At what price is one considered an Audiophile.

Thank for your appreciation...

I did not rebuild the headphone ... It was a very good design to begin with... I changed the inner shell chamber by extracting the thick grid that was there for protection not sound quality.... I put anti vibration product inside, 2 complementary one, sorbothane duro 70 and Fo.Q tape from japan ... I chose the right pads on five possible choices i bought  at low cost in China because the volume of the shell chamber matter then the thickness of the pad matter a lot and i pick a perforated pad for better results ... I used the right equalization to be nearer the Harman curve ... I picked the right amplifier , after trying two others the second more cleaner among the three but the more powerful because this K340 are picky to drive ...I used a dac more on the analysing side deliberately because this headphone is very organic and need very clean source...i used also my homemade protecting EMI plate  ( shungite+copper tape ) all along beside my components ... Etc...

Without all this my headphone is not at all the same... Now it beat anything i heard in headphones...

This is only simple experiments... It takes me 6 months to reach the end... It was fun and low cost...

Do you prefer to buy a 5,000 bucks headphone which i even doubt will beat my 100 bucks K340 on ALL acoustic counts because anyway by design he is one of its kind and prove that very old design can be irreplaceable even today ?

Learning is fun it takes only thinking and experimenting...But you are right it is costly in time and i am retired...

I call that optimization ...

It is trying that or throwing money on the gear ...

I prefer to motivate creativity  here than claiming that costly upgrade are the only one solution  as most think anyway erroneously ... The minimal acoustic satisfaction threshold dont ask for 100,000 bucks of gear ...

Please understand that i spoke this way to motivate people and push them to study a bit before making  useless half the time big expanse...

@mahgister While I applaud your attitude and your ability to dive deep into the world of tinkering to achieve results where the end product is greater than the sum of it’s parts, there’s one big fly in the ointment with many of your posts. The word ability. Pretty sure I’m not the only life long music lover who has never acquired the knowledge or experience to do what you do. And once again, I applaud you for being able to walk down that road. For those like me who have no option but to open our wallets when we want to get a better result..........

Now if you want me to crib and pour a foundation, frame a house, wire and plumb it, or maybe you need some beautiful furniture, then I’m your man. But rebuild a vintage set of headphones? I just don’t speak that language.

@deep_333    If your current system is your final audio destination kudos. What is offensive is claiming anyone that has or desires an audio system of better build and sound quality cares less about music and more about gear? That might get the award for "most convoluted" statement on Audiogon!

@dayglow ,  No clue what you are talking about (the "convolution" could be in your head)..My Stereo rig runs between 100 to 150k depending on what I throw in it.  My multichannel rig might be around 20 to 30k, ~50 to 60k if treatments are included.

The gateway drug/affordable/bona-fide audiophilia rig I posted above I what my daughter currently runs in her apartment.

If high end audio died with my generation (avg age: 50 to 70), it may have a lot to do with the type of "personalities" that hang out in hifi forums.

@phusis +1

Mike

At what price is one considered an Audiophile?

Our sanity when we open our wallets. But the payout is good for our souls

when a great friend stops by to hear her top 100 recording and declares the listening chair…. “ God’s Seat…”

BTW @whart has is own version of that seat… we don’t trade in envy… just the endless pursuit of better music….