Head-Fi can be so hardcore

I spent many years putting together my headphone system… starting in the early 2000’s. I spent a lot of time on Head-Fi. Although I have had some sort of really good headphone system for over fifty years.

I had a great main audio system and wanted my headphone system to reach the
“magical” level. That level at which the music, some of which you would “never” listen to would completely captivate you. This was my office system, it would allow me to dive into a work problem and the better the music the more I could let go and intellectually dive into the problem.

I think I worked on it for four or five years until I finally reached that tipping point… it became magical (many of us know what that means). I think the last pieces were a power conditioner. Anyway, no one in the office knew my system, hidden behind my computer and monitors was worth about $7K.

But the thing is, when you reach this level.. everything changes… upgrades are no longer required, the music becomes captivating and, well, it is just magical.

My feeling is some of the folks on Head-Fi either know this or have experienced it. It is this dedication to get better sound that drives us. I think it is important that the journey be the enjoyment… and then if you are really fortunate, the destination is simply incredible.

I am really fortunate. The journey has been incredible. I was a Geologist and spent a decade with the best portable systems wondering all over the West. I worked internationally for the next thirty years… and the memories like listening to ERA (the band), while looking out my window in Tokyo, and grooving to tunes in the middle of nowhere in mainland China… and dining in the Bankton Hotel in Scotland while listening to my favorite Scottish band are absolutely irreplaceable memories from all over the world. I also collected music from all over the world.

The real pay off for me came after retirement when I upgraded my system 2x. For the last 3 - 4 years I have been in real heaven… now having time to listen. I spend about 2 - 3 hours a day with my main system and about an hour with my headphone system. I find it hard to pull myself away from either… every day. They are the most amazing thing in my life… the result of over fifty years of learning, enjoyment, and investing. You can see my systems under my UseID.

Worth the thousands of hours of research and thousands of dollars.

Big +1s on both @whart ​​​​@ghdprentice and as always well reasoned and well said based on years of hard-won experience. The only one small thing I’d mention is, for most of us, budget almost always comes into play. This is what brought me to my end — or at least my end as I can afford it now what with two teenagers headed toward college, etc. My HeadFi rig all in comes to about $7k and for that budget I’ve optimized as best I can and for my tastes everything from power conditioner to streamer/source to amp/DDC/DAC, to ‘phones and all the cables in between and I’m perfectly happy now and want for nothing. Could it be better, and maybe even a lot better? Hell yeah, but I’ve done through research and trial and error the best I think I can do at what I could spend, and I’m really happy every time I listen. Now, I can either drive myself nuts thinking about the next thing I could improve but can’t afford, or I can just sit back and enjoy where I’ve currently landed, and I much prefer the latter. To me, the key is getting your setup, whatever your budget, to the point where everything just sounds “right” TO YOU and there’s nothing or little that offends your senses or sounds unnatural or wrong. That’s where I am with both my home and HeadFi systems, and while I may tweak here or there in the future as budget allows for what look like meaningful improvements or as significant technological advances provide, I’m just damn happy where I’ve landed and with what I hear. And like the very sage advice I think that was provided by whart and ghdprentice above, work within your budget to get to a place where you’re happy and then just friggin’ stop and enjoy your efforts and the music. Life’s too short to just keep chasing your tail for the “next big thing.” Not sure I answered anything here, but I think a true audiophile trusts their ears and can tell when they’re truly happy. Stop there for awhile and just enjoy the fruits of your effort until something REALLY significant piques your audiophile self and then maybe think about opening the wallet again if possible. Do the work you need to get happy and then do what we should all be doing and just enjoy the music. If you can’t just do that, then you know something’s wrong or maybe your priorities could be a bit outta whack. Ok, I’ve babbled far too long and maybe gone nowhere, but this is all I got for what I thought was a very good and thoughtful question for many here. Enjoy!!!

I was going through the IER Z1R thread on HF and the lengths some people go to to squeeze every last bit of sound (pun intended) out of their stuff make my eyes water.

To each their own but it seems like some (many?) people use music to listen to their gear, and I wonder if they even enjoy music or is it just something to justify their investments...  https://routerlogin.uno/ 

OTOH, reading that thread does make me wonder if I'm underutilizing mine, now I have to guard myself against bad financial decisions...

i got this.....

I am a very young dude with 72 years of experience...In the beginning of my journey, my audio system was so much not satisfying that i look to some albums particularly well recorded one only  to be able to enjoy music a bit...

I used for many years my music as a testing ground for my speakers/room because i learned hor to tune it incrementally ...  I listen to the "sound" then as much as i listened to music...

Now coming from a very good dedicated speakers/room at thend of the process  back to headphone by the fate ( asmaller house with no audio room for me)  and lucky enough to enjoy a fully optimized Akg K340 hybrid  headphone ( it takes me 6 months to optimize it)  i listen music and bother no more with sound and acoustic, not because my actual system is perfect , it is not, but because it seems perfect to me...

When music only is visible with your eyes, open or closed, and there is no sound, but only feeling, the audio system is near perfect for you....

In the meantime i learned enough about acoustic to be able to forgot it now....

I just listen Junko Onishi, a jazz pianist,  seeing her behind me playing with the other musicians in front of me...I forgot that it was just "sound"...

By the way, BEWARE, of those who will make you believe thats it is the money invested that gives you a "perfect" audio system, it is false and illusory and costly; it is basic acoustic knowledge and wise purchase that give me the "perfect" audio system... Anyway learning is more fun than just spending...my system cost is ridiculous : 600 bucks... Improving it will cost 15,000 bucks nothing less... But i did not bother to do it even if i could...

Forgot reviewers and read about acoustic...

Interesting thread.  If I can weigh in here about Head-Fi and headphone enthusiasts.

First, headphones have not yet seen the drastic and unprecedented rise in prices seen in speaker-based systems.  The most expensive, at least regular production models, run around $6K.  Try that on for size on speakers alone.  I remember when I first became involved with audio systems in the early 1980s.  I also remember when I thought an Infinity IRS system costing $50K was outlandish.  I just saw a pair of $1.1 million speakers for sale used for $432K here on Audiogon.

Second, I agree that headphones have made more inroads into the younger generations.  Maybe not the most expensive tier but just witness the number of younger folks listening to headphones, perhaps to drown out all the destructive noise in our society.

Third, I am probably guilty of riding the incessant merry-go-round of sonic improvements where equipment is most important and music merely test software.  It really is all about the music and whenever I enter that realm I am much more happy and relaxed than when I am obsessed with sonic upgrades.

Thank you.