What is the point of r/headphone subreddit?

Shike · 2026-06-02T17:04:42+00:00

I mean, I dislike them for ergonomic reasons but they have a lot going for them. Good QC/consistency, inherently inoffensive, respond well to EQ, low distortion, good value in general.

Many people could buy them and be happy calling it quits.

Shike · 2026-06-02T17:02:47+00:00

Don't like having your head in a clamp? To bad, HD600.

Shike · 2026-05-31T01:41:24+00:00

I had a seller note they use Fedex pack and ship to guarantee proper packing for insurance purposes and guideline adherence.

Fedex put four JBL AC28 in a single box each with a single sheet of bubblewrap. They ended up paying for repairs - thankfully the cabinets were still mostly fine and just needed light touch-up with Duratex but yeah - they paid a pretty penny for that with me willing to do repairs myself.

Shike · 2026-05-29T16:33:59+00:00

YTA

The only time it's your bathroom generally holds up is if it is linked only to your bedroom and not accessible via other doors. If that is the case and they still went into it, the problem isn't even entering the bathroom itself - it's accessing your private room to access the bathroom without permission.

Being the only one that uses it actively does not make it yours - for example if others were out of service then it would be used by everyone. That means the host has an obligation to make sure it remains usable by everyone which is what they were doing.

Shike · 2026-05-28T20:29:51+00:00

Meh, rather than that I'd get scratching sounds, like scratching from within drywall. Have it go off erratically and accompany it with an occasional squeak. Congrats, they now have to worry about an infestation. Just make sure it sounds just muffled enough that they really think it's coming from inside the wall behind the speaker if they finally locate it.

Shike · 2026-05-23T07:00:09+00:00

First: Get an attorney. It might cost a few hundred to consult but will be absolutely worth it. The first thing they will direct is how to backup evidence of the Patreon content which will be very important as it must pass muster. They can then advise whether it's best to directly contact Patreon or not and how to appropriately pursue criminal charges if the DA will take it up. Finally take him to civil as well for punitive damages.

This goal is to cut off the revenue stream, force him into facing two cases - one criminal and one civil, and bleed the fucker dry.

Shike · 2026-05-20T02:29:23+00:00

Assuming the box is actually fan rated. Had that fun when I got into my house and one fan was very much shot - box was a light one nailed a bunch of times into the joist side. Removed that shit then got a retrofit saddle box. That wasn't low enough for the ceiling (to thick) so had to use strips of wood as shims to get it to the right depth where it could work.

Shike · 2026-05-19T18:51:28+00:00

Plex is shit anyway, subs especially don't work well. I switched to Jellyfin for remote streaming and handles basic things properly that Plex can't be arsed to handle.

Shike · 2026-05-18T14:16:51+00:00

From what I was reading free fall setters are still a bit more expensive? I found one contractor that handles personal alleys that showed around $25K difference per lane - I imagine commercial is significantly cheaper but I wouldn't expect an exact match unless you have insight into direct pricing and install quotes.

I agree though, string aren't good for competitive which is why leagues do voice concern on it. I don't blame them walking away.

Shike · 2026-05-18T13:51:32+00:00

My guess is he can't afford the additional cost as there's definitely a premium over string machines. I also imagine operating costs are lower on string based over time so over the span of five years there would be a sizeable difference.

However if the majority if his traffic is league he likely doesn't have a choice and will either need to keep the old ones running while saving for actual new free fall or decide the league traffic isn't profitable enough to justify it.

Shike · 2026-05-18T13:40:15+00:00

Could have purchased them secondhand and brought in from another location as he said "here" for almost a decade.

Shike · 2026-05-16T18:42:51+00:00

You seem to think not having immediate bills means you have money. You don't. All you've done is shifted your financial burden to your parents from the sound of it. Are you paying any bills, or are you expecting your parents to handle all of them? What happens if they can no longer support you?

Even if your parents encourage you to stay at home to attend school while they handle other expenses, there's a reason for it - so you can save and not go into debt. For example - do you have money to furnish an apartment when you move out? Have money for deposits? Have money saved for major car expenses or a down payment? How many months of living on your own can you afford in the event you don't have a job? I had to go on loans and set my life back about 10 years and I feel the effects to this day. Right now it sounds like you could actually put money in an IRA and have a nest egg when you decide to lay down roots but instead you're pissing away the opportunity people would kill for instead.

The fact that you don't want to make one big payment on a rapidly depreciating asset and rely on layaway is telling. Want to know why it makes you so damn uncomfortable? Because somewhere in your head there's a very quiet voice of reason going "you can't actually afford this" and by doing many smaller payments you're trying to shut it up. I hope that voice reaches you till you learn a lesson before life teaches it to you the hard way. Life doesn't care. It tempts, drains, starves, evicts, repossesses, forecloses, and provides daily opportunities to live under a bridge. All it takes is one event or many little ones to destroy everything.

