Noob audio journey

We all like to read various reviews but in my case I've never seen the full journey from start to finish of how one got into this hobby and what gear was bought along the way so might as well share my story. When I hear about someone owing TOTL gear I'm always curious where they started and how they ended up where they are and most important what they learned along the way.
Because of this I though I would share my journey and what I've learned along the way. I'm in no way a golden ear, please do not take my word as scripture as these are just subjective impressions and my thoughts along the way. Please note I've summarised the details of my observations since including every little details would mean a 50 page manuscript and it's not the point I'm trying to make.

It all began with the first cheap Chinese 128mb mp3 stick players that hit the marked. I was around 14 at the time and I didn't even know what a DAC was but I used all my saved up money to get it. During the following months I had some of the best listening experience of my life as I remember it. I didn't care or knew about technicalities as just the fact I could listen to my favourite songs when I had a bad time was enlightening. Long journeys were a pleasure.
Naturally I wanted so see what is out there. I started to build speakers with MDF and PA Audio drivers and even a 15inch subwoofer in my flat. The neighbours were hard code metallica fans whether they wanted to or not. After several builds I didn't find what I was looking for... an immersive experience where I could get lost in the music. What I got instead was good left right separation with bloated bass since my room was not treated in any way.

My first good cans were the HD598 driven by a creative x-fi sound card. The mids really stood out as I've never heard anything like it before, mostly because I've never heard proper mids, voices were a clear step up in reality with delicate detailed treble but no bass at all. I used to push +12db at 60hz but even that didn't get me what I wanted. I knew I had to get serious so I looked at what could be my end-game(insert face-palm here).

The HD700 just launched and reviews were all around glowing. I also found head-fi. I took a risk on the HD700 for a good price and got myself a bottlehead crack shipped to europe. I also got a Wolfson AD Labs RD26 dac.
The first impressions once the crack+sb was build were...disappointing. I was expecting nirvana but instead I got light bass, better mids than the HD598 but horrible screeching at the top end. EQ came to save the day with a wild curve of +10 db on bass and -6 past 6kHZ. I honestly fooled myself into liking the setup just because if everyone said how good the HD700 are I can't be hearing anything different, can I?
Tube rolling helped and I finally settled on the Sylvania 6080 gold branded as my favourite with a CBS 5814A. The Bendix 6080,5998 had better bass control, better soundstage but the sylvania had an x factor I could not explain. Liquid is the best word I had at the time.
All in all for the next 6 months I started to understand the concepts of bass control, micro/macro details but it wasn't what I was looking for. At the end the HD700 were too shouty for my liking and I wanted something better...I wanted my bass. During this time I spent more on tubes for the crack and the crack itself so I sold everything at a big loss.
Enter the big leagues...Audeze LCD-3. This was just after university and it looked like the audeze was just what I was looking for. I happened to find one for sale in my eastern europe county. This was just when the LCD-X was released and I was happy I got a pair from a reviewer who god the LCD-X and wanted to sell the LCD-3. I remember the moment what we agreed on a price, it was 2AM and I wanted to go out for a smoke as I couldn't hold in my excitement. While I was out in the night feeling like the ruler of the world I got attacked my a pack of street dogs and ended up literally running for my life.

