Headphones

I first need a way to explain it to myself

Some people collect shoes, I collect ~~anime merch~~ headphones

I don’t go the multiple headphone route, for the most part: I have three pairs for specific use cases (main, travel/OTG/, and exercise).

However, when it comes to cost, I justify it by arguing it’ll make more sense in the long-run. You make the big purchases looking ahead 5-10 years, by which time it’ll have paid off.

Why do some car nerds have more than one car? A sports car or vintage classic doesn't take you to work any faster than a VW Golf.

Why would anyone get a fancy camera with nice lenses when it's so much more convenient to use a phone to post to Instagram?

Why does anyone pay money to go to a nice restaurant, or take the time to make an intricate dinner when you can get most of your needed nutrients from a basic bean salad?

Audio and music is like wine or whiskey. You don't need any prerequisite knowledge or experience to get wasted on a bottle of Jack Daniels. But when you start to notice the finer details, you might end up with new appreciations for it, and maybe the desire to learn more and try new and different experiences.

You don’t, you hide it like a drug addiction. Deception. Lies. Smoke and mirrors. Blackmail.

Don’t display them. If you buy pairs that look similar they’ll rarely notice. If a romantic partner questions where the money is going, say you have a sick relative that used to work for Sennheiser or Focal you’re giving money for surgeries and medication to that repays you in headphones. If someone finds out your secret, silence them by obtaining damning evidence of their own unsavory conduct and threaten to expose them if they tell anyone you’ve purchased 120 pairs of headphones in the last six months.

Just throw my 800S on their ears and they understand. Not ahrd.

I don't.. I'm a grown ass person and I can do what I want with my $$.. unless you're my wife.. then I just come up with the most convoluted reasons

Hobbies are for our senses, pleasure, and well-being.

I explain that experiencing music in new, stimulating ways is giving me a lot of satisfaction and sparking my own creativity and ambition (I'm a hobby musician).

At that point, people usually stop asking. They probably get bored, but one or two friends actually got curious and asked me for headphone recommendations. You never know whom you might infect. :)

Ever see a golfer with one club in their bag? No, because you don’t drive with a putter, and in the sand you’re going to reach for your wedge, not your driver.

Crystal Method - I’m going with Empire Ears bass cannons. Neko Case - a sweet mid tuned Oriolus or Tanchjin.

I let them try my IEMs if they want. They either get it, or they don't. So far, most have got it - but I think I have an easier time converting people who like bass.

Simple, exploit their lack of knowledge by not telling them how expensive my headphones are. My HD600s? $120 I think. My Moondrop Variations? $80 or $100 I can't remember.

I just tell it like it is, I'm a fucking addict ¯\(ツ)/¯

I find it's pretty simple once you connect with one of their sensory hobbies. My wife isn't an audiophile, but we're both foodies, so she understands my comparing of headphones in the same way she compares the French fries that we get at different restaurants. One restaurant has thick-cut fries, another has thin fries, a third fries them twice for that extra crunch, a fourth has normal fries, but a really good curry dipping sauce (Brasserie Beck in Washington DC, for those curious). Just like she loves evaluating the fries at restaurants and compares their flavors and textures, she understands that headphones are objects - or experiences - that I evaluate in a similar way.

For other people, it's like keyboards. One of my friends really got into mechanical keyboards and built a whole bunch, many for himself, but also some as gifts for friends. He's all about the sound and the feel, the clack or thock, the resistance or springiness of each key. I never really got into keyboards in the same way, I'm fine with a Topre for work and a tactile gaming keyboard for play, but we understand each other's hobbies because we both understand the appeal of the underlying sensory experience.

I've never held a gun in my life, but from talking with people who have used guns, recreational shooting can be a similar sort of experience. Each gun has its own sound, its own recoil feel when fired, and its own action. Then there's also ammunition and lots of different aspects to the experience of shooting.

Yet others enjoy the feel of driving. I'm not one of those people, but I can understand how people enjoy the experience of controlling a fast-moving machine, making it stop and go, and directing its motion using your hands and feet. Once you compare the sounds of different headphones to the different driving feels of different cars, they can understand more easily.

I think the vast majority of people have some sensory experience that they enjoy and can discern quality in. Food, alcohol, cast iron pans, coffee, keyboards, cars, films, the list goes on and on. I think reasonable people can understand that headphones and audio are the sensory experiences that you enjoy and discern even if they don't discern them in the same way.

To anybody who actually cares (and whose opinion I care about enough to warrant explanation), I just explain how each pair has a different use and why that pair is better for that use than any of the other ones.

I honestly don’t have many other hobbies. The other things I do enjoy don’t really cost me much money. Most of my money aside from audio stuff goes to bills, food and nights out.

