Headphones

I’ve been a pretty big fan of quality headphones for a long time. You can get fantastic sound from headphones for just a fraction of what you’d pay for a decent set of loudpeakers. I had my first taste of hi-fi audio through a set of Grado cans at a friend’s house when I was a teenager, and I’ve had a bit of a “thing” for audio reproduction ever since. Naturally, I was enamoured with the Grado’s and went out and bought myself some SR60’s towards the end of high school. I loved them. Not the most comfortable set of cans as they sit on top of your ear, but boy they had pop. In university my SR60’s were stolen when our house was broken into, and sadly I’ve been without a good set of phones ever since.

When I started making decent money I bought bits of stero equipment here and there. Played with big towers, tube amps, fancy D/A converters, and so on. Eventually, as I came to understand the type of sound I enjoyed, I sold all that stuff off and when I moved to Vancouver I “downsized” to a simple British setup. I’d hesitate to call it a “hi-fi” system, but it’s certainly a respectable sounding setup that I enjoy tremendously: Rotel RA-971 MkII integrated amp. Rotel RCD-971 CD player with HDCD. B&W 601S2 speakers on Atacama stands. Quality ‘Transparent Audio’ interconnects. I don’t know if I’d change much unless the budget was at least doubled.

What I’ve come to realize just today is that as I mucked about with hi-fi setups, what I was really trying to do was to recreate the sound that I fell in love with back in high-school. The sound of those Grado’s that Liam’s Dad let us blast Higher Ground through. With those fond memories in mind, I’ve started to shop for a new set of headphones.

If you too are in the market for a set of nice headphones, first you simply have to read through the Buyer’s Guide at HeadRoom. Then, read some reviews at GoodCans.com. Then grab your favourite CDs, go to a store and listen. Lots. Finally, you’ll have to decide which type of headphone amplifier (if any) you’ll get. Right now, I’m leaning towards a CMoy, like the one reviewed at Dan’s Data. I should be able to pick up a well made Chu Moy design off eBay for under US$100. A lot cheaper than the US$300 op-amps at HeadRoom, which are already considered a steal in the hi-fi world… Yay for music!