I lied to my wife about the price of Stax 009S headphone
My wife is the youngest of my mom in law who is 88 years old.
Recently my wife is staying with her mom to take care expecting her mom can live just one more year or so.
Thus I am having happy life playing music loud even during midnight.
My house is seated on 2 acre lot so that my neighbors does not get bothered unless windows open wide.
My wife dropped at home yesterday ( She drop once a week to clean the messy kitchen while she is away. She is an angel Ha ha).
She happened to see my new headphone of Stax 009S headphone and asked its price.
I could tell her the real value ( new price 4,500$ and I got 4 months used one for 3,200$).
I did not mean to deceive her but answered it costs me 1,500$ by chance.
Then she had listened to K-Pop using both
Stax 009S headphone driven by Carbon amplifier and Massdrop Empire Zeus IEM( I told her the real value as 1,000$ No lie here Hehe).
The source was
Cocktail Audio X30 music server feeding Chord Dave and Mscaler ( I did not tell her how much
Chord Dave and Mscaler
cost, if she find out, I may have to buy her diamond necklace)
On first few songs, she prefer
Empire Zeus IEM to
Stax 009S headphone on lively sound of the former.
But after listening few more songs, she expressed that
Stax 009S headphone sounds more natural than
Empire Zeus IEM .
Whew if I had told her that I had spent 3200$ on headphone, I may have to go out to buy her something like expensive bag or clothing.
Reality is I had also spent additional 3300$ on
KGSSHV Carbon headphone amplifier.
How many of your audiophile had lied to your wife or girlfriend about the cost of audio components?
Uber- great story, still got a smile on my face from reading it, good for you! I've been through so many cars I lost count long ago. Happy driving and happy listening :)!
At one time I tried to at least keep photos of every car, bike, jet ski etc I ever owned, sure I missed a lot though! All I can say is way deep into 3 figures....... Gave up counting for sure and definitely do not want to consider the dollars spent. Lol.
The wife knows I only have interest in cars and audio, she knows I could not afford another woman....lmao.
Glad you were able to read and understand my post in the context it was made.
Well just so happens a Bright Red Porsche Cayman S showed up on Auto Trader local and this baby definitely hit the spot so home with me it came. It looks like sex on wheels imho, so MUCH nicer than a 911 or Boxster.
Congratulations, Uberwaltz!
Great minds think alike :-) I have a 2014 Cayman S (in dark blue metallic), as well as a 2017 Macan S (in Palladium metallic). Both are fantastic.
Al Nice to hear not the only Porsche enthusiast here! You know I offered to buy the wife a Macan but she said she was quite happy with her Ford Escape 2.0 turbo for now. I will work on her some more......
Ok enough car talk on the ops thread but thanks to all for the kind words and interest.
I take a small allowance each month. This is my audio mad money. My wife has no problem with my gear or my listening room. As long as I don't dip into our savings,we are both happy!
I was just bustin' on ya! When I was out of college I rented an apartment in NYC. I used paper plates, and plastic knives and forks, etc. I never even turned n the gas for the oven!
I began repairing gear a while back and building my own gear. If you start with dimple designs it really is not hard. Learning what makes things sound the way they do is the best way to understand how to make things sound better. Some of my designs are on my page under my system. By the end of the year we will be ready to go. We also won best sound of show at the prior two CAF shows with GT Audio speakers.
Keep listening to music. In building components, I have lost the extra time needed to just sit back and relax and enjoy.
Since my wife puts up with me, I compromise and try to do nice things for her probably just like the rest of everyone here does.
Uber Congratulations on both cars. Great hearing the story and your connection to cars in general and both recent purchases. Coincidentally, I just happened to be behind a Metallic White 718 GTS this morning. Gorgeous.
A few years ago I was seriously debating getting a Porsche 911. I started really getting into audio at the same time and ultimately decided I would get more hours of enjoyment from nice audio gear and time spent immersed in music than I ever would from a car. Ideally I’d have both but for me I decided to make it an either/or question and committed myself only to audio. I later decided a 2018 VW Golf GTI provided ample road fun for me.
