EPTI bought MMX used for 217+tax = $233. The new ones, since then, dropped in price from $400 to $300. I can buy them without tax, so the price difference is $70. Should I return the used pair and get them new for 5 year warranty and, all in all, so that I don't have to worry about quality/used ones breaking on me sooner than they should?
Headphone enthusiast thread! - Page 197
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iokke
United States1179 Posts
I bought MMX used for 217+tax = $233. The new ones, since then, dropped in price from $400 to $300. I can buy them without tax, so the price difference is $70. Should I return the used pair and get them new for 5 year warranty and, all in all, so that I don't have to worry about quality/used ones breaking on me sooner than they should? | ||
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OneBaseKing
Afghanistan412 Posts
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TheVoicedElk
United Kingdom28 Posts
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Froob
United Kingdom342 Posts
using sennhesiers cx400s now, too poor to buy £60 ones edit: using sennhesier HD 580s now | ||
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mongie
United States39 Posts
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ieatkids5
United States4628 Posts
On November 05 2012 22:06 OneBaseKing wrote: Hi, I got a question. I got a DAC/AMP and HD650 and I plug the amp into the usb in the computer. But the computer has no sound card, is that okay because I already have a headphone amplifer? what you hear when you put on those HD650's will be bottlenecked by the weakest link in the chain. even if you have an outside amp, you will only be amping the signal that is coming from your motherboard. | ||
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Dman
United States53 Posts
I don't care about price, I am looking for quality! There aren't many bluetooth headsets out there that I could find. The only one that sounded okay was a Beats, but I've heard that they overcharge for their headsets (though I'm using their earbuds and it sounds fantastic...) and you can get similar things for less. Any recommendations? | ||
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Cedstick
Canada3336 Posts
Otherwise, I'm in the market for a set upwards to $200. Main concern is something good for production. I'm brand-new to production pretty much, for what that's worth. I don't have an output amp yet, and won't be getting one in the foreseeable future unless I really get in to Fruity Loops and it's highly recommended. 'Til then, just my mic amp  Edit -- another for what-it's-worth: electronic music is my main concern. Though I listen to all types, electronic -- likely with an emphasis on Drum n' Bass and similar genres and sub-genres -- will be my focus in Fruity Loops. | ||
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Frigo
Hungary1023 Posts
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Blisse
Canada3710 Posts
On November 05 2012 13:54 iokke wrote: Forgive the double post, but my previous one was meant as help to others, this one is just me asking your opinion. I bought MMX used for 217+tax = $233. The new ones, since then, dropped in price from $400 to $300. I can buy them without tax, so the price difference is $70. Should I return the used pair and get them new for 5 year warranty and, all in all, so that I don't have to worry about quality/used ones breaking on me sooner than they should? You aren't 100% clear what headphones you bought, but if they're prone to breaking after a bit of research, and you feel like $70 is nothing, then go for it. Peace of mind is always good. Home headphones don't usually break, but if you use them a lot, then it can be worth it. On November 06 2012 23:31 ieatkids5 wrote: what you hear when you put on those HD650's will be bottlenecked by the weakest link in the chain. even if you have an outside amp, you will only be amping the signal that is coming from your motherboard. @ieatkids, what? That's not even relevant? @OneBaseKing, your sound card has its own DAC and AMP. When you plug your new DAC/AMP into your computer via USB, you are bypassing that component by letting the higher quality DAC process the digital signal into an analog signal your AMP can output to your headphones. You highly minimize interference from the computer this way, though there's a small bit of debate about whether this signal is 100% pure or not. If you're using any output from your computer, at some point in your audio chain, that digital signal needs to be converted into something your headphone handle, an analog signal. Which is where the Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) comes in. And then the analog signal is sent to an Amplifier and then to your ears. This holds true for your .mp3 files on your iPod. It has its own built-in DAC and AMP. Because many cheap MP3 players don't use true 'audiophile-quality' components to keep costs low and profit high, lots of audiophiles like to bypass that signal. Anything with a 3.5mm or 1/4" output has an amplifier in it. And your system is fine if sound comes out. In other news, I found out my Nuforce HDP makes life so much easier. WASAPI doesn't let me listen simultaneously to music and say, video streams, at the same time. While I can live with that, to switch between the two whenever it went out of sync I would have to go to the Playback option in the Sound Settings and swap the Default Playback Device. I realized that I could just use the Analog in and USB in on the HDP, set up WASAPI to output through my computer's Analog out and use the USB out for regular use, and swapping between music and regular use is literally the turn of a knob. Awesome. | ||