I needed an amp but was short on cash so I found an interesting piece, the TBI Millenia. Reviews were excellent, one guy even compared various speaker amps and the TBI was 2nd. I'm still grateful to flysweep for selling me his as I still have it now. I needed a dac and to my eternal shame I jumped on the LH bandwagon. I ordered a pulse which to this day hasn't arrived but I did get the GO1000. I also learned the headphone cable was a bottleneck as some will put it and I got a prototype wywires red.
When everything arrived I felt like I found what I was looking for. The LCD-3 pre fazor had great bass control, more punch that I could ever imagined and clean high end. I wasn't prepared for the soundstage depth that I heard and the voices sounded so natural. Take me to church was my favourite track among many others and I finally found what I was looking for, an effortless immersive experience. I also found that running the TBI on batteries was much better that the switching power supply mostly because of the better bass control. I also build a Bottlehead Quickie, upgrade caps,volume,wires etc. and on some tubes it was an improvement mostly because I felt a better localisation of the instruments.
Then...disaster, one of the drivers failed and I had to send my LCD-3 for an RMA. One upside was that audeze just introduced the fazor and I was happy to get an upgrade. When the LCD-3F arrived they honestly sounded like shit. A few days of burnin made them much better as the high end expanded but it just wasn't the same. Even if the high end sounded more sparkly the depth and magic were gone. As much I as tried music just didn't sound the same.
In the next couple of month I started to develop tinnitus and out of fear I stopped listening all together. Tinnitus wasn't the main factor, I just didn't enjoy listening as before but I didn't know at the time about the Audeze variance so I sold the LCD-3.
I still wanted something good that I can use anywhere as I didn't have a decent mobile setup so I got the Heir 8.0 IEM.
At first the 8.0 was a decent audeze replacement but no where near the enjoyment. Also the bass on them just wasn't right with me. I think the lack of a decent reverb is what I didn't like about them but even so they were my main can for 2 years.
Up to this point all my gear was bought based on HF reviews and I was surprised when I disagreed with how they sounded, especially the HD700.
As luck would have it I worked for 3 months in California and I attended my first meet as it was only 5 minutes away from the hotel. As someone who lusted for the high end goodies it was a candy shop. I had the pleasure to meet the owner of Cavalli himself and got a chance to listen to the liquid fire which I thought was mediocre, not that I was about to tell him that. The liquid glass on the other hand was exceptional and for me the best at the show with the LCD-3. I also got to listen to 009 for the first time on the OOYH software. Quite spooky on how the soundstage felt like the whole room with sounds coming from behind me. I also clearly remember the WA7 and how crappy it sounded but I nodded politely to the owned who was next to me.

With my carer going quite well I decided to move to the UK. Shortly after I settled in I was thinking about rediscovering my audio passion. HF became my focus point and I had to have read everything in the summit forum. I knew in theory how all the cans sounded but the HE1000 caught my eye as a LCD-3 replacement.
Soon after I attended the first canjam in London where I got to listen to the Hifiman stuff. The HE560 for which I had high hopes was a complete mess, similar to the HD700 light and bass and way to hot for my liking. The HEK on the other hand I fell completely in love with and ordered a pair the next day. I was gambling a bit as the one in the HifiMan booth sounded great but the one from HeadAmp sounded wrong, dark, muddy. One chap had some fostex cans which sounded a lot better than the HEK driven by the GSX-MK2. I didn't care since I hoped it was be the end of my journey. One other mention for that was the Hugo, a bit go to on HF I found it gooey and too mid focused. It was my first WTF moment because why didn't I like it when everyone wanted to gerk off to it.

I still had the GO1000 as a dac and I needed an amp for the HEK. The Project ember was my choice. The first impressions were very favourable as I felt from memory it surpassed the my LCD-3PF in certain areas that I can't remember. Slowly I bought around 20 different 12AU7,6DJ8,6SN7 etc. tubes to roll. Tube rolling was a lot of fun but I was craving something better for some reason.
Not long after I wanted a proper tube amp. Again HF was my main focus but I started to realise that everything was the best with conflicting opinions. Even so I know I wanted a tube amp and a big one. My search brought me to DNA and I ordered the Stratus even if it had a one year wait time. During the wait I acquired around various input,rectifier and power tubes. Hello, my name is Daniel and I'm a tubeaholic.

Once the Stratus arrived, even with the stock tubes I was in for a shock, solid state details with tube magic. The HE1000 was a wonderful pairing well above the ember in every way. Using the upgraded tubes the sound was a bit better but I knew the week link was the dac. So I looked around and I settled on the newly released Yggdrasil again as my end game.

Once the Yggdrasil arrived even from the first listen I could feel the massive improvement. At this point I forced my wife to listen and compare my gear to I could have a second opinion. Even she agreed the cold Yggdrasil was a massive improvement.
At this point I realised something. Whenever something sound great I didn't know if it sounded great because it was the best I've heard at that point or because it was actually good. The point here is I didn't know what the best sounds like and I didn't have anything to compare with except for my previous experience which it tainted by my own subjective impressions.

On HF I was almost fed up with everyone glorifying the latest gadgets as it didn't make sense to me. Either the senior reviewers were absolute noobs like me and they didn't have a proper yardstick to compare gear. I based this on the Audeze lineup as the LCD-2 was the greatest, then the LCD-3, then the LCD-X, then the LCD-4. I mean come on if the LCD-3 was the best ever at it's time why did people said the LCD-4 was the best ever and they didn't realise the limitation of the LCD-3 when it was launched? I hoped the speaker setups were matured enough so people knew what music should sound like at it's best.

