Ultimate Sanctuary Contest Winners
HeadRoom and Ultimate Ears have chosen the winners of the Ultimate Sanctuary Contest. Thank you to all participants! Your hard work and creative efforts deserve some reward of their own, so we're offering free HeadRoom cable ties, Ultimate Ears CD, and a few other goodies to anyone who entered the contest. Just send us an email with your name, entry number, and U.S. mailing address- and we will send along our 'thank you' to you for sharing your ultimate sanctuary with us.
Choosing our contest winners was determined by someone's ability to creatively convey their sanctuary achieved with headphones. A varying range of entry types were chosen-- but we were extremely impressed by the overall caliber of all entries!
Grand Prize Winners
#64- Slipknot Baby- Marcus Warren
#19 911 Dispatcher-- Michael C. Fortner
Our grand prize winners will receive the Ultimate Sanctuary Package- Ultimate Ears super.fi 5 pro, HeadRoom Total BitHead, & HeadRoom GigaBag- A $500 value!
1st Runner-Up
#55 Submariner-- John Glover
Our runner-up will receive super.fi 5 pro & Total BitHead!
2nd Runner-Up
#30 The Aluminum Tube - Eitan Kadosh
Our second runner-up will receive a Total AirHead and free Ultimate Ears & HeadRoom schwag*!
3rd and 4th Runner-Ups
#9- The Bike Courier -- Lindsay Stevens
#38- The "Lawn Guy" -- Goffe Torgerson
Our 3rd and 4th place runner ups will also receive sundry HeadRoom & Ultimate Ears schwag.
(*by 'schwag'- we mean good schwag; like a baseball cap, tee shirt, cd case, and other goodies)
Grand Prize Winners
#64
3 things are needed for my "Ultimate Headphone Sanctuary"
1. My immediate undivided attention is not needed by someone/something at that moment.
2. The necessity to privatize my listening experience, whether it is to be polite, respect someones musical tastes or to adhere to parental advisories.
3. My ever handy modest portable listening rig consisting of an Iriver H320, and a simple pair of AKG K81DJs.
The "Ultimate" part to me is it can be anywhere and happen anytime, planned or by surprise.
The "Sanctuary" is reminiscing of good times with old music and the excitement of experiencing new music.
#19
I work during the day as a 911 Dispatcher, and I'm married with two children and a third on the way. As you can expect, there is a lot of stress with my job, so I really cherish the chances I get to unwind. While my spot does not look like much, it means a lot to me.
My sanctuary is out on the back porch with my telescope. I put on my headphones and sit back and look at the universe. For just a little while I can forget all that is going on in my life and job and take in the greater all that is the cosmos. I can unwind with my music and my thoughts and not disturb another soul. I regain my inner peace and find the strength to take on another day amongst the noise and chaos of my life.
I may only have a MP3-CD player and cheap headphones. But in the still of the night, I make due. Whatever strikes my fancy is played; from Classical, Jazz, Audio Books, Old Time Radio, and podcasts. I bother nobody else and nobody bothers me. That makes the moment even more special. And for this I am thankful.
1st Runner up
#55
There isnt very many places you can go on a submarine to get away from your shipmates, the work or the heartache from being away from home for months on end. We go under water for months without seeing and sunlight or feeling the warmth of the sun or breathing fresh air. When you go out to sea all of those things get replaced with the hum of fans, stinky chemicals in the air and endless hours awake fixing equipment. So, to get away from it all; I use music. My rig is a 10 year old set of Denon headphones, I swear the freqency response is still incredible for an old set like this. I plug the Denons into an iAudio M3 40gb player. I chose the M3 because it boasts 95db snr and can play FLAC files as well as any other type. Im your average submariner in the US Navy. Some read books, others watch 8mm or DVD movies; which I also do sometimes, but when I need some "quiet" time I break out my headphones, just listen to anything and crank the volume to overcome the drowning sound of the ventilation fans. If I need excercise, I'll break them out when I run on the tread mill or when I ride the stationary bike, music is a good motivator. There is about 150 other guys onboard and its kind of funny when you see them all walking around with thier headphones on too, doing the same thing I am I suppose...I guess they all found their sanctuary too!
2nd Runner up
#30
Sanctuary
It is crammed into an aluminum tube 42,000 feet over the Pacific, in the farthest corner of the last row of the cheapest seat in economy class:
Bangkok to LAX. You will find it wedged between the fat man spilling over the armrest to the right and the 27 pounds of solid tantrum blubbering on the left. The plane is shimmying like it got drunk before prom, and that¹s on top of a six hour weather delay. But here, between the fat man and Rosemary¹s Toddler, you will find me, in the sanctuary of the skies. I will have my ipod, the Etyomtic ER-4s that changed my life, and a winsome CMOS tucked into an Altoids tin. My sanctuary travels in my pocket. It slips into my ears. I close my eyes, and listen. I am already home.
3rd and 4th Runner ups
#9
I ride all day for work, and the driving beats of Tool, Metallica and Rammstein keep me going hard. From one side of the city to the other, from the city to the suburbs, from one building to the one next to it, the music is there, as omnipresent as the crackling of the radio, telling me where I should go next.
If it's raining, I ride. If it's +40 degrees Celsius, I ride. If I fall and become close friends with the ground, I get up and ride on. The music is there.
My day is ruled by seemingly random pieces of information, seemingly unimportant pieces of paper in yellow envelopes that could make or break somebody's career.
When I head home for the day, I ride. I ride just as hard, if not harder than I do while working. My music changes to something a little more relaxing; Mahler's epic Ninth Symphony keeps me company, and Shostakovich's 10th keeps me going. Sometimes I will ride for an hour or more just to listen to these pieces in their entirity on the way home.It doesn't help that I live ten minutes ride from the city centre.
I am now, and forever will be, a bike courier.