@acresverde , "718 GTS" can refer to a currently produced version of either the Porsche Cayman or the Porsche Boxster. The GTSs are one of the more powerful and expensive versions of those vehicles, but they are not quite the top of the line.
Are you guys all making 7 figures, or does no one here save for retirement or give philanthropy? My family is in the 98% percentile of American earners, music is my main hobby, and I can’t afford anything at all like the items mentioned on here.
20% of Income—retirement 10%—philanthropy 7%—school tuition for kids 3%-risky investments with high upsides
etc.
Not a lot left for toys.
How do people here apportion their resources so that they can get such high end toys? And maybe this should just be a separate post if people would find it interesting to discuss how and what financial decisions we make.
Cannot speak for anybody else but if you have planned well through life by the time you reach my age of 59 you should be all set!
My 401k puts a smile on my face. No car or mortage payments puts a smile on my face Already having enough in a seperate fund to pay for my daughters education puts a smile on my face.
Blowing some of my hard earned on toys whether they be automotive or audio puts a huge smile on my face.
I do realise not everybody can be in this state of Ubervana ( Thx David!) but rest assured neither was I always but maybe it has been a combination of my hard work, my wifes good financial planning and a bit of good fortune that has enabled my stars to be in alignment for now.
I think it’s time for a gut check, are your more smitten by looks (and cost) of your gear or its capabilities to produce soul stirring music?
Sorry no offense intended, but it’s quite easy to loose sight of your goal of putting together an ultimate sounding system when all you talk about is how good my gear looks, cost and compare against uber-expensive gear
Being offensive and then saying 'Sorry no offence intended ...' is repulsive.
All of this deception must interfere with enjoying your music, right? Unless, and I suppose this is the case, you’re just interested in quality “sound.” Which is fine, but I imagine your conscience must be needling you enough to make it not very fun to listen, since your guilt pushes you to reach out on this thread for help. Or, you’re reaching out for some sort of human connection in a bizarre way by making up stories about wives and headphones. Which is also fine, but there’s better ways and better arenas in which to do that. Or you’re a shill, posing as (or actually) a poor English speaker, pushing headphones and gear with the old “girlfriend/wife is happy/unhappy” set up. Which is not fine. I don’t know. I have a local dealer here who likes to push equipment with his own “demo” tracks. When I bring my own media to audition, he almost has a god damned stroke, as if what I’m listening to cannot possibly be good music because 1) it isn’t what he picked and 2) it is not “demo quality mastering.” I’m sorry, but If I can’t play “Bags and Trane” or Iron and Wine or Oliver Nelson on a piece of equipment you are selling and have it sound nice, I’m done. No sale. I’m not interested in listening to music I don’t enjoy on “nice” equipment and then buying that equipment only to find it’s designed to play boring “demo” music that I don’t enjoy.
In the same way I’m also not interested in creating a system that is simply an escape from my own self-created misery. If I have to lie to someone or myself, one of two things is happening: I’m doing something wrong or I’m with the wrong person.
When did music become such a self-prescribed solitary experience??
Im really curious to pinpoint that moment in our culture. Anyone?
A few thoughts about this thread. - so a nightmare experience is when your wife that you lied about the price of speakers by removing a zero meets your buddy that you lied about the price by adding a zero ... - The idea IS to do a poor job of cleaning the kitchen. Last thing you want is to be complemented on how well you did it. You know what comes regularly after that. - nooooo, our wives don't lie. All that gear they have in the bathroom, mascara, eye liner, blush, lipstick, rouge... ...that stuff is to present the truth of appearance and that stuff doesn't cost anything.
One more thing regarding toys we just after..... A couple of years ago I had my head set on getting a motorcycle. My wife was dead set against it. She finally caved in and said I could get one under 2 conditions: I would have to get the fastest production model and.... I would have to ride WITHOUT a helmet.
I always wanted to own a Harley but my wife wouldn’t allow for obvious safety reasons. So i end up getting the fastest BMW made back in 2007. Five years later I returned the favor by buying her the brand new M3.
I am lucky that I don’t have to lie to my wife about any large or small purchases.
I think OP is looking for justification to lie to his wife and take advantage of her cleaning the kitchen. Sorry, but I think you can do better. Clean up after yourself, and tell your wife the truth. Exaggerate with your buddies if you feel you must, but your spouse should be inside the "cone of truthfulness".
