Have you ever noticed?

[aRc]

If you have several headphones at your disposal..and one or more has set idle for several months, you plug in and something is amiss.

The phone in question has played for several hundred hours previously and is well broken in...but the Bass is threadbare and a bit lumpy..the treble is closed and has a nasal stridency, while the midrange is recessed and hollow sounding.

Then after 2 to 6 hrs. of healthy playback things flesh out and the balance and tonalities also timbers are as you remember.

Has the driver surround stiffened? Has the diaphragm itself loosened and lost the piston properties? Has the hole flow alignment that permitted electron flow closed, then has to realign? Is it all of the above? None of the above?

Now some of it might be that a different phone has different acoustical properties than the phone that it is replacing...granted. But after noticing that pinched unfocused quality after two minutes....then you hang them up to play sit and spin with healthy playback levels. Then return after a couple of hours to notice that things indeed have settled down?

Has anyone ever noticed or wondered?

[Duggeh]

Getting used again to what has become an unfamiliar sonic signature. Happens to me all the time because I go through phases with 1 primary headphone.

[aRc]

How True....and after a couple more alcoholic concoctions the sound sig will alter yet again. I don't think I ever have to search the upgrade path from here forward.....all I need is a better grade of booze!

[Mercuttio]

For a long time I was doing RS1 and HD650. Took me a day or more to adjust to the one I wanted to listen to for a long period of time.

[aRc]

For a long time I was doing RS1 and HD650. Took me a day or more to adjust to the one I wanted to listen to for a long period of time.

RS-1....650....that's a dual personality....

[Smeggy]

All mine sound strange for the first 10-20 minutes, then we're good again.

[Duggeh]

You need to go a 3 week period listening to only 1.

[Smeggy]

You need to go a 3 week period listening to only 1.

Impossible!

I just couldn't do it. maybe 2-4 days..

[Currawong]

I had that recently with my D5000s after listening with HD600s for a while. They sounded boomy and congested.

There's also the effect of using ED9s for a while, whereafter other headphones sound wrong in some way.

[Beefy]

It always fascinates me that people are so willing to attribute things that they hear to some bizarre and inexplicable physical phenomenon.

The brain is *incredibly* adaptable to sensory input, and exhibits much more plasticity than any headphone driver possibly could (and don't get me started on cable burn in ). Case in point, the upside down glasses experiments for vision plasticity.

[Duggeh]

It always fascinates me that people are so willing to attribute miracles that they see to some bizarre and inexplicable dinosaur riding Jesus.

ftfy

[Beefy]

most people are intensely ignorant.

HEH, that is indeed a big part of it. I think another huge component is that people are afraid to think they cannot trust their senses to give them a completely accurate assessment of their environment.

ftfy

[swt61]

There's also the effect of using ED9s for a while, whereafter other headphones sound sublime.

FIFY

Edited February 8, 2009 by swt61

[Fitz]

The brain is *incredibly* adaptable to sensory input, and exhibits much more plasticity than any headphone driver possibly could (and don't get me started on cable burn in ).

Music also sounds many, many times better to me if I drift into a light sleep then come back into a half-awake state. I'm not quite sure why it is, but it's worked consistently for me every time I've done it. It's like a free system upgrade just for taking a short nap.

FIFY

[swt61]

Music also sounds many, many times better to me if I drift into a light sleep then come back into a half-awake state. I'm not quite sure why it is, but it's worked consistently for me every time I've done it. It's like a free system upgrade just for taking a short nap.

That happens to me with sex.

[Fitz]

The sex is better after I fall asleep? Jerk.

[Duggeh]

You fall asleep during sex?

[Fitz]

I always thought it was over by that point, apparently there's more still going on that I wasn't aware of.

[swt61]

You fall asleep during sex?

I almost always put in for a wake up call for the climax.

[Smeggy]

I've always thought of my brain as more mushy than plasticy.

[aRc]

Have Sex with a blow-up plastic Doll after plying her with booze...the transcendental listening experience!!!

[grenert]

I had that recently with my D5000s after listening with HD600s for a while. They sounded boomy and congested.

If your D5000s sound boomy and congested compared to HD600s, then they are boomy and congested.

[aardvark baguette]

I had that experience with D2000s after switching from HD650s. They sounded like shit.

[Currawong]

If your D5000s sound boomy and congested compared to HD600s, then they are boomy and congested.

I'm stuck listening with my HD-600s atm, now that my system is in synergy again. It's put me off wanting to listen with anything else for the most part. I'm pondering giving them a last chance with a re-cable or using them as funds for the HD-800s. I suspect the latter will be the nail in the coffin for them though.

[aRc]

I have a strong love affair with the 600..so much so I have two. One hard wired in balanced config. the other single-ended with Silver Dragon.

With power at the ready, they can sing like few other phones can. I'm with you! We can only hope the 800 will slap it down like a rented mule.