Which piece of gear have you owned the longest?

Discussion in 'General Audio Discussion' started by JoshMorr, Aug 16, 2016.

  1. JoshMorr

    JoshMorr Friend

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    I was thinking about this ridiculous hobby and how often a new flavor of the month rolls in and we rush to swap gear. A new headphone is released and we all hurry to find the funds to be the first to realize that it doesn't quite live up to expectations. Hype train gets rolling on an amp and impression threads are refreshed hourly (even though its a rehash of an old design).

    What piece of gear has survived FOTM's, Hype Trains, Shill fests etc. What is ol' reliable, your reference, your kit that never seems to go out of style? I'm interested in hearing about gear the literally has to break before you will move on, and even then you hold onto hope of reviving it back to it former glory.

    For me, and probably alot of SBAFers, the hd650 is a headphone I don't think I could live without. It was one of my first hifi purchases and it has stayed with me for the last 3 years or so. As other gear has taken leaps and bounds, the HD650 has been the constant, and the headphone has improved at every turn.
     
    Last edited: Aug 16, 2016
  2. Pyruvate

    Pyruvate Friend

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    Awesome thread! It'll be interesting to see the replies. I got my HD650 earlier this year and I don't ever see myself getting rid of it.

    Though, here are the two things I've held onto for the longest:

    Koss Portapros - almost 7 years*
    Headroom Total Bithead (the original mojo) - 3 years
    (The two above make for a killer portable rig)

    Bifrost would be next on the list, almost reaching 1.5 years, but it was recently sacrificed for Modi Multibit funds. :cool:

    And finally, Wyrd Modi Vali (almost 1.5 years) which always manages to stick around as a fallback when I'm in between gear purchases. I guess this alongside my HD650 is my reference stack haha.

    *used their lifetime warranty 3x for a channel dying resulting from multiple cable snags
     
    Last edited: Aug 16, 2016
  3. Merrick

    Merrick A lidless ear

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    I don't use it at all anymore but I bought the Sony MDR-7506 many years ago and now won't part with it simply for the nostalgia.
     
  4. Torq

    Torq MOT: Headphone.com

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    I think my original Etymotic ER4-S take the "longest owned" crown for me ... and better still they continue to get regular usage ... and I've had them for at least 17 years ... since Tyll ran Headroom, their "Supreme*" amp still took AAs internally (and devoured them in about an hour), and portable CD players were still the best option for portable listening ... and they're still going strong.


    (*I believe I have the 2nd edition, which I bought shortly after it was launched ... it was discontinued in 1999).
     
  5. bazelio

    bazelio Friend

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    I think I bought my HD600 in 1999. That takes the cake. The headband foam disintegrated and is just totally gone. The pads were only replaced once, and are very overdue for replacement again.
     
  6. aufmerksam

    aufmerksam Friend

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    Shure e3c. Eleven years old. Right nozzle is irreparably damaged and they are unlistenable, but that was the first thing i bought that made me realize I could maybe access better reproduction.

    My first full-size was the hd595 (because I was too chicken shit to launch all the way to the 6x0 on my first purchase). I had it for almost 10 years out of nostalgia before realizing I never listened to it anymore. Sold it for maybe $40 to someone who wanted good gaming headphones. By contrast, I haven't had it as long, but I will never sell my 650s

    And finally, the headroom desktop combo amp/DAC. I've had this for 6 or 7 years. Not the best ever, but it was my first serious amp (and DAC), and it is a jack of most trades. Also, it sounds amazing with the senn hd6x0, almost like it was designed around them...
     
    Last edited: Aug 16, 2016
  7. Pyruvate

    Pyruvate Friend

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    I'm sure most of Headroom's products were designed around the HD6xx. Tyll as we know it is a huge senn fan (save the HD700 LOL) and I believe the HD650 has been bundled with the BitHead in the past. Speaking of which, my BitHead seriously makes my HD650 sing, it makes me wonder why I even bother spending tons more for marginal increases in sound quality.
     
  8. Chris F

    Chris F Boyz 4 Now Fanatic - Friend

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    Rane Rotary Empath DJ mixer. Purchased new in 2008 and still use it for gigs today. Will never sell it. Last of the great all analog DJ mixers and still better then all but the best (eg: Rane MP2015) of the current crop of digital controllers/mixers.

    Very nice phono inputs which are on par or better than the majority of current sub $500 phono stages. Slightly rolled FR but perfect for DJing as for the vast majority of PA setups you want something on the warm and forgiving side of the fence.

    Built like a tank and will likely still be working perfectly in 20 years time.
     
  9. Madaboutaudio

    Madaboutaudio Friend

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    Sennheiser HD25-ii since 2004. This thing is built like a tank. The only things that gave way was the foam pads and foam bands which there are still parts stocked for them till today because of HD25-ii ubiquity in Television Production use.
     