I am pretty grateful that my gf notices that as well, and tells me I really don’t buy anything for myself often. Makes me feel less bad about just purchasing a used Focal Utopia. I do also try to buy used to get a good deal when I can.

"I just really like music."

Different uses route. I try not to double up styles too much though to help

Usually people that ask me this aren’t asking in good faith, and don’t want to actually hear my reasons, so usually I just say “Because I like it. Do we need a reason to have hobbies?”.

If they are asking because they’re genuinely interested I say something along the lines of “I love music, and listening to it is one of my favorite experiences. Think of each headphone I have as a different listening experience. The reason I have multiple is because I want to experience music in many different ways. …also I like having cool things lol”

It's my money and my hobby 🎧, it may seem harsh but i don't owe anyone explanations 😄

I only buy things that have different uses so I have to justify it to myself before I even think of buying it. I like to try new stuff but I tend to sell/trade/return them if I don't see a use for it. I got all of these for a cheap price used.

For exercise (Sony WF-1000XM4), for travel with strong ANC (Bose QC35 ll), for sound quality (Drop JVC HA-FDX1), for games/movies/shows (ATH R70x). I use the Sennheiser Momentum 3 as the default option as it fits my preferences.

First rule of fight club. We don’t discuss fight club

There is no justification. Eventually you’ll realize you were just feeding into blatant consumerism

“It makes me happy”

End of story

Only 2 people in your life you ever need to justify any of your life choices to, yourself and your spouse...maybe whoever you pray to if you believe as such. No one else's opinion should ever matter. At least you're just buying headphones, those people judging you are probably spending their paychecks on Hookers and Blow.

I don’t tell them about it

Who cares?

I don’t, I just tell them it’s a waste of money 😂

Being an audiophile has nothing to do with an addiction to throw away money on headphones, it's about having one decent set of headphones, speaker, DAC, amp, etc, to enjoy good quality audio. Collection headphones IS a stupid choice.

I mean there is way harder to explains hobbies out there.

This is definitely not it.

"I do with my adult money what I want"

Never interacted with other people so not really a problem.

"I like headphones."

Each one is different enough for me to own, but then I don't really "collect" headphones as I dont see the reason to have more than 2-3 pairs if you took the time and effort to audition things enough to then only buy what you like.

I got divorced about 11/2 yrs ago. And my wife made me homeless 11/2 yrs before that. I wasn’t allowed in the house by order and was only allowed to collect stuff from the garage my ex had put there. I had 5 large grey containers in my shed that I was not allowed to go to otherwise it would have been trespassing on my own garden. I used to make wooden headphones like grado headphones. I also had a nice collection of headphones ranging from grado rs1 with buttons to the wonderful hf2 to the lovely ps1000. I also started making alloy headphones with pretty expensive drivers from a guy in Greece. I had hit the high point and out of ten ppl blind test my headphones beat the ps1. I made my own cables I had expensive wooden chucks I had cnc tooling. Yup she skipped the bloody lot. I’ve worked it out to be £5000 so far. But you know what,I’m getting my collection back up and don’t have to answer to any one yeh. I do believe in karma. She’s lost the house,she’s lost her prize car as the bailiffs took it and she’s in debt over her head. I saw her in Tesco the other day with her new bloke who she suddenly was walking ten feet in front of. I then got in to my lovely white new golf gti and as I drove out she saw me and her mouth hit the ground. She was always going on about my headphones. I used to purchase faulty headphones of eBay back in the day when it was worth it and make some good money. Some I would keep for a while. Good thing with headphones is that if purchased correctly and you get a good price they can go up in price. Last year face book grado rs2 with buttons 2009 he wanted £150. I drove 2 hrs round trip used £20 in fuel.they are immaculate,have all the paperwork plus the bowl ear pads which are about £50 I purchased some hifiman deva headphones this year for £107. Just luck of the draw. Sorry bit drawn out. But I’m back where I want to be but with no one to tell me about how many sets of headphones I’ve got you know

You say: "I have an addiction."

I've heard the "you can only wear one at a time" often. So usually my go to is "why do you buy so many pairs of shoes if you can only wear one at a time?", then you're gonna get the "that's different, I need boots for (yada yada) and some shoes for (thing they do) and a pair of dress shoes for (event you don't care about) and my Crocs for..." And either they start to get it or it's not worth explaining to them.

"They all sound a little different and I like their sound" Also, I generally have a way harder time when people ask what the fuck is the BTR5 I'm always carrying around.

I've never really had anyone pay attention to mine and don't go out of my way to show them off. Most people are used to seeing beats/gaming headsets so I don't think they're that surprised to see large headphones at my desk.