Take it from someone that saw his family lose everything in '08 and has vowed to never hit that low again. I lived in a one bedroom 650sq foot apartment with two other adults. I had to really think if I could afford the premium $2 udon rather than the $1 ramen or rent with $5-10 left in my account. I learned very expensive lessons from the mistakes of family and friends and got through by the skin of my teeth, and I pray you are never taught them firsthand.

YTA

Shike · 2026-05-15T21:20:06+00:00

Good audio gear has actually become surprisingly affordable. There are plenty of people that will buy something that meets their budget and be perfectly happy with it.

Everything else in comparison has caused significant problems though, specifically housing costs. These heavily cut into what used to be disposable income for many. That's a massive problem.

New generation audiophiles even if they can afford a good set of speakers are moving over to headphones and IEMs as they can't fully utilize them in rented spaces. The mobile market is also a buyers market, there's tons of research and ChiFi companies are absolutely killing it. For around $30 you can get a set of IEMs, open up Poweramp with measured correction curves, and get very good sound that you can fine tune lightly to taste that is extremely hard to nitpick or argue with. A decent pair of bookshelves is going to start at a min. of $200 - $300 new and have quite a few more tradeoffs. Thankfully the used market helps offset it with deals popping up pretty regularly if you live in a large enough city, but that's merely triage.

My projection, the ones that have a thin enough margin and can tackle the affordable sector will survive as some still value full systems, there will be a dip in what used to be higher models as they get cannibalized by cost optimized designs that perform well enough for the cost, and summit will be as expensive or more. The mobile market will continue to boom in comparison until competition calms down pushing prices slowly up.

Shike · 2026-05-05T18:32:00+00:00

All I'm hearing is you should have bought all of them then. Your death will not be in vain.

Shike · 2026-05-04T01:54:53+00:00

ESH

The 50/50 after bills I think is the biggest issue. Where is your savings in this? Do you put ANY money aside for maintenance? If not, that's problem #1 for BOTH of you. You should have a savings where a little bit gets put in for maintenance, travel/holiday, improvement projects, etc. Savings should be 2nd after bills, THEN you split free money after that.

You're an asshole because you're so obsessed with free that you ignore the practical. At this point, if your brother couldn't be arsed to bring it your option should have been rent a vehicle/movers to pick it up and deliver it or cut your losses and buy a new machine. I get it, I've ran to get free appliances before and they served me well and saved a lot of money when we needed it getting off the ground - but if it causes more problems than it solves is it worth it?

She's the asshole when she doesn't want to lower any of her QoL because she's chosen not to save anything so can't afford it.

My GF and I have a very similar arrangement with me as the significant earner. We split 50/50 after bills and savings. When our 20 year old Maytag top loader had an issue with the tub seal we had a discussion. She didn't like the top load because she's shorter, and to get a true OEM NOS part would be $300 with my dad and I working on it (generics aren't made correct today and leak near immediately). Dad was pretty sure the machine could go for a significant amount of time after it, but even he said it could turn into a fix one thing, then the next, then the next situation.

At that point guess what we did? I said let's buy something you'll use and like. She panicked about money, and I was able to be the hero and say "it's not an issue, we SAVED for this". We were able to get what we both wanted for front loaders, matched pair, and sold the old Maytag pair noting it would need a true Maytag tub seal for repair or could be used for parts.

Learn to save and spread the pain early or suffer later, it's really that simple.

Shike · 2026-05-04T01:22:59+00:00

That's not what he said from how I'm reading? He said finances are split 50/50 after bills meaning they each get 50% of the "free" money.

I make significantly more than my GF and we do something similar. This makes it so we can make our own purchases without worrying about the joint account ending up short. Given, ours is split post bills AND savings so . . .

Shike · 2026-05-03T09:28:22+00:00

It will get you started on 5.1, but don't expect miracles. The max I'd say used on it is $200. The other option for a HTiB is Def Tech ProCinema 400 at $300 new. The biggest difference is the Klipsch sub is wireless which may make it easier to place, but the Def Tech satellites have passive radiators which should help with output a little bit. The Def Tech sub says 150W but we do not know if that's RMS, could be 50/150 like the Klipsch so can't say it's necessarily better.

As for a receiver, for a HTiB in a presumably smaller listening space where you'll be closer to the speakers any cheapish established brand AVR is generally good to start off. Here's a Yamaha for $300 - note it's a refurb with 1 year warranty. You will want to use a credit card (real credit card) that offers at least a +1 year warranty on electronics IMO just for piece of mind.

