New Members - Introduce Yourself

Greetings.

Lifelong music lover and mid-fi audiophile from the suburbs of Washington DC.

I’m an old guy who laments the demise of broadcast radio, at least in the DC area, where it used to be excellent but is new unlistenable (to my ears). I enjoy several channels of Radio Paradise but find myself listening mostly to classical and jazz. When Mike Marrone ran The Loft on XM Radio that’s where my ears stayed glued but those days are no more. Alas.

My primary headphones are OG Focal Clears, and the more wife-friendly Elegias.

More to say as the occasion demands.

 

Boy am I glad to have found this place!

A place where people who see past the importance of basic measurements are - people who don't believe that all amplifiers and DACs sound the same...

Hello people who put their senses and well informed intuition above the "science" of a few [often] arbitrary metrics...

Hello passionate, independent thinkers, with an interesting hobby! Hello!

lol

 

Good morning,

My name is Xavier, almost 50 years old and I am writing to you from France.
Passionate about Hi-Fi, I discovered the forum while looking for information on Troels Gravesen speakers, so I came to discuss it with you.

good day to all.

Xavier

 

Hi,

I have been a headphone user for a long while, but for the longest time have been an objectivist. It is only recently that I started considering the idea that perhaps there is more to it than just SINAD and whatnot.

I am still a bit skeptical, and DACs still confuse me, but I do hope that you all are right about DACs sounding different.

 

That is a hell of a username, hah.

I think what lots of folk do seem to overlook is that, despite reputation, SBAF really isn't against objective measures of any sort, and a lot of the active members do take serious stock in metrics-- it's more how the forum at large doesn't agree with how many folks are keen to dumb things down things to simple, easily digested metrics like THD+N/SINAD or frequency response that can easily be deployed and tailored to suit some agenda or other, especially in cases where they no longer suit the purpose of informing subjective experience (e.g. how many folk here actually listen loudly enough as to benefit from components having a -120dB noise floor? How important is adherence to an FR target when your hearing system frankly doesn't jive with that target, white papers be damned?)

Skepticism is good, DACs are dumb and I hate that they make as much of a difference as they do. Hope you find a good middle ground here.

 

Hi all,

Recently (five years? ish?) I fell into the Hi-Fi rabbit hole. My primary gear these days is a Geshelli J2S (Burson V7V [XLR] & Sparkos SS2950 [RCA]) & E2. I'm planning on starting some Bottlehead projects, and expect that to be a slow process. Current favorite headphones are ZMF Atrium Closed.

I suppose that's about it for now.

~ Sean

 

Hey,

I'm newer to hi- and mid-fi, learning to appreciate music and audio quality more as I'm chained to a desk in grad school. I've had a pair of HD-600's and a K7XX running off a basic Schiit stack for nearly a decade now and just recently switched to my acute gear buying phase. I now have a HD-800s and a ZMF Bokeh running on a JDS Atom 2 stack and I'm looking for a place to discuss next steps, particularly source components like an R2R DAC and tube amps. I tend to like R&B/Soul (Motown), female vocalists, and some old school hip-hop. I listen to Classical and Jazz while I study.

I live in the Northwest with my wife and dachshund. I have lots of other hobbies including board games, golf, reading, and whiskey. I built a golf simulator in my garage to keep myself "active" in the rainy months. I'm a software engineer with experience in beer and hardware startups and am doing a mid career course adjustment through a Masters program in Artificial Intelligence.

Cheers,
Greg

 

Greetings. I stumbled upon this site when doing research on HD800s headphones. They’re at the top of my Sennheiser list. I see some real interesting threads including the best amplifiers for the particular model. I plan to drive them with my Lyr + and Quicksilver amps. Also looking into a Woo amp.

 

Hello, from New Jersey! I'm glad to be here. Have been lurking and absorbing the vibes here for a bit and figured I should just sign up already. Learned a considerable lot from here, and I appreciate many of your input about specific pieces of gear. Excited to contribute and thanks for having me.

I mostly play around with headphones, and the majority of my source gear is and has been Schiit, but here's a list if it matters.

DAC: Schiit Yggdrasil+ GS2, Bifrost 2
AMPS: Schiit Mjolnir 3, Asgard 2
HEADPHONES: Sennheiser HD800S, HD650, HD600: Audeze MM-500: Focal Elex
PORTABLE/IEM: Chord Mojo 2 : Dunu Mirai

Thanks for having me!

