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Zeller
United States1109 Posts
Now if I try to go with high end Sennheiser type of headphones. What do I need to get the most out of them on my computer? I listed my motherboard, power supply, sound card above. And these are the speakers I'd be plugging them into. http://www.amazon.com/Bose-Companion-multimedia-speaker-Graphite/dp/B000HZBR64/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1283804606&sr=1-2 | ||
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jtype
England2167 Posts
On September 07 2010 05:29 GoSu] wrote: For over-the-head headphones, go with Sennheisers. They are all high quality. I'd actually disagree with that. They do have a couple of very good-quality models, but their range, like most popular manufacturers is largely made up of cheaper mass-market stuff that isn't really fit for anything more than a very very casual listener. @OP - Try not to get too caught up in any particular brand prejudice, where possible, as many different companies have good models in their range, but it's not always their most popular or best-selling models. In fact, despite the love that Sennheiser have been receiving in this thread (and numerous other threads/forums also), there are many people who don't like even their most well-regarded models. Everybody's ears are physically different, so nobody hears things exactly in the same way. | ||
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Zeller
United States1109 Posts
If it's possible I want to go pretty high-end, I'm just not sure if my computer can handle it, what kind of amp I would need. Basically don't want to waste money on nice headphones that I can't get the most out of. | ||
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meeple
Canada10211 Posts
Does anyone have any reservations about that? | ||
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Zeller
United States1109 Posts
I'm really trying to get a little educated on this stuff. Weigh all my options. | ||
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Myrmidon
United States9452 Posts
That ASUS sound card should be all you need. It can power headphones like the Sennheiser HD 650, Beyerdynamic DT 880 (600 ohms version), etc., and whatever. If you want to spend like $1500, I would recommend buying something with a generous return policy.  After all, reviews are only going to tell you so much.But after that, you can try some of the flagship top-end models I guess. Audio Technica W5000, Beyerdynamic Tesla T1, Sennheiser HD 800, JVC DX1000, Ultrasone Edition 9, etc. Those are the big guns, off of the top of my head. | ||
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jtype
England2167 Posts
For some lower mid-range DACs, I would recommend: E-MU 0404 Lexicon IONIX U22 Tascam US-122 Focusrite Saffire 6 Apogee ONE To get you started. For headphones, I would suggest taking a look at: Audio Technica ATH-AD700 Sennheiser HD595 Beyerdynamic DT990 The following are also very decent-sounding but are also very rugged and portable, if that's more what you need: Sennheiser HD25-1 II Shure SRH840 Sony MDR-V700 edit - Myrmidon is definitely suggesting some good stuff and is talking a lot of sense, but it seems we've both hit upon two slightly different price points. If you can afford the stuff that Myrmidon is suggesting, then yea, by all means go for it. The stuff I'm suggesting is a lot more entry-level-good-quality-stuff, but better-than-average-cheap-stuff. :D | ||
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Zeller
United States1109 Posts
1. Do I plug the amplifier directly into my pc? Or can i plug it into my bose speakers where the headphone port is? 2. For the high-end headphones, do those need to be plugged into my desktop or can those be plugged into the bose speakers as well? | ||
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Myrmidon
United States9452 Posts
I like jtype's suggestions too, except that I wouldn't pay that much for a DAC/amp and then just get $100-200 headphones. The headphones, music file bitrate and encoding quality, and recording/mastering quality make more of a difference in the sound than the DAC and amp. Price/performance-wise I definitely would avoid audiophile DAC/amps. jtype is suggesting products used mostly in the pro audio world, which is the better value. High-end audiophile gear is pretty much like custom orders in terms of the volume of product produced, and audiophiles often overpay on gear when they don't know better, so prices can be killer. | ||
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jtype
England2167 Posts
On September 07 2010 06:03 Zeller wrote: Ok few more then. 1. Do I plug the amplifier directly into my pc? Or can i plug it into my bose speakers where the headphone port is? 2. For the high-end headphones, do those need to be plugged into my desktop or can those be plugged into the bose speakers as well? I would definitely suggest eliminating as many unnecessary parts of the signal chain as possible, so I would recommend plugging the headphones directly into the line out of your soundcard, or any headphone ports that it has. One reason for this is that the fewer components the audio has to travel through, the less things will degrade,colour, interfere, or otherwise lessen the quality of the signal. I don't know how good the circuitry is for the headphone port on those Bose speakers. It may be very good, or it may be a cheap afterthought, as the primary use for that product is for the 2.1 stereo system and not the headphones. | ||
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Zeller
United States1109 Posts
