High-end audio shop I wandered into when in college. Conrad Johnson front end driving Quad ESL-63s. Vinyl and CD. Magical. Been chasing that feeling ever since. I get pretty close with my big Maggies and a LOT of power.

My brother was 4 years older than me. Memories of my youth include time listening to his stereo system. Listening to my stereo connects me to my past and my brother who died of cancer in 2006. At some point in the future I might buy the same model of receiver he had as a physical connection of sorts to him and good memories of him. I’m also a freelance writer, working from home since 2010. Listening to music helps me relax, focus, and get more done.

the head engineer of ICOS opened an auditorium next to the place I worked… It is there that i heard more than music, I heard the vibrations of the universe…

Basically using cheap crap for my whole childhood. My parents have a very nice system, but they really don’t use it much, as they both work 10+ hours a day 5 days a week, and I was just given junk. I then got beats for one Christmas because they were super in at the time and after going from those to Sennheiser my eyes were opened, and I slowly discovered higher end gear. I’m still broke for the area I live in, but when I do get extra money I have slowly upgraded my gear and my system is now the best it’s ever been. I look forward to further upgrades in the future and I really try to help friends find better gear options when they are looking to purchase audio equipment

Linn Sondek - Linn Ittok - Linn Karna

PS Audio IV preamp

Luxman M-05 power amp

Magnepan MG-3a

Then I realised modern amps are all great and turntables can’t match digital quality so things got simpler. 👍

My dad had launched a new graphic design business and supported a new high-end audio shop as one of his first clients. He took gear as payment, according to family legend. A pair of Morell monitors on stands, a sub I can’t remember, a Rotel CD player, a tuner, and a boutique, hand-made amp in a finished wood and acrylic enclosure from a tiny company in Oregon (where we lived). This would have been in the early 1990s. I loved that system so much. It features prominently in many of my strong childhood memories (discovering a certain artist and listening for hours, the magic of an early morning Christmas with the speakers framing the Christmas tree and presents while playing A Winter’s Solstice or George Winston’s December…) that system definitely set me on my audiophile path today.

I got into the hobby because I’ve always been broke until recently and my family I had always been broke.

When I got my first job it was minimum wage ($8 an hour. This was in 2019-2020) it was the first time I’ve ever had money in my life. And since it paid so low, I had to make sure I spent it correctly.

My family has always gotten cheap everything, and they all had Chinese rip off airpod clones, and all I had was a gaming headset I plugged into my phone. They kept telling me how great Bluetooth was, and how I should get some fake Chinese ones like them.

I eventually decided I would just save up and get real AirPods, and the entire time I was saving I kept hearing “why are you going with that Apple stuff? It’s probably made in the same factory anyway so you are just wasting money”

I pushed through and got my real AirPods eventually, had them try it, now they all have real AirPods

And it was so worth it. The real AirPods blew me away! It started the addiction, and I decided I had to get the best.

Before I knew Bluetooth wasn’t the best audio quality you could get, I tried several Bluetooth headphones. From the AirPods Max to the Sony xm4 (which I had to pay through monthly payments through my mom, and started my debt cycle I’m still stuck in) But something was missing. I did more research and discovered SOUNDSTAGE.

The closed back pairs just sounded too closed in, and I soon discovered open back headphones. I desperately wanted to try them, but I was strapped for cash. I eventually was able to afford the grado sr60x, and they blew me away. Those sent me down the rabbit hole to where we are today.

TLDR: being broke forced me to research more, and the more I researched, the more I became aware of higher audio quality.

I heard some Martin Logan electrostatic speakers playing some Stanley Jordan playing with Rob Wasserman.

I had a small system as a kid. But my neighbor had this beautiful system with SAE pre amp and amp, Akai tape decks, a Sansui direct drive turn table, Burwin Click & Pop and stunning Dahlquist speakers.

Decades later, I had a NAD AVR but was lured by the concept of easy streaming via a Bluesound Node… the rabbit hole opened and I descended.

