I would just like to add another item. Didn’t want to edit the topic, and – please believe me – I have learned this way before a thread that got locked recently:
– If I can’t hear the difference between the gear I have, that doesn’t mean others can’t.
I may be skeptical on what one is saying/lobbying, but my truth and his/hers are only 2 out of the billions truths out there. A sentence I truly like is: “Blame the game not the player”.
To conclude – as a bonus – another one I’ve learned ages ago:
– If my truth needs convincing, I’ll need tons of energy 'cause this may be a very very long battle.
IEMs are great, and I really like having a good set.
It’s cheaper in the long term to buy the thing you really want up front rather than trying to go cheap and then buying what you really wanted in the first place later on.
I like simple gear. More knobs and dials and switches really annoys me (looking at you RME!)
This is genuinely one of the nicest, most genial and friendly communities on the Internet, at least in my experience. I’ve learned so much from people who share what they know so freely. And it’s been so nice to have a community to participate in this year when we’ve all been avoiding human contact. I’m very grateful for all of you.
Not applicable if you only think it’s what you want, but have not yet formed a basis for what it is that you like, and therefore don’t know what you really want. If this sounds like you, it probably is.
Well… hmm… maybe more of best practices mixed with some lessons learned? As well as things to remember to maintain…
keeping gear long past the time I should have moved it onto people that would enjoy it more than I
Friendships matter in this isolated hobby, especially with being so physically isolated with Covid lockdowns
at the end of the day… enjoy the MUSIC… then the GEAR
Don’t feed the trolls
People can surprise you in good and bad ways, that you didn’t think possible
patience, empathy, and understanding go a long way
Don’t post your first write up of a post when angry/impatient/frustrated/etc stop re-read and think to yourself… is this how I want to be remembered?
We are all Protagonists to our own stories… but remember… there are no NPCs in real life!
Music is the great equalizer
Mistakes are just experiences that help you better understand yourself and to reach higher… if you fall, get up… dust off… and try again
One person’s objective is another’s subjective or one person’s #1 gear item, is anothers worse gear item. We all love what we love and have experiences and biases enforcing them…doesn’t mean they are great for everyone
some people will just not get along, and that is ok…
As the great storytellers of the past have said… “do unto others as you would like done unto yourself”
More headphone/gear specific
every bit of gear in this hobby is great to someone
TOTL gear is just different flavors of excellent… most of the time
Find your own preference… don’t let someone else tell you what is good, or bad!
FR is a 2D representation of real-life…treat it appropriately
Reviewers are just people, they all have their own biases/experiences/preferences none are infallible! find those that align “generally” with your preferences and always try and get hands-on experience to better to decide what is right for yourself.
ZMF is the best headphone maker… I’ll fight anyone who says otherwise
Ok, long ridiculous post… take it as just a ramble and fun… with hopefully some wisdom gleaned… I’m sure I could go on and on ha!
You! The community! Are all beautiful! I may not agree with some, but that is what makes us humans… it would be boring and bland if we all liked the same stuff… always amazing learning new things from all of you! I look forward to 2021 and all that may come with it We’ll take that journey together on the forum
Can be summed up by “How I learned to stop worrying and love the music.”
It’s really fun trying new things out and experiencing the new hotness, but in the end, if you’re not listening, then what’s the point?
It can be really easy to get obsessed with reviews, hype and wanting to get something new, but enjoying the last thing you were obsessing over is much healthier than moving on to the next thing right away.
On the flip side, I realized this year that I really need to explore more music. I’ve always been someone to geek out over new speakers, headphones and amps to try and make the same music sound better/different, but I’ve never been one to branch out and try new music. I’m now trying to build my library and actively listen to songs/albums I probably wouldn’t have listened to before. As much as I love certain songs, there is only a finite number of times that I can listen to them until they’re ruined, at least for a while.
Upgrading gear will not keep me away from the cringe music I blasted as a 14 year old
The people in this forum are unbelievably humble
OTL tube amps can bring a phenomenal magic to music
I still don’t know anything after two years of being in the hobby
Certain combos can work out no problem despite specs not matching up quite right, and I’m not going to pretend for second I know why
End game is a myth
Many people that have the best gear show great excitement for those just starting out. It’s remarkable how kind this community is
I develop attachments to my gear very fast if the people making my favorite headphones directly recommend it
Synergy is huge. I feel like I listened to a couple headphones for the first time this year.
All the well known people in this hobby are way more open to casually chat than I thought. Andrew from ResolveReviews, Chrono, Marcello, etc.
