Guilty pleasure gear pics

Placeholder for sharing pictures of your current or ultimate guilty pleasure headphone(s).

Allow me to debut this thread by sharing this one, bought almost 10 years ago (July 2011). Still rocking. Stock headband and ear cups are long gone as expected.

Great all arounder. Literally disappears in my head. Tonally to my taste but boxy sound.

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Sonic Perfection . . .

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Where is the guilt here? What am I missing? :smiley:

I should probably fill the thread description with what guilty pleasure means. Help appreciated here, @TylersEclectic. This is actually something I hear a lot in your shows. Thanks much!

Something you shouldn’t enjoy very much because it deviates from the ideal or norm. Despite that, you derive pleasure from it anyway.

Like bathing in a tub full of children’s tears. It’s horrible, yet so good.

Or so I’ve heard.

Nevermind.

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My take – in a headphone context, of course – was something like: if this sound so good to me why there are so many bad reviews out there?

In my Bose picture though, I tried to show the heresy part of it. It’s kind of a sin in the audiophile world. :wink:

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Yes. Let’s go with that.

I play way to much Cards Againt Humanity.

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hahaha. I had a few different readings as well. None of them were probably relevant to this forum.

Still waiting for @TylersEclectic’s input. He’s probably the political arm on this thread and his big purple heart should help clearing things up.

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I think the Bose is an appropriate guilty pleasure…in the audio world…I think I would have to shut this thread down if we opened up “guilty pleasures” outside of the audio world though…

@ProfFalkin and your description of audio guilty pleasure are exactly inline with my thinking on it…

My guilty pleasure headphone is the Campfire Audio Cascades…I think they are fun and work great with a bunch of my portable stuff…I take them on most of the trips I go on… but most people don’t like them for being “bass boys” but I personally don’t find them overbearing;) well they do put bass/lows on a pedestal… =)

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You’re not missing anything. I saw the photo and posted quickly . . Consider it a not guilty pleasure!! :slight_smile: :wink:

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“Paging Dr. Bruno Betelheim. You have a call on the black courtesy phone”

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My guilty pleasure is any of the clones of the iSK MDH9000 closed back headphones. I’ve owned 4 pairs of various clones, gave away 3/kept one. My favorite of them is the Marantz MPH-2.

Marantz MPH-2

This is ChiFi at its best: inexpensive (my MPH-2s cost $50), comfortable, musical, with very ear-friendly treble, a punchy (tho elevated) bass, and shockingly good soundstaging for a closed back.

I use these + the humble-but-good FiiO e10K amp/DAC when I travel.

Every time I put these on, I’m filled with doubt…how could they possibly sound good compared to a ZMF Ori, Aeolus, HD650, others? Then I relax–they sound very pleasing, just as I remember.

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amidoinitrite?

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Really nice carpentry work. Did you do this yourself? :clap: :clap: :clap:

Absolutely, that is honey locust in the first few photos and rainbow poplar in another. I designed and built the amps as well.

This one I did in walnut, maple, and brushed copper for a gentleman on this site, @FLTWS.

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Everyone has been hating on me cause I’ve been loving these but they do something special with Japanese music. Tuned specifically for Sony Music Japan in 1980’s and still going strong.

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Oh man, I really want to hear these !!! Was down to these or the Mest Mkii for my first major IEM and I pulled the trigger on the Mest Mkii today. These may be next…just wish there was someplace I could audition gear at where I am to be sure I can fit them.

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Yeah deffo worth trying first due to possible fit issues, funnily enough I bought mine without demo’ing them off Amazon UK so I would’ve been able to return them if I had any issues but lo and behold they’re a perfect fit for me 4+ hour listening sessions no probs…

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They’re my endgame set, hope you enjoy your MEST mk2 just as much :beers:

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