#38
For years I have suffered the pain and embarrassment of a neglected lawn. But all that has changed since I got my UE10 Pros. I can’t wait for the grass to grow so I can don my Carharts, old tennis shoes, CD player, Total Airhead, and UE10 Pros, and fire up my Honda. Even my neighbors are amazed at the change. “Why does your lawn look so good,” I imagine them saying. I just smile and wave, not daring to stop and talk, lest my sanctuary be interrupted. Music? Even solo lute sounds terrific above the barely perceptible rumble of the mower. I just wish my lawn was bigger. And now, as I drive through the neighborhood and look at the lawns needing attention, I say to myself, “If only they had a pair of UE10s…”
Contest Entries
#1
As a child raised in rural Montana, I'd spend much of my time enveloping myself with the rapture of my surroundings. 10 years old laying in the middle of the big prairie while I listened to the symphony of the tall grass all around me blowing in the wind. In this place I was at peace. However, I grew up, moved away, and joined the navy. Now a thousand miles from land, surrounded by the sea in a metal coffin I find my teleporter. I close my eyes put on my Grados plugged into my Zen Vision M. Now the closest I can get to being at peace and being back home, is the feeling my music gives me.
The natural articulate vocals working their way into my mind, the bass clean and pure moving me, the sound wraps around me like a warm blanket and takes me back where I come from. Every day I close my eyes lay in my rack put on those headphones and while cold inhuman steel surrounds me, this beautifully harmonic audio nirvana warms my soul.
#2
Alone, I gazed across the City,
So hollow it left me dreaming of you.
I touched your shell, hard and machined,
And felt your heart spin deep inside.
I slipped them over my ears... soft, intimate,
...And waited
The mass of time bore down on me,
Fuelled by anticipation and longing.
Gentle whispers brought my release,
Dispersing the darkness with soft resonance.
Your light stretched out of me, beckoning,
Like the glimmering pearls before me.
A wash of sound struck hard,
Embraced by its viscosity, it swallowed my focus.
I floundered to regain my purpose,
Amongst the swell of soothing pulses.
You knew I was searching,
And yet you waited... one phrase more.
From the depths you rose unyielding,
Calling me from below the the waves.
Words so familiar, but still so strong.
Stealing me away from where I lay.
I tried to resist, a fleeting notion,
I was caught in your wondrous liquid flight.
I woke to the touch of sun on my face,
The digits beside me showed no sympathy.
But even the sun falls victim to darkness,
And the towers will shine again.
I will return to you,
To our place below the waves
#3
#4
#5
#6
One night several years ago I was kicking back late at night in my leather recliner. I had comsumed a couple of Pilsner Urquell's and a couple of smokeable things. I was listening to a live binaural recording of some Bach. Just after I opened my third beer I leaned back and decided the person sitting behind and slightly to the right was getting on my nerves with his muffled cough. His wife had been feeding him cough drops wrapped in cellophane. Between the crackling of the cellophane and the barely muffled coughs and whispers I decided I'd had enough. I sat up turned around and said "Will you pl.......". I then remembered that I was home in my chair. I started laughing, amazed that something could seem so real.
I later sold those Stax Earspeakers. I regret that sale to this day.
#7
I stagger home from a hard night of deep-frying, burger-flipping, and change making at my deadend dreamkiller of a job, soaking with sweat and smelling of cheap hamburgers. Outside, dogs are yapping, children shrieking, and the white trash 2 doors down are hammering away at god knows what. My itinerary for the night: a cool shower, a phone call to my girl, then a blissful escape from it all in a darkened room, where not even the shrillest screams or loudest barks can penetrate my sealed, circumaural, Prince and the Revolution bliss. Not only is heaven manmade, but mass produced by headroom.
#8
#9
I ride all day for work, and the driving beats of Tool, Metallica and Rammstein keep me going hard. From one side of the city to the other, from the city to the suburbs, from one building to the one next to it, the music is there, as omnipresent as the crackling of the radio, telling me where I should go next.
If it's raining, I ride. If it's +40 degrees Celsius, I ride. If I fall and become close friends with the ground, I get up and ride on. The music is there.
My day is ruled by seemingly random pieces of information, seemingly unimportant pieces of paper in yellow envelopes that could make or break somebody's career.
When I head home for the day, I ride. I ride just as hard, if not harder than I do while working. My music changes to something a little more relaxing; Mahler's epic Ninth Symphony keeps me company, and Shostakovich's 10th keeps me going. Sometimes I will ride for an hour or more just to listen to these pieces in their entirity on the way home.It doesn't help that I live ten minutes ride from the city centre.
I am now, and forever will be, a bike courier.
#10
My Headphone Sanctuary? Its everywhere.
An iPod Nano, my Sony Fontopias and my sunglasses. Thats it
At home, on the bus, in the street. Those three items are enough to create my own personal space wherever and whenever I want it.
Privacy & Peace, Solitude & Sanctuary. They are mine to command.
#11
My hearts pumping
Our hearts are pumping
I'm moving to a rhythm
We're pulsating as one
The pressure keeps rising
We know the end is coming
That final chord
A violent crash of drums
The crowd roars
Ding
I remove dinner from the microwave
And wait for the next album to start
#12
A little description about the picture: That is my home headphone setup featuring my very comfortable Beyerdynamic DT770pro headphones which I love along with my HeadAmp Gilmore Lite amp. I use my headphones for for three things: (1) Listening to my music, (2) Watching movies, and
(3) playing computer games. Just a few years ago I never knew of high end audio, and using headphones has helped me reach sound quality I never dreamed of. I can relax to some peaceful music, or rock out to some heavy metal. As I move down this headphone journey, I enjoy helping others on forums such as head-fi.org and hardforum.com, afterall this is what I hope to become in the future; a teacher.
My journey is not complete; not by a long shot. I expect to have many more years of fun and excitement trying out new audio equipment and being able to enjoy my music that much more.
Headphones are, my Serenity!
#13
My sanctuary,
Is still a work in progress,
And always will be.
#14
MY SANCTUARY
A wonderful wife . . .
An amazing toddler . . .
Two neurotic dogs . . .
Three giant cats . . .
All have enriched my life tremendously, but my sanctuary will never be the same . . .
MY SANCTUARY – It’s no longer the loft filled with music. One note bass, no soundstage, smeared imaging, but who cares about the sound when the music is so good.
MY SANCTUARY – It’s no longer the dedicated listening room filled with music being reflected and absorbed by perfectly placed acoustical treatments. So this is what recorded music can sound like. But who cares about the perfect sound when you never have time to sit down and listen. Plus, listening rooms make great nurseries.