http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-Open-Air-Dynamic-Audiophile-Headphone/dp/B00018MSNI/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1283807248&sr=1-1 http://www.amazon.com/Denon-AHD5000-AH-D5000-Reference-Headphones/dp/B000MVEC10/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1283807781&sr=1-2 http://www.amazon.com/AKG-272-HD-High-Definition-Headphones/dp/B0028N78KC/ref=sr_1_23?s=aht&ie=UTF8&qid=1283807656&sr=1-23 Would I get the sound I should get from them by plugging them into my desktop? As in they should sound better then my $170 pair of bose? Do I need anything like adaptors? http://www.amazon.com/Grado-Mini-Adaptor-Cable-Inch/dp/B001DK1ZVO/ref=pd_bxgy_e_img_c whats that all about? | ||
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Xeris
Iran17695 Posts
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Zeller
United States1109 Posts
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Zeller
United States1109 Posts
http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-HD595-HD-595-Premier-Headphone/dp/B0001FTVE0/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top | ||
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jtype
England2167 Posts
On September 07 2010 07:11 Zeller wrote: Alright I think I'm going to take it down a notch, and go with the Sennheiser HD595's http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-HD595-HD-595-Premier-Headphone/dp/B0001FTVE0/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top Yea certainly not a bad choice at all. Those will be very decent on both your computer and ipod, without a headphone amp. Let us know what you think of them. Enjoy!  | ||
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scottyyy
United Kingdom796 Posts
http://cgi.ebay.com/ZERO-DAC-AMP-headphone-amplifer-USB-toslink-/110582776811?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19bf3f43eb I'm sure there are better DACs for cheaper nowadays but this thing seriously rocks. I sold a Darkvoice 332 ($400 headphone amp) after getting this DAC because it honestly wasn't much worse. I've also had Denon D2000s which I sold to get the HD650s. I kinda miss them, the Denon's were extremely good. Best bass on any headphones I've ever heard. If not for the slightly recessed midrange I would never have sold them. The HD650s have a ridiculously nice midrange though so I doubt I will ever change headphones now. | ||
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smileyyy
Germany1816 Posts
On September 07 2010 09:21 scottyyy wrote: HD595s are great. Although for not much more you can get a used pair of HD650s. On head-fi they sell for around $200 all the time, gotta be quick though. I absolutely love my HD650s, I don't know what I'd do without them. I use them with a Zero DAC which I got about 3 years and it's so awesome. http://cgi.ebay.com/ZERO-DAC-AMP-headphone-amplifer-USB-toslink-/110582776811?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19bf3f43eb I'm sure there are better DACs for cheaper nowadays but this thing seriously rocks. I sold a Darkvoice 332 ($400 headphone amp) after getting this DAC because it honestly wasn't much worse. I've also had Denon D2000s which I sold to get the HD650s. I kinda miss them, the Denon's were extremely good. Best bass on any headphones I've ever heard. If not for the slightly recessed midrange I would never have sold them. The HD650s have a ridiculously nice midrange though so I doubt I will ever change headphones now. Hmm I got my HD650 a few days ago..  ... I use them with a Asus Xonar DX which is not really capable of powering them I guess. I always get the urge to turn up the volume since the kinda sound quiet.(but they do sound great Especially Deadmau5 ) So do u have any experience on running them on a soundcard without an Amp ?. How big is the difference :o. I'm considering on buying an Amp maybe an Dac/Amp. on X-Mas since Im broke now ... 250€ so much money  | ||
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Cambium
United States16368 Posts
On September 07 2010 05:29 GoSu] wrote: http://www.klipsch.com/na-en/products/image-s4-overview/ These are the best in-ear headphones around. They are $80 with a $300 sound quality. I HIGHLY recommend them. Seriously, if you are getting in-ear headphones, get these. If you don't care about the kind of headphones, get these. Can you provide some additional details on these. I'm actually considering purchasing them for my GF who frequently travels on airplanes, so proper noise cancellation would be a huge plus (which from what I read, these are great). Any personal experience/testimony wrt noise cancellation would be great! But I don't really care about price (say under $300), so if there are much better in-ear headphones, I'm open to suggestions. To OP: sorry for the semi-hijack  | ||
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YejinYejin
United States1053 Posts
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=audio technica m50s&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=18394523251721601735&ei=nVqOTIn5B4K78ga-ut3NCw&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC8Q8wIwAA# | ||
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Aylear
Norway3988 Posts
http://www.akg.com/site/products/powerslave,id,252,pid,252,nodeid,2,_language,EN.html They cost me $280. They were worth it. Nowadays, the Mark II version is out. I trust the AKG K series enough that I can comfortably recommend the Mark II even without having ever put a pair on my head. Edit: Should qualify my statement by saying I even do some of my final audio mixing on these things. They're just that damn good. | ||
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