I lied to my wife about the price of Stax 009S headphone


My wife is the youngest of my mom in law who is 88 years old.

Recently my wife is staying with her mom to take care  expecting her mom can live just one more year or so.

Thus I am having happy life playing music loud even during midnight.

My house is seated on 2 acre lot so that my neighbors does not get bothered unless windows open wide.


My wife dropped at home yesterday ( She drop once a week to clean the messy kitchen while she is away.  She is an angel Ha ha).

She happened to see my new headphone of Stax 009S headphone and asked its price.

I could tell her the real value ( new price 4,500$ and I got 4 months used one for 3,200$).

I did not mean to deceive her but answered it costs me 1,500$ by chance.


Then she had listened to K-Pop using both  Stax 009S headphone driven by Carbon amplifier and Massdrop  Empire Zeus IEM( I told her the real value as 1,000$ No lie here Hehe).

The source was  Cocktail Audio X30 music server feeding  Chord Dave and Mscaler ( I did not tell her how much Chord Dave and Mscaler cost, if she find out, I may have to buy her diamond necklace)

On first few songs, she prefer  Empire Zeus IEM  to  Stax 009S headphone on lively sound of the former.

But after listening few more songs, she expressed that  Stax 009S headphone sounds more natural than  Empire Zeus IEM .


Whew if I had told her that I had spent 3200$ on headphone, I may have to go out to buy her something like expensive bag or clothing.

Reality is I had also spent additional 3300$ on  KGSSHV Carbon headphone amplifier.

How many of your audiophile had lied to your wife or girlfriend about the cost of audio components?

I guess 98% from my 41 years of audio history.


128x128shkong78

@SHKONG78i

I was just bustin' on ya!  When I was out of college I rented an apartment in NYC.  I used paper plates, and plastic knives and forks, etc.  I never even turned n the gas for the oven!

I began repairing gear a while back and building my own gear.  If you start with dimple designs it really is not hard.  Learning what makes things sound the way they do is the best way to understand how to make things sound better.  Some of my designs are on my page under my system.  By the end of the year we will be ready to go.  We also won best sound of show at the prior two CAF shows with GT Audio speakers.

Keep listening to music.  In building components, I have lost the extra time needed to just sit back and relax and enjoy.

Since my wife puts up with me, I compromise and try to do nice things for her probably just like the rest of everyone here does.


Uber  Congratulations on both cars. Great hearing the story and your connection to cars in general and both recent purchases. Coincidentally, I just happened to be behind a Metallic White 718 GTS this morning. Gorgeous.

OP, apologies for straying. 
A few years ago I was seriously debating getting a Porsche 911. I started really getting into audio at the same time and ultimately decided I would get more hours of enjoyment from nice audio gear and time spent immersed in music than I ever would from a car. Ideally I’d have both but for me I decided to make it an either/or question and committed myself only to audio. I later decided a 2018 VW Golf GTI provided ample road fun for me.
I always thought a stereo store with a jewelry  counter would be a good business venture