MY SANCTUARY – It’s sitting down in a dark room and letting my HD 650s take me away into the night.
MY SANCTUARY – It’s taking the dogs for a walk and grooving to my MX 75s.
MY SANCTUARY – It’s cooking dinner with my KSC 75s providing the soundtrack.
MY SANCTUARY – It’s wherever I am with a few free minutes to listen. How the Music is Meant to Be Heard remains a goal, but the music matters more.
MY SANCTUARY – It’s in my head.
MY SANCTUARY – It’s Right Between My Ears
#15
I’ve never worn my ultimate headphones. I’ve never sat in my ultimate headphone location, comfortably ensconced in leather and sound. When I was young, I would point my father’s huge Technics speakers at each other sit down between them and listen to Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite (on an LP of course). I would crank it up to hear the subtle sections then run to the volume control to turn it down lest I be chastised for waking up or annoying someone.
I’ve never been able to reproduce that music rush, the feeling of sound enveloping you.
Time passes and speakers age. I’m now married, with a wife, neighbors and pets all who are not as interesting in my music as I am. I’ve slowly been cut off from my listening because I’ve never been able to find the headphones that would recreate the feeling of being there, between the speakers, feeling the music. Maybe it’s time to listen to Stravinsky again.
#16
#17
When a musician plays an instrument, he expresses his soul and thoughts and desires and passion for music. And to hear a recording from a set of speakers muffles that artists true meaning for what he was trying to show or tell or entertain his listener. But when you listen through something as personal and direct and revealing as a set of headphones, you can feel what that musician was feeling as his sweaty fingers plucked the steel strings of a guitar; the ridges of his fingerprints agitating the wrapped steel creating that ever so annoying squeal but then instantly ruled out by the vibration of the strings. You begin to get inside of this musician's head; you here him think about his missed son, or his first love, or his simple passion for music.
A true headphone sanctuary would encompass all of these aspects. But until we can actually accomplish such a amazing power, we can be content with our KSC75s or our Orpheuses or whatever brings the listener their musical bliss.
#18
"Blues in a Can"
Was hot as hell at work girl
So I wrote myself a song
Headphones wrapped up 'round my head
Gotta have 'em all day long
Now it's time I get home baby
I done workin' for The Man
You know I got the Blues, darlin'
So lemme hear 'em through a Can
#19
I work during the day as a 911 Dispatcher, and I'm married with two children and a third on the way. As you can expect, there is a lot of stress with my job, so I really cherish the chances I get to unwind. While my spot does not look like much, it means a lot to me.
My sanctuary is out on the back porch with my telescope. I put on my headphones and sit back and look at the universe. For just a little while I can forget all that is going on in my life and job and take in the greater all that is the cosmos. I can unwind with my music and my thoughts and not disturb another soul. I regain my inner peace and find the strength to take on another day amongst the noise and chaos of my life.
I may only have a MP3-CD player and cheap headphones. But in the still of the night, I make due. Whatever strikes my fancy is played; from Classical, Jazz, Audio Books, Old Time Radio, and podcasts. I bother nobody else and nobody bothers me. That makes the moment even more special. And for this I am thankful.
#20
#21
In-Ear Monitors (IEMs) are the Traveller Sanctuary.
Sanctuary is listening to Sarah Mclachlan on a 10 hours flight instead of the roar of the airplane engines and the kids crying a few seats over.
Sanctuary is listening to Bob Marley on a subway system instead of the screeching of the train's brakes.
Sanctuary is listening to Stravinsky while walking down the street instead of people taling on cell phones.
Sanctuary is watching the world go by while listening to IEMs.
#22
Click here for a link to flash animation
#23
A deserted beach that I have camped out. Waking while it's still pitch black not to miss a moment of the sunrise. My headphones plugged into my iRiver. 4 fully charged batteries, just in case. Loving every moment.
#24
My First Eargasm Ever!
So around lunch time I started hearing ringing in my ears and I still hear it as I type this. I was getting really depressed that my tinnitus is kicking in at an abnormal time in the day. I usually get it around night time when I go to sleep and it’s completely quiet. My Headroom Desktop Amp is expected today so I began to get depressed about how my hearing sucks and how this ringing is driving me up the wall. Never before has my tinnitus bugged me so much but it did today.
So I’m sitting at my desk only to get an email from the front desk telling me my package came in. I’m in no mood whatsoever that I don’t even rush to get it because my ears are still ringing. I swear I was in the worst mood ever due to my ears ringing that I almost thought about going home. So I unhappily brought the box to my desk and opened the boxes only to be greeted by the Desktop Amp. I’m still not that excited but I hook it up anyway.
Hook up the USB cable, make sure all the settings are right:
Rear Output: Off
Brightness: Off
Crossfeed: On
Gain: Low
Volume Level: Off
Headphones: Grado SR-60
Flip the switch and turn it on and put on my favorite song at the moment (Katie Melua - “Spider Webs”).
I slowly turn up the volume to about 40% and holy crap... I’ll tell you right now... instant eargasm! I’m coming from a Total BitHead to a Desktop Amp w/ DAC Module. My Grado SR-60’s have never sounded so GOOD! I notice so many things right off the bat. I feel like I’m actually at a concert hall. I hear the guitar strings being plucked and the piano keys being hit and I can hear her voice echo which I never heard. The bass is much more powerful too but not in the basshead way but the lows go low so it sounds realistic.
I can’t wait to try this out on my AKG 701s! Also note that the volume is much lower than what I would listen to on the BitHead.
Because the amp drives the headphones much better I can hear everything very well even at low volumes. This is exactly what I needed, especially with my tinnitus case. I can still hear the ringing but it’s probably because I need to give my ears a rest from all the loud listening I’ve been doing with the BitHead.
This thing picked me straight up from my depressing day. Now I can give my ears that nice rest and still listen to low volume music (but not low quality). Thank you Headroom and Head-Fi once again for making music that much more enjoyable and ears that much happier!
I’m no longer a virgin anymore!
