Buying decent headphones

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 16 May 2007, 00:36

EvaUnit02 wrote:Samsung SyncMaster 226BW.

I'm reading your post on its older brother (the 225BW).
You'll be very happy with that monitor.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 16 May 2007, 01:18

Kurgan wrote:Sony, Apple and Toshiba (the latter of whom use Harman/Kardon speakers) have pretty decent speakers in 'em, so generally, you don't see an improvement with those brands.

My laptop is a Toshiba I guess I won't bother

, a new model too. The volume is fine but far from anything I'd call good, acceptable is a word I'd use.

Kurgan wrote:2. If a company is going to bother with USB speakers, then they'd damn sure make 'em work off USB (and therefore the laptop) power source.
3. USB usage lowers the battery life in any capacity. Seeing as how most laptops get about 1.5 hours battery life under normal usage, I would say 'quickly' is a definite.

Thanks. That said it would still be worth it if I could get some decent ones which I only used when the laptop was plugged in, that would be something.

p.s - Oh and 50 notes for a set of headphones! Next I'll hear people actually pay £100 for Inter-connect.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 16 May 2007, 01:55

bradavon wrote:p.s - Oh and 50 notes for a set of headphones! Next I'll hear people actually pay £100 for Inter-connect.

You have to spend that much to get anywhere near decent cans. I plan to buy Audio Technica ATH500s for $130NZD (~£48) that blow away Sennheiser HD555's for $200 (~£74).

Then I plan to spend $56 USD for an amplifier. I've already ordered a decent sound card for ~$157NZD (SoundBlaster X-fi Xtremegamer).

Bear in mind that this is all entry-level equipment.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 16 May 2007, 02:11

An amp for headphones is it worth it? Fair enough. My Sennheiser's cost me £9 off eBay

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 16 May 2007, 02:46

bradavon wrote:An amp for headphones is it worth it?

In theory they should be, I'll let you know once I have mine.

Read the following:-
Before we go any further, you might be wondering why you would need a head amp anyway? After all most sound cards can drive headphones directly. Whilst this is generally true, soundcards usually have low power outputs designed to feed an amplifier and hence produce limited volume when used with headphones, plus not all headphones can be driven directly from a soundcard because of their power requirements. Another point worth mentioning is that some soundcards use one of the line out connectors as a stereo headphone output. This socket has a "stronger" signal intended to drive headphones. This is all fine and dandy in stereo but when using surround sound headphones two channels (usually the fronts) will be A LOT louder than the rest. You can probably adjust for this using your speaker set-up software but then that will screw up your loudspeaker settings.

My Sennheiser's cost me £9 off eBay

What model number?

tom2681 wrote:
EvaUnit02 wrote:Samsung SyncMaster 226BW.
I'm reading your post on its older brother (the 225BW).
You'll be very happy with that monitor.

Thank god I didn't get a 225BW, if you like it then it must suck.

Yeah, my 226BW is fantastic IMO.

gojensen · Post by **gojensen** » 16 May 2007, 08:36

Hm, I audio-technica an Ozzie oem/rebranded thing? Can't seem to find anyone selling them up north...

A small amp for headphones, especially one that could drive a set of computer speakers would be great aswell - not much market for that up here it seems... but I'd like a way to move sound digitally from my computer instead of going through the semi-crappy onboard soundcard. (Then again, I only use it for "ding" and background noise in games... as I have real equipment to play music

)

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 16 May 2007, 14:35

gojensen wrote:Hm, I audio-technica an Ozzie oem/rebranded thing? Can't seem to find anyone selling them up north...

No, they're a Japanese brand. Headphone audiophiles know about them. They're available from Audiocubes.com. "Audio Technica is considered to be the industry standard in most recording studios."

A small amp for headphones, especially one that could drive a set of computer speakers would be great aswell - not much market for that up here it seems...

It is a cottage industry online by the looks of it.

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 16 May 2007, 18:27

EvaUnit02 wrote:Cancelled my order for the Sennheiser HD435. getting this instead:-
Audio-Technica ATH-A500. They reportedly blow away the Sennheiser HD555.

I'm in two minds bout getting this as well:-
Audio-Technica AT-HA2 Headphone Amp. I think I'll get a X-fi first.

