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Mine were Koss K-6 with the sliding volume control on each ear cup.
They were awful; big, heavy, hot, with nowhere near enough padding. Sounded rank, too.
Put me off headphones until I heard Stax.
The problem is not that there is evil in the world, the problem is that there is good. Because otherwise, who would care?
Follow Ups:
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Hey, Vegans ... what if Soy Milk is just regular milk introducing itself in Spanish?
Koss SP-3XC, I think.
I think they were Realistic headphones, the cheapest, with no cushions for decoding dot-dot-dashes. Then, finally I got some nice German made headphones at the peak of the stereo boom, years later.
NT
First over-the-ear cans were the Grado's - still have them.
Still have my Stanton Dynaphase 60s from 1975. Work perfectly except for an intermittent connection problem inside that requires me to move the cord around.
Sunny memories, we used them to communicate with each other at the playground.
Next in line, many years later, was a pair of Grado SR60. Massive upgrade.
I used to fly my own airplane (was able to write off the expenses)...used David Clark earphones,,,,everyone had them for their planes. They came out with an audiophile edition which I jumped on. They were absolutely awful for sonic pleasures.....they were 1000 dollars in those dark ages. I sold them on the internet,.
Koss Pro4 AA
Mine were Koss ESP-6 electrostatic headphones. I can't remember owning any headphones before the Koss ESP-6, but I must have owned some regular dynamic headphones. Anyway, I fell in love with electrostatic headphones and the next ones I bought were the ESP-9. I have no idea today what happened to these headphones, but I owned them more than 50-years ago.
Best regards,
John Elison
'Anyone remember their first set of cans?'
yes, and they were real AND spectacular
Yup....Koss Pro4AA...the kats' pajamas
Still love them. But PSB are my standard phones now.
sex after 70 is like trying to play pool with a rope
Pioneer SE-405
Dynobots Audio - Music is the Bridge Between Heaven and Earth
Dynobots GitHub - Music to Your Ears
My parents bought me these when I was first interested in two-channel audio...... (I got these so I can listen to music while my parents watched TV, in the same room.) What I remember from the literature was a "specially developed cone paper" for the drivers...... (Even as a child, the phrase kind of struck me as a bizarre choice of words. I also thought "Sansui" was a kind of a "drug store brand", didn't realize it wasn't.) A far cry from the planar designs of recent time.I then "upgraded" to Koss K/2+2 headphones..... Even though they were optimized for quadraphonic but could only listen to them in "stereo" mode. I do remember them having a "solid" build and a "richer" sound. (But in retropect, I didn't know if they were actually "better".) But the ear pieces resembled the higher rated Koss and "Realistic" brand units in Consumer Reports.... (I didn't yet realize that Consumer Reports wasn't exactly a reliable authority on audio gear.)
Edits: 05/11/20
I have had so many different headphones, including dynamic, planar magnetic, electret condenser and electrostatic. I like estats the best.
Ed
We don't shush around here!
Life is analog...digital is just samples thereof
I was scarred by the experience, which is why I remember it so well.
The problem is not that there is evil in the world, the problem is that there is good. Because otherwise, who would care?
Mine were blue and run off my discman.
Gsquared
I owned a pair of those years ago and they sounded pretty good.
As I read all the responses to this headphone thread, it reminds me of just how many different headphones I've owned over the years. I really owned a lot of different headphones and earphones.
Best regards,
John Elison
And I've enjoyed all of them except that first pair of Koss. Even the $10 Sony IEMs I use with an iPod are decent.
If not for headphones, I'd barely ever get to listen to music. It's been that way nearly all my life. And I've nearly always had headphones that were better than my speakers, no matter how good the speakers were.
The problem is not that there is evil in the world, the problem is that there is good. Because otherwise, who would care?
AKG K340 from about 1992. I still have them today and they still sound pretty good. I had them modified by Headphile about 11 years ago with a new dual entry cable and some driver modifications. They are among the most power hungry headphones of all time only surpassed by the HE6 and the K1000 and perhaps a few others. They have a magical midrange and a big soundstage.
They sounded ok, not much bass. Really uncomfortable.
'A lie is halfway around the world before the truth gets its boots on'. -Mark Twain
Got them in the late 1970s. Comfortable and sounded quite good, I thought. Eventually gave them about 10 years or so later to my daughter.
Joe
these cost around $200 and sounded good until you were out of line of site. LOL!
But I got a pair of Radio Shack massive cans with plastic chrome finish. They had a volume control on each side.I was so disappointed. And I'm talking a 16 year old's disappointment!
