One of the great things about participating on this forum is seeing how there are so many different strokes for different folks in audio. Not only are there as many opinions as members, but there also are as many experiences, and within those experiences as many applications.
My most recent experience with applications I explained in part withe the OP of the topic "Lessons Learned and Re-learned."
I got caught up in using headphones because they sparked my interest, but my actual use given the quality of my main system was confined largely to listening in the morning while my wife slept in order not to disturb her. So while I discovered headphones produce a different kind of listening experience, the primary reason for using them remained the same - private listening to maintain domestic tranquility.
In pursuing a better headphone experience, I found that I wasn't interested in owning a tube amp. So while waiting to hear the upcoming BHA-1, I bought a vintage receiver that turned out to be an excellent SS headphone amp, but which also prompted me to build a second system, including new stand mount speakers.
Now it turns out that this second system gives me the kind of sound I like at low volumes that does not disturb my sleeping wife. So I find myself now not using my headphones at all given that I have an alternative way of addressing a narrow application.
Some, sensibly, will ask, why did you make this silly round trip at all; why couldn't you have simply turned down your main system to avoid waking your wife? Lots of answers.
First, more often than not I can be dumb, which happens more often now that I'm crowding 70.
Second, but more importantly, my PMC MB2is played at low, non-wife-waking volumes just are not that satisfying to my ear.
Third, once I get an audio bit in my teeth, I pretty much have to follow it to a conclusion, logical or not.
Finally, pursuing any new audio system or application is a lot of fun and this pursuit was no different.
I still have great headphones and will use them no doubt, but for reasons different than my original application. If the BHA-1 proves to make my LCD-2s sound even better, i might find myself on a new headphone merry-go-round. LCD3s?
So setting aside the distinct probability that this recent roundabout experience is yet another exampe of my losing my last remaining brain cells, I have this question?
Am I alone in being someone who cooks up applications to justify new audio purchases, or who invents applications to justify purchases made?
Dave
