Headphone Fetish: A Celebration
There is something peculiar about headphones that just grips my attention. Lately, I've been given to spotting headphones in the street. I'm no "audiophile", and there's no way I can glance at a headphone and be able to rattle off the manufacturer, model and stats from memory. But when I walk in the street or spend time on public transport (which is quite a bit, seeing as how I have to work and stuff now), I always keep a watch out on who has some "cans" on.
Within the sea of mediocre milk-white ear buds, look past the black in-ear ones or the clip-on ones (invariably coloured a cheap silver). Look for a pair of quality head phones, ones which induce bliss to the ears of the hearer, and leave their fellow passengers blissfully unaware of the musical world in which they are submerged.
Henry Ward Beecher said, "Books are not made for furniture, but there is nothing else that so beautifully furnishes a house."
So too, headphones are not made as a costume for the head, but there is nothing else (if they are the right ones) that so beautifully acts as our halo.
Headphones are not discreet. They are honest in their bulk. Their presence declares something immediately: we love music. We love the solitude afforded us by this "greatest achievement of mankind". Our instrument is but a visual avatar of the sounds that touch our heart.
They extend from out the sides of our heads, a pair of substitute ears made of leather, plastic, foam, metal, even wood. But there's something quite fantasy-like about it, almost steam-punk or cyber-punk. Black wires streaming out of one or both sides, tying us down even as the soaring heights of music send us to a place beyond the clouds.
The headbands bisect our head, and from them emerge spines, curved with tension. The headphones are complicated-looking creatures, but at the same time it's easy to figure out how they are put together. Only the cups present a paradoxical mystery.
Today, I received the latest SMJ shipment in the post, and within, two headphones: The AKG K171 Studio, and the ATH-A900. To the furthest right is the TDK MP100 I was using before this.
The K171 will be for portable use, whilst the bulky ATH-A900 will be used at my computer. The TDK has to be phased out because the foam pads have been shredded.
The K171 provides a really good sealed isolation, and because they are studio phones, they supposedly don't leak sound when they are put on. Hopefully not anyway.
I got the headphones from Japan, because they actually cost me less than half the cheapest selling price they have them for over here. For example, the K171 cost me around 90 bucks (grey import here, 225).
As long-term readers might know, I was using the Shure E2C isolating in-ear monitors for a while, but I found it was hurting my ears and getting a bit gross. I still wanted a degree of isolation and leak protection, so I jumped to headphones.
And I did say it was a celebration, didn't I? Here's something I found on Share: the Moero Headphone Guidebook for Autumn 2007. You might have seen parts of it floating around the image boards. I didn't scan them myself, so just take them as is.
Note: in this post I used headphones to refer to circumaural headphones and to a degree supra-aural headphones, as opposed to "earphones" which might be ear buds, in-ear monitors, clip-ons, "street style", etc. Generally, my headphone fetish refers to headphones which make no attempt to be "streamlined" or discreet.
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[[ Henry Ward Beecher said, "Books are not made for furniture, but there is nothing else that so beautifully furnishes a house."
So too, headphones are not made as a costume for the head, but there is nothing else (if they are the right ones) that so beautifully acts as our halo. ]]
Nice saying ^_^b, and so true.
Those K171′s look like a nice set of cans, how is the sound so far? I have a set of Sennheiser HD215s that I use at home but have been looking for a set for when I am out and about that’s a little more sturdy. Where were you able to get them for such a great price if you don’t mind me asking?
It’s got great bass and is really clear. I’m not really an audiophile so I can’t describe what I hear like how wine connoisseurs describe the palette of their wine. It sounds great, and when you put them on you can immediately detect a hush as the cans provide a good seal from the outside. Isolation just as I like it.
I got them from Yahoo auction Japan. One of those freak auction happenings when you actually managed to get a bargain.
Nice release, be interesting to get a translation of the rating system that they used so I can make some sense of it (in the market for a pair for home use).
The book makes for interesting reading but I suggest just doing your own research on headphones. It’s much easier, and there is more stuff out there in English. For example, I didn’t get any of the headphones featured in the “guide” — I just googled reviews and narrowed down my selection like that. There are a few really good headphone forums where knowledgeable people post reviews of their headphones, and surprisingly, Amazon reviews for some models actually provide good advice.
I’m not much of an audiophile either. Been kind of leery of buying headphones without hearing someone’s experience with them. The first set of can I bought for almost $130US sounded worse then the $30 wraparounds that they were to replace. Luckily the store took the return no questions asked. Went with the Sennheiser’s on the advice of buddy of mine.
I’ve found the K171′s for about $140 on Amazon. Most likly pick them up next month there as I can never seem to be able to win the good deals on auction sites. Just not lucky I guess. ;-)
Audio-Technica headphones are the best… according to my not-so-comprehensive experience.
And where’s 02.jpg?
02.jpg isn’t there. There is no 02.jpg. Probably naming error on the part of the original files released on Share.
[...] Sony yang model MDR-CD900ST (dari SONY MUSIC, bukan Sony Electronic) yang kalo gw liat dari katalog ini (Moero Headphone Guidebook 2007 Autumn) mustinya harganya 18.900 yen (kira-kira 1.7juta menurut google, di amazon.jp 16.980yen link) cuman [...]
Hello there, I want to buy headphone too. Based on that guide, Victor HP-M1000 is a good deal(average 8) or Sony MDR-Z900HD, both of them is being discounted at amazon.jp. From your experience, can you give reccomendation?
I didn’t actually buy any of the headphones listed in that guide. I got myself an AKG K171 Studio and audio technica ATH A900. Both are great.
[...] Moero Headphone guide (Autumn 07) is such an in-demand book that Yahoo scalpers are making a fortune from selling it. The publishers have decided to publish a new volume. This will probably be an update (new pix) to the original. Hell yeah. [...]
[...] Catalogue and Guidebook, this 1800 yen volume is in many ways an official book follow-up to the original Headphone Guide for Autumn 2007, which was supposedly a doujin release. It includes many (possibly all) of the illustrations from [...]
You’re so getting Head-Fied over this. There’s a headphone manga thread over at the Head-Fi forums.
As a side note, the K-171 might do with a nice amp and a recable, Sweetcome star-quad was the cheapest (and quite good) out of all AKG replacement cables. Or one may put together a star-quad cable for himself, though it can be a tad expensive if high-quality parts are used (but still cheaper than a premade cable).
[...] [...]
Yea but those cartoon women in headsets absolutely blow. Where are the real women in headphones????????!!!!!!