• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Audiophile "Impostor Syndrome" and Epiphany

Genkishi569

Member
Joined
Feb 22, 2021
Messages
19
Likes
16
So anyway, it occurred to me just an hour ago to try plugging my Hifiman HE1000 V2 into my Huawei P9. This is knowing full well that it was not going to sound anywhere near as good unamped. Ironically, the HE1000 V2 sounds loud enough and passable (like an HD600 with more air and crispy-ish treble) out of them...sure, there's just enough slam, and the sub bass is kind of muddier than usual, but I've never enjoyed my gear more than I have now.

For the first time in a long time, I'm finally enjoying my music rather than looking for improvements, and I am REALLY enjoying it...haven't headbanged and toe-tapped in forever. Not having to worry about nearly anything in the chain is stupidly liberating. I'm not even remotely concerned that the sound is obviously very compromised. I've pretty much gone full circle and I don't think I would reverse a single expense I made over the years just cause it helped me get to this point...come to terms with the way I want to enjoy this whole thing. I'll consider all the headphone, and speaker gear a sunk cost to this newfound appreciation for music. The music lover becomes the audiophile becomes the music lover. Feels like I've been chasing my own tail this whole time.

Who would've thought it would take the combination of a high-end HP and an unequivocally mediocre source to get here?

So there's my little snippet, and I'd like to know if other members of this forum had their own epiphanies about the audio hobby, music, life, etc.

P.S. Couldn't really find a more succinct way to describe to title this post than with impostor syndrome even if it's not really an accurate way of saying exactly how I feel about my involvement in the hobby.
 
Last edited:

Larry B. Larabee

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 24, 2021
Messages
347
Likes
194
Another member recently posted about the advantage and surprising fidelity and convenience of headphone listening. Your off-hand description of the resolution available from your phone is probably not based on a minimum level of performance that everyone would agree is acceptable. The fact that you find the sound to be enjoyable attests to this.
You may be somewhat disturbed that there is no interest ( considering that this is the first response to your post) in an all encompassing solution to the question of the ultimate in sound reproduction. Some will claim that headphone listening is different from listening to speakers because…. blah,blah,blah. Which will elicit senseless responses up until some member will decide that it's time to change the subject of the thread.

Your style of headphone listening is bad for business:

no room treatment
no speakers
no amp
no dac
no exotics

Up to a point, the audio business has credibility and by the looks of it you have managed to find that sweet spot between value and swindle. Good for you!

L
 

_thelaughingman

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Jan 1, 2020
Messages
1,324
Likes
1,943
So anyway, it occurred to me just an hour ago to try plugging my Hifiman HE1000 V2 into my Huawei P9. This is knowing full well that it was not going to sound anywhere near as good unamped. Ironically, the HE1000 V2 sounds loud enough and passable (like an HD600 with more air and crispy-ish treble) out of them...sure, there's just enough slam, and the sub bass is kind of muddier than usual, but I've never enjoyed my gear more than I have now.

For the first time in a long time, I'm finally enjoying my music rather than looking for improvements, and I am REALLY enjoying it...haven't headbanged and toe-tapped in forever. Not having to worry about nearly anything in the chain is stupidly liberating. I'm not even remotely concerned that the sound is obviously very compromised. I've pretty much gone full circle and I don't think I would reverse a single expense I made over the years just cause it helped me get to this point...come to terms with the way I want to enjoy this whole thing. I'll consider all the headphone, and speaker gear a sunk cost to this newfound appreciation for music. The music lover becomes the audiophile becomes the music lover. Feels like I've been chasing my own tail this whole time.

Who would've thought it would take the combination of a high-end HP and an unequivocally mediocre source to get here?

So there's my little snippet, and I'd like to know if other members of this forum had their own epiphanies about the audio hobby, music, life, etc.

P.S. Couldn't really find a more succinct way to describe to title this post than with impostor syndrome even if it's not really an accurate way of saying exactly how I feel about my involvement in the hobby.
I've had this kind of epiphany when I repurchased a pair of entry level headphones and a DAC during the pandemic last year. Up until then I was listening to music through the stereo out of my PC and couldn't discern much of what I was listening. As more I explored and more I was listening to good music and some of my old FLAC' the revelation and enjoyment was unbridled.
 

JJB70

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Aug 17, 2018
Messages
2,905
Likes
6,148
Location
Singapore
Most of my listening is FLAC files stored on my mid-range OnePlus Nord hooked up to Etymotic ER4SR IEMs using the laughably cheap OnePlus dongle and I say with complete seriousness - it meets my expectations completely and for headphone/IEM listening I see no reason to spend any more or chase rainbows with headphone amplifiers, DACs, expensive headphones etc
 

Godataloss

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 16, 2021
Messages
468
Likes
510
Location
Northern Ohio
The sound of mediocre headphones is what I've spent years and thousands of dollars trying to emulate with my stereo. I think I've pretty much nailed it, so I'm in the market for new headphones for inspiration.
 

Azathoth

Active Member
Joined
Oct 18, 2020
Messages
112
Likes
255
I don't know where the boundary is between being an audiophile and being a musicphile to be honest. I can simply sit back and enjoy music using my old ATH-AD300 back in my parents home, straight into my decade old laptop's headphone jack and listen to Youtube mixes all day. Then when I'm back here at my place enjoy the same music but from FLACs and with a ATH-R70X plugged in to a E30/L30 stack instead. Am I really listening to my gear or am I just seeking pleasures? I think it's both. I think that love having the tech and at the same time enjoying music, I guess. I don't know.
 

egellings

Major Contributor
Joined
Feb 6, 2020
Messages
4,005
Likes
3,245
ATH-AD300, ATH-R70X, E30/L30; what are they? Nothing but model numbers to those who don't own them. Please, at least say what it is - an amplifier, a headphone, or whatever.
 

bevok

Active Member
Joined
Dec 28, 2020
Messages
170
Likes
147
Location
New Zealand
I'm only an audiophile to the extent of being interested in the technology, methods of measurement, acoustics etc. I've never been into tweaks, expensive gear for the sake of it etc. My biggest revelations/epiphanies were:

- when comparing streaming services and realising that all the difference I was hearing was due to a different mastering of the album
- hearing an improvement in A/B testing Qobuz Hires vs a lossy output, but then the next day repeating the test in a different order and realising they were identical

I knew the foibles of sighted tests etc but that second experience really brought home first hand to me how comparing sounds using memory is so flawed, even when the difference appears distinct and you might not have a conscious bias (in general I believe lossy at reasonable bitrates sounds fine and without very careful listening is virtually indistinguishable from CD quality).
 
Top Bottom