EDIT: Fuck the AT-HA2. Thanks for letting me know about the PA2V2 - it sounds very good, I think I'll order that when I have the cash.

Anything blows away the HD555's, the only decent Senn's worth buying are the fantastically cheap 580's + $20 of parts from 600's and 650's or the 650's themselves which are only about $300US these days.

I never really liked AT cans too much, there's a real hobbyist attitude towards them amongst users. They like to collect them. Prices are good though (at least in their lower end offerings) and they don't need too much amplification. I've had A500's, AD900's and had W5000's for a few weeks. You might want to save a bit more for the A700's, the 900's are miles better than the 500's but apparently not that much better than 700's.

Yeah, that AT amp is ancient and overpriced. With headphone amps it's always the small companies/individuals that make the good stuff. Cheaper that way too.

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 16 May 2007, 18:42

I've never seen a studio that uses AT's for monitoring, even in Japan. It's usually Sony, AKG, BeyerDynamic or Sennheiser and for good reason.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 16 May 2007, 19:36

hence produce limited volume when used with headphones.

When was this article written? The 1980s

Another point worth mentioning is that some soundcards use one of the line out connectors as a stereo headphone output.

Maybe one in a million do, that's very rare. Otherwise fair enough I've never listened to surround headphones to be able to comment.

I have a pair of Sennheiser MX 500 (Blue). I went for them as the're in-ear, blue (so they match my MP3 player, just a bonus) and have an in-line volume. They "could" be fakes, Sennheiser fakes are common on eBay but ironically to me they're better than the real thing. I'll explain:

I bought a pair of eBay a wee while back presuming they were legit. I had no reason to believe they weren't. I stupidly while on holiday wrapped them around my MP3 Player (I use the provided now case) and broke the case of the in-line volume, it continued to work but obviously wasn't ideal.

As Sennheiser headphones have a long warranty or a lifetime warranty (I forget) I contacted Sennheiser and sent them back. They arrived but were not quite what my old ones were. They looked and sounded identical but the wire was the annoying Y type not the one I prefer where one wire is longer than the other. I contact Sennheiser to ask they replace it with this type and they specifically told me without a doubt they don't make models with that type, all official Sennheiser headphones should be of the Y type.

I explained I'd bought my original ones off eBay but by then it sounds like Sennheiser had thrown away my old set so could not confirm if they were fake (probably a good job for me), even asking if I had kept the serial number. A: They're earphones, where on earth is it? B: Like I'd keep it.

So I promptly put my Sennheiser MX-500's on eBay and bought another set. Possibly fake but I don't care the build quality is identical and crucially they sound identical, plus they have the cable type I like.

I actually suspect the Sennheiser seller is wrong, either that or they're bloody good fakes. Except the cable type they looked and sounded identical.

p.s - Yowser those Samsung 22" LCDs are expensive. I bet they're great but bloody expensive. I've seen 22" models for under £200 but how good they are is anyone's guess. Still IMO LCD PC Monitor quality is much a muchness nowadays IMO, or at least for me anyway.

I'm considering upgrading to a 22" WS. My 19" WS is okay but it's just a wee bit small. I'm definitely glad I didn't go with a 17" WS, that would've been tiny. Funny when a 17" 4:3 doesn't. It's a pity (for me) 22" models are so much. I don't like paying more than £200 for a PC monitor.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 17 May 2007, 01:05

HOLY SHIT! This X-fi is AMAZING! Music sounds simply awesome. Especially with bass heavy records like Massive Attack's masterpiece Mezzanine, with the Crystalizer maxed out.

I tried Doom 3 with EAX HD 4.0 enabled, WOW. Adds a whole new dimension to the game.

Onboard audio is utter CRAP, if you disagree then you're in denial and need to experience the X-fi's awesomeness.

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 17 May 2007, 15:08

Eh, I cannot stand using that nonsense. Just makes everything sound false and artifical to me. It's like Criterion DVD's, you go WOW at first then later realise what has happened.

If you thimk the X-Fi is good just wait till you try a real card or DAC one day.

But it's good that you know you don't have duff ears.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 17 May 2007, 17:52

EvaUnit02 wrote:Onboard audio is utter CRAP, if you disagree then you're in denial and need to experience the X-fi's awesomeness.

