My introduction to hifi was a long, but exponential one. There are other audio purchases in between, but there are the important ones that lead me to this point. It goes something like this.
- 2004: Needed new earbuds that didn’t fall off my ear. Hear about these IEM things that musicians use. Bought the Shure 210. This was the first time I’ve heard so much difference in sound, and from then on, I could not go back to cheap audio gear.
- 2009: Realised I couldn’t play games in IEMs forever no matter how good they sounded. Bought a Logitech G35, with it’s virtual surround sound. Whether it was placebo or true, I liked how well it was for gaming, but more importantly, I actually didn’t like how it made music sound, so I always turned it off when listening to music.
- 2013: The Logitech G35 was already wearing down. Not knowing that they sold replacement pads, I previously glued fabric to the pads to get rid of the icky peeling pleather. I needed something more for gaming, then I happened onto the Audiotechnical A700X. I bought it because people said it was great for both music and gaming. I didn’t care about bass back then, but words like detail and imaging stuck out for me. Until today I feel it’s one of the best headphones I’ve ever worn. I still have it. In fact, it’s been modded to have a 3.5mm detachable cable.
- 2017: I felt like there could be more with the A700X, and it had been years. So on a whim, I bought the Massdrop x Fostex T-X0. I didn’t know much about Fostex, so I did a lot of research, learning about it’s original T50RP lineage. This was also the same time, I found Z Reviews. This was the point of no return. During this year I also bought the O2 amp, and eventually the Grace SDAC in order to try and power the T-X0. I liked the headphones, but because I had no great reference before hand, I didn’t understand what muddy bass was. I just felt that it sounded wider and less detailed then the A700X
- 2018: Zeos gave the T-X0 a shitty review, so I converted them to Argons. Also learned that T50RP’s and their mods needed power. So I bought the Aune X7S. Also bought Hifiman HE4XX and the AKGK7XX during this time too, obviously thanks to the Zeos effect. Not content with the X7S powering my Argons, and because shipping a Emotiva BasX to Australia is balls expensive, I settled for a Audio-Gd NFB 11.32 for cheap. Except that it wasn’t an NFB 11.32 but an NFB 12.1. I settled for it because it still gave 1.8W at 32ohm, single ended, which i was fine with driving my Argons. That was quickly superseded by the THX AAA 789, which I purchased on Christmas Eve right after Zeo’s review.
From there it’s down the rabbit hole of headphone/IEM purchases (and sales) and trying to understand what kind of sound signature I want. I settled between either V-shaped and neutral. I’m not a rich person, so everything has been limited to under $500 AUD (bout $300+ USD). I also do a lot modding (specifically Koss stuff) and I’ve written a how-to here in the forums on modding the KPH30i. This is my current gear so far that I’m comfortable with, but who knows what I might get later on.
