Welcome to you both!
Urchins.
It’s a British thing.
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I’m a newbie to this community. Hope to know friends who’re interested in headphones.
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Monica Glad to have you here. Looking forward learning from you. I hope you will learn from us. Welcome to the most peaceful yet learning audio forum on the planet. 
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Welcome to the forum and hope you enjoy it here
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Hi Monica, welcome. Tell us some more.
Hi, Monica and welcome. There’s some great people in this forum and we’re all friendly.
-Paul-
Hello, I joined the forum a while ago, but this is one of my first posts.
I love hi-end audio. Most of my critical and enjoyable listening experience is with two channel home audio—I enjoy a deep and wide soundstage with precise imaging.
Recently I had my hearing tested at Costco and found out that I had no measurable (up to 8kHz) hearing loss and my threshold of hearing was 0dB in both ears!!! I told the Audiologist that was impossible, but he explained the scale is weighted to 0dB. This Audiologist of 30 years claimed that I had the best hearing results he’d ever measured for someone over 20 years old and I’m in my late 40s. I’ve always protected my hearing and do so even today, always keeping hearing protection in my bedroom, office, briefcase, vehicles and jackets—and use hearing protection for feeding my 18-month old baby, vacuuming, mowing the lawn, operating heavy equipment, shooting sports, and sleeping—my wife and baby like white noise in the background—it’s too loud for me.
I celebrated my hearing test results by buying a Benchmark DAC3 HGC for my two channel home audio system—to possibly upgrade/replace my Modwright Oppo 205 universal player, an upgraded Parasound/CEC CD player with old school DAC for CD playback, and Bruce Moore and Pass Labs preamplifiers.
After months of enjoyable and critical listening to all of my owned system components, cables and auditioning of borrowed components, Marantz CD 10 SACD player, ultra hi-end cables, fuses, tube swapping, ripping my SACD collection to DSF files (possibly the most audible and enjoyable upgrade I have done in the last 20 years), etc. I decided that my upgraded Modwright Oppo sounded best for my high resolution two channel home audio preferences and needs.
I then decided to critically listen to in-ear monitors to find the best source and Amplifier combination—Benchmark DAC3 HGC, Oppo 205 headphone jack (doesn’t take advantage of the Modwright tube and external power supply upgrades), Marantz Pro CD player with old school DAC and headphone jack, Bose portable CD player, RadioShack Optimus portable CD player (the “golden one” from years ago), Pioneer Elite Multi Channel Receiver with a nice DAC and headphone jack, two AudioQuest USB DACs, and the Fiio Q1 mkII DAC. I tested with my current IEMs: Westone W3, W80, AudioFly 160 and a BA/Dynamic hybrid model, Shure BA’s (don’t know the model), UE BA’s (don’t know the model), Sennheiser ie800, Q-Jays, Sony Z5, Knowles IEM engineering sample TWFK BA’s, and a few other Mid to Hi-end IEMs.
I was surprised to experience the vast sound signatures with the different types of IEMs, once I had a Reference Source, Reference Source Audio Media (DSF files ripped from my SACDs Sound better than any high resolution files I’ve been able to audition in home) and Amplifier to drive my IEMs.
I then tried the different types, shapes, materials, brands, etc. of ear tips I have collected over the years and found this even more revealing to alter/enhance/limit/mask the sound of each IEM. It was fun and revealing, as previous to this I didn’t have a resolving IEM system to hear all of these wonderful differences. I still need to try more ear tips styles/types with my IEMs, as this is a relatively inexpensive modification.
Now, I want to find a portable DAP with native DSD play back, with a balanced output jack, in the $400-1000 price range to drive my IEMs, not needed to drive high impedance (300+ ohms) headphones.
I had been using the Onkyo DSD enabled app with my iPhone X and the Fiio Q1 mkII, but after A/B-ing it with the Benchmark DAC3 HGC, I wanted more resolution and better imaging.
So, this I why I’m on the forum looking for a DAP and introducing myself today.
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Welcome @g_bryan you’ve some nice gear there.
-Paul-
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DSF files ripped from my SACDs Sound better than any high resolution files I’ve been able to audition in home
You can say that again. Welcome to you @g_bryan .
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glad to be here
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Welcome . You’ll probably never look back after seeing how mellow this forum is. 
It’s just past midnight my end so this will either be exceedingly brief (which is far from my usual style) or rife with appalling grammar. Fingers crossed I err on the side of brevity for once.
My name’s Kevin and I’ve actually been lurking around the forum for a few months now, after coming across it in a random Google search about some amp or other and later again when a friend from another forum brought it to my attention. I’ve been interested in “better” audio since about 2006 maybe, but have only really made any decent headway in putting together a proper rig these last couple years.
I waffle between being the most reticent introvert on the planet and being loud enough to talk your ears off at a whisper. Not necessarily a fan of neutral sound (which is something I took years to come to terms with), and my gear reflects this. I’ve gone through more good headphones since 2017 than I have over the preceding decade— by way of Providence and budgetary constraints my main headphones nowadays are a Klipsch HP-3 (in ebony) and the MD x Fostex TH-X00 (also in ebony), which speaks volumes about my preferences I feel. I’ve some random, relatively inexpensive amps lying around, my favourites being the Fostex HP-V1 and the G1217 Sunrise III— I’m working on saving up for nicer upstream gear at the moment, though that’s quite a ways off.
I’ve several other hobbies, though working on my audio rig and enjoying the horrible music I like out of it has taken center stage these last few months.
Won’t bite unless given reason to but will geek out and make a nuisance of myself without much prompting.
Cheers!
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Welcome @Lyer25!
I prefer the more balanced neutral-ish sound but sometimes having a fun headphone is a good alternate for me. I really, really, really like the looks of the Foster TH-X00 series and I may have to pick one up one of these days. I’ve heard many good things about them, but now there are different choices to choose from. I’ve been leaning to the ebony ones for the sound sig but the purple ones look awesome.
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Grazie, @antdroid !
Neutral is definitely more versatile, but I was chasing that dragon for a while and eventually came to the conclusion that I’d rather settle for cans that I like, FR be damned, than relapse into Objectivism^TM. I do think that the X00 and HP-3 don’t do too badly with any single genre, but I’ve found myself to be a bit more sensitive to midrange honk than some others.
The ebony X00 might be great for you since it’s not that far skewed off neutral, at least to my ears. Definitely a more relaxed presentation with that gradual slope down from the subbass, but I have to warn you that the 11kHz spike is painful on some recordings. That’s about my only complaint with them (apart from how they were somewhat muddled by cupped reverb, but it didn’t take too long to adapt). Have to agree that the purplehearts are much easier on the eyes, though!
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Welcome to you Kevin. It takes all types to make up our world. From the membership post I’ve seen including mine, I’m sure you will feel quite at home. Look forward hearing your experiences and hope you will learn from ours.
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Haha, it certainly does, doesn’t it? I don’t feel I’ll be able to contribute particularly much given the breadth of my experience with gear (or lack thereof), but I’m always happy to talk shop with audio enthusiasts!
Thanks, @Carmantom!
Hello from Anguilla, Caribbean Island.
Love music.
Audiophiles and Headphone communities are bad for my pocket but I can’t stay away.
Is there any AAA equivalence for audio gadgets lovers?
Anyway, happy to be here.
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Welcome @Lyer25.
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Hi and welcome Anguilla. You’ll fit right in here.
Welcome! I think this place is anti-Audioholics Anonymous. The photography/gear pics on this site are really good compared to other communities. Makes your curiosity heighten even more so than normal. 
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