#25
Ay crickey! Look what we've found here! It seems to be a northeastern
American Headphile, what an amazing find! As you can see he has made a
nest for himself out of high-end Lp's and magazines such as The Absolute Sound, Stereophile, and a Partsexpress catalog. He also seems to have a Tube Audio Design book on his side. This Headphile looks like it's nursing a young ART dual 31 band EQ in his arms.... Hmmm.... That must have something to do with those Sennheiser HD555's he's wearing!
Well we best leave this headphile alone, so we don't wake him up in a
rage. Now everyone be quiet and no one say, Bose!
#26
Stuck In The 70s
Nothing brings the 1970s back to life better than the right song at the right place.
Whether I'm listing to The Who on my Sennheiser 580 on my stereo, or Led Zeppelin on my Sennheiser PX100 and office boombox, or Pink Floyd on my Etymotic ER-6 and iPodi, or Jimi Hendrix on a set of classic Sansui cans and an old Akai Open Reel, music is the perfect time machine.
#27
When One Just Isn't Enough.
#28
#29
One of the first compact discs I owned was by the band Weezer. My only excuse for this lapse in taste is that I was eleven years old, coming off five years of cassette tape exclusivity. Hearing the recording was amazing----less hiss, more music, possibly even human voices! I had no idea how this was supposed to sound, I was using five dollar headphones. I thought I was an audiophile when I dropped thirty bucks on a pair of Sony crap-blasters for my ears and found that more of the distortion and what could only be satanic whispers focused someplace behind the bass drum all nearly disappeared.
Ten years and too many CDs later I finally discovered Headroom. I had a decent low-cost pair of something-or-other ear clips in a Las Vegas hotel; I was listening to Bernard Parmegiani's "Du pop à l'âne" in a hot bath when Father Sleep rose through the steam and gently carried me beneath the aquatic threshold. For a brief moment the brilliant musique concrète composition could be nothing less than the voice of God calling me forth from the depths of my heavily sanitized watery womb, but the headphones gargled out and I jumped to life. I bought some HD580s and realised that drowning (with Italian musical accompaniment) is the lesser of two paths to enlightenment. While I don't mean to suggest that the HD580s won't make for a fine blanket on my deathbed, alive, on dry land, they free me from the confines of my body and buoy my soul up to the high waterline of Heaven.
The setting for an experience with headphones can be anything: a person can lie back in his favorite recliner and feel the landscape ravaged by the power of the "Rite of Spring", or he can step out on a break during a hellish day at work and explore the stars with Biosphere's "Autour de la Lune". The music is always there, so when the listener is ready and willing, the headphones serve the conduit between him and mystical energies of sound. That connection is only ever as good as the conduit permits.
#30
Sanctuary
It is crammed into an aluminum tube 42,000 feet over the Pacific, in the farthest corner of the last row of the cheapest seat in economy class:
Bangkok to LAX. You will find it wedged between the fat man spilling over the armrest to the right and the 27 pounds of solid tantrum blubbering on the left. The plane is shimmying like it got drunk before prom, and that¹s on top of a six hour weather delay. But here, between the fat man and Rosemary¹s Toddler, you will find me, in the sanctuary of the skies. I will have my ipod, the Etyomtic ER-4s that changed my life, and a winsome CMOS tucked into an Altoids tin. My sanctuary travels in my pocket. It slips into my ears. I close my eyes, and listen. I am already home.
#31
Sanctuary? What sanctuary?
I'm sitting at a desk beneath ceiling high windows with a hot sun pounding down on me. My small office is shared with at least 21 computers and at least six of them are running at any time. The air conditioning in this room has never worked so I have a portable air conditioner pounding out noise while exhaling the slightest cool breeze. It is ninety one degrees at the moment but I have seen it over a hundred. And the noise. Oh God, the noise. It is not just in my ears. It penetrates through the skull, compressing my brain as I struggle through the day. My brain has shrunk to the size of a walnut and it huddles in the center of its cranial cell wishing the din would stop. Oh please let it stop. But if I shut off the air conditioner the temperature will be over a hundred degrees in minutes.
If only I had a decent set of headphones.
#32
I had never thought I could be in heaven without dieing. I had never pretended to be dead just to listen to my favourite play list, without being disturbed. I had never heard what was meant to be felt. Never felt what my idols wished I could feel. Never thought that all of this would be possible through my Ultimate Ears. Now I do. Pervaded by emotions I did not even think I was able to feel, face to face with voices, guitars, drums and a perfectly located stage.
No limits, no faults, nothing to spoil that moment. Just a drop of perfection in a world of rush. Sort of an uncommon miracle which is apparently possible to repeat. Human genius, incredible skills, passion and sensitivity took a small group of people from Irvine, California, to the top of the podium: the listener’s full satisfaction: a satisfaction which is made of the heart beat acceleration caused by an ever growing rhythm, which is made of the anger a climax can convey, made of the moments of peace a violin can give, made life, life painted by music, music made alive by a pair of earphones.
#33
One guitar strum. Or a drum slap. Or fidgeting violins or tumbling piano strikes. Or that voice that reaches inside you. That's how it starts. You're giddy. You came here weary, worn down, maybe even hesitant. But you're here now, and glad you came. It is beginning.
Your arms tingle and you raise your head the tiniest bit. You've had overpriced drinks at concerts before, but this isn't alcohol. You've flirted with infatuation before, but this isn't lust. Your eyes stare at nothing while your ears take in the world. And what a world it is, unfolding just for you.
Sit down. Flip a few switches. Put your headphones on. Relax.
You're home now.