I attended the second London canjam where I got to listen to old and new Orpheus and the 100K MSB amp on the 009. Finally I could listen to what the best sounds like. First was the new Orpheus and it was again a bit of a disappointing. It failed to engage me mostly because of the hot high end. Might be the tracks that I selected or just my hearing but if failed to be my end game. The guy asked my what I wanted to know about the setup so I asked him some basic questions even if I knew the answers just to be polite.
The MSB setup sounded like a dream. I had the pleasure a few weeks earlier to listen to a live practice session choir in Saint's Paul cathedral which blew my mind because of all the spacial cues. The MSB setup with 009 sound so real on Bach's tocatta that for the first time I know what music should sound like. No hotness, a bit lite on warmth but above the HE-1 for my tastes.
Other mentions from that meet was the Liquid Tungsten which on the Ether C sounded amazing, again lite on bass but it showed my how important an amp is. I was also surprised how different the two LCD-4 sounded. I also got the hear the Dave for the first time. I just play the last track the last guy was listening to and I was amazed how he still hears anything. It was so loud I couldn't bear it but for him it was completely fine. This was the point were I realised everyone has a different taste in volume.

I also wanted a solid state amp so I got the GSX-MK2 since I really liked how it sounded at canjam with the HEK, the end all and be all of any amp and finally could run a balanced setup.

The GSX was exceptional when I listened just to it but when comparing with the Stratus I found it lacked the high end fineness and it had a smaller soundstage. It didn't make any sense for an amp that was called wire with gain so the GSX was sold.

At this point I wanted to focus on other headphones as well especially the HD650 and HD800 as I've read so much about them.
I also got a whole butload of power tubes for the Stratus including EML 2A3 solid, KR, Ken-Rad, Sylvania S and dual flat plate.
From my listening on the Stratus I found the following: You cannot solely say a tube has a definitive sound unless everyone compares with the same setup. Some tubes that I liked on the HD800 didn't work on the HEK and vice versa.
At the time I will say the KR was the best, sweet with great extension at both ends, EML was more mid focused with more warmth that also had less treble detail. The Ken Rad smoked glass sounded more like the GSX or more like solid state like with the best low end but not matching the KR on micro details. The Sylvania 2A3 was warm and a bit mushy like the crack.
Of course the rectifiers had an influence contrary to what I've read that a rectifier shouldn't impact the sound. From the 5U4G I liked the National Union foil getter the best followed by the Ken Rad which was punchier but too warm, Fivre was harsh and bright, Sylvania VT244 was flat sounding thus a bit boring. Coupling this with input tube changes where I had about 10 different 6N1P and 6BQ7A so it was impossible for me to describe a particular tube without mentioning the others in the amp.

Anyway after extensive listening and comparing I found the following:
1. The HEK was great unless you compared it with the HD800. To my surprise the HD800 had better bass control even if it had less body, I preferred the mids on the HD800 because they had better presence.
2. I had to EQ the HEK since I found the treble to be way to annoying on most tracks and the HD800 was clearer.
3. The HD650M had better vocals than both and it was such an easy listen but failed on the bass and treble extension.

The HEK HD800 comparisons was a letdown as I assumed the HEK would stomp on it but the opposite happened in my case.
I decided to get better cables so the HEK got a Zoetic and the HD800 got the Draug2. The cables had a subtle but obvious improvement and I was happy I could hear cable differences for myself.

Even with this setup I still wasn't entirely happy. I enjoyed comparing and listening for details on tracks but there was no actual enjoyment when not listening critically especially after the honeymoon was over.

Again I had to setup up my game. Enter the Abyss with the Moon 600i. I chose the abyss because of...reasons besides the fact I wanted it. The 600i was the best for the Abyss and I found one locally.

The Abyss was something else. Nothing could have prepared my for the savage low end, best I've hear bar none, expansive soundstage, shitty treble. The treble wasn't bad it was one note compare to the HD800/HEK and Stratus.
The Abyss also made me realise soundstage is not everything. For some reason the instruments sounded bigger, they occupied more of my acoustic perception within the same soundstage. The HD800 by compassion sounded as big but with too much space between instruments.
At this point I invested in posh interconnects. I build my own out of neotech OCC with fancy furutech plugs. Honestly when doing A-B I couldn't hear a clear difference between it and my cheap hama cables. I didn't care since I wanted my garden hose.

