How to Ruin Your Headphones but Feel Good About It Afterward

Headphones are a ticket to another universe. Turn volume up xtremely hi. See with your ears and suck with your fingers. See lights flash backwards.

FYI: breakfast was delicious and immediately followed by chocolate cake, and on the way home I had fun with a buzzy-clippy shorting-out version of "Gymnopedie #2" which was maybe even better than the Family Fodder's version.

Tomorrow I am going to go to the hilarious "Who Wants to be a DJ?" store I usually get headphones at and probably invest in some superfab $75-$100 set (justification: they're for recording use! only the best for my music!). Please don't post and point out that any headphones that cost under $700 are obviously for amateurs, as that doesn't really help me at all.

I love my Sennheiser HD25 headphones. They go so loud if need be.

Also, and I swear this is the last amendment: wouldn't it be great if you all used this thread to talk about your personal attachments to and sagas concerning your consumer electronics? It would give me an excuse to talk about how much I love the $15 toy keyboard I got in Times Square last month (with one-touch Gymnopedie #1 playback).

Curse you, David -- those look great but list at $259! It would take me a year to write enough songs to justify those under the "recording" rubric.

personal attachments
Pervert. ;-)

They're worth it though.

Or there's another model - can't remember the exact name...it's HD25 plus 'SP' or something. They look very similar and they're supposed to be almost as good, but they're half the price!!! I couldn't really get a straight answer from the salesman as to what the difference was. I think perhaps the build isn't quite so rugged. Price wasn't an issue for me at the time (would be now) so I went 'top-of-the-range' as it were.

Kids, take it from me. Continuous exposure to high volumes through headphones will puncture your eardrums. There is nothing as unbeautiful as tinnitu

s...

No need to remind me of that. The Kitchens of Distinction gave me a low-level case in 1995.

B-b-but Momus, I listen at sensible manufacturer-recommended decibel levels!

Actually, I programmatically started reducing listening volume a little while ago, and am now tuned into fairly decent levels for most things. I already have one terrible ear-pressure condition (anyone who met me in Chicago or New York and thought I had some sort of facial tic -- no, it's just this ear thing), so I'm trying to avoid anything further.

grado headphones are nice, although probably not good in the snow.

Continuous exposure to high volumes through headphones will puncture your eardrums.

I remember reading that Pete Townshend blamed his hearing problems on long transatlantic flights in the 60s with headphones on full throughout.

I used to abuse my eardrums but I'm far more sensible now. Luckily I seem to have suffered no ill effects (no tinnitus). It's nice to whack the headphones up for short periods though.

I recently bough these 100$ sony headphone s taht really woof eth air hard but I think i prefer a smaler driver that just pretends to be bassy with equalisation

I just soldered a little repair in my headphones today. Yeah!! (I like Grado phones)

Grado is the way to go for 70-100 dollar headphones. I picked up either 60's or 80's for that price and I love them.

Here's me with my headphone cord all off-kilter because one side is shorter now because I had to cut some off and re-solder it.

http://home.earthlink.net/~rjameshudson/images/kid_head02.jpg

(original headphone kid from Yo-Yo Records)

Oh, no, he's going to talk about music.

Funny, though, that Nitsuh should talk about listening to Satie, as I experienced his works (consciously) for the first time - did NOT know that Gymnopedies #1 was that particular piece of music. Very nice. (Family Fodder? Whahuh?)

Nitsuh: Chinatown is famous for the "rip-off bargain": Fab deal, til one foot lands outside of the shop door...

$70 to 100 for headphones? Part of me is slightly jealous of you, Todd:>

Re: that frightening "tinnitus" monster: After I'd seen Siouxsie and the Banshees at their last show (in the mid-90's at Roseland Ballroom in NYC), my ears didn't stop ringing for two days straight. Didn't help that I had been up front, next to the speakers...Thank god it seemed to disappear, by mid-week.

Lesson learned? Earplugs in the hip pocket;>

Is it fair to talk about those 'toys' we want, but don't yet have? I still have to consider my answers. Yet, I open the floor to the rest of you....?

Chinatown is famous for the "rip-off bargain"

I like to think of myself as, you know, savvy with such things, or at least cautious when I know I'm not savvy. My only other Chinatown purchase, years ago, was a fabulous watch that's been worth every penny. And these headphones would have been well worth it had they actually given me the headphones I asked and paid for. So they are less rip-off artists than just outright item-switching thieves. I suppose I should allow for the slim possibility that it was just a mistake ... but that's far less fun.

Last year I was on my way into college one day and the whole way I thought that the road had loose chippings or something because there was stuff hitting off the passenger door side of the car making alot of noise. But then later I drove out for lunch and there was still the noise, and I started thinking something was loose on the wheel perhaps.

Alas when I got home I realised my earphones had been caught in the door all day and streaming behind the car gloriously. It must have been funny for the people who were laughing at me.

Get soem Sony MDR-EX70LP's. They go right inside your ear and are closed-back so they block-out all outside, so you can enjoy your music in peace and get hit by that bus.

outside = outside noise, but it works both ways.

anyone ever hear of Sony mdr -530? headphones????

Graham: Earbuds? Eww!

Actually, it might be my ear-pressure problem that makes earbuds such a horrible experience for me. Still, though, everything's so tinny and compressed on them ... and they're so uncomfortable!

Graham: Earbuds? Eww! Actually, it might be my ear-pressure problem that makes earbuds such a horrible experience for me. Still, though, everything's so tinny and compressed on them ... and they're so uncomfortable!

Ah, but the earbuds that Graham mentions (the EX-70LPs) sit someway into yr ear canal (which may not be any more good news on the comfort front), and come with three different-sized attachments (i.e. experiment and choose one pair) to provide the bass-enhancing world- excluding seal. Get 'em right and they need no bass boost from the playback device. Like a cheaper version of those fancy Etymotics things.

I use Grado SR-125s at home. Being supra-aural, they're not all that comfortable, but they do sound the business.

I've got Philips Horizontal ones. They look nice and are dead comfy but because they have a plastic part that goes behind your ear my hair always gets caught in them. Still.......