For me it just felt like work… I listen intently and find if anything is offensive it will reveal itself in time… definitely a skill to hone (that in my case admittedly needs improvement lol)
This makes sense if you still don’t enjoy it even in it’s specialty probably time to move on
I can absolutely see that. Can be tedious to run through those audiophile playlists to test your headphones type things, although i do do it from time to time. It’s more important to like it for how you intend to use it, and for me anything i consider a test track is a song I’d put on regardless of testing
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I mean I have some tracks that actually sound like ass mastering wise and such a genre, that I would want to know how a headphone would react to all music I normally listen to. Sure, I have some well mastered tracks all over the place, but I also have tracks I like that sound like garbage fidelity wise
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I was actually thinking about that today listening to this
which has pretty bad sound quality but damn if it’s not a banger. I also listen to a fair amount of houston rap, which some of the earlier stuff is recorded pretty poorly. But typically its something i listen to in the car so hadn’t really tried it on my most my headphones
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I have a favorites playlist that I’ve been accumulating for a while. It’s literally any track that I hear and latch on to. I started putting it together before I got into nicer audio gear. There is definitely a mix of well mastered and average stuff in there. When I get something new I usually just hit shuffle on that list for a while because it’s all songs I’m very familiar with already. When I find something that sounds well mastered in that list or anywhere else I pull it into a specific “Hi-Fi” playlist that I guess you could call my test tracks.
The temptation for me is to jump right into A/B testing but I’m going to try and resist that for my next set of headphones because I can see why that isn’t really useful and can be more confusing than anything, especially when you are comparing to a headphone you are already very comfortable with.
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I’ve had pretty poor results with a/bing from the jump now that you mention it. My last few cans I’ve tried to listen to exclusively for atleast a few days usually 3-5. Sometimes i get a bit restless though and start to miss some of my favorite cans. for instance day 3 with my nighthawks i was really itching to hear my 660s (don’t hurt me nighthawk gang i still like the hawks)
Haha! JK.
*edit this GIF is a better fit.
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if I don’t like it, into Gehenna it goes.
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I mean, have to keep the trash heap burning somehow, right? 
Wow a great thread!!
Subjective vs Objective listening…from what I have read most folks here just listen for a period of time with the music they like and make a call about a few days to a week at home with their stashs of stuff…
Interesting.
When I buy something its usually for a reason, and then I get the item and like most of us I listen for several hours, using some familiar tunes that to me are very well recorded and mastered…if these come thru to my liking chances are anything else will too good or bad.
Then after a few days I start A/Bing stuff in amp land its hooking up 2 amps off the same DAC and same source and level set with a SPL meter to 75db. I use a 1 khz test tone to set the level.
Then after a hour or so warm up I play the same tunes to the dac, and amps…and then I can quickly unplug from one amp to the other amp…listen for differences based on the demo track being played…
Then I bring over a friend and have him swap the headphones from one amp to another and then I guess which amp and write this down and do this for 10 times approx…
This can be a very humbling experience…
Then I bring in my “wife” with her golden ears and she has an uncanny ability to zero in on stuff I missed!
Then I make a decision on whether to keep something or not.
There is a part of all of us IMO when we get the new “toy” want it to work so very well and dont want to be disappointed we often overlook the mediocre part…and then a few weeks later we go thru buyers remorse…
Dont think this will ever change.
The AB’ing to me was absolutley an eye opener…it keeps “ME” honest to myself…
Alex
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I think we all have our rituals with new gear.
I haven’t been fond of A/Bing because I consider it “work” and it takes time away from what I prefer to be doing. I do appreciate those that do like doing comparisons because it is something I have no interest in doing myself, but like to read what people have to say.
I just want to enjoy my stuff. I guess in a short way to describe it, I tend to vet my gear out naturally with usage.
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Yes its indeed work…and totallty understand your viewpoint did this for years and the objective side got me and I had to really know for myself what the “truth” was for me.
That said I am still smitten by neat looking stuff!!
:>)
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When I run my test songs through, it only takes an hour. I don’t stop and replay parts over and over like some. I’m typically just looking for any obvious anomalies. A/B’ ing can be tedious and I tend to only do that if I heard something that sounded off.
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Listen and use like my other headphones for a day or two. Mixture of videos, movies, games and music.
It is mostly about getting used to the feel and learning short commings and strong spots.
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When I get new gear, I replace the old gear and listen to a few of my favorite tracks to make sure it doesn’t suck. Then I just put it into regular use and keep using it until I replace it with something new. Very rarely do I go back to something old.
The old gear goes back in its original box and is stored in my bookshelf. I’m running out of space, though. I really should do something with my old gear before I buy more new gear.
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my process is usually plug it in give it a listen to whatever music I feel like listening usually skipping around finding my test tracks finding pklaces that may sound unpleasant put a track that would target that spot turn it up and listen. stop about 3 hours in take a break cook play games do something else not involving gear involved go back give it a listen take some mental notes. thats usually the first day I use it non stop for about a week or 2 unless its cheap, something I already like or something I hate the longer I use it non stop the longer im unsure of the piece of gear or the more I love it. testing and evaluation for me never really stops as I take note on how things break in , im always comparing and contrasting and also take note of my mental state as my mental state can really affect my ability to evaluate gear.
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Sounds kind of dumb and is in no way “Objective”, but no matter what type of gear it is: headphone, dac, amp, rolled tube, even music source software. I pick one of my favorite songs that I know will always elicit some sort of emotional response out of me and just listen to it eyes closed. Now I know I’ve made a good purchase if I’m sitting there in my chair with my eyes closed and I can feel myself smiling like some idiot. Does it make me smile? If yes then money well spent. Simple as that.
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I really like that attitude. I don’t even care whether or not something is “better” by some objective measure. I buy gear in order to enhance my subjective experience. If it does that, it’s a keeper. If it doesn’t do that, or if it stops doing that, it’s time to move on.
not dumb at all, the question itself is inherently subjective. I have plenty of gear that elicits that feeling, and makes me generally happy to be using it so I can absolutely see where you are coming from. Just curious what others do as the process for me is at this point still evolving.
I try to only change one thing at a time, so I’ll listen to new gear on what I’ve been most commonly using. I will flip though my amp options in case something stands out, but usually I’ll settle on something reasonably quickly.
There are probably 4 or 5 tracks I will initially listen to, more because I know them extremely well than anything else, then I’ll generally just listen to the new gear more or less exclusively for a week or so.
At the end of that I’ll swap back to the other gear and compare.
I’m not religious about any of this, in practice if I hear something I either like/dislike, I’ll swap gear to hear the difference, and I’ll try and find other similar material to compare, similarly I’ll swap amps to compare.
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