I liked the Abyss so much that I sold the HEK and HD800 since I didn't listen to them anymore. I reterminated the Zoetic so I could use it with the Abyss and most of the treble issues went away. Might be I don't like the stock cable besides the fact it's a nightmare to keep untangled. A few months passed when the Abyss had a failed driver and I had to send them for an RMA.
Even at this point I wasn't totally happy, critical listening was lovely but casual was not, I just didn't feel the urge to get up and listen to my favourite tracks like my first LCD-3 did...so I got the LCD-3F. They quickly showed me they worn't the same LCD-3PF I was looking for. Good sound but not engaging.
Once the Abyss came back they were quickly sold since I knew I still haven't found what I was looking for.

The next step for me was the LCD-4. Maybe these had what I was missing and I had been lusting at them for some time.
The first thing that struck me with them was the clamping force. I couldn't live with so I chopped half of the carbon fibre headband.
As for the sound they were everything I wanted, almost Abyss bass, HEK midrange and HD800 treble but the sound was so flat after some time that I've given up on them. It was detailed and everything but too laid back and most tracks didn't have the crunch I was looking for. Transitions were too soft. I also got the Eikon in the hope I could find what I'm looking for.
In the meantime I also upgraded to GenV more as a curiosity. GenV was almost as good as the Lynx E22 but the Lynx had cleaner high end where it was easier to distinguish stuff like cymbal details than on GenV but it was quite close.

Now I sold the Yggdrasil for a Pavane lvl2. I always found the Yggdrasil a bit cold with a bit too much focus on the high end. The Metrum was much more to my liking and I felt it was a worth while upgrade.
Now with a new dac I could't carry on until I set to rest some ghosts. So I got my Abyss and HD800 back. I soon concluded the Pavane fixed some of my issues so better depth and a more relaxed high end but with the same level of detail. I also decided to go all out on the cable so I got a 10ft DHC Complement 4. I used that cable on all my headphones, soldering skills come in handy.
For the cable I concluded it was a worthy upgrade for all my headphones and ultimately I planned to hardwire the HD800 with it.
I also got my dream amp, the WA5-LE. I've wanted it ever since I first found woo products, it was for me the ultimate expression of sound or so I believed. This had the caps upgrade with SERP and I also had Elrog 300B from the BeePre which has it's own story. Input tubes were TBSP with U52 as rectifieres
In short I had my own canjam,with the LCD-3,LCD-4,Eikon,HD800SDR,Abyss and HD650 on Pavane with Stratus,WA5 and Moon 600i all from a 230V regen with fancy wires.

After months of listening it all sounded glorious but I wasn't enjoying it. The damned LCD-3PF was still in my mind and I couldn't believe I still didn't find what I was looking for, that immersive experience where I could get lost in the music. The LCD-4 also crapped out but I didn't care since I knew I would sell it once it got back.

At this point I hit rock bottom and considered selling everything. Even if I knew how much better my gear sounded than my phone with the heir 8.0 or Momentum IEM it just wasn't worth it as It looked like I was chasing something that I couldn't find.

That is until...

 

reserved

 

I'd love to read this, but my concentration span is that of a gnat with a learning disability. Could you please split it over a few posts? Maybe add some headings and images. Thanks.

 

Then what????

 

I'll summarize.

HD700 = crap.
LCD-3 = great, / LCD-3 Fazor = bad.
Hifiman HE1000 = better.
HD800 = as good if not better.
Abyss Better.
LCD-4 not as good.
Back to Abyss & HD800.


Had the GS-X MkII. Now has the Stratus, then bought the Woo WA5 & the Sim moon 600i for his amps.
Had the Yggdrasil Gen 5 & then bought the Pavane Level 2 DAC.

In the end, only the LCD-3 pre-fazor gave him a wow experience for the first time (but not the best sounding headphone). Afterwards he's been chasing that experience.

 

Thanks for the TLDR

 

Keep the dac and get into speakers.
Headphones are shit value after around 2..3k total investment (amp and phones) and hit a wall at some point,
no matter how many suitcases of dough you throw at it.

 

This was a great read...
Can't wait for the next part

 

My summary of that almost unreadable post?:

"I am so busy listening to the equipment that I have forgotten how to just sit back and enjoy the music. Oh, and I have such high expectations of the equipment that no matter what I buy my expectations cannot be met."