Edits: 04/02/20
My brother many years ago had the Pro 4AA and I found them heavy and hot to wear.
I much preferred when he 'gifted' me a set of Senheiser of some sort......I can't remember the model number.
Today? I have a set of 12$ SONY on-ear needing pads which are perfect for the computer and a set of Grado On-Ear which are fine for late-nite TV and playing games without disturbing the house.
I somehow do not see any uber-expensive headphones or headphone amps in my future.
Too much is never enough
My new brother-in-law had a pair.
And being in a small town, they were the best thing I'd ever heard. As were the JBL L100's he had.
Times have changed.
That first pair of Koss K-6 put me off headphones for a good long while.
I've got expensive headphones now but they're better than my speakers and they're my main way of listening to music as they have been for decades.
The problem is not that there is evil in the world, the problem is that there is good. Because otherwise, who would care?
Army Green sticky vinyl cups.
"The hardest thing of all is to find a black cat in a dark room, especially if there is no cat" - Confucius
First I bought the AKG K-702 phones, which improved with break-in. I still use them to listen to TV shows and music when everyone is sleeping.
Next were Sennheiser HD-600 cans, which I found not to do well until I bought a cheap HeadRoom portable amp, later replaced with a Burson HA-160. I still use these, but they have been replaced for most of my listening (almost all classical) by Focal Clears, which provide more detail in the midrange and somewhat deeper bass.
Before getting the Clears, I briefly had HD-650s, which sounded dark no matter which of my amps I used with then. I sold them within the month for the discounted price I'd paid.
AKG.k240 Monitor, 600 Ohm. Still have them. They are Circa 1982
I liked the AKG 240s a lot - open, airy, tight bass. Had them for 20 years until someone broke into my house and stole all the audio gear. Had Grados and HiFiMan since then.
I was thinking about the Sextetts the other day and seriously considered buying another pair, but decided to go with a current production model AKG K712 Pro. Purchased used last week and now waiting for delivery.
Olson Electronics Model 173. See page 53 of the link below.
In retrospect, the best thing about them was the 20' cord. Which I later turned into a headphone extension cord. Which I still have somewhere in the basement.
I almost forgot that the 'base' was considered separate from the turntable so one could pluck the turntable into a console stereo.
Those cans look like they were made by Koss.
Hey, scrolling through all that 4-channel gear. Wonder how much money Pioneer, Marantz, et al lost on quadraphonic.
The problem is not that there is evil in the world, the problem is that there is good. Because otherwise, who would care?
Nope, those weren't Koss. I've owned Pro-4AA (original and the newer version), and Pro-4AAA, and I've seen the Pro-4A, and these were nothing like those. These were much lighter, and didn't sound anything like the Pro-4A** I've heard. Are you sure you're looking at item #5 on page 53?
Anyway, I love the old catalogs. Fun memories from simpler times.
But I didn't say they were Pro-4s, that was another post. I said they looked like they might have been made by Koss.
The problem is not that there is evil in the world, the problem is that there is good. Because otherwise, who would care?
Koss Pro 4A
With stax prices ranging from $800 t0 $4000 I should hope so......-.
Edits: 03/30/20
the electrets, SR-44 system. I can't remember how much I paid for them, I'd love to know. Plug the price into the inflation calculator.
The problem is not that there is evil in the world, the problem is that there is good. Because otherwise, who would care?
I think they were part of the Sony organisation and were best known in the UK at the time for affordable reel to reel recorders. Bought in 1967 from Wallace Heaton (mainly a chain of photographic shops) at their Brighton(UK) branch.
They were closed back but had small rotating knobs that changed the opening of an air vent (a bit like a port of a speaker) to tune the bass. Any good? I was 17 years old and loved them. They were replaced with the classic Sennheiser HD414s a year or two later which were in another league.
"We need less, but better" - Dieter Rams
Akai made an auto-reversing tape deck that turned the cassette over instead of changing head azimuth and direction. A local furniture store that also sold electronics had a floor model for sale that I wanted. Bad.
Alas, my father was a firm "no." Or maybe it was a good thing. I'm sure the mechanism had a short life.
The problem is not that there is evil in the world, the problem is that there is good. Because otherwise, who would care?
Nakamichi made one that turned the cassette over, too. I never owned it. I bought two Dragons instead. The Dragon was absolutely topnotch. It came so close to sounding like my Revox A77 that I switched to cassette and sold my A77. I bought two Dragons so I could dub cassettes for friends. All of my friends owned cassette tape recorders but very few owned reel-to-reel tape decks.
