From Hobby to Obsession and Back to Hobby
Hello guys,
I really missed writing on this blog, as I really got accustomed to it 😀 .
Writing here made me think more about audio gear and this led to some upgradatis side effects.
Unfortunately, lately, I ran out of audio devices to write about. As I told you in my last post, I had the oppurtunity to listen to a bunch of really nice stuff like LCD3, HD800 and M2Tech Vaughan with the courtesy of Darku again :D. I was really looking forward to finding my new upgrade victim.
I was surprised to see that even if lcd3 had some stuff they do better, lcd2 had more fun factor for me. Let’s just say that lcd3 adds some qualities from hd800 to lcd2, but hd800 does those qualities better, so for that price difference you could get HD800 as complementary headphones :D.
So this thought started to grow on me:
Well I calculated my budget…did some approximations looked for some second hand offers on headfi…when it hit..me..I should get a second pair but a closed one not to have both open..
I thought it was best to have a high end closed headphone, in case I cannot use the open ones. I thought that only the denon d7000 would be ok for me and found some offers on headfi. I was just waiting to get the money I was waiting for.
Meantime Sennheiser Momentum got into AVstore. I like my k550 very much, but I would like a smaller and more euphonic pair of headphones, easier to carry around and without seal issues. (If you remember, in the K550, fiio e17 post I showed you the elastic “fix” . It started as a joke but now I am using it daily :)), as it is very efficient.
Meanwhile I started thinking again about HD800…than again about denon d7000, then again at Momentum…
The round robin upgradatis thoughts started to bother me:
I entered a few nights ago on messenger and started talking with my good old friend from Holland, George Dinca, which practically was the first to introduce me to this hobby. We started talking, and I told him of my upgrade dilemma and he started laughing and told me “You see these headphones on my head? (HD800). Well I bought them with the Meyer Simphony 2 over 2 years ago and since then never looked for upgrades any more. It’s about the music man…You lost it!” . Ok… Never really took it seriously then :)) and I almost corrupted him to buy an Lcd2 for himself. I may have past the “disease” to him :)). Than we started talking about monitors as I was thinking getting a new UltraSharp as my TN Panel lenovo was getting kind of old.
After that I started talking with Traian about my complementary headphone choice issue. He also stated I lost it and should get into another thing, and told me about a monitor too.
Ok…the second person telling me that I lost it, and also a second person talking about monitors… I started thinking they were right. After a few more days I realized I listened too much at my headphones lately (at work and at home) and I think at a too loud volume, as I felt a little cold starting to get me and my ears were not functioning properly.
I observed that I had a little iiiii sound in the background. Ok , I think it was time for a little pause for a few days to let them rest 🙂 .
One night I came home, got a glass of red wine and started listening to Conductor + LCD2, just sitting and listening to music with the eyes closed.
The sound was sublime and I remembered what it was all about.
Also I realized that lately I listened to music while working, reading, etc, not really concentrating on it and I forgot how good it feels only listening to music.
I decided to relax for a while and wait for the new Silver Widow cable I ordered , and enjoy what I have for a while as all my combos are great for what they were intended.
Well all the talking about monitors made me buy a Dell U2913WM, the model Sandu showed me (you thought he was not involved here?…of course he was :)) ) .
What I have learned from this…
When you reach a very good sound and you start loving this hobby and read a lot of stuff about other audio gear, it is very easy to fall into upgradatis syndrome and pass from hobby to obsession.
Don’t forget what this hobby is really about, and don’t forget from time to time to take some time for yourself, get very relaxed :
and listen to some music with your eyes closed in perfect silence, concentrating just on the songs.
So now I am waiting for the Silver Widow and for a while nothing more…(maybe a fuse…or a Momentum…or..just kiddin’…or am I? :)) )