New Members - Introduce Yourself

Discussion in 'Tales from the Bully Pulpit' started by willc, Nov 15, 2021.

  1. nodin2000

    nodin2000 New

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    Hi - thanks for having me join the Forum. I've lurked on a few forums over the last few weeks, but this has been the most useful and well behaved one and the first I've joined.
    I've loved music for the last 30-40 years but never had the house/budget to get myself a proper system. That's changing now, so despite a modest budget and a non-dedicated listening room, and really excited to get the best sound I can.
    Thanks everyone
     
  2. Mr. Knowitall

    Mr. Knowitall New

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    I’m Jason and I live in Melbourne, FL. I’m more of a musicphile than an audiophile, but I do love good audio. I have a hard time hearing small differences. And when I hear the difference, I can’t always tell which I prefer. I’m a rookie, I guess I haven’t heard enough gear or systems. But I am constantly listening to music. I am hoping I can learn a lot here. Seems to me like a level-headed bunch without a lot of snobbery.

    I grew up with a stack of lower end 1990s JVC separates and some big Realistic speakers in my bedroom. When I got home from school I would rock out on my Dad’s Yamaha and Bose 10.2’s. Then I spent 15 years in one bedroom apartments streaming from my PC to some ProMedia 2.1’s. In hindsight, I should have bought something small and decent. But then again I was cheap back then, always saving up for an engagement ring, new car, wedding, down payment, gotta fund the 401k, etc. Got a little older, made more money, bought a house, and finally spent some cash on gear to really enjoy music again.

    I currently have a Denon AVR, NAD C658, VTV Purifi amp, and Cornwall IV’s. I’m happy, but wanting to make some upgrades. Things will never be perfect as my system is in a HUGE open space.
     
  3. GeorgeNapalm

    GeorgeNapalm New

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    Hi, I'm George from Boston MA, 43. Grew up in Belarus listening to records of Beatles, Pink Floyd and Queen on vintage Soviet gear.
    Thanks to this forum and head-fi went through an embarrassing number of headphones and amps, settling on SW51/Bifrost 2/ZMF Verite Closed. On the 2-channel front I have Hegel 160 amp + KEF R700 speakers in the living room and DIY Troels's Faital 3WC-15 + Naim Uniti Atom + Schiit Sol in the basement.

    Want to thank all of you guys for invaluable info on my favorite gear, especially @toddrhodes for everything Sol related, @JK47 for Cinemag SUT info, @Zampotech for his beautiful SW51 amp and many others!
     
  4. TechnoToad

    TechnoToad New

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    My name is John. I live in a suburb of Atlanta, GA. I've been an audiophile wannabe since the 80s, but just now starting to assemble a decent system. (Best item I had in the past was a NAD 3020.)

    Currently consider myself a Schiit-Kicker (I'm from Texas, so there!) and have mostly Schiit Audio gear: Sol, Mani, Sys, Hel2, Modi 3+, Asgard 3. Using a hand-me-down Yamaha RX-595 for amplifier, driving a pair of Boston Acoustics VR-20 speakers. Working on getting a pair of Magnepans (possibly MMGs, or LRS, maybe even 1.5s that have been modded) and an amplifier that can drive them.

    I'm a tinkerer and DIYer. The Sol is right up my alley. I have two of the final tonearms and was given a beta tonearm this weekend.

    Thanks for letting me aboard!
     
  5. bigjako

    bigjako Facebook Friend

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    Hi - I've been a lurker since the start of the pandemic, as I took the reality of working from home and tried to improve on my music listening setup beyond my (still in-use 1More Triple Driver IEMs). Two years ago I didn't know what a DAC was, but I've run through Modius, D90, Khadas Toneboard, Jolida Glass FX and a BF2 on my way to my current Yggdrasil OG-based setup.

    I started down the warm, bassy path (AQ Nighthawks, ModHouse Argons, EMU Teaks) but as I was just about to sell it all off and get an Aeolus, I picked up an Stax Lambda NB and a SRD-7 and fell hard for Stax. Estats still get the most head time for me, but I ultimately bought the Aeolus and play off between my various electrostatics and my 2 dynamics (the Aeolus and a fully-Lawton modded/cupped E-MU Teak).

    I'm a 100+er on HF, and still partake there under this same UN, but I find the quality of information better here and feel like I'm ready to contribute here (I hope). I don't care about measurements, I can't really talk intelligently about bass shelfs and sine waves and specific kHz levels, but I do know what sounds good to me, what reaches down and tickles my audio bone. I would like to be able to listen to something and identify the specific Hz range that bothers me, or delights me, one day. I don't like to use software EQ, it just creates too many nooks and crannies for me to f*** up. I've used Lokis in the past, I can get behind that, but I find that software EQ creates this artificiality or digitality that grates on me.