It depends what you need it for. If you just want to listen to MP3s and Videos it's perfectly fine. Besides try adding a PCI sound card to a laptop

. I wonder if USB sound would beat a laptop sound card???

I remember EAX from the original Sound Blaster Live days (the last time I fitted a sound card to my PC's). I remember it being cool.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 17 May 2007, 22:00

bradavon wrote:
EvaUnit02 wrote:Onboard audio is utter CRAP, if you disagree then you're in denial and need to experience the X-fi's awesomeness.
It depends what you need it for. If you just want to listen to MP3s and Videos it's perfectly fine.

There you go, denial. Have a good sit-down with a good PCI Addon card like a true X-fi, or something even better like a M-Audio or Auzentech card.

Besides try adding a PCI sound card to a laptop .

PCIMA modules.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 18 May 2007, 01:14

Can you get decent PCMCIA soundcards? I've never looked.

Back in the day I always fitted my own sound card but that was before they came as standard. I'd give a PCMCIA one a go but seriously doubt it would make a huge difference playing back 128Kbps material. That said I will soon be plugging my laptop into my Home Cinema amp (a £350 Sony job) so it maybe worth considering.

p.s - Denial has it's place in society

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 18 May 2007, 07:11

The Emu 0202 or 0404 USB are decent choices for laptops. Or there are a variety of cheap USB DAC's that can be coupled to an amp, lots of USB DAC/AMP combos as well. If you're wanting to use a receiver and surround the M-Audio transit is just the ticket.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 18 May 2007, 10:41

bradavon wrote:p.s - Denial has it's place in society

Oh definitely, if you're a politician or a criminal on trial. We know that you're not in office so that only leaves...

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 18 May 2007, 20:27

Lourdes wrote:The Emu 0202 or 0404 USB are decent choices for laptops. Or there are a variety of cheap USB DAC's that can be coupled to an amp, lots of USB DAC/AMP combos as well. If you're wanting to use a receiver and surround the M-Audio transit is just the ticket.

Thanks Lourdes. The Emu's are way to expensive, plus I could never buy a product called an Emu

But the M-Audios look possible, would it really make a difference over 3.5mm from a sound card laptop though? Which one were you talking about? -

http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=pro ... interfaces

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 30 May 2007, 00:21

Oh my, what they say about the Kmixer is true. It decreases the volume by removing bits thus the audio sounds far worse.

Thank god this bollocks is finally dead with Vista.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 30 May 2007, 08:47

I got my Audio Technica ATH-500 cans from Japan today. Can't exactly use them properly without an amp, Windows XP's fucking Kmixer makes it pointless. Maybe if I used it with the Mac or if I installed Vista. Now to burn em in, I'll have to leave them connected to a stereo playing music non-stop for about a day.

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 30 May 2007, 09:27

You need to use ASIO or Kernel Streaming output, bypasses kmixer. What player are you using?

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 30 May 2007, 09:53

Lourdes wrote:You need to use ASIO or Kernel Streaming output, bypasses kmixer. What player are you using?

WMP10 for music, MPC for movies. I don't like Winamp, it has no music library. Is this software you speak of 64bit compatible?

I realised something, I don't need a headphone amp. I've relocated my neglected Philips minisystem to where my PC sits. Its speakers are set up behind my flatpanel, all I need now is a 2*RCA male>1*3.5mm stereo phono cable and I'm golden. AUX FTW.

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 30 May 2007, 20:10

Winamp has a music library and supports both, same with foobar. WMP has no ASIO or KS output. I know Winamps out_asio works on x64.

Regular amps aren't any good for driving headphones, the jack is just there for convinience. They can't compare.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 01 Jun 2007, 20:06

Interesting article:

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/itunes_256_vs_128_bit

In short 128Kbps vs. 256Kbps is bollocks but decent headphones makes loads of different. Okay that's the really short answer

EvaUnit02 wrote:Thank god this bollocks is finally dead with Vista.

The mixer interface is completely different and more simplified but I wasn't aware underneath it was any different, how so? It sounds the same to me

What do you mean burn them in?

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 01 Jun 2007, 20:17

bradavon wrote:What do you mean burn them in?

Sez it all.
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=58157