Currently running a Unison Research Triode 25 Integrated Amp, Node N130 into a Gustard A26 DAC and out to some Zu Dirty Weekend Six speakers.

Just added some Auva speaker isolation feet replacing the Gaias I had and… WOW!

When I was a complete novice to this hobby, I watched a lot of Steve Guttenberg videos on YouTube. At the time he was enamoured by the Klipsch RP600M. The internet community as well. And by complete coincidence, the RP600M was 50% off bundled with a Yamaha RN402 amp. So I purchased the combo deal without hesitation. Steve Guttenberg can’t be wrong?

I set up the Klipwch RP600M and the disappointment was immediate and persistent. In short, there was a suckout in the midrange and the speakers in my work van sounded better. I didn’t understand what Steve Guttenberg was experiencing with the Klipsch RP600M. They sound like generic speakers you’d find in a van or a soundbar. My dad’s speakers (Q Acoustics 2020) just sounded better and less like speakers.

For 2 long years I was basically resisting the urge not to upgrade my speakers. And then I was fed up. I walked to audio shops in Paris and everything else sounded pretty good. But the standout was definitely a DIY cabinet built around the Audax AM21 fullrange driver paired with a Unison Research Simply Italy amplifier. Finally, the vocals sounded realistic. With the Klipsch it sounded like a door was in front of the singer. In the same room there were regular 2 way bookshelf speakers from Davis and Atohm. They sounded veiled like the Klipsch next to the AM21 single driver speakers.

Since the AM21 speakers were too large for my room, I researched small single driver speakers and landed on the Closer Acoustics OGY on a Google advertisement. And yep, they’re the real deal if you’re looking for realistic vocals and guitars.

I don’t think that you have to spend exorbitant sums of money to enjoy realistic sound. You could just go the single driver route and compromise on bass quantity (single driver speakers with smaller drivers don’t do deep bass).

I heard more expensive speakers in showrooms and they all sounded more artificial compared to my OGY, but the sense of scale and bass were more impressive.

Growing up as a kid with a MAC1900, MQ101, Thorens TD-150, ML-1C, Sony TC650, all circa 1978.

Had a Panasonic “all in one” system as a teen ager. Saw a kid at college build his own speakers. Started reading Speaker Builder magazine and following Madisound Forum before it shut down i guess from a small number of Trolls. Built my own speakers using Dynaudio parts! Awesome. Never went back!!

Clark Music, Syracuse, NY - 1989.

My buddy and I had heard from our HS band director that they had great stereo gear so we took a drive to the city. When we walked in, they played some modern jazz - either Rippingtons or Flim and the BBs - and my jaw dropped.

It was an NAD integrated amp - had this big “440w” sticker on the front (part of their PowerEnvelope line in the late 80’s/early 90s - I can’t find the model, but I ended up buying a 3240pe for my first amp that was part of the same line) fed by a Denon CD player driving a set of Polk Audio RTA 10t speakers.

I remember the smell of the place, and there was this quality to the sound being produced that was unlike anything I had ever heard. I was hooked - INSTANTLY.

I’d been on the periphery for many years. Then I went to an Audio Engineering Society conference in San Francisco, 10-ish years ago. A friend had been gushing about Focal speakers, so I went to their room and sat down in the designated chair. For the first time, I heard *front to back*. (There’s a word for that but it escapes me just now).

First chair violin in the front, tympani back and to the left, and bass far right at a middle distance. All of it crystal clear and *alive*. It was incredible.

Started at the end of the 90’s when DVD just came out. I wanted to have my own HT, and I invested in an expensive Sony receiver, which was very well rated at that time. They used to sell a lot of those small 5.1 satellites speakers, but I didn’t like the sound and they were also too small for my room. I went to an high-end audio shop and I bought a pair of Mordaunt Short Ms902 for front, a KEF Coda for center and for rear and subwoofer Energy XL. Movie were outstanding to listen to, but what really blowed my mind was listening music. Over 20 years later I am still in love of that setup.