#34
I've been raised in Panama, always near the beach and the sun Since very little I feel a natural attraction to music I've always had the necessity of having music with me Since little I always carried a music player with me I've always used music to feed my soul in moments of trouble
As I grew up things changed
Somehow I lost the interest for music
It wasn't about me not having access to music It was that my heart had stopped dancing everytime I put on the tunes
But it just seemed like music didn't wanted to abandon me One day as a birthday gift I recieved a device called ''iPod''
And once again music came to my life almost as before except for one little detail The included earbuds wanted to kill my ears with horrible sound and comfort
So I used my common tool for research called the ''Internet'' (God bless the
internet)
And I found a site called ''HeadRoom''
There I read the story about Tyll, a guy who, 13 years ago, just like me wasn't satisfied with the sound of his portable player He then created a device called ''Headphone Amp'' and music came to life
So I said ''If it worked for him, maybe it will for me too''
So I went and ordered my first good headphones, the AKG K 26 P and the HeadRoom Micro Amp Once I recieved my new amp and headphones, music came to me as it has never done before I felt like all my music sounded just like the artist wanted it to sound
I was so satisfied with this that I researched more and found a site called ''Head-Fi''
There I learned that high-end headphone listening didn't take place only on the go but at home Time passed by and I came to own a AKG K 701 headphone and a Zhaolu DAC Now everytime I feel stressed and sad I just have to put my headphones on and all my troubles are gone
I feel that, even though my headphone gear is a material possesion, it has brought to my life something very special that is enjoying the music just as the musicians wanted it to sound when they recorded it.
#35
At the time of writing it's 01:19 AM.
That means I have to get up in roughly five and a half hours. It would be wise to go to bed. I should go to bed. Yet, I don't want to go to bed. Reason for this is because I'm - sitting / head banging / playing the air guitar / jumping around / admiring that red Canada shirt / doing various things that would land me in a mental institution, if someone were to see - here with a smile on my face. And a big one, at that.
Why? I have some fine headphones stuck on my head. This is the only thing that will keep me awake all night. I should go to bed. I should not be here. And yet I do this time after time, day in day out, because it's so damn good. This is where I long to be all day. This is my home. This is my life. This is where I feel good. This is my sanctuary, between two ear cups which are pumping out the very existence of our lives: Music.
#36
sanc·tu·ar·y (săngk'chū-ĕr'ē)n., pl. -ies
1. A sacred or holy place.
2. The state of being protected or safeguarded, as from danger or hardship.
The sanctuary is the music. The headphones are just a way of getting there.
Keep listening
#37
#38
For years I have suffered the pain and embarrassment of a neglected lawn. But all that has changed since I got my UE10 Pros. I can’t wait for the grass to grow so I can don my Carharts, old tennis shoes, CD player, Total Airhead, and UE10 Pros, and fire up my Honda. Even my neighbors are amazed at the change. “Why does your lawn look so good,” I imagine them saying. I just smile and wave, not daring to stop and talk, lest my sanctuary be interrupted. Music? Even solo lute sounds terrific above the barely perceptible rumble of the mower. I just wish my lawn was bigger. And now, as I drive through the neighborhood and look at the lawns needing attention, I say to myself, “If only they had a pair of UE10s…”
#39
The Infinite Abyss, my Sanctuary.
Every night I journey into the depths to find peace and harmony from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
I slip on my cans and drift into another world.
The Eagle's "Take it easy" washes over me and I think, Ah, this is the life.
#40
#41
#42
#43
Call out Gouranga be happy
Gouranga Gouranga Gouranga
That which brings the highest happiness!
#44
When I’m sitting in front of my PC I can easily connect my Total Bithead and my Grado SR80’s, and enjoy my music library. It also makes it easier to listen to the speech synthesizer I need to access my computer, and I don’t disturb the people around me.
When I’m traveling I bring my Sennheiser PX100s, my amp and a player, and I can relax on long train journeys with the best music. Thanks to the Total Bithead I can also share my music with my girlfriend through her PX100’s connected to the second output on my amp. This is both a little romantic, and quite practical, since we like much the same kind of music.
Also, when I listen to my (sadly) too few binaural recordings through my amp and Grados, I feel I’m being put right into the action. Instruments and sound effects seem to appear in real space around me.
I haven’t tried a “big” headphone rig, but the enjoyment I get out of my little Total Bithead is enormous. It lets me tune out from stress and noise, and helps me relax to the music I like best.
#45
#46
Music is as much a part of life as breathing. Headphones facilitate a musical sanctuary in a way that no speaker ever could by creating a personal soundscape in the mind. My own personal sanctuary, my own separate moment in time with the music of my life, not just enveloping me, but existing inside my very mind. I can't imagine a more desirable sanctuary or a more intimate relationship with such an important part of life than that, and headphones provide the key to that door for me.
#47
#48
#49
Hello, I am entering this contest to make the world aware of a great injustice in my household.
My audio sanctuary has been stolen.
One bright afternoon day, I let my poodle try out my PX-100 headphones and turned on some Rammstein (very low volume). Unfortunately I did not realize that poodles are in fact German dogs, not French as I had previously believed. Galvanized into action by my German death metal, my poodle became a household terror. He started knocking over his food bowl, pooping on the floor, and waking me up in the middle of the night howling. After a sleepless week, I finally gave in and let him use the headphones again. Since then, he has stolen my American Express card (see pic), my ipod (notice how he casually scratches it with his front left paw!) and spends all of my money on hard liquor and the iTunes music store.
I have been reduced to listening to music on stock iPod earbuds through my laptop's integrated soundcard. Having no money for food is fine, I can always forage in the wilderness, but not having my audio sanctuary is too much for me to handle.
I have cancelled his credit card but he refuses to give me my headphones and iPod back.
This is why I must win this contest.
Fortunately poodles cannot use in-ear headphones, do not understand amplification, and mine already uses my house as his napsack so I know that the proceeds of this fine charitable event will not go to waste on my ungrateful poodle.
Thank you.
#50
#51
#52
#53
The soft curves, the smooth body, and the warmth it emits; no, I'm not speaking of my girlfriend (although she does share those same qualities), but of another thing I cherish so much: my PowerBook. As it chimes upon boot-up, the screen brightens like a kid meeting Santa at the mall. I gaze at the green music note placed over the image of a generic CD. I quickly click it, as the icon bounces twice, jumping out of the dock and then slowly floating down to Earth. I glance around at my room: four walls, simply white, yet personalized with images of everything from Bob Dylan to Vida Guerra (I'm a teenage boy, what did you expect?).
In the second I glance away, iTunes loads my 3768 songs; the painfully assembled 364-album collection, built from endless days spent searching for the perfect sounds at Cactus waits. I pull the combination of plastic, leather, and circuitry over my head and hit "play". My ears suddenly are filled with the sounds of my own personal symphony as Beethoven's Fifth rolls into it's distinctive four-note motif, and I begin to realize that this is truly nirvana… or that "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is next in the playlist.