    I love to contrast. I always like to switch off between equivalents, A/B, style to focus on the differences. I'm the same with beer, or food, or scotch - I always get a flight and compare the nuances between each variant (I do it for work, too). I try to force myself to try to enjoy the totality of one variant, too, though - which has fueled the upward trajectory from mid-fi to my current summit-fi. I don't chase the next TOTL, but I have my Yggdrasil and one day I'll have a BHSE and an EC, A&S or DNA tube amp and be happy (really, I tell myself).

    I currently don't have any solid state amps (I've had the Drop THX 789, and currently have an Emotiva A100 for my SRD-7), I just find myself enjoying tubed too much. My current setup is:
    - Allo Digione Signature out to the Yggdrasil OG, with a Transparent Premium Coax and a Silnote BNC. My Yggdrasil is Gen 5 so I have not really pushed the USB. Now that I have a non-USB connection, I'm looking to pickup some classic old DAC (like a Theta or SFD-1 or an old MHDT or Hugo 1) to compare against the Yggdrasil.
    - Electrostatic: Dominik CCS-modded 006t and a Bottlehead Stat, on Lambda NBs, Lamda Pros, ES Labs Sigma, Socas and Blu-tak modded L300, L300LE and an ES-1a. For what it's worth the electrostatics really work with the Silnote BNC and sounds little shrill on the Transparent Coax.
    - Dynamic: SW51 (thank you SBAF [and Zampo] for the SW51 hookup) using Mullard tubes and a film-cap modded Crack with the Aeolus and the Lawton'd EMUs. The Aeolus on the Crack is special, and the SW51 (on the Low Z) really gave me new life to the excellent Teaks which were neglected for a long time, without a proper solid state amp.

    I like deal hunting, so have bought and sold a lot of things in the wild, and I've done some spurious audiophile things, like buy used aftermarket power cords, an all-silver ethernet cable from Moon Audio (arrives tomorrow). I do notice a difference, but for me, the differences are in how the experience feels rather than talking about very specific effects of a cable swap. I am listening to my original Lambda NBs (I have a spare set in storage) on the Bottlehead Stat, one of my favorite combos. The ES-1as on my 006t are my other favorite estat combo, but I suspect they'd benefit even more from more power.

    Thanks for having me, I hope I can contribute in some way.
     
    Last edited: Jan 16, 2022
  6. Beefy

    Beefy Friend

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    That's a pretty impressive journey in just a couple of years!
     
  7. TechnicolourDunk

    TechnicolourDunk New

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    heyhey,

    Long time lurker, first time poster. I bounce around on a plethora of other forums so I could be considered familiar... but I doubt it. I don't post that much. In the game mostly for headphones and headphone paraphernalia but I do see myself getting into a 2 channel in the next year or two.

    Not here for a long time, but a good time nevertheless.
     
  8. ZampotechNA

    ZampotechNA MOT: Zampotech NA Distributor

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    Hello everyone,

    We will be helping @Zampotech ship and distribute orders in North America. We will be making a formal announcement in the SW51+ thread soon and look forward to getting Zampotech's work out there to as many people as possible.
     
  9. Lilac_Wine

    Lilac_Wine New

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    Hey,

    New here, but have been lurking for awhile. I listen to a mix of music, but mostly indie rock. Sources are Apple Music -> e30 and a Pro-Ject debut evo turntable -> NAD phono stage. Amps are a 1st gen Woo Audio WA6SE and a L30 (I know the e30/L30 are not popular here, but wanted to contrast them with the WA6SE). Headphones are currently old HD650s. In the past I had Ety4s and Beyerdynamic dt 770. Long long ago I had a Headroom Supreme and a Headroom Cosmic.

    I am looking to a closed back to the headphone mix.

    Thanks everyone
     
  10. zottel

    zottel Friend

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    Hi, I’m zottel from Franconia (northern Bavaria, near Nuremberg, Germany).

    I finally joined here because I’d like to discuss audio with people who are no extremists of either side. Of all the forums I visited looking for information, this one seems to be the most worthwhile.

    I’m quite new to the hobby. After nearly not listening to music at all for more than a decade, I started doing so again when my daughter became old enough to get into music and we created a family Spotify account. Soon, the desire for better quality gear kicked in, and I got really hooked when I bought a Bose QC 35 II and found that it sounded so much better than anything I had heard before.

    After buying a number of Bose stuff, mostly Bluetooth, to my astonishment I found out that not everybody thought that Bose delivered the best sound in the world. Or that Bluetooth wasn’t actually lossless as I had thought before, etc. etc.

