Why not to visit a hifi store - or how I ended up buying another pair of headphone

[Musicophile]

I've mentioned previously that I´m currently working abroad most of the time. 

 

The initial thinking was to transfer my HD800 to the new location, and find a portable DAC/Amp solution to drive it.

 

But then I´d be leaving a very expensive set of cans at a hotel every weekend, and wouldn't have any good ones at home.

 

Next idea was to revive my old Sennheiser HD595, after all, I used them for years, they weren't that bad, right?

 

So I wanted to find a more moderately priced DAC/amp combo for them.
 

I considered some Chinese stuff, or a small Ifi, or after all the Dragonfly Red.

 

I found a hifi shop near to where I work that has the Dragonfly in store, took my brand new MacBook Pro, Audirvana, and my HD595 to check how much of a difference it would make compared to the headphone out.

 

The sales guy at the store was very friendly and suggested I could sit in their headphone lounge. 

 

BIG MISTAKE.

 

This is a pretty decent hifi stored, so I was surrounded by tons of Hifiman, Audeze, Sennheisers, you name it. All for me to try out.

 

So I figured, well trying doesn't cost anything. ANOTHER BIG MISTAKE.

 

In comparison, it turned out my HD595 are surpringly good for entry level headphones, but obviously, most of the stuff in the shop was MUCH MUCH better. And my last two years listening to my HD800/HDVA600 combo I got pretty spoiled.

 

So I tested some pretty expensive stuff, including some big Hifiman and Audeze gear (all of the poor little Dragonfly that handled all of them surprisingly well). 

 

And then the sales guy said "look we have these Beyer T90 on sale, they are being replaced, would you want to try one?". I tried, and well, boom, there you go. 

 

Fell in love immediately. Just the right mix of analytics and body, playfulness and drive. Music just sounded right. It´s impressive, how much more personal headphones are vs. speakers. With even more expensive stuff, including the T90s official successor Amiron, nothing "clicked".

 

And here was just the headphone for me. It had found me.

 

I compared to the HD800 they obviously also had in store., and obviously, they are still in a different league in their very particular style. But the T90 really had something.

 

So instead of just buying a Dragonfly Red, I ended up buying a T90 as well. 

Listening to them right now straight out of the box, they are already very good, but obviously they need a bit of burn in.

 

So take my warning, avoid hifi stores at all cost, or just live with the (expensive, but happy) consequences. 

 

[Musicophile]

No idea. But they must have done their market research. I'm still thinking the headphone industry was impacted quite a bit from Beats. 

[Musicophile]

W

On 3.9.2017 at 8:12 PM, unbalanced output said:

Funny story. That's why I only go to a store when I know exactly what I want to buy. Last two times were when I wanted to buy an Etymotics er4 and of course my stereo amp (not really a gadget though). I'm actually open for a pair of full size headphones, I'm using the HFi 780 which are very easy on the ears for round the clock listening however they mess up with my hair pretty badly - and for most men over 23 years old hair is an as big concern as sound quality.

Well, my two main headphones, the Sennheiser HD800 and the newly added Beyer T90 are ok for my hairstyle. But then again, I wear my hair pretty flat, I guess it's another thing if you go for one of those "bigger" hairstyles that have recently become popular in the millenial generation.