Best regards,
John Elison
I had a Nach 1000 ii. The Belts needed replacing, then something happened that Nach on Long Island told me it couldn't be fixed. I don't remember the sound, but liked to align the heads and record on it.
mint Nak LX-3 deck, so perfect it looked new. Great price.
Got it out of the box, played a tape I had laying around, needed azimuth adjustment. Turned the wrong screw and broke the retainer holding the play head in place.
Found a replacement part online, put it all back together, plugged it in an poof! The voltage switch on the back had accidentally been thrown to 100v while I was repairing the deck and it was fried.
Never got to play or record a single tape.
The problem is not that there is evil in the world, the problem is that there is good. Because otherwise, who would care?
Beyerdynamic DT990 purchased in 1990 while a freshman in college
I have some relatively old DT880s.... I see that same model now, they look totally different......
Did Beyerdynamic use the same model numbers for different units? I've always been confused by this.......
Sennheiser HD-414, which were the cat's meow around 1970. Then Koss Pro 4-AA, then ESP-9. The ESP-9s sounded wonderful and felt awful; pretty much like having a couple heavy bricks clamped on your head. Various low-end Grados in the 90's, and Senn HD-800s now driven by the wonderful Bottlehead Crack amp with Speedball upgrade.
WW
"They were running on fumes, dazed and confused, in a high-powered automobile."
i had them mid 70s, pressing the drivers into the ears more gave better bass response. i had wished for some way to make that happen but the plastic headband wouldn't do that.NOTE THE CHANGE TO 424. large concave yellow earpad foam, hence more comfort but didn't sound superior to 414s, just better bass it think.
i also had the 424s after that and they were ok but VERY comfortable. sold all that off and didn't do headphones until the Grado SR60s.
only recently have taken up phones and have hifiman 4XXs, and a pair of Grado PS1000s that i won at a LAOCAS Gala one year. i' about to get a monolith AAA789 THX dac/amp to do it up right.
...regards...tr
Edits: 04/12/20
They were my only headphones for a long time. I still have them but they sound poor compared to HD600s. Now I kind of wished I'd gone for the 414s as they have that iconic status.
13DoW
are actually 424s.
...regards...tr
I had 420s also. Used them until the early 'aughts.
The problem is not that there is evil in the world, the problem is that there is good. Because otherwise, who would care?
Got them around 1990. Still use and still like them. Just replace the velour pads every few years.
from two transistor radio speakers and coat hanger wire.
First real set were Sennheiser 414.
I pictured two Dynaco A25s and a bungee cord.
The problem is not that there is evil in the world, the problem is that there is good. Because otherwise, who would care?
nt
They were from my siblings. My first dip into anything "audiophile". The treble was pretty prominent.
"'Cause when love is gone, there's always justice./And when justice is gone, there's always force./And when force is gone, there's always Mom. Hi Mom!" Laurie Anderson, "O Superman (For Massenet)"
My first headphones were Koss ESP-6 electrostatic headphones. I liked them so much that I bought the ESP-9 electrostatics almost immediately. I later switched to Stax electrostatics and then to Grado HP-1's. I still have the Grado HP-1's in addition to Grado RS-2's. I also recently bought some Koss ESP/950 electrostatics as well as some FiiO IEM earphones, too.
Best regards,
John Elison
I bought my daughter a set of Sr-60 (no 'e') Grados for xmas one year. They're the only Grados I've ever heard.
They sound good for the price.
The problem is not that there is evil in the world, the problem is that there is good. Because otherwise, who would care?
Yes, I bought my son the SR-60's and he really liked them. The Grado HP-1's actually sounded better than my Stax Lambda Pro headphones so I gave the Stax to my son and kept the Grado HP-1's. They're very old now and they don't sound as good as they did when new, but I still own the HP-1's although I rarely listen to them.
I'd really love to own the top-of-the-line Stax but I don't want to spend that kind of money. I suppose the best sounding headphones I own today are the Koss ESP/950 Electrostatics although my little FiiO FH-7 IEM earphones might sound just as good. Surprisingly, I've been listening to some FiiO EH3 NC headphones lately because they're convenient Bluetooth wireless headphones. They don't sound as good as the FH-7 IEM's or the Koss electrostatics, but they're the easiest headphones to use.
Best regards,
John Elison
Sennheiser HD580. I sold them several years ago and regret it. I did get the HD 58x Jubilee and I like them better than my HD600 and HD650's.
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