    I briefly had a Bang & Olufsen Level (as I was looking for something that was mobile and still delivered good sound), but sent it back, mostly because I didn’t like having to sign into Google in order to use some of its features, but I’m glad I did today and settled for the half-as-expensive-but-much-better-sounding-though-not-really-mobile Dynaudio Music 5 instead.

    Then I realised that with headphones, I could get to much higher ground for less money, and I bought HD650s and an EarMen Sparrow. That was really great sound, and I learned how much I adored detail. A few months later, I added a Hifiman Ananda, which was heaven. I didn’t use my HD650 much anymore. Also, I started using Roon and Qobuz for my audio needs.

    I knew that I should get a decent amp for those headphones, but the WAF for audio gear isn’t that high around here, and so it was only when my Sparrow broke shortly before Christmas last year that I got to order myself a Jotunheim 2 with the Unison ESS card. And boy, was that good!

    The HD650 really made an astonishing leap with that amp, especially balanced, and I’m using it much more now than I did before. But I still prefer the Ananda for the extra detail and the headstage.

    Well, that’s my story.

    My personal preferences lay with detail AND musicality, lifeless detail is not what I’m in for. Though, to be perfectly honest, I don’t really know because I never heard a system that people describe as lifeless. It’s only from the description that I gather it’s probably nothing for me. Plus, I’m sensitive to treble, which means that the Jot+Ananda combination is already bordering on too much treble for me, becomes fatiguing after a few hours.

    Actually, I really love the Dynaudio’s sound, which to my ears is the best tuning I ever heard. Big bass but not overblown, airy treble but not fatiguing, perfectly round and very engaging. But (possibly also caused by the rooms I’m listening in) it doesn’t deliver as much microdetail by far as my HPs do on the Jotunheim. My personal elysium would be to find a system that gives me a similar feeling as the Dynaudio, with the details (or even better details) of the Ananda on the Jot. Maybe I’ll have to go for tubes, after all?

    That and much more I hope to learn here, and find pointers to what to listen to myself in order to find the perfect gear for my tastes. Well, at least try to.
     
    Last edited: Jan 22, 2022
  11. eskamobob1

    eskamobob1 Acquaintance

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    Hey Everyone,

    As I'm sure happened with lots of people, my deep dive into audio pretty well started with lockdown. I've loved music for quite a while and put some effort into car stereos before that but for the most part was pretty happy with entry level cans. Right before lock down started I managed to get myself a set of LCD-2C and Focal Clear (OG) for good deals and the spiral officially began!

    When I started my decent I had a fairly unique use case of genuinely needing a portable only setup. With no set desk at work at the time and the vast majority of my at home listening time being while moving around doing chores I decided to take the dive into over ear/open back portable chains. This ended up being a double edge sword. On one hand the SQ/price is much higher than desktop gear and the options are quite limited for true TOTL sound. On the other, the limited options meant I was able to actualy explore a much greater percentage of the options out there than I would have been able to with desktop gear. I ended up with a L&P P6 Pro DAP (discrete R2R with a horrid interface but amazing sound) and several portable amps (I still have the MassKobo 428, Phatlab Phantasy II, Bakoon HPA-01M, WA8, Cayin C9, and BX2+). These are/were paired with options such as Diana V2, HD800S, Focal Utopia, and D8000 Pro. I also have a set of Mest MK2 as my go to IEM but I think I will probably be swapping them out to Infinity MK2 fairly soon (I had them in for an at-home demo and was blown away) due to my change in use case.

    Well that brings is to now. Unlike the beginning of the pandemic I have set desk at work and more time to listen at home as well. This has allowed me to move into desktop gear a bit more. This move also sparked my interest for some of more obscure tube amps that this forums seems to be a treasure trove of info on. After finding the opportunity to get a couple of them I decided it was time to stop lurking and start actualy participating in the community to actualy learn more about these amps.

    I look forward to talking with everyone.
    -Esk
     
  12. Philimon

    Philimon Friend

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    Youve acquired a lot of gear and experience in just two years. Hard to believe. Pics or it didnt happen. And welcome!
     
  13. eskamobob1

    eskamobob1 Acquaintance

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    Hahaha. I will take that as the go ahead to spam some pics of some interesting setup moments then. Here's some of my gear going back in time (maybe ill throw in some pic descriptions if I get time at my desktop later).

    https://imgur.com/a/50t8xfT
    https://imgur.com/a/PVbZotm

    And that's where the journey back ends cause I didn't transfer pics from my old phone when I upgraded. Lots of stuff not pictured as well (mostly iems and some weird lower end portable stuff by the looks of it) since I'm bad about taking pics tbh. Now for some fun demos I had at TSAV (in lucky they are under an hour from me so I try and go every couple months even if just to chat tbh):

    https://imgur.com/a/1PyYlUX

    Speaking of, (I am assuming not since I couldn't find it) no dedicated higher end portable thread (that's for amps and over ears more so than iems and using daps directly), right?
     
