What headphone did you start off with?

[Tenflare]

These were my first headphones. I loved them. Hard wired the energizer to the speaker outs of my amp. 16 - 22000Hz. But you couldn't drive them very loud. Magnificent with Classical and Jazz.

A Sennheiser electrostat??

[capetownwatches]

A world first actually:

Sennheiser engineers for the first time combined the principle of open headphones with that of electrostatic transducer technology.
Sennheiser’s launch of the unipolar 2000 model in 1977 caused a sensation in the audio world.

Its principle was once again an innovation in audio technology. In the electrostatic transducer, a high voltage is applied to two mesh-like electrodes.
As in a loudspeaker, this voltage causes a coated foil diaphragm to vibrate in time with the audio signal.
This results in an extremely fine resolution and low total harmonic distortion.
 
“Its frequency curve has a relatively deep curvature from 2 to 4 kHz. This is one of the reasons why these headphones generate an extremely spacious, detailed, transparent, airy and nevertheless powerful sound image in unprecedented quality," was how one audio magazine ‘Hifi-Stereofonie’, sang the praises of the new headphones.

I bought mine pre-owned from a local audiophile (couldn't afford them new and they were very rare) and they were indeed the "best" headphones of their time.

[Trompie67]

First headphone?

Those that were supplied with my Sony Walkman!



Subsequently, Sennheiser HD590's since '99! Replaced pads twice. Still have the original box, cost R1,600 from Foto-Cats in Sandton City back in the day!

[grumpybear]

Another one for Sennheiser HD40, subsequently traded in on HD414 which I still have complete with box.  Used regularly on the PC because I can still hear what's going on around me.

[Momo]

Most of you here clearly had more sense then I did.My first pair was SkullCandy "SkullCrushers" absolute crap I paid R850 if I remember correctly they sound terrible they have what they call built in subwoofers which you can switch on and off.I still have them don't use it obviously.

Moved from there to a pair of B&W P5 wireless will never sell these ,I have tried AKG K92,Phillips SHP9500s as well which I recently sold .

My next pair will be the Beyerdynamic DT880's to use with my rega ear amp.

[ron g]

my dad had a set of hd414s back in the 70's which i really enjoyed - mainly because there were a lot of musicians in the music videos wearing the yellow foam sennheisers.

after they were eaten by the dog, he got a pair of kenwood headphones, which were great. i can't remember the model now, but if i look for photos on the web ii think they could have been the kh32s. they made me like headphones for the sound quality rather than the image.

[Sten]

I started off low-fi in 1954 with a pair of WW2 RAF earphones of the rocking armature type. These were considered the best and most sensitive for use with the home-built crystal sets which were then de rigueur for any technically minded boy. The type 18 BPO earpieces (with the slide on and off diaphragms), also used in the old Bakelite type telephones, were considered inferior. As I recall the cost of the good ones was ten shillings at H Falkson in Church street west Pretoria, a veritable Aladdin's cave of war surplus technical goodies. (Hands up please anyone who ever bought something at Falksons). The SABC at the time had a medium wave transmitter site at Silverton with probably 10 kilowatts or so for each service. The antenna was a centre fed vertical lattice mast. Since the site was about four miles from Menlo Park where I lived reception was excellent. Choice of service was English or Afrikaans, or the wondrous Springbok Radio. Good days one way and another!   

[JonnyP]

I started off with the ones that came with my Sanyo walkman circa 1984.  The walkman also has a little pair of speakers so they were my first speakers too!  Then moved through a walkman a year from about 1987-1996 with whatever Sony earbud type phones came with it.  Finally started on the Sennheiser earbuds around then and have always got at least one pair of Senn in-ears along with some on ears and one pair of HD598 over ears.  Most of my headphone listening is on portable devices.

I did used to go through a pair of DJ over ears a year at Uni but mainly because we shared whichever ones the Entertainments budget could afford (generally Panasonic or the like DJ phones) but not to listen at home.

[chrisc]

Back in the 1970's it was an AKG K-210.  It came bundled with 2 omni-directional dynamic microphones, since I had just started recording using a Tandberg "cross-field" reel to reel

[capetownwatches]

Sennheiser engineers for the first time combined the principle of open headphones with that of electrostatic transducer technology.
Sennheiser’s launch of the unipolar 2000 model in 1977 caused a sensation in the audio world.

Its principle was once again an innovation in audio technology. In the electrostatic transducer, a high voltage is applied to two mesh-like electrodes.
As in a loudspeaker, this voltage causes a coated foil diaphragm to vibrate in time with the audio signal.
This results in an extremely fine resolution and low total harmonic distortion.
 
“Its frequency curve has a relatively deep curvature from 2 to 4 kHz. This is one of the reasons why these headphones generate an extremely spacious, detailed, transparent, airy and nevertheless powerful sound image in unprecedented quality," was how one audio magazine ‘Hifi-Stereofonie’, sang the praises of the new headphones.

Forgot to mention that the above quote is off the Sennheiser USA website.

[kamikazi]

Also started off with the headphones I got with a Sony Walkman. My first pair of headphones I bought for myself were a pair of Sony portable DJ headphones which I used for many years as well as the Sony MDR-EX71 in ears. I also had the Sennheiser HD407s at some stage, but they were uncomfortable and I soon gave them away.

[canman1971]

Senn CX300II (IEMS), iPhone 4

- IEMS gifted to a fellow forum member
- iPhone 4 sold on forum

[dan duette]

The first and only headphones I ever bought - Sennheiser HD580 Precision, soon afterwards added a Musical Fidelity X-Cans and shortly after that a DIY powersupply for the headphone amp that improved performance even more. still use it to this day.

[Wolvebain]

What was your first decent set of headphones?

Has to be my Sennheiser HD 650...  Prior to that, nothing really 'decent' comparatively (some TOTL gaming headphones, etc.)

How did you enjoy them?

They changed my life!!!
My enjoyment of music leaped, and started to re-appreciate songs all over again.

What sort of rig did you run them through?

As a then gamer, it was on my PC, through an Asus Xonar Essence One & Samson Studio Headamp...
That changed quickly as I got the Yulong Sabre DA8, and the journey started to Audiophilia.

Where are they now?

Still with me.  Doubt I'd ever sell them, even after having the Ether C Flow, LCD-4, HD800S, and several different AKG's
 

[Por_Tu_Guy]

Technically my first headphone was a pair of Bose AE or something along those lines. Basically a Beats competitor with better build quality and less bass.
They were a gift and I thought they were great at the time but they eventually disintegrated into pieces and I threw them out.

The first decent headphone that I bought with my own money was the Audio Technica M50s which were every Youtubers wet dream. Really the headphone that got me into this mess. Rather aggressive sounding but a big step up. Played them straight out my phone or laptop, didn't know amps or DACs existed at the time. I Still have them, though they've been collecting dust for the last couple of years since they've been replaced with bigger and greater things.

Its funny how I went from having only used 2 Headphones in the last 7 years to about 6 more in the last 8 months.
This hobby has ruined me