Griffin Silver
Our relationship began in the car with my mother, listening to her sing along to The Beatles. I credit my ear for music largely to her, both in her musical taste as well as the way she interacted with it. She always seemed to prefer harmonizing with the vocals of songs we listened to, instead of just singing the main melody, and I became accustomed to hearing the way she processed it all at an early enough age that it was forever imprinted on all subsequent interactions with music: Listen, understand, react, and listen.
My experiences with music became more personal around 9-10 years old, through a pair of wired earbuds out of a pre-iPod MP3 player with room for about 30 or 40 songs. I loaded it up...and listened constantly. At home, on car trips, and on the bus to/from school, I was hooked on the feeling I got from being ensconced in the separated space-time bubble that music could always put me in regardless of where or when I actually was.
Fast forward to 11 years old, and my sister (whom I credit equally with my upbringing along with my mother and father) started to get into music, both as a serious listener and as a guitarist. Her being musical was a massive boon for me, and her enthusiasm for new music rubbed off on me just as the guitar did.
By age 13 or 14, I was a goner. Radiohead was now my favorite band, I was starting to write and record my own songs, and there was nothing in my world that was even close to as important as music was. Constantly being online looking for new music, guitars, amps, pedals, microphones, anything, led me to forums, publications, and imageboards wherein I was first exposed to, among other things, headphones other than those that came free with an MP3 player. At this time, my thoughts while listening began to change from “I like what I’m listening to!” to “Why do I like what I’m listening to?”
The answer was a resounding “I have no idea, but I wanna hear more.”
Along the quest to hear more, I happened upon InnerFidelity and Tyll Hertsens. We now collectively recognize Tyll as being the preliminary resource for headphone enthusiasts at the time, and he was my first legitimate contact point with this hobby (& I wager I’m not the only one). He’d reviewed ATH-M50, which I had already owned and enjoyed, and had even more recommendations further up in price, as well as for different form-factors. Having never tried IEMs before, I decided to try the Etymotic ER4p...
And this is when the reproduction of music itself became one of the foremost emotional, intellectual, and communal pursuits of my entire life. These earphones revealed a level of texture, micro-detail, and intimacy that I'd never been exposed to prior. This is when I became an audiophile.
In the time since, I’ve spent my life with almost equal time in carefully monitoring music’s creation, playing multiple instruments, and “listening, understanding, reacting, listening” to any piece of music I came across. I was doing so with a pair of earphones exceptionally capable of providing honesty, clarity, and nuance thanks to Tyll, as well as a few other headphones along the way too... until 2020, when I’d realized that I never even scratched the surface.
From 2020 onward has been a heck of a ride. I’ve learned and unlearned more things than I can name, I’ve tried more headphones than I ever thought I would, and I've written with both friends and personal heroes of mine. Here's to that journey continuing!
Latest posts from Griffin Silver
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Sennheiser HD 620S - Does It Deserve A Spot In The 6 Series?
Any headphone laying claim to a spot within Sennheiser's hallowed 6 series needs to have the chops to back it up, and therein lies the question: Is the HD 620S actually good enough to be *the* 6 series closed back, or has the HD 620S been placed in a series it neither lives up to nor competes with? Let's talk about it.
Truthear GATe - New Ultra-Budget King?
The Hola was Truthear’s first entry into the ultra-budget space, and it was an exceptionally-balanced offering. Now we’ve gotten its replacement with the GATe, and the question must be answered: after Truthear discontinued what was arguably their most universally-beloved IEM, is the GATe actually a worthy replacement?
Sennheiser HD 569: Sennheiser's Best Kept Secret?
A headphone being old and scarcely mentioned doesn’t automatically mean it's bad. In fact, HD 569 might be my favorite mid-fi closed back headphone. Why is that, and more importantly, why does nobody talk about this headphone? Join me as I try a headphone from seven years ago in the hopes of finding an undiscovered gem.
DUNU x Gizaudio DaVinci: Are we in the Renaissance of IEMs?
The DUNU x Gizaudio DaVinci is an IEM that’s making waves in the community for its compliance with what many are calling “the new tuning meta.” But does it live up to the hype? Join listener as they discuss why—with IEMs like DaVinci—we may in fact be in the midst of an IEM Renaissance.
Sennheiser HD 660S2 vs. HD 600 and 650: Which is REALLY better?
Sennheiser is the only company that gets the entire headphone sphere excited when they release a new product, but it seems they've forgotten why people love them—and the 6 series—in the first place. Let’s talk about why I think so, how their new HD 660S2 embodies this disconnect, and what I think they can do to fix it.
Moondrop x Crinacle DUSK: An Inconvenient Truth
Crinacle's new DUSK was an IEM that was uniquely positioned to fulfill the wishes of consumers asking for an IEM tuned with the Brüel and Kjaer Type 5128 in mind. However, due to the reliance on the DSP cable to grant that wish, saying "Buy DUSK" isn't quite as simple this time around.
Sennheiser HD 490 Pro: Incrementalist
In a world that doesn't include HD 600 or 650, I might actually take HD 490 Pro over most of the other stuff in its price range. While it's not as good as I had hoped, I still found myself using it without EQ for extended periods of time without glaring comfort or sound issues... and frankly, I’m not sure I could do that with most of the other headphones at its price.
Diffuse Field: Calculate, Characterize, Calibrate
Head-Related Transfer Functions have become a common topic of discussion now that Headphones.com have incorporated the Brüel and Kjaer Type 5128 into our roster of measurement fixtures, but some still aren't sure what HRTFs are, how we're using them, or most importantly—why we're using them. Join listener as they break down the myriad reasons why Headphones.com chooses to calibrate measurements using the Diffuse Field HRTF.