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  14. Derwin

    Derwin New

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    Hi Everyone,

    I started my headphone journey back in 2007 after buying my first pair of Sennheiser HD555. I've been a long time lurker of the site and decided to finally lay down the intro post. The knowledge posted on these forums has helped me a ton during my headphone journey. Hopefully, I can help contribute some in the future.

    Headphone Gear - Geshelli JNOG (AKM 4493) ---> SW51+ ---> Sennheiser 6xx / Fostex x00
    Other Audio - Currently attempting to restore a Rockola 1422 jukebox.
     
  15. LETSHUOER

    LETSHUOER MOT: LETSHUOER

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    Hi, this is Joseph from LETSHUOER from Dongguan, Guangdong, China. I am currently located in Vancouver. Used to own a Spring 1 but due to relocation, right now my daily system is just a Modi 3+ and a RNHP with DT 1990 Pro and LETSHUOER EJ07.

    I like modern and acid Jazz, symphonic metal, Nordic folk metal, Nordic folk songs, Cantopop, City Pop, J-pop, rock and metal, 21st century classical, some mandarin and Taiwanese pop, modern funk, 80s and 90s US pop and J-pop, triphop and Lo-fi. Recently more focused on modern Cantopop from 2010+ era.

    Can't wait to meet you all :)
     
  16. urbanjanitor

    urbanjanitor New

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    Hi Everyone,

    My "name" is urbanjanitor. I've been into the audiophile scene for about 8 years. Started this journey out with a humble Sony MDR MA900 and Fiio E17 and have been loving music and gear ever since. I live in Washington, DC, so if anyone is in the area please reach out! I'd love to meet up with others in the hobby to test and and listen to gear since my wife views this hobby as one step above drug addiction.

    I like and appreciate music from all genres and time periods which has led to quite an eclectic taste. I'm currently rocking some Hifiman HE6se V2 and Fostex TH900 Lawton Modded headphones as my daily's (and a few others in the collection). Got a Topping D70s and Schiit Jotunheim 2 / xDuoo TA-30 on the desktop. I enjoy messing around with simple mods on headphones (have a pretty decently modded Fostex TH-X00 that brings me joy). Built a Bottlehead Crack, which I enjoyed immensely. Planning to build more tube amps in the future. Looking into getting a miniDSP EARS for headphone testing and modding in the future (anyone have/used this product before?).

    Looking forward to joining in on the community discussions and getting to know you all!
     
    Last edited: Jan 31, 2022
  17. tedacura1

    tedacura1 New

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    Hi everyone,

    I would just like to say thanks for having me in this forum.
     
  18. eskamobob1

    eskamobob1 Acquaintance

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    Welcome welcome! You should give everyone a bit of background on what your experience and what your goals are audio wise once you get a chance.
     
  19. henry

    henry New

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    Hello Folks, I am new here and a fan of stax/cavalli audio/brinkmann/riviera/prism sound/aries cerat
     
  20. thecrackofdoom

    thecrackofdoom New

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    Greetings everyone! A newbie here. I am not interested in audio until I realize there is a file format called ".flac". Then comes the "high quality music" from old friend Spotify, then Tidal (as a lend account). After that I find ways to hear the music better and go for DAPs, which is not a budget choice at all. I was holding myself back of buying a AK 100II - used - about 220 USD
    Then I discovered dac/amps and found out the chord mojo - used as about the same price. I dreamed of it until I see ASR and ruin my dreams. Actually, the measurements is pretty convincing and I was still looking for the mojo - just not as enthusiastically as before.
    Then comes others products and the Khadas Tone 2 Pro - excellent for the price, praised by both sides and is professionally supported. But I cannot find I being sold used. Out of the equation
    Then it hits me. Testing with your ears, your headphones are the best way to go. That matter as much as the measurements itself. I found this true for headphones before (have a sr 80e) but neer thought about it for dac/amps. But the best lesson is actually developing your hearing and ear capability! I must train my ear to "audiophile" or near that by lowerend gear in order to appreciate the higher end gear itself! That is the achievement I made online, no gear testing experience before. The internet really did educated me.
    So, eventhough my budget is high, I wanted to start low and slowly upgrade. Can't talk for the future, but I might have some interesting observations ahead!
     

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