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kirdie
Germany221 Posts
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Myrmidon
United States9452 Posts
On November 08 2012 03:40 Blisse wrote: [snip] Because many cheap MP3 players don't use true 'audiophile-quality' components to keep costs low and profit high, lots of audiophiles like to bypass that signal. This is a dramatic and somewhat incorrect oversimplification of the matter (which you may realize, but kept short for brevity), that maybe deserves a few more words. First of all, I'm not sure if "audiophile-quality" means much of anything other than high cost; audiophiles seem very willing to pay extra to get worse performance, so cost seems to be the only consistent factor. That said, I think we're talking about higher quality here. It's really not so much about high-cost components. Some high-quality auxiliary parts like resistors cost pennies, fractions of pennies. And top-quality components and more expensive ICs (several dollars or more) are not really necessary either, for high performance. The performance is much more about having an "audiophile-quality" circuit design. One consideration is certainly cost, but it's really about balancing sound quality, cost, size, weight, and battery life. For example, for better quality and higher power output, you're going to need to increase the voltage rails (which increases power consumption, so maybe you need a larger and heavier battery), which is going to cost extra in materials as well as PCB space for the regulators, boost converters, and everything else necessary. There are other such factors. Just implying that it is a matter of cost is misleading. You might be able to improve quality by adding some more layers to the PCB, which increases cost—not necessarily by substituting for more expensive ICs. There's also cost of R&D time, going through more prototypes and effort just to make sound quality slightly better by tweaking the circuit, even with no extra materials / size / weight / battery life changes and costs. On November 08 2012 23:18 kirdie wrote: Has anyone here experience with the Beyerdynamic DT 880? It has great reviews at http://www.head-fi.org/t/634201/battle-of-the-flagships-50-headphones-compared#user_DT880 and is available at 32 ohm, 250 ohm and 600 ohm - which one should I choose? I have a Xenyx 502 "Mischpult" (don't know the english name) at home but no amplifier at my laptop and it would be nice if I could use it at my Ipod touch as well but not critical. Behringer Xenyx 502? Manual says the headphone output is max 19 dBu unbalanced into 150 ohms. 19 dBu is a high output level, around 6.9V rms. All of the versions should be suitable for that. If you listen at a very high volume or with recordings with high dynamic range (say 40+ dB between loud and soft parts), you'll need the 32 ohms to get what you want out of the iPod and laptop. Otherwise, you may want the 250 ohms version. | ||
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iokke
United States1179 Posts
On November 08 2012 03:40 Blisse wrote: You aren't 100% clear what headphones you bought, but if they're prone to breaking after a bit of research, and you feel like $70 is nothing, then go for it. Peace of mind is always good. Home headphones don't usually break, but if you use them a lot, then it can be worth it. I'm not sure what you mean by the bolded part.. But as far as quality goes, it should be very high based on what I've read and they are not prone to breaking. The price jumped to $400 after 1 day at $300, so I won't be buying them new. For $300 I would have though, like you said, just for the peace of mind. A short review after a few days of using them in cs:go mainly, can't say that I'm very impressed, but I like them. Maybe because my previous headphones were of decent quality (Ultrasone DJ1 Pro). MMX300 sound clear, don't really know which ones I like more of the two. Did not see any improvement in spotting enemies for example compared to ultrasones, though maybe I need to get used to the new ones. At $200 price tag i think they are good, at $400 I would have wanted more. Maybe because they are used something is wrong with this pair and it's not at 100%, but I would assume that if I don't hear any distortions they are working just like new. Also sound isolation is better than on Ultrasones. The mic however is great! Very loud, I set it at 10% and everyone still hears me loud and clear, while noone so far complained about outside noise being picked up by the microphone. Overall I'm still happy with the purchase. Perhaps I got a bit too hyped about the pair based on reviews that and that's why I wasn't blown away/amazed by the sound. | ||
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Blisse
Canada3710 Posts
On November 08 2012 23:47 Myrmidon wrote: This is a dramatic and somewhat incorrect oversimplification of the matter (which you may realize, but kept short for brevity), that maybe deserves a few more words. First of all, I'm not sure if "audiophile-quality" means much of anything other than high cost; audiophiles seem very willing to pay extra to get worse performance, so cost seems to be the only consistent factor. That said, I think we're talking about higher quality here. It's really not so much about high-cost components. Some high-quality auxiliary parts like resistors cost pennies, fractions of pennies. And top-quality components and more expensive ICs (several dollars or more) are not really necessary either, for high performance. The performance is much more about having an "audiophile-quality" circuit design. One consideration is certainly cost, but it's really about balancing sound quality, cost, size, weight, and