 

Nah, it wasn't that. When I listen critically it was fun to hear the differences between cans, amps and how certain genres played to the strengths of my gear etc.
When I listened casually there was always something that brought unwanted focus to itself and managed to distract me from being engaged. So things like bloated/not enough bass, recessed midrange,harsh lower/upper treble(looking at you HEK and Abyss), not enough crunch on guitars, to warm, to cold, not the right tonality etc. Every headphone up to that point had something I didn't like and the positives could't tip the scale in the long term. I gained enough experience to be a lvl20 mage but I couldn't find my happy place even with the best of the best.

Sorry about my crappy writing skills.

 

That's mostly because headphones suck and why some people on here end up modding headphones to their tastes. If you're okay with the bass rolloff a modded HD800 might be your best bet. Otherwise maybe SR009 + SRM-T8000.

Other than that, that's it as far as headphones go. Get speakers. Which ones, I cannot help you with. Speakers are far more varied than headphones and I'm sure you can find what you're looking for. Maybe also get a turntable eventually if you're willing to put up with all of the crap you'll have to deal with.

 

Get a Koss PortaPro, play Gorillaz's album "Demon Days" from your smartphone and reconsider your first post.

I have to agree with @winders here, just hoarding gear without enjoying the music.

P.S. Your writing skills are okay. We have witnessed worse.

 

Hoarding did had a purpose, especially with new gear I wanted compare against everything. This why I got the abyss and hd800 back since I didn't feel I was done with them mostly because of the pavane addition and because I wanted a new perspective after not hearing them for a while. I don't think anyone disagrees with the advantage of having 3 totl and a couple of mediocre amps in the discovery phase. It allowed me to see the limitations and strengths of each amp and hp.
I'm not as seasoned as you guys but I'm getting there and living in Europe sucks as meets are few and far between.

 

Welcome @m17xr2b ! You found the best source of information on head fi on the web; particularly on what not to buy. If I had found SBAF before I started buying gear highly recommended on other sites I would have avoided some impulse buys and built a TOTL headphone based system for less than $7000.

 

f**k me, this is a cautionary tale.

@m17xr2b You don’t need gear advice, you need audiophile-therapy.

You’re chasing the dragon. Specifically you are chasing the feeling you had, not the audio you had. You will never find that again because you have changed with each new experience. One can never experience something “for the first time” a second time.

A rose-tinted memory from a more innocent time has completely distorted your expectations and made them completely unrealistic, and ultimately unattainable.

Even if you had that original LCD-3 in your hands right now you still would not be satisfied, because your romanticised memory of it will never match reality.

Forget magic, that was just a feeling, forever lost.

You need a hard-reset.

Ask yourself what the goal is, specifically. If the goal is “audio reproduction” then go and listen to a live performance, and maybe a good calibrated two channel speaker system. That’s as good as it gets, and headphones will never be better, or even as good. If that doesn’t do it for you then it may just be that you’re not that into music anymore, and should find some new hobbies, or at least explore new musical genres.

 

You know, I do kind of love these stories of an audio journey. Espcially when you are talking about TOTL or a phrase I hate, "End Game", but any piece of gear has trade offs.

I realized long ago that my varied musical tastes is going to mean there is no one setup. That there is probably an open and closed headphone in my future at least. One thing that struck me was Mike Moffat was talking about setups and someone asked him what he listens to. He would never say any brands, but he did reveal that he uses open headphones for live recordings and closed for studio recordings. This is where things made sense for me.

I also realized that the heavily processed rock and pop I listened to were mixed and mastered for LCD (lowest common denominator) setups, or just maximized overall loudness. For these closed makes things sound great. For the other hi-fi recordings, there is nothing beating the open sound.

Most of the headphones mentioned in this thread already have some excellent detail retrieval. So it kind of comes down to what you are really after and what makes the most sense to what you listen to and what you prefer.

 

So what's the conclusion? Bought a Abyss Phi or Chord Dave or did you dip your hand into electrostatics?

 

This is exhausting just to read about. So glad I never felt compelled to go down this rabbit hole. A benefit of poverty.

 

I agree this kind of thing should just be about whether or not you are enjoying yourself. I've seen so many people try to justify buying 13 different things by retroactively becoming a "reviewer" on youtube or elsewhere. As far as I'm concerned, if you can responsibly afford the upgrade and it is actually enhancing your enjoyment then there's no problem as long as you are using all of your gear. If something isn't being used sell it.

I certainly like hearing different gear and headphones that other people own but I'm not going to go out and buy it all. I've found lending and borrowing is really the cure for boredom if you must have novelty in your audio setup.