[Abstract]

Hihi, excited to find a local board for Audiophiles. I'm 21 and live in the St. Charles area and have been looking for locals to talk to about Audio equipment and music. I've been making music in Fl Studio since I was 11(though my skills don't show it), and singing casually for a few years.

I'm primarily interested in headphones, with a minor interest in IEMs and maaaaaaaaaaaaaybe when I own my own place I'll get a speaker setup going. I'm interested in trying out a variety of technologies and becoming more knowledgeable about them, as well as trying out new sound profiles. I would like to own at least one example of every driver technology, if only out of fascination. I'm currently rocking a pair of Focal Lensys driven by a Fiio K11, having recently given my HD600s to a friend of mine. In the next year or so I plan on upgrading to a good discrete dac and amp. I also intend on trying out some higher tier headphones and eventually dedicate to whichever pair I like most. At present I'm looking at the HD800 s or Hifimans Shangri-La Mini, just from the reviews I've read. (if anyone can give me a listening session on either of those, I'll be forever indebted).

I'm also interested in going to more concerts and performances(especially since I can actually get into the cool venues now), and would love any recommendations for local bands, basically of any non bro-country genre(I love me some bluegrass or similar, just not hugely fond of "my girl left me in a big truck with a lot of beer" stuff).

Also, not exactly the forum for this, but any yall know any good vocal coaches? Especially that are proficient in extreme distortion?

[vinyldavid]

Hello, Abstract, and welcome!

We are more active on the Facebook group Gateway Audio Society, but there's a lot of interested people here

I am primarily a speaker guy, but I have gotten to hear HD800s a few times, and thoroughly enjoyed them. 

I have 600s, and mix in HD280s because I require isolation and even balance to have a chance at succeeding-I mix most of the live music that goes out on Channel 4 (KMOV). 

I can say that if I cared about having headphones at home, HD800s would be high on my list of wants, along with nicer Stax electrostatics.  The brief time I've spent in SR-009s are wonderful.  Sadly, there's not a lot of places to hear headphones in Saint Louis.  There were a couple of Head-Fi meetups in the distant past, and I haven't heard anything about any recently.  I have a few pars of low end Sonys, and like the MDR-V600 the best out of my hodgepodge of MDR-V7506, 7509, and V6s.  I enjoyed the Sennheiser HD650s I have had twice, but sold them each time due to non-use.  The HD650s sound better than the HD600s, but the 600s are just plain accurate, and for a headphone, that's what I need, so I kept the 600s.  The 650s are also more sensitive.  I feed headphones with either a Lynx Hilo, Benchmark DAC3HGC, or Mytek 8X192ADDA. 

As I come across a lot of local music, here are a few things that might intrigue you: Thor Axe (prog adventure metal)
Dialogue the band (I don't know what to call them but they're loud and heavy)
Aida Ade (soul)
Eldraco Price and Freenation (glam soul, and some of the best music I've brought into the station)
Brothers Lazaroff (jazz infused with blues and rock), Blvck Spvde and The Cosmos (jazz-funk)
Ish Ensemble (prog-jazz)
Matt 'Rattlesnake' Lesch (blues)
Pernikoff Brothers (indie)
Hazard To Ya Booty (crunch funk)
future.modern (postpunk/electronic/shoegaze)
Beth Bombara (varied genres surrounding singer-songwriter)
Scooter Brown (jazz in the r'n'b and electronic infused vein)
Antonio Foster (Foster and the Fellowship)
Malena Smith (r'n'b)
Lo Stone (singer-songwriter)
The Mighty Pines (upbeat acoustic)
Old Capital Square Dance Club (electric country)
K Kudda Music (jazz)
Anita Jackson (jazz and soul)
Nick Gusman and the Coyotes (folk-country, check out the song Billy and Rita 1993)
Sinead Angele (countryish singer-songwriter)
Wilson Ridge
Hunter Peebles and the Moonlighters (electric country)
Sweetie and the Toothaches (jump blues)
Phoebe Elliot (singer-songwriter)
Red and Black Brass Band (second line brass band),
and you absolutely must hear Janet Evra, a wonderful singer who plays the upright bass.  I know most of these people.

Welcome, again!

[EvanF]

Hello, I’m also in the first half of my 20s (25) and won’t be in 3 weeks or so. You should come by to hear a good sound system I have and see what good speakers are like. I like Focal Elegias and Hifiman Sundaras; both of which I paid a very good price for. I still prefer cheap, good speakers like my Kef bookshelf pair to even very good headphones, and a high quality system like my upgraded Magnetostatic Carvers puts any headphone to shame even at low volumes acceptable in an apartment or living with others, I have had them in an apartment in the past and the complaint was about the bass: without strong bass and at a low or moderate listening level they are still suitable for an apartment or living with others and of course bookshelf speakers would not have any issue for most apartments at reasonable number of listening hours and time of play during the day and reasonable levels . I would be careful about spending a whole lot on headphones as they may not have resale value like very good speakers from the past do; and you’ll want to get speakers eventually though if you ask on /r/avexchange or browse Hifishark for listings on the internet you can find a good enough deal to be very happy with your wallet and with your musical enjoyment

I have a lot of equipment for sale and keep getting new stuff in, so if you want to upgrade for a reasonable price or just hear something new to you in the audio world for fun, come to my place and you can audition equipment as long as you want. I like Yamaha headphones the most for pure enjoyment, their flagship is spectacular. I have an amp switcher so I can show off differences between amps at the press of a button. I am also a big fan of live music and i know some of the best venues in town, Venice cafe is one and the sound there is spectacular. I think I have a lot to show you about speakers and the world of audio and some stuff about local live music. Let me know.

-Evan

[EvanF]

I’ve listened to Stax SR009 and HD800s and I found them much too thin for my taste. Ditto for AT headphones. They do have stellar treble. Dan Clark, Yamaha, and Hifiman are my favorites. HD600/650/6XX are too boring for me to keep. The close back version of HD800s that cost a lot are very good though. I like IEMs too. For 50 bucks you can buy Truthear Reds and get good bass and treble and imaging. I find the Apple dongle is great for IEMs and a 60 dollar dongle is a great way to enjoy headphones. Still, you can’t dance around the room with a partner or have a party with headphones. You can’t use them for a movie like you can speakers, you won’t get that realism a good movie or TV show deserves. When the sound appears from between the ears it can get more fatiguing than speakers. I’m able to listen to music on good speakers for 80% of my waking hours.

[BPT]

"just not hugely fond of "my girl left me in a big truck with a lot of beer" stuff)."  Agreed! I also really don't like country artists that take classic rock tunes (David Bowie, etc.) change the lyrics and make $$$$--that stinks.
BPT

[EvanF]

Country music is doing better than it’s been since 1978. It is in a second renaissance. Just start listening to the good stuff, much of it independent country. Emily Scott Robinson, Tyler Childers, and Charley Crockett came out with fantastic albums in the last year. There are scores more incredible artists. Craptry can be easily ignored.