About headphones, iTunes libraries and what's playing at my place

Headphones

My journey into the world of sound did not begin with the purchase of an expensive enough acoustics for a home system , but like many, with headphones.







Yes, this is Koss Porta Pro , which recently turned 25 years old. I bought them in 2005-06 for 1250 rubles right before I was fired in the glorious city of Novosibirsk, where I then earned quite a bit of money. These were my first, consciously purchased headphones that impressed me before, given their ability to play electronics and rock thanks to the deepest bass, which was very important for me at that time. I connected them to the usual built-in sound card and nothing, I was completely satisfied! And how they sounded films ... an excellent bass for action films and catastrophes.



But as time went on, Porta was sold to the girl with the computer, I got a good job and decided to buy a slightly older model Koss TD85 in the office. At first it was something! The bass has become even more, for D'n'B the most that Pendulum shook my head all day long for a couple with the Hybrid.

')

I bought the Cowon iAudio x5 player from my colleague quite strongly for them and began to rejoice (I never had a portable one before, now I felt the joy of buying a new gadget). The player, in my opinion, is very high-quality, convenient, and the sound gives out unlike iPods, for which I received a lot of awards at the time, although I did not hear anything about it.



In Novosibirsk at that time there were a lot of “gopoty”, and I rented an apartment in the area that is not very prosperous, in my opinion. Which in turn imposed certain restrictions on me - I had to buy headphones plugs to listen to music on the go. The choice was made in the store in favor of Koss PathFinder (Spark Plug) , as during the test listening they seemed to me a bit more “bass”. On the way to the office, it didn’t leave me feeling that the headphones frankly scratch my ear! It turned out that the tube on which the attachment was attached was longer than the one needed and with a small “Chinese” notch at the end, but with the help of a knife and tape all quickly corrected :).



Over time, I began to get disappointed in this model, because the bass was still very flat, as if they were pounding on the table with a hammer, and then another colleague turned up for good luck, who needed headphones “to listen to music”, that is, not really something important what headphones. Sold for 500 rubles, cheers! Portable on the road, I stopped listening, it causes discomfort to the feeling of being cut off from what is happening around, it is very annoying when I can not hear the car, for example. At the same time, I decided to start experimenting with Koss headphones.



A little later, pictures and videos from live performances of various Trans DJs began to have an increasing influence on me, with brilliant professional headphones hanging on their heads. Thinking that for this kind of music I needed DJ ears, I asked my colleagues to throw me on the DR and give these to me. The day came and we with the head (still that music lover) went shopping. By that time, I had already picked up a professional model Denon DN-HP1000 from the forums for myself, which during test listening turned out to be a frank G, a dull, dry, crumpled sound. It became wildly offensive, I was even a little confused, saying that there is money, but there is nothing to buy, but the consultant advised me to listen to more Technics and Pioneer. Alas, I don’t already remember impressions about technics, but I clearly remember how the Pioneer HDJ 1000 played out loudly and deeply ! It was a pattern break! I never heard such a “sound”, for which I immediately grabbed them in my arms and ran to the office for tests! I will say a rather banal thing - I re-listened to the entire collection of music :)



I used this model for 2 years, so it turned out to be successful for me, after which I gave them to the employees in the office, and I myself bought “a little more professional” Ultimate Ears Triple FI 10 Pro . And, as it turned out, it was from them that a new round of my audiophilia began. The professionalism and high cost of these headphones are visible at first glance, just look at how the cable is made before the joint with the headphones - the flexible reinforced grille protects against fractures and sprains and allows you to fix the cable on the ear in a comfortable position so that it will not dangle and cause unnecessary noise . Headphones are “reinforcing”, the technology was a revelation to me, actually, as well as the sound quality - in detail, bass and broadly about music! I stumbled upon them at the next forum, where Etymotic and Ultimate Ears shared the first places in the top channel headphones, I ordered them in the states, as they were not sold in Russia at that time. The bundle is very pleased with its completeness: here is the metal carrying box, and a set of nozzles, a pair of adapters, one of which remained a mystery to me - with the image of an airplane at the entrance. A little later I bought an audio interface for them, which I already mentioned “Apogee Duet” with which, it seemed to me, they sang perfectly. Thus appeared my

Office setup

Or how I work with two iTunes libraries.