Taron is awesome. I was intimidated to speak with him for a while since his brother is the CEO of Headphones.com, but he’s super chill and easy going. He even put together a Focal Clear raffle to help out one of our most loved community members
Schiit is superb value. I like their class A/B Asgard and Lyr 3 a lot. The Bifrost 2 knocked my socks off with its detail and space.
Everyone has their own truth. Part of the fun is figuring out who likes what you do and joining in on the excitement for going deeper down the rabbit hole.
True that! A corollary to this is that I’m blown away by just how much well, or at all least decently, recorded stuff there is out there, and how many musicians and engineers consistently perform at a really high level. Maybe I’m not that discerning, but it’s rare for me to run across music that makes me think “oh, that’s crap”. I’m very grateful for that and in awe of these artists.
> to get my own ears on gear before subscribing to any audio truths. It’s all preferences in the end.
This… always and forever! Never forget!
For me imo it’s go big… incremental upgrades are fun but once you have a clear idea of what you want… give it a listen and save up for it. After a certain point little steps spread across years become less satisfying then simply enjoying the music thru what you have and saving up for what you really want!
Once you get what you REALLY want it’s more deeply satisfying than a dozen little beneficial tweaks
Of course that journey for finding what it is you like, what you want and figuring out how to get it… well that looks different for everyone! An with Covid limiting our chances to meet together it’s even harder to hear things that you can’t just easily purchase…
But yea listen with you own ears and opinions first and foremost, figure out what you like and go for it!
As stupid as it may sound, Corona had brought me an audiophile discovery this year that I hadn’t expected .
Throughout my life I have always used open headphones for pure music enjoyment, but since the middle of March this year, both my wife and I have been working in the home office, a solution had to be found.
Since I always listen to music in addition to my job, and it annoyed my wife with it, I had three high-quality, closed headphones delivered to my home to test them for me.
WOW , these cans are now sounding so good that I kept two with me.
I retuned the third one, but I am so enthusiastic that I am now considering another closed “upper-ender”.
After almost 40 years with almost exclusively open headphones, this is the first realization that I will take HiFi technically from 2020.
The other is that with the KEF LS50 Wireless2 and the Buchardt A500, two speaker systems have come onto the market this year that are so good, versatile, compact and tidy, that after more than thirty years I will say goodbye to my B&W - Marantz combination .
Music first, gear second, even in the time of streaming. I was under budgeting for music, and that was limiting my enjoyment and appreciation for the hobby. Turns out spending some time and money looking for new music was much more rewarding than new gear.
Last minute lesson I also had forgotten to mention:
No A/B’ing headphones or EQ profiles during the same listening session.
Simple example as context. I have no complaints to the sound signature of HD800S. The very only time I found it too harsh or bright was last week, when I was listening to the HD660S a couple of minutes earlier.
but more recently, I have come across the holy grail of sorts of if you have the right dap and IEM/Headphone pairing, that bad recordings can be made exponentially better sounding out of thin air. There is something to be made of that.
This hobby is a blast and its helped make a very bad year still fun. I bought a half dozen high end transducers this year. So here are my lessons learned:
Make sure to add beer in the equipment chain, nothing will improve SQ more.
Take your IEM outside at the beach or in the mountains. The staging will immediately include the heavens themselves. Talk about depth.
Change your IEMs and headphones around constantly. You can repeat that Wow factor over and over. But it does take a few hours for you brain to burn it in.
I usually use a DAP (Hiby 5 or 6) but when I sit down at my computer I use a simple $150 DAC/Amp device or my Audeze cipher cable (if listening to my LCDi3). I sold all my much more expensive desktop DACs and AMPs because they brought nothing extra to the table. All my headphones and IEMs are pretty sensitive however.
Streaming services like Tidal are revolutionary. 80% of the time I’m listening to something new; I just can’t get over it. The world is an amazingly creative place.
Equalizers are life changers. Experiment! I have greatly improved all my devices with EQ.
Preferences are not fixed. I have at least a dozen preferences that all conflict but I enjoy each one. Its like tasting different exquisite and exotic food. Give different sound signatures a chance.
Sound changes from hour to hour and mood to mood. A good beer helps smooth over treble peaks.
Not applicable if you only think it’s what you want, but have not yet formed a basis for what it is that you like, and therefore don’t know what you really want. If this sounds like you, it probably is.
or one person’s 
We’ll take that journey together on the forum 
fully concur there with you.
.
to my home to test them for me.
that I kept two with me.
with almost exclusively open headphones, this is the first realization that I will take HiFi technically from 2020.