No, it may not have a $10,000 amp, AKG K 1000's, or even a dedicated soundcard, but this is my paradise... my sanctuary.
#54
#55
There isnt very many places you can go on a submarine to get away from your shipmates, the work or the heartache from being away from home for months on end. We go under water for months without seeing and sunlight or feeling the warmth of the sun or breathing fresh air. When you go out to sea all of those things get replaced with the hum of fans, stinky chemicals in the air and endless hours awake fixing equipment. So, to get away from it all; I use music. My rig is a 10 year old set of Denon headphones, I swear the freqency response is still incredible for an old set like this. I plug the Denons into an iAudio M3 40gb player. I chose the M3 because it boasts 95db snr and can play FLAC files as well as any other type. Im your average submariner in the US Navy. Some read books, others watch 8mm or DVD movies; which I also do sometimes, but when I need some "quiet" time I break out my headphones, just listen to anything and crank the volume to overcome the drowning sound of the ventilation fans. If I need excercise, I'll break them out when I run on the tread mill or when I ride the stationary bike, music is a good motivator. There is about 150 other guys onboard and its kind of funny when you see them all walking around with thier headphones on too, doing the same thing I am I suppose...I guess they all found their sanctuary too!
#56
#57
Hello HeadRoom & Ultimate Ears,
Here is the record of my journey, in search of an audio sanctuary:
In the early 1990s, I thought that hooking up my SoundBlaster Live! 5.1 to my all-in-one home-theater setup was as good as it gets for music listening from a computer.
In the late 1990s, I thought that having 800 watts RMS in a car was as good as it could get for mobile audio listening.
In the early 2000s, I came to a revelation and began to experience music... with a 2004 Total AirHead and the ER-4S.
In the late 2000s, [only HeadRoom & Ultimate Ears can fill in this section]!!!!!
#58
#59
Nothing
Only the Music
#60
My ultimate sanctuary is pretty simple, the HD 595s I bought from headroom and a CD player. Of course they still were a huge improvement on the last set of headphones I had and are the best pair of headphones pretty much anyone that has listened to them has ever heard.
Often, I walk down the streets of my small town with them on, a good way to relax after a stressful day. On more than one occasion people have called them excessive and stupid looking. I completely disagree with them which brings me to this song.
Link to Song(enter code in top right had side of screen and click download)
#61
In the beginning, I bought my house. And the house was desolate and void. And silence was upon the face of the walls. And only I moved across the rooms of the house, because, well, I had no woman at the time (sadness!).
And I said, "Let there be music," and there were music CD's.
And I saw the music, that it was good: and I divided my music into two towers.
The first CD tower I called classical, and the second tower I called Rock. This was the first hour.
And I said, "Let there be a firm armament that further separates the classical from the rock," and it was so.
And I called the armament headphones. This was the second hour. (I would have taken less time, but I couldn't find the box I packed them in! My bad!)
And I said, "Let the deepest of the deep be separated from the highest of the highs," and I called the deep-sounding headphones Sennheiser, and the high-sounding headphones Grados. And I saw that this was good, but many people called in shouting otherwise:
"Try Beyerdynamic, you ignoramus! You won't regret it!"
"AKG is the way to go, noob!"
"Stax are the (censored)!"
And this wasn't the third hour yet, so I ordered pizza while I listened to all the ranting.
(munch munch munch)
Now this was the third hour. And I didn't want to waste any more cell phone minutes hearing people cuss me out for my choices, so I hung up.
And I said, "Let there be hi-fi sources of all kinds, let there be CD players and SACD players, and portable MP3 players-"
(phone rang suggesting FLAC or OGG playback)
"-and portable MP3 players that can play back FLAC and OGG files."
And it was so.
And the CD players and SACD players and MP3 players, each was made by different corporations according to its kind, and I saw that this was good. And seeing was all I could do, because I was flipping through the pages of a catalogue, whereas all I could unpack was my Meridian CD player and discontinued iriver h320 mp3 player (Which sound good! You should try them! Wink wink! Nudge nudge!).
This was the fourth hour.
And I said, "Let there be amps to bring forth music as it is meant to be heard; amps according to their own kind: tube amps, static amps, portable amps, and desktop amps, all amps to fill the earth." But I had no freaking idea how to do these DIY projects, and I burned my finger trying to solder some stuff, so I called a few people up.
And it was so. There were Cmoys and Pocket Amps, Cute Beyonds and Portaphiles, Pimetas and PINTS, Total Bitheads and Total Airheads, and these were only some of the small ones. The large beasts that live in the rooms of the audiophiles were also created. The DACs that live with the amps were also created. Yes, even the Headroom Micro Stacks, which roam the basements of the blessed, were created.
And I saw that this was… expensive. Very VERY expensive. But it was good.
This was the fifth hour. (Researching amps is not easy, you know!)
And upon the sixth hour, I said, "Let us make music together, to our liking." And I realized there was no "us," because I was still single (sadness again!). But I hooked everything together, and made the setup to my liking, and let it have dominion over my ears: hi-fi and fun I created it.
And I blessed my humble set-up, and said unto it: "Be musical and have good warranty, and subdue my ears: have dominion over the pinnae, the eardum, and the cochlea; yes, even over the hammer and the anvil and the stirrup, over the canals and the Appalachian tu-"
(Cell phone rang, my dad, the doctor, called)
"Err, over the Eustachian tube."
And it was so.
And I saw that this was very good. And on the seventh hour, I ended all my work, and my wallet and I rested. And I blessed the seventh hour, because my bank statement showed I still had some funds left for food.
Now, if I can do something about decorating this house…
#62
#63
#64
3 things are needed for my "Ultimate Headphone Sanctuary"
1. My immediate undivided attention is not needed by someone/something at that moment.
2. The necessity to privatize my listening experience, whether it is to be polite, respect someones musical tastes or to adhere to parental advisories.
3. My ever handy modest portable listening rig consisting of an Iriver H320, and a simple pair of AKG K81DJs.
The "Ultimate" part to me is it can be anywhere and happen anytime, planned or by surprise.
The "Sanctuary" is reminiscing of good times with old music and the excitement of experiencing new music.
