Community Insights: How I Fell In Love With Music

To my fellow music lovers – have you ever stopped to think about how your love for music began? Today, I’m reflecting on my own journey, and I’d love for you to come along for the ride.

Looking back, I realize music has always been a part of my life, which made it easy for me to connect with it. It started when I was about 12 years old (just a side note, I’m now 59). In the beginning, I was listening to my father’s old recordings (Chuck Berry, Paul Anka, Fats Domino, etc.) on the reel-to-reel tapes of his tape recorder.

Even back then, I was fascinated by both music and technology.

My First Music Setup

One Christmas, I got a cassette player with Elvis and Roy Orbison cassettes as a gift. Oh, how happy I was! By the time I was 15 or 16, my brother and I set up a music room in the basement of our house. At first, we only had an old music cabinet with a radio and turntable. That’s when I started buying records, and we were playing some of those records day and night – at least, it felt that way.

But before long, we needed something more – a proper sound system to truly bring the music to life.
Our first real setup included a Kenwood integrated amplifier, an Aiwa cassette deck with dual capstan and tape monitoring, a Rega turntable, and four Kirksaeter speakers (By the way, Kirksaeter is a German company founded in 1958 in Düsseldorf, and it’s still around!).

This music room quickly became our party basement.

Back then, the highlight of our social lives was biking to the ultimate events of the era: the legendary power parties, where the sounds of Deep Purple, Rainbow, Whitesnake, Black Sabbath, and Led Zeppelin filled the air. I suppose you could have called me a “headbanger”. What a silly term! It wasn’t about labels, though; it was just pure fun. Dancing like crazy, drenched in sweat, letting off steam on the dance floor, and then collapsing into bed, happy and exhausted. Those were the days!

Do you remember that feeling? If you’re wondering what a “power party” was, the name says it all. Slow dance songs were met with loud whistles, and heaven forbid you admitted you were an ABBA fan – at that time an absolute no-go.

The Evolution of Taste

But speaking of ABBA, we’ve all matured since those days, haven’t we? Especially with gems like Chess, the musical masterpiece from the two B’s. The intricate layers of their harmonies, with voices so distinct yet blending perfectly, still give me chills. With the right recording, like the Polaris Original ABBA Label Best of (Japan Edition), you can even hear the singers standing side by side, with just enough distance between them to notice one is slightly taller. Have you ever experienced that?

As I write this, ABBA’s Eagle is playing on the annual SWR1 Hit Parade, and it’s giving me goosebumps again. It’s just perfect, isn’t it?

Back then, I was doing track and field at the local sports club, where most of the kids my age gathered, and home parties in my music basement were a regular thing. But on a personal level, I was going through a tough time – bad grades, family stress, and girlfriend issues. Then, one day, everything changed.

I bought me a new pair of open-back Beyerdynamic headphones, I think it was the DT 990s. At the time, it was exactly what I needed. As soon as I put them on and pressed play, everything else faded away. I could close my eyes, let go of everything, and immerse myself fully in the music.

I was hooked. Music from Alan Parsons Project, Pink Floyd, Jean-Michel Jarre, Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull… I was entering a whole new world. This was when I first experienced stereo effects and spatial sound, and I was utterly fascinated. I realized that music truly makes the world a better place!

I wasn’t just listening anymore. I was fully engaging with it.

And that’s when I began to understand the different sound philosophies:

• Hard rock with heavy beats.
• CCR’s relaxed vibe from the southern U.S.
• The trippy sounds of Ten Years After on Stonedhenge, featuring cowbells and train noises.
• Birth Control, Kraftwerk (Geiger Counter), and more.
• YES or Genesis (early Peter Gabriel era) with their 10-20 minute epics,
• Rick Wakeman’s genius keyboard work with YES (spacy, ethereal).

Some of my favorites were Starship Trooper or I Have Seen All Good People, or newer ones like Gates of Delirium. Genesis’s The Musical Box was another masterpiece. These were demanding pieces of music, but they rewarded you if you took the time to truly listen.

They offered depth, layers, and experiences you couldn’t get with casual listening.

And speaking of unforgettable experiences, Faithfully by Journey is playing now. Goosebumps again!

The Search for Better Sound

My quest for better sound had now begun. I was learning about sound quality, not just the music. And the more I explored, the more I realized: not all headphones sound the same. Why? That was a revelation.

My first CD player was a Philips CD 100. In hindsight, it wasn’t necessarily better, despite CDs being hyped back then. They introduced digital harshness, like in Dire Straits’ Brothers in Arms on Money for Nothing. But in quiet moments, with headphones, you’d get completely immersed in music.

From there, I started upgrading – CDs, SACDs, and eventually, my first SACD player, the Marantz SA-11S1. SACDs were a game-changer, bringing an analytical sound that had far less of that digital harshness. And my journey never stopped. Hi-fi magazines like Audio, Stereo, Image HiFi, and Fidelity became my education. I kept learning about new technologies and innovations, from the power grid’s impact on audio quality to tips on troubleshooting.

For example: The power grid is polluted – yes, absolutely! I even experienced this firsthand with my two solar power systems. So, I invested in a balanced isolation transformer (Keces BP 600), a high-quality power strip (AudioQuest Niagara), and power cables (AudioQuest Blizzard).

The result? Noticeable improvements: more space, less harshness, higher resolution.

The better the system, the more details you hear – background sounds, reverbs, echoes, analog vs. digital recording quality. Even understanding the lyrics is crucial during listening sessions. Sounds basic, but it’s essential to me. Still, I’ve found that things sound even better when the solar systems are off – in the night.

There’s always room for improvement, isn’t there? Finding the right path is key – it’s a journey, not a destination. But it’s a bumpy road and often expensive.

For me, it’s been a long journey with many stops, and it’s not over yet. But one thing remains constant: my fascination with music. The better my system gets, the deeper my appreciation grows. Music was and is my life’s elixir.

What inspired your love for music?

At Headphone.Shop, we believe that the best insights come from real experiences. That’s why we’ve invited our community of passionate customers to share their thoughts on their favorite products and topics. These reviews and articles are written by real people, for real people – giving you honest perspectives from those who know and love the world of high-end audio. Read our blog for more Community Insights.

Many thanks to our community-author Matthias Haag.

Photo: Feliks Audio