UE played in it for about a year and quite recently they blessed my mom for a couple of iPhones, and I also wanted more comfortable and full-fledged headphones, when, after reading too many tests, I got my own, now the last ears - Sennheiser HD650 . Very successful model and in terms of convenience, they are open type with covering ear cushions - they sit like a glove and during the whole working day they do not strain at all, unlike, by the way, Pioneer HDJ1000, from which the ears started to hurt after half an hour of wearing. Sound is important, of course, but it is pleasant, wide and transparent, I really liked the open technology of the emitters, the sound is mixed with what is happening outside and the effect is obtained, as if listening not to headphones, but speakers! But for others, the same factor is negative, just the headphones emit the same way in the ears, then out with the same volume, so I try to listen to music as quietly as possible, but sometimes it “breaks through” :) Besides, many people write that they are very much bass, hmm :) I did not notice. There is a possibility that the output power of my sound card is not enough for them, but more on that in the Plans for the Future.



As for music, I listen to it in aiff format via iTunes, since I really like the “librarianism” of this player, the entire library is stored on an external 500Gb portable 2.5 ”screw, since there is not enough free space in the laptop, and there’s no reason to warm it Stronger, I think. But! Since I need access to the entire collection at once, huge files (so the web server is no longer an option), and it is often updated, then the question of how to synchronize everything with the house is good, so that poke wheels, and yes even backup o? There were no fully working Internet solutions, the only thing that occurred to me and still works great is the synchronization of the entire iTunes folder along with all the guts!



The problem with everyone is that people are trying to synchronize the contents (the music files themselves), that iTunes doesn’t understand because of the heap of service files in the depths of the root folder, where the direct paths are written. Also, I tried to adjust the use of the new function in the latest 9th version of the player called “Home Share”, it supposedly synchronizes 2 folders from machines on the local network ... “supposedly” because it simply allows you to copy music, but the concept of synchronization includes deleting, In general, the flaw Apple, and maybe another attempt to overcome piracy, who knows. The program for synchronizing the entire ChronoSync helped solve the problem .







Simply dragging the icon with an external disk to the left, the icon of the home disk to the right and setting the “As soon as the disk is visible on the network” rule begins synchronization of the two libraries + sets the automatic synchronization mode. Now when I come home from the office and lift the lid of the laptop, synchronization begins, but if a program is running on Mac Mini, which has already sucked the previous version of the library, when trying to play something, funny bugs start, for example, I listen to the album by Coldplay, Suddenly Frank Sinatra starts to play on the second track :) and nevertheless, the overall task is completed = profit!



That is, in fact, the whole uncomplicated, so far, an office setup that is almost enough for happiness!

Future plans

In order not to linger on the spot and get new impressions, I plan this month to purchase an additional low-cost amplifier Laconic Lunch BOX HA-06 PRO , check what is there and what are the Sennheiser HD650 add. costs ... + very interesting, but is it true that amplifiers for headphones are "required" to buy, and another plus is that with the help of lamps I will try to moderate the excessive detail and "digitality" of my Apogee. But what pleases me most of all is the imminent purchase of one more headphones to compare it with ... this is AKG K 271 MK II , I was given them to listen for a couple of minutes by my former head, for which I am immensely grateful to him, they won me over with their soulfulness in the reproduction of music, straight "purring" sound, I want to dissolve in it, so close your eyes and swim across the endless ocean, sweet as syrup. A year has passed and I am ready to test them again with my hardware in more detail + I will bring my Valab NOS DAC out of my house, which I think I will write down here if there is a demand :)



Thank you for your attention, I will be glad to help in the comments and in the mail!



PS The frequent mentioning of the word "Bass" as a metric of ear quality is due to my long-time addiction to it, which has safely gone at least as a year.



PPS Readers are also interested in what kind of music I listen to, which I did not repeat in this post, apparently in vain. So let's start: Indie, Folk, Jazz, Vocal, Soul, Funk, and electronics on the little things. More details .