my desire for listening LOUD.
So, like the most fastidious criminologist, I poured through volumes of research and reviews, looking, searching for something that'd make the tunes really cook. On a whim, I came across http://www.headwize.comHeadWize</A>, glanced at all the audiophile forum commentary and all the gearheads arguing about 'cans', and purchased a name out of the blue.
Thus began my love affair with headphones.
I started out at the low-end, the cheap recommendation, with Koss Porta Pros. They were brilliant; I didn't know such a thing could sound so good. The bass response was impossible, like two mini-woofers against my cranium. The crisp highs, the boomy lows, the sheer difference in audio quality... by two months of ownership, they became part of my portable setup. I was determined to do even better at home.
And then, dollar for dollar, one of the finest investments I've ever made.
Grado SR-80s.
These things are an oddity, something that shouldn't exist. They're not flashy -- contrarily, they look like something from a WW2 com center. They sound like shit at first; crackly and loud, as if you've somehow been screwed out of a valuable hundred bucks.
And then, slowly, subtly, they begin to evolve. I don't know the engineering behind it, but, over time, as they're "burned in", they begin to sound... better and better. As if growing more experienced. I've just realized the absolutely mindblowing results of about a year of use. The clarity and detail is unlike anything I've heard.
So, yeah, I sit listening to them today, pluggin away at some Linear Algebra assignment, taking solace in hearing every tiny squeal and resonance in some Pixies heavy guitar. Happy stuff.
<P ID="signature">The more often you fail, the sweeter the taste of success!</P>
And suddenly, my RadioShaq compuspeakers weren't cutting it; I was tired of tinny bass, crackly treble audio butchery. "Debaser" at an appreciable volume would nearly detonate the damn things.
And as much as I loved listening, a speaker big rig was an option precluded by three other tenants and my desire for listening LOUD.
So, like the most fastidious criminologist, I poured through volumes of research and reviews, looking, searching for something that'd make the tunes really cook. On a whim, I came across http://www.headwize.comHeadWize</A>, glanced at all the audiophile forum commentary and all the gearheads arguing about 'cans', and purchased a name out of the blue.
Thus began my love affair with headphones.
I started out at the low-end, the cheap recommendation, with Koss Porta Pros. They were brilliant; I didn't know such a thing could sound so good. The bass response was impossible, like two mini-woofers against my cranium. The crisp highs, the boomy lows, the sheer difference in audio quality... by two months of ownership, they became part of my portable setup. I was determined to do even better at home.
And then, dollar for dollar, one of the finest investments I've ever made.
Grado SR-80s.
These things are an oddity, something that shouldn't exist. They're not flashy -- contrarily, they look like something from a WW2 com center. They sound like shit at first; crackly and loud, as if you've somehow been screwed out of a valuable hundred bucks.
And then, slowly, subtly, they begin to evolve. I don't know the engineering behind it, but, over time, as they're "burned in", they begin to sound... better and better. As if growing more experienced. I've just realized the absolutely mindblowing results of about a year of use. The clarity and detail is unlike anything I've heard.
So, yeah, I sit listening to them today, pluggin away at some Linear Algebra assignment, taking solace in hearing every tiny squeal and resonance in some Pixies heavy guitar. Happy stuff.
<P ID="signature">The more often you fail, the sweeter the taste of success!</P>