 

Hello Friends,
I would like to introduce myself and attempt to avoid further dotard labels.
I am a music elistener, minimalist and hiker.
Chord Mojo OG
Vincent Amp and Flea Watt Amp
OJAS speakers
John Prine, Willie and older Jazz

 

Hope you don't take the reception too harshly.

I feel SBAF has a reputation for offering gear at very generous prices to members (I have personally benefitted from this a great deal over the years, it's been ridiculous value even accounting for international shipping costs via forwarding services), and so has attracted no shortage of unscrupulous folk who merely seek unjust profit or to scam others.

Transactions aside, would be interesting to get your impressions on the gear you have, what you've tried over the years. Could be helpful to you, letting others know your preferences and experiences so notes can be shared.

We do have threads about hiking and camping gear too, if that catches your fancy any

https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/camping-gear.6073/

https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/my-outdoor-gear-locker.6318/

https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...rk-alpine-cork-ergo-montem-ultra-strong.5833/

 

Hi I'm from Inverness Scotland.

Been listening to headphones seriously for around 15 years. I've owned and sold more headphones than I can remember . Constantly seeking audio nirvana.

Had the HD 600 for a few years before moving to the Focal Clear which I had for 5 years. I'm currently buying and trying a lot of headphones in quick succession before I settle down with one again.

I've recently tried Focal Stellia, Meze Empyrean and ZMF Verite Open.

Current gear is a Hugo 2 and Graham Slee Solo Ultra Linear.

 

Greetings fellow humans,

I'm 36 y/o music producer based in Amsterdam. I release my own music and I work for others.
My passion is having the most optimal sound in my house and studio so my listeners can hear my shit songs exactly as the artist intended. I have been a regional guitar and bass player for folk, pop and rock bands. Covid truly stopped my bands progress, just as we were climbing up from the club circuit to a summer of festivals, everything got cancelled, and eventually the band disbanded. Now I work solo, but I am slowly looking at forming a group again.
I'm also a mechanical engineer ("Is there anything he can't do!" *ladies swoon*). I left that career but I occasionally do some freelancing for former collegues.

I prefer to be anonymous (and thus not list my artist name), because
1: I want a place to chill and talk about sound and music, and not have a 'public face' on
2: You'll figure out that I am not famous at all so who cares.

My audio journey started with my dad, who has an impressive record collection (vinyl and tape, a lot of it bootlegged from live concerts), and Wharfdale Denton 2's on a myriad of amps and vinyl players. Not super expensive or high-end stuff, but we were often just switching things around, listen, try different speaker placements out.

Later I got my own Wharfdale's in exchange for installing internet at a teachers house, a pretty good deal. I think they are Rank Arena Wharfedale Melton 2's but I'd have to check when I find them again (in storage). Amps back in those days were whatever budget thing I could find, when I had some money I got the Yamaha RX-v479 amplifier (which I still 'main').

By stroke of luck I ended up getting T+A Criterion 160 mk2 speakers. These aren't very well known, they are enormous transmission line speakers (160cm tall) and they sound amazing.

I am strictly digital; listening on spotify all the way, producing in the box, and mostly on headphones.
It's not that I hate vinyl, cd, flac or tape, I'm just a comfort creature and those things require effort.

Gear list:
Speakers: T+A Criterion 160 mk2
Amp: Yamaha RX-v479
Interface: Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 mk2
Headphones: Ollo S5x, Sony MDR-1A,
Wireless: Sony XM-W1000, Jabra Elite 8, Jabra Active 75t, Jabra Active 65t, AKG K512 mk1, Sennheiser HD 437

I'm glad to have found this place. At first I was at a certain well known forum that offered the illusion of scientific discourse. I know when something is constructive or not. When constructive criticism is met with.. *ahem*: appeals to authority (what authority even..), evading the topic, citing research out of context, questioning the person rather than his arguments, not revising errors, not doing any blind testing (while chastising others who don't, or if they do, that they must be lying or wrong), etc... Also threads full of people repeating surface level knowledge of the music industry, thinking they know how the music industry works, mind-numbing. To be fair, there are very knowledgeable posters over there too.
Anyways, I know enough that there's something weird. At the very least, it's not advancing any knowledge.
Also, where is the fun they promised?

