I would not have progressed this far in this interesting and money draining hobby without the help, encouragement and interest shown by several regular Audio Zone members. When I became a member of TE, I was a newbie who did not know how to tell bass from treble. Through this forum, I came to know several people I would not have known otherwise. In the early days, I distinctly remember trying to read and understand
FaH33m and
Brendon's reviews. I communicated a lot with them via PM in the initial days to learn more. Actually, it was the questions: Fah33M asked me to describe MS1i when I got them and I drew a blank. I remember writing 'something', but I don't think it was meaningful. That's how this whole thing started - to my ears, there was difference between RE0 and EP630, but I did not know what the hell 'muddy bass' and 'treble extension' was. I was determined to give it a shot and see if I can write at least one meaningful review.
My first push towards writing a honest review came from an unlikely event.
iaudio who was doing his audio yatras came to my house to review my speaker setup. I have never forgiven him for disliking my setup and letting me know about all the things wrong with it (because I was just beginning to like it under the placebo effect) :annoyed:. But what I liked is the fact that even though I was the host and treated him to a good lunch, he was not influenced and told me things as-is. It's another thing that I got back at him by delaying giving my headphones and IEMs for audition till it was time for him to leave. He knows this, but fortunately, he is not that mad at me.
When I started writing reviews, I used to PM it to a select few (Brendon, haraakiri come to mind) to see what they think of it. That feedback helped me gain confidence in writing more reviews (like Brendon who loved RE1 to bits, but did not object to my not so enthusiastic review). Most people don't know this - my major boost of confidence came from ljokerl at head-fi, who read most of early my reviews. Without his encouragement, I would have never trusted my ability to hear and differentiate between signatures. While I have my own process for reviewing, the major portion of comparing IEMs is heavily influenced by his approach to reviews. Likewise, James444 has been nothing but encouraging and helpful. While we have different preferences, I have learned to appreciate things from a different perspective. I only wish I was not this possessive about my IEMs and had a generous mind like St. James to send them on loaner tours / give them away. While I have mentioned only two names, there is a very long list of people who had helped / build up my knowledge along the way. But I would end up filling this page if I try to remember and list all of them.
Turning to TE - For a while, there was a healthy competition between me,
strategy and
anubhav2345 about buying gear and I fortunately chose not to compete against their might of Anedio D1 and Beyer T1. Though he is not active here any more,
haraakiri sent several IEMs, even arranging from his friends and encouraged me to keep writing. While not a member here, rallynut from HFV is another person who kept pushing me to write. The flow of loaners has continued to roll on with several others including, but not limited to
mukulymn, Brendon, Fah33M and recently,
Sharath_ and
3.14or22by7 who gave me a long, stress free time with their IEMs. On the headphone side,
titana / gurubhai gave me a taste of Orthos and sold me his DT880 (my favorite headphone now, BTW) and
bennysachdev got me HD600. Of others, special mention would be people who asked for my opinion via PM. It made me learn about different tastes, think from another perspective and in some cases, the questions have forced me to learn a few new things. I can go all day, but I will stop here. In short, I am thankful to everyone - those I've mentioned and those I have not explicitly.
The purpose of recounting these events is simple. While I do spend a lot of money on this hobby, my knowledge was accumulated over time with the help of the good forum members of TE, Head-fi and HFV. Even though I learned a lot from head-fi, it is TE where I feel free and at home about writing. Considering where I was and what I am now, I am sure that many people can do just the same. I hope that many more start writing impressions in the times to come to keep the forum healthy. There's so much I still need to learn and that's a vast ocean ahead of me. As they say, the more you know, the more you learn about how less you know. I just hope I keep contributing to the best of my ability in the times to come.
