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?

I guess 98% from my 41 years of audio history.


128x128shkong78
My wife drive BMW 530 while I drive Mazda CX9 which works better for landscape photographer with more room for photography gear and 4 wheel drive.

I had got some awards from Landscape Photography contest.


I had spent more money on audio gear while my wife is interested in just upscale car (not fancy sports car).

About 10 years ago, I used to drive Infiniti G35 which is a pretty nice sports car.

But if I drive sports car, I tend to get speeding ticket, thus I had given up on it.

I have no fantasy about sports car any more.



Now it may be fair game.

I also do house cleaning using vacuum in addition to some kitchen cleaning.

My wife clean kitchen once a week since my work on kitchen is not up to her standard.
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.
@ andrei_nz

There are many clowns and jerks in Audiogon.

If you counter all those comments, it won't be good for your health.

Sometimes it is just better to ignore those.