At first I thought SBAF was a circle-jerk of "my expensive speakers sound better because they're expensive". After a while I decided to check it out for myself, and I am (pleasantly!!) surprised that curiosity, testing and friendly banter is everywhere here, as well as well documented measurements. Also pretty surprised that my findings of 'that place' are actually very well known and discussed here. I am glad I am not insane. This is the last I'll say about it.

I'm more of a reader than a poster, and I read a lot on here. I'm looking forward to jumping in when a good topic comes along.

Cheers!

 

Hey there fellow wiggly air enthusiasts!

Long term lurker here finally creating an account for myself to engage with you guys more.

I'm a cloud architect at day and compensate the insanities that come with this job with my hobbies of which one is everything music. I play the guitar, piano and cello and when I'm not actively playing myself I very much so enjoy listening to music.

I've had my fair share of dabbling around the audiophile world in the past but unfortunately had to give up my collection back then due to a pretty rough patch health wise with my family. A lot of moving back and forth to be closer to them during their battle. Now that my headspace is back to where it belongs and I've finally settled at my new place I've decided to indulge myself back into this great hobby again.

My past source gear consisted of:

DACs: Modi, BF2, Qutest, Spring 2 L1, May L2
(Pre-)Amps: NFB11.28, Little Dot 1+, Magni, SP-200, RNHP, GS-X Mini, SA-1, Elise MK II, OOR, AHB2 + Freya
HPs: DT 770 Pro, Amiron Home, 660s, Edition XS, Arya, Vérité Open, Diana, Susvara

Funnily enough, the Vérité and ZMF's house sond really was my favorite out of all the things I've owned in the past. So naturally, I'm headed back the same way buying into the ZMF house sound but this time around with the Atrium. Was able to snatch a nice stabilized version that should arrive any time the next week.

Still deciding on the signal path for them to get a nice pairing, but that's for another thread. If however anyone has some nice recommendations I'd be more than happy to receive a PM.

So long, really looking forward to engaging with you guys!

 

And one more lurker coming out in the open.

Been at this for ~15 years, was part of the original wave of ortho modders on hf then went of hiatus for a few years. Picked it up again ~3 years ago branching out into stats, and have been heavily influenced by the approach promoted by SBAF: have my own (flat plate) measurement rig, have been religiously taking measurements of all the vintage stats and planars that pass through my hands, and re-read several of the threads here quite a few times.

I'm a "cheap bastard" at heart so I tend to prefer vintage bought cheap, and while my spending threshold has gone up considerably lately (and my total spend... well I prefer not to think of it), I'm still convinced I'll never spend the amount of money current mid or top tier products require.

Current favourites: Stax SR-Xmk3 (they *do* have bass!), Stax SR-L500, Amfiton TDS-15. The ESP-95X are on rotation but I definitely prefer Staxes. Have accumulated quite a lot of those in various state of (dis)repair, but somehow the L500 are the only Lambda model I like (yes, I have the original NB and have/had quite a few of the other Lambdas).

/me waves to @dBel84 and any of the original ortho gang who migrated here, long time no see

 

Please do share the measurements! Rather curious to see how they compare relative to one another, and to other more popular references if able?

I agree that the mid and high end is rather pricey, but entry level and budget gear nowadays is just remarkably good. Not necessarily sure how much of that translates to estats (they're not much my speed sadly), but planars and dynamics are happy.

 

Absolutely. I'm waiting for an HD600 which I will use as reference for my rig's measurements, then will start sharing in the Stax and orthodynamic threads (unless new dedicated threads for each model are preferred here).

 

Hello All!

Like many new members, I too found this site so important. I finally decided to stop lurking and come out and engage. I started this journey around 3 years ago. I have yet to have the upgraditus itch as I am still in discoveritus (a state of learning).

Cheers!

 

Welcome! That's an awful lot of syllables in your name, if one speaks out all the brackets!

 

Hello everyone!

Long time lurker of many different hi-fi forums, I settled on a HD800 sdr and NFB11.28 after going to a handful of meets and was satisfied with this combo for many years. I recently went to AXPONA 2024 however, and caught the bug all over again, so here I am

Cheers!