What was the first pair of headphones that made you say HOLY CRAP?

TL;DR: HIFIMAN HE560, holy cow!

The HIFIMAN HE560 was my entry into headphone Hi-Fi, the only other headphone I had owned was the ANC Sennheiser PXC 450 purchased back in 2011 at an airport during a work trip. At the time, it was between the HE560 and the Edition X. A few things led me to choosing the HE560 over the Edition X, weirded out by the fit of the egg / teardrop shaped cups being one, the other was the cost, because who would pay a thousand or two just for headphones (little did I know).

I started out driving these via the built-in amp in my AVR. Read online the HE560s requiring more power because more power means more better sounding. So then that led to purchasing and trying a bunch of headphone amps, then balanced cable to go with it, then DACs.

When they were heavily discounted, I ended up purchasing a second pair to start another setup at another location. Then repeat with headphone amp and DAC. Fortunately (?), I haven’t started on tube rolling.

The HE560s were also what lead me to finding this forum, following @antdroid’s various posts over at the Head-Fi forum, and following him here. I was lurking for probably 6-8 months before actually deciding to join. Here I am now, exactly one year on, probably should have posted this in my intro post.

I have the HE560s to thank for introducing me into headphone Hi-Fi and this forum, a wealth of information.

:headphones::notes::headphones::notes::headphones::tumbler_glass::tumbler_glass::tumbler_glass:

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