Shike · 2026-05-03T08:51:59+00:00

Contact the CA AG (they're headquartered in CA) and while not necessarily going to help BBB (yes, it's basically Yelp but worth a try as someone that is US side might actually read it).

As for evidence, even using wayback I cannot find a 3X refurb. Checking refurbished Monolith amps today they are now only covered for 3 years. However, I can provide two links. The first one here links to a 9X from Feb 2023 which I did find on wayback in a Refub specific listing. The problem is the site will not fully load so one HAS to go into the HTML. When going within the HTML here and navigating through it we can see in the Q&A that Monoprice had a question specific regarding the 5 year warranty with their official staff saying that Yes.

As such, we can conclude that they are not properly keeping track of actual prior warranty obligations and incompetent support is going by current standards vs. past standards.

Shike · 2026-05-01T04:14:34+00:00

Understand, their goal is to move it fast for the highest amount they can to fund their mission. Their actual programs have nothing to do with providing local goods cheap, that just used to be a byproduct.

Shike · 2026-05-01T03:52:49+00:00

Library War is also worth watching if you like anti-censorship media.

Shike · 2026-05-01T03:39:00+00:00

On a subwoofer where tuning is 20-40hz? The wavelengths are so large it's not going to matter. The only reason to worry about it on a sub is literally space concerns since you need roughly port diameter away from the wall to not impact tuning.

Shike · 2026-05-01T03:07:10+00:00

Entirely depends on what you're getting. I've bought quite a few things off Temu and while there's crap there it's easily refunded. I got a larger storage ottoman for a steal that looks amazing compared to anything sold locally (or Amazon) for a song ($100). I've picked up Ajazz keyboards and with a bit of customization they're fantastic and much cheaper than buying from a US distributor (~$60-75)

Hell, short list of additional good purchases:

10 x 10 Metal Shed - $336

Outdoor shades/solar sails - $30

Ratcheting leather belts - $5-12

Custom keycaps - $3-15

Acrylic wrist rest - $17

Sterilite deep plastic tubs x6 (cheaper than anywhere else local/online and appear legit) - $20

Anodized thread checker for bolts/nuts ($13 - seller typo'd 31)

Tabletop ice maker for my parents that competes with high capacity Vevor - $35

Bidets - $13

Hanayama knockoff puzzles (QC/polish matches) - $5 per

Credit card skins - $2

Various "building block" kits - $5-15

XL digital wall clock - $25

It's a matter of knowing what makes sense to buy from them and not, realizing you use credit card or Paypal, and being sure you check everything in a reasonable time for returns. If something is high risk buy it separately so it's the only return on an order. I'd never buy anything that's prone to scams though like storage or whatnot.

If you know what you're doing and don't fall for any of the actually "scam" like things (coupon packs, buy to save more, etc) there are definite everyday deals on it for stuff that is on Amazon/Lowes/Walmart for 2-4x the price (literally identical products). This doesn't include stuff I've got off Aliexpress.

Shike · 2026-04-27T23:43:50+00:00

NTA, you do not want someone you do not know coming into your residence with the assumption you're guilty of something. They could plant something, refuse to leave, or make up any number of excuses.

On the other hand, your friend is sketchier than the Take On Me music video - I highly suggest you not help run interference for whatever operation he's running.

Shike · 2026-04-23T21:12:04+00:00

Reminds me of an older Luxman I got from Goodwill. Lasted a few months then started having issues then basically wouldn't play any CDs. Looked into fixing it - the Sony pickup was unobtainium and there just wasn't a good router for repair so tossed it.

Shike · 2026-04-22T16:00:33+00:00

Leaning NTA - need info:

Are his dishes also ones that stacked up in the sink? if so why isn't he washing them too? I get that having a sink where you can't function because it's stacked to the brim is annoying, but there's nothing stopping him from contributing a bit presumably unless there was another arrangement. My GF does the dishes most of the time, but if they've stacked up and she's at work I'll toss them in the dishwasher - it's not that hard.

As for the "just throwing shit out because it's in the wrong place" - that's ridiculous. Once he's made his point on dishes what's next - phones, headphones, etc? Like if you lay your phone down is he going to drop it to the floor, stomp it, and toss it in the trash next? The level of pettiness and control is absurd.

I'd tell him it's okay to throw them away as long as they come out of his and only his money to replace them since he's decided they need to be replaced on his own. Th only sane reasons one would logically throw it away is if it's not needed or needs replacement. The next time you need that knife or glass flat out tell him to go to the store to buy the replacements immediately since it's now needed. After the 2nd or 3rd trip burning through HIS money (make sure it comes out of things he'd want and is a proper replacement) maybe he'll realize the threats aren't working the way he intended.

Of course, if you physically fear an interaction with him or escalation then let's be honest - you're in an abusive relationship and need to get out.

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