battery life. For example, for better quality and higher power output, you're going to need to increase the voltage rails (which increases power consumption, so maybe you need a larger and heavier battery), which is going to cost extra in materials as well as PCB space for the regulators, boost converters, and everything else necessary. There are other such factors. Just implying that it is a matter of cost is misleading. You might be able to improve quality by adding some more layers to the PCB, which increases cost—not necessarily by substituting for more expensive ICs. There's also cost of R&D time, going through more prototypes and effort just to make sound quality slightly better by tweaking the circuit, even with no extra materials / size / weight / battery life changes and costs. Good explanation. I didn't want to say anything more that I wasn't 100% sure of because I'm not really experienced enough in that area, and the comments about cheap MP3 players were more about generic MP3 players over mainstream, though I think the market is stupidly saturated with iPods and there's lots of stuff that I haven't read about Rockbox iPod sound quality versus regular iPods? I'm not sure exactly, so I didn't specify, though your explanation clears up most of the things. On November 09 2012 10:34 iokke wrote: I'm not sure what you mean by the bolded part.. But as far as quality goes, it should be very high based on what I've read and they are not prone to breaking. The price jumped to $400 after 1 day at $300, so I won't be buying them new. For $300 I would have though, like you said, just for the peace of mind. A short review after a few days of using them in cs:go mainly, can't say that I'm very impressed, but I like them. Maybe because my previous headphones were of decent quality (Ultrasone DJ1 Pro). MMX300 sound clear, don't really know which ones I like more of the two. Did not see any improvement in spotting enemies for example compared to ultrasones, though maybe I need to get used to the new ones. At $200 price tag i think they are good, at $400 I would have wanted more. Maybe because they are used something is wrong with this pair and it's not at 100%, but I would assume that if I don't hear any distortions they are working just like new. Also sound isolation is better than on Ultrasones. The mic however is great! Very loud, I set it at 10% and everyone still hears me loud and clear, while noone so far complained about outside noise being picked up by the microphone. Overall I'm still happy with the purchase. Perhaps I got a bit too hyped about the pair based on reviews that and that's why I wasn't blown away/amazed by the sound. I'm* not exactly clear. Oops. You didn't mention the model name, only the model line. Also, you have to take online reviews with a grain of salt. I definitely stay away from anything like Amazon, Ebay, generic review sites, and sometimes even crazy FOTM (I know that people hate this term too) on Head-fi. And then even there you have to look at user history carefully, check what kinds of music people like, what their hearing is like. There's a lot of factors involved in getting the headphone sound down before buying, but ultimately you should be testing it before you buy. Lots of people post generic comments about these headphones being great, or hyping them up heavily. But you'll notice good members always emphasize the fact that headphones are hugely subjective in their reviews. They'll point out nuances in the sound that they think some categories of people may prefer. If you look at DavidMahler's Battle of the Flagships, he ranks some of them very low compared to others, but they're all amazing headphones depending on your tastes, your experiences, your system and even your mood. But you'll notice all of his comments are very clear, and even better, they line up with many respected members of the community. I have more and better examples but I'm tired. This should make sense to you though, and that's why you shouldn't be too quick to buy any headphones, and instead make sure you know what you're getting into (a near $200 investment most people cannot even fathom). Unless you want to take a huge risk. | ||
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iokke
United States1179 Posts
I think if my surroundings allowed it, I'd like pc360 or an open headphone like AD700 + modmic more, but it wasn't an option=/ On a side note, my mic input volume keeps resetting to 100% by itself, any idea how I can fix that on Win8? | ||
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Chairman Ray
United States11903 Posts
I would like some midrange (>$50) IEMs. I listen to primarily classical and jazz. I am looking for IEMs with really good sound clarity and comfort. Can anyone recommend me some? | ||
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Kelberot
Brazil364 Posts
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Kelberot
Brazil364 Posts
I need a new pair of headphones for gaming, a little bit of music listening but mostly gaming on my desktop. Price range is around 50-120, I had the RE-ZERO IEMs but the left cable finally broke from all my dumbass usage and I'm decided I don't want IEMs anymore, even though they are great for listening outside, I'd rather have a more durable headphone at home. Maybe I can repair my re-zero and use them when I'm not home, who knows. So far I looked at mostly the AD700, it looks decent but I saw at a couple reviews it starts to bother you after long hours of gaming, which is what I do mostly, so I'm trying to find something more comfortable. The creative aurvana looks extremely fragile, not sure that thing would last long with me. So, any good suggestions in the 