In an office of fourteen people, music taste is broad. Too broad. A shared Spotify playlist was attempted once. It ended in a fight before the third song.
Jasse – jazz and reference recordings
Jasse's ears are insured, and it shows in his music choices. He listens to jazz, classical, and the kind of audiophile studio recordings where you can hear the bass player breathing at the three-minute mark. Steely Dan's "Aja" gets a spin at least once a week. He claims he can hear the difference between 320 kbps MP3 and FLAC. The rest of us don't argue, because he's the one tuning our headphones.
Jasse's test playlist is actually what the VMK25.2 sound profile was tuned with. So if your headphones sound great with Steely Dan, thank Jasse. If they don't, thank Jasse anyway – he likes that.
Henri – metal and the hum of an Alfa Romeo
Henri's music taste is best described in one word: "loud". Meshuggah, Gojira, Tool. Occasionally something mellower, like Rammstein. He listens on the VMK25.2 with ANC on, which is ironic, because ANC was designed to cancel out exactly the kind of racket Henri himself produces.
Henri drives an Alfa Romeo that breaks down regularly. On the days when the car is in the shop – which is most days – he listens to music a bit louder. The Ferrari budget is progressing slowly. The Death Star budget even slower.
Raimo – W124 and silence
Raimo's favourite music is the steady rumble of a Mercedes-Benz W124 300D diesel engine at 80 km/h on the motorway. Nothing else. Everything else is noise.
Sometimes he agrees to listen to Dire Straits, but only the "Brothers in Arms" album, and only on vinyl. He once said he likes Eino Grön, but nobody's sure if that was a joke.
The office common denominator
The only song all fourteen people have ever agreed on is Levan Polkka. And only because nobody had the nerve to vote against it.
At the office, everyone mostly listens on their own headphones, because the only open-plan alternative would be letting Henri's metal rip through the Nordell Max at full blast. That was tried once. The neighbouring company called the police.
If you want to know which headphones make all of this sound best: the VMK25.2 is the most popular choice at the office for over-ears, and the NL25 for those who can't be bothered carrying full-size cans. Jasse, though, rotates through everything he's testing, so he's always got something different on his ears.
We don't make Spotify playlists. Not because we can't, but because the last time we tried, Jasse added a 40-minute jazz solo and Henri deleted it and replaced it with Meshuggah. Raimo deleted both and added a YouTube link of a W124 engine starting up. That doesn't even work on Spotify.
Listen to whatever you like. We make the headphones that make it sound good. And every purchase funds 0.000001% of our Death Star, so you're also supporting galactic peace.