#65
Home sweet home...
Could really use some good sounds out here in my little truck...
#66
Crystal... This word amazes me. How can such light beauty can be concentrated in such a small word? Those who saw crystals know how pure and perfect they are : the world inside them seems magic, peaceful, harmless. It may take a single white light into a full spectrum of colors. Why dont we live in such a beautiful space, out of time, out of reality!
I live in a northern country, with vast and huge snow spaces. Far from town, I may hear the sound of wind, scent the purity of fresh air, feel the breeze of wind... Nothing could possibly disturb me.
So then comes the dawn, when everything comes alive. The snow, which was flat and dusky, wakes up. Its form changes, it seems to float. What was white becomes red, orange, purple, blue... You can almost hear the sparkling. It feels like every snow particle is a crystal that resounds from the power of sunlight. Everything becomes ruby, diamond, sapphire, emerald. There is a line of bright light around the horizon. It's light, coming from outside the crystal. That's what the world has become : a single, infinite, pure crystal.
Space around me becomes blurred. I can be there, or here, or even around. I feel myself turning inside-out : I'm earth, I'm water, I'm wind, I'm fire. Overwhelmed, I let myself vibrate at the rythm of nature.
Then, out of time, I hear it. The first note, the one from which everything was made. It's not low, it's not high, its not weak or strong, it's there. In this very note are contained all the harmonics, all the chords, all the symphonies of the world. You can swim on Tchaichovsky's melodies, dance on Mozart's sonataes, feel the storm and the thunder on Metallica's, sleep on Miles Davis' jazz rythms...
Now, light becomes sound, sound becomes light, music turns alive. The sound fills me, it clear my heart, it makes me feel the touch of crystal.
That's what music is all about. Crystal. Finding the pure energy, the clean sound that makes you unaware of time and space. Its refined beauty can cure the mose harmful, angry heart. Hearing every note and turning it all into one is the quest of every man. Enter purity by hearing purity. This is my goal, but I cannot achieve it alone.
The purest sound can only be achieved by the purest instruments and the purest recordings. I need to close in my ears so that nothing can interfere with the music I listen to. It must be small enough to make me realize the immensity of perfection. It must be comfortable, so that I don't even remark it's there while I listen. It is an extension of my body. When I listen to it, it makes me feel like the music comes from the inside and beams towards my heart. I know what it is!
It's powerful driver sends bursts of sound that cleanse my heart and fill my body. When I close my eyes, I can feel air around me being shaken my the musician's guitar, tremble at each drum shot, sweeten at the passage of the singer's voice. The small black box beside me gives it the power and the energy to drive me on the higher spheres of music. It has one name : DT880, coupled to my friend's home-made tube amp.
Beauty radiates, silence weakens, heart beats... As the song begins, I can only remember Gilbert Cesbron saying, "Hapiness comes when time stops." and let myself fly.
#67
There are two worlds I live in. One where I eat, work and go to school. The other world is where I truly feel at home. It is a world of blissful sanctuary, a world consisting only of myself and my music. It is a world without social class, without violence and without time. I enter this world with a simple flip of a switch. In this sanctuary, I am able to be who I am. I am alone, I am in serenity.
A world full of melodies and intricate sounds. My headphones capture the finest of details, from the faint chimes of the xylophone in the background, to the heavy drum roll to the right side the sound stage. The powerful thumps of heavy bass roll into my ears, numbing my senses and blowing away my problems. The delicate trebles penetrate into my mind, creating a state of total tranquility. As jazz flow into my ears, I let myself be swept over by its soft and lulling tune. My headphones capture all of these and free me from my responsibilities. It sweeps me away into a world of tranquility, into serenity, into my world.
#68
Sometimes I sit
and rake my mind
the dirt on the surface
how it makes me cry
I close my eyes
Oh mercy mercy me!
the Golden Lady of my California Dreams
She says/ "sometimes you gotta let the drummer kick back
relax to the tune of a Summer Breeze,
maxin'
then
it hits me like a Grand Funk Railroad
the Mothership has landed
at the crossroads.
And then I chill from '93 till
“Oh?”
the lady speaks to beat of
Rock and roll.
She asks
“Define music.”
the answer is no toll
Music is Eric Clapton
Music is De La Soul
Music is babies laughter
Music can make you cry
Music is a cold shower
Music is friendly “hi”’s
Music is airy nothingness
A full stomach of hungry
The communicated, deliberated, never been duplicated, time warp, mind sort, don’t always have to rhyme, or, James Brown, Miles Davis, Don’t forget the Count Basie’s.
MUSIC IS A WORLD WITHIN ITSELF, WITH A LANGUAGE WE ALL UNDERSTAND
MUSIC MAKES ME WANNA HOLD YOUR HAND
Don’t ever forget
Music will set you free
Music is whatever
You want it to be.
#69
#70
#71
#72
#73
#74
#75
I love music and I love to learn. I am also changing lifestyle in order to loose quite a few
pounds. They can no longer be ignores. I spend time driving in my car and on the treadmill or the stationary bikes at my local 24 hour gym. My new friend is my faithful mp3 player.
I listen to my favorite songs over and over. If I have a teaching I need to review over and over I convert it to MP3 format and take it with me everywhere. I get to complete the listening cycle very quickly and I still get the flexibility to back up and rewind in order
to keep going over some phrases just in case I want to be sure that I heard it right.
Is this a great time in technology. Music, podcasts and MP3 recorders abound.
You could even be a student and record a class on a mini MP3 player / recoeder.
I could not have been born at a better time.
#76
Some days at work I have to escape the harsh flourescent light and insessant drone of not to distant servers. My workday sancturary is outside in the sun, sitting on the bench watching fish jump in the lake and fowl gliding by without a care in the world. I slip a pair of MX400's on and start my MP3 player and drift off into another world.
Some days it's rock, some it's jazz. On rare occasions I may choose something more classical, but no matter what the program is the result is the same... my pulse slows and I feel my blood pressure lower as I let the music wash over me. All too soon lunchtime is over and I return to my place of work, as dissimilar to my music place as the Moon is to Mother Earth.
#77
No, Poems arent for me, Theyre just to Silly.