I speak from experience. My wife lied to me often, usually about trivial things, but a few times over truly important life issues. Funny thing about it (if you can say funny) is that she thought I didn't know. I'm not stupid. I did know, almost always. And when I told her I knew, instead of admitting it, she raised the bar. The more serious the lies became, the bigger the wall grew between us. We are divorced now, and our son suffers the consequences.
Don't even start down this path. It wasn't worth it for any of us, and it won't be worth it for you. Obviously you are in here asking because you know it's wrong. There is only one thing in life that we truly own. Money, cars, home, job, and everything else can be taken from us. But, our integrity is one thing we can choose to either keep or toss away. Don't sacrifice your integrity with the person who's closest to you.
I kept the information from my wife on my modest Cary SET an integrated tube amp ~$5K. She thinks it looks real cool and wants me to buy one for the living room and two more for the other house. She didn't ask the cost. Then, she makes the big bucks.
Thanks for providing one of the most interesting reads on this site. There are a lot of weak sisters in the 80+ responses who as you say are best ignored.
I do not lie but I am deceitful at times. Is that any better? No. As any attorney will tell you, a response to any question you do not want to answer can be phrased a number of ways with a "truthful" answer that avoids the real truth.
I have owned 4 Porsches the first of which was rolled a couple days after its purchase but before my insurance was in place. As I crawled out the rear window and saw my 38 revolver lying on the road I realized my guardian angel was again working overtime.
Cars, audio, guns & women fascinate most men I know. There is really not much else required to satisfy the hedonistic virtues of man. If that's too crude for anyone, stop reading now.
Sinatra's song- "I took the blows and did it my way"will be my epitaph.
When I see your icon photo of the lovely, open and airy home you own with all the windows, my 1st question is: "Why don't you build a music room to appreciate the gear you own"? As you are an intelligent man I am sure reasons exist.
One guy raises the most provocative question:
"When did music become such a self-prescribed solitary experience? I'm really curious to pinpoint that moment in our culture. Anyone" ?
Nobody took a shot at replying so I will.
"When a man finds something that suspends the madness circulating in his mind, he naturally gravitates toward it." No wife required for the audio activity.
Women evolved by developing social skills which can not be successfully employed when music is being listened to. Not much different than duct taping their mouth's shut. As you would feel if you were handcuffed.
They also see musical gear as giving you more pleasure and garnering more of your attention than they feel they can offer or feel they are receiving. A threat is always feared.
I have some other darker and more negative reasons but will not go there on this forum.
What a pile of sexist nonsense from a bunch of clearly insecure pseudo macho creeps who hopefully will never come anywhere near my brilliant and beautiful wife or daughter, but if one does I can guaranty they’d get their collectively ignorant hats handed to them to possibly help cover their obvious shortcomings as men. A creep who can't drive who brags about his Porsche and a handgun should seek some therapy before making public their issues, or stick to snapping towels at the guys in the locker room....there's yer forum!
"I am having the time of my life tbh, but that's what 40 years of hard work and dedication has wrought, now time to enjoy some of the spoils before it is too late!"
The old adage: "Lead a disciplined life. Why? Because in the end, discipline weighs ounces and regret weighs tons."
What strikes me about your post is that you say you are "having happy life" now that your wife is not around. Why not live this happy life all the time? You could hire someone to clean the kitchen, and you wouldn't have to explain to her why you spent 4k on headphones, etc.
So you're having a "happy life" now that your wife is not around? Why not make it permanent? Hire so done to clean the kitchen, and you won't have to lie to anyone about what you spent on gear. Oh, wait, she's going to take half your rig when she goes...nevermind.
I have been lucky as I met my wife racing cars, we were both competitors in SCCA Solo II both here and in the USA. Had a nice stereo set up then Acoustat, PS Audio pre and amps, Oracle with Srynx and Koetsu, and still have music in my life now.When I was looking to buy JBL Hartsfields at an estate sale I was humming and hawing when she said " If you don't buy them I will ".Have never had to worry about sharing the cost of gear with her, if I can afford it then why not. I would never remember a lie that I told a year ago vs the truth.
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