  10. Dino

    Dino Friend

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    Oldest piece of gear still in use* - McIntosh C-26. (I got the image from the web, but mine looks like this.)

    [​IMG]

    Bought it new in 1975, cost me a little over a month of take-home pay. I was 19 years old. Turned out that I got my money's worth. I found that there was something about the phono stage that really sounded good with the moving magnet and moving iron cartridges that I have owned. I used it as a phono stage only for the last few decades. I'm sure that there are better phono stages but this one worked for me.

    * Not using it as of a few months ago. I experienced my first burglary and while they got away with a lot of stuff, they had staged many items at my back door, back porch and garage door. I interrupted the burglary (didn't see them though) and the preamp was one of the things that had been staged. Looks like they dropped it. The row of buttons on the lower left no longer line up straight, the metal plate around those buttons came off and one channel is no longer working.

    No other cosmetic damage. (I had no cracks in the glass and only one small bubble, underneath the headphone jack.) I'll probably get it repaired if the internal damage is not too bad.
     
  11. Dino

    Dino Friend

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    @sfocit

    If you think about it, please PM me and let me know how it went for you.
     
  12. cocolinho

    cocolinho Acquaintance

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    My CIEM Custom Art Music One bought when released since I almost don't use iem anymore and resale value is very low so... I simply keep them and enjoy them some time to time .
    I bought one more time a HD650 ,brand new this time because I plan to keep them, seriously
     
  13. Deep Funk

    Deep Funk Deep thoughts - Friend

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    AKG K181 DJ.

    I only had to replace the cable. Still a good closed headphone for on the go. About as tough as a HD25.
     
  14. namaiki

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    My UE TF10 and a Jabra BT3030, but not necessarily together. Need to replace the cable some time soon.

    The TF10 is amazing unamped from my phone which is a Huawei P8. They have some good synergy even though the P8 headphone jack is a bit noisy and grainy.
     
  15. Koth Ganesh

    Koth Ganesh Friend

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    My NHT floor-standers are 24 years old and going strong.....as is my JVC integrated receiver (same vintage).

    On the headphones/amps/dacs side of the equation, I rarely sell anything so all my equipment are still with me for about 3 years...I did sell the LCD-X and LCD-XC and bought the Andromeda.
     
  16. Enigmatic

    Enigmatic Friend

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    The item which stayed with me the longest would probably be my Marantz CD Player (CD6004 - nearly 5~6 years old now), bought when it was first released. I've traded it for a pair of XLR cables with a friend recently though, as it was skipping tracks; He has the technical expertise to have it fixed and I am eventually going to build my setup around a PC with a transport as a secondary. Plus I do have a great DAC now.

    However I do have things which I have bought twice, sold off due to varied circumstances of life during that point of time, and I do expect these to stay with me for a long, long time now. A pair of Sennheiser HD580 (I have two now in fact), and a pair of Sonus Faber speakers.
     
  17. zonto

    zonto Friend

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    Gear I've held onto for a while:
    • Etymotic ER4P (2009)
    • Headamp Pico DAC/amp (2009)
    • Koss KSC-75 (2009)
    • Magnepan 1.6QR (2012)
    • Peachtree Audio Nova125 (2012; will likely replace with Schiit separates early next year)
    Newcomer to the HD6x0 as of last year, but after going through Grado, Sony, and AKG, and listening to Audeze in-shop, I think I'll keep my HD600 and/or modded HD650 for a good, long while. Don't plan on swapping my Yggdrasil I got last year either.
     
    Last edited: Sep 14, 2016
  18. crazychile

    crazychile Eastern Iowa's Spiciest Pepper

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    So this is stuff I actually still use. I'd have a lot longer list if I counted stuff tucked away somewhere gathering dust.

    Adcom GFA-535II amp - Got it free in a sales contest back around '92 or '93. I run the variable output from my TV into it.
    B&W DM601 - Same era as the Adcom. Currently hooked up to the Adcom.
    Etymotic ER-4P (and S adapter). These have to be close to 10 yrs old now. I actually like them more now than I did originally. Used to be my mow the lawn headphones and iPad headphones. Since I got a Yggdrasil I actually use them from time to time on the main headphone rig with a Lyr 2 to power them. (the S adapter drops the efficiency waaaay down.)
     
  19. SpaceLaser

    SpaceLaser Friend

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    HD600 I think is the longest (since 2012). I have commitment issues I guess.
     
  20. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    I thought it was the HD580/600/650 that I've had the longest, but then I realized that my HD25 has been trucking along far longer. Actually in my case it's a blue Amperior case with 600 ohm HD25-13 drivers.
     

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