And A Picture, well thats 800 words over the limit.
So lets just get right in it. My headphones are my personal transport to take me from work to wherever I want to go. My personal first class seat (these are big comfy sennheisers we're talking about here) to anywhere the 30,000+ songs on my computer will take me. And I dont have to take any baggage. And the best part is I can go to the dark side of the moon and back and nobody will even know I left! All the meanwhile, I look like i'm hard at work and getting paid. Hows that for a sanctuary. Paid Vacation on any day that ends in a Y, Yeeaaah!
#78
It captures you
It is what lets the song melt away all the feelings of your day
It refreshes you
It is what has you longing to hear every note
It is what keeps you coming back for more
It shapes you
#79
Every since I saw my big sis play the piano when I was a tiny lad, I too wanted to play. But my sister didn’t want to. She was actually struggling. All her classmates were on level while she would either be beneath them by one or two. After perhaps several lessons and scolding, she quit and my parents quit on her too. It was later confirmed that she had severe learning disability.
Now it was my opportunity. It was evident that I aspired to play the piano. However, when my parents asked the instructor on my behalf, she refused and her excuse was my fingers were not structured for piano playing. My parents believed her and sheltered me away from the piano from then on. After many years, however, as a high school student now, I finally got to play the piano but before that I got into computers and digital audio. I started out building a computer (an ECS Motherboard and an AMD Athlon +2000). I then got interested in digital audio players and purchased an iriver (or iRiver, whatever it is) player then an Apple iPod.
Shortly after, I convinced my parents, now much older, to purchase me a piano and get me going on lessons, so we bought a Casio Privia PX-555R and I enrolled piano lessons around March 2006. As of now (July 30, 2006), I still play and getting better at it too. I started out simply with songs like ‘Good King Wenceslas’ and ‘Jingle Bells.’ Now I have progressed to amended/simplified/abridged (can’t choose a word [>_<]) version of songs like ‘The Entertainer’, ‘Amazing Grace’, ‘Green Sleeves’, and my favorite ‘Scarborough Fair’.
In between the lessons, on May 2006, I joined an online headphone and portable audio (well, this would be an understatement since members discuss about amps, speakers, and evidently fast food if you browse the ‘Members’ Lounge’ section) community known as Head-Fi. Shortly, this lead to the establishment of my Sanctuary: my Casio digital piano and the Altec Lansing im716’s.
The lovely im716’s delivered a blissful clarity to my ears as I played with it for the first time. All the treble and bass notes were clear and distinct. Oh, how I wish the world could hear. The provided isolation secured the world from my late night practices and gave me a chance to play freely without restricting volume. I have grown so fond with my im716’s that nothing that separate it from me and my Casio (unless of course I win a super.fi 5 Pro, (^_^), nah, Shures or Etymotics are better (^_^)). Well, time to practice again. I have six days to get ready to make my teacher happy again.
#80
It all started when I first laid eyes on the beautifully machined Audio- Technica ATH-EM7’s. The beauty of these phones was remarkable, but being a University student, I couldn’t justify the purchase. I did however; purchase a Zen Micro for my portable needs. The ear buds that came with my Zen were terrible, and I wanted a change. Enter the Sennheiser CX300’s. I had them for a few weeks, but the cord really annoyed me, so I sold them for a pair of Etymotic ER6i’s. Unfortunately, I didn’t like the huge difference in bass, and moved to Creative EP-630’s. I loved these phones, but I had no love for the brick in my pocket. I ended up swapping it for an iPod Nano. My first step into actual headphones came when I wanted an all-round can, and I ended up choosing the Audio-Technica ATH-A500’s. By this time, I was working a summer job, and had saved up enough money to finally step knee-deep into IEM’s. I picked up some Shure E4c’s, and immediately fell in love. I loved them so much, that I bought a Xin SuperMicro-IV to accompany them with my iPod! The next step was to get a taste of some Grado’s, which lead me to purchase the SR80’s. I finally found bliss, addressing every need that I had, however there was still something missing, those beautiful EM7’s. I bought those Audio-Technicas, starting and ending my audio bliss on the same phone.
#81
#82
#83
#84
personal refuge
super.fi 5 pro, vision
portable haven
Sample Contest Entries
HeadRoom Sample Entry #1
"Nerdy techno-monks at HeadRoom scurry day and night to ready my head for the bliss awaiting. I hadn't thought that masonry done at the tip of a smoldering soldering iron would velvet-line my noggin so well. Thanks, geeks, I'll light a candle and leave a nickle in your box for the refreshing stay."
HeadRoom Sample Entry #2
It all started with an SR60
Lying in the dark
when something just hit me
It sent shivers down my spine
made my hair stand on end
I had never experienced such emotion within
I thought I had found
how music should be heard
and wanted to share
with the rest of the world
I would listen with friends
I would listen alone
until someone forgot to
turn off that damn phone
I tried to go back to my trusty old Sony's
but my brain kept sayin' this sound is phony.
I hopped on the net
did a search for noise cancelling
stumbled upon a picture,
a man in a tutu dancing
He wore big headphones, HD580's
I imagined they scare away all the ladies
but I looked around the website some more
and found photo's of ladies with headphones galore.
It looked like a joke but I scrolled on down
to find headphone geeks that live in my town.
They described a headphone that seemed like a wet willie
and I knew for sure that these geeks were silly
but after some convincing, I obliged
a tad disgusted but to my surprise
It sent shivers down my spine
made my hair stand on end
I had once again experienced
such emotion within.
So I was careful enough to not sound like a jerk
and was lucky enough that they gave me some work
My responsibility is to be
the biggest headphone geek I can be
And by bringing sanctuary to you,
HeadRoom does for me.
Staff Sample Entry #3
Staff Sample Entry #4
Ever want to tell the world about that ultra-sweet headphone rig of yours?
Is the sound so spectacular, so wonderfully immersive, so enveloping in its loving sonic embrace that you need a giant bully pulpit to shout out yer' bliss?
Are you good at show & tell? …. Well, then lucky you!
We're giving away [that's free, folks!] two portable-listening packages featuring the superb Ultimate Ears superFi 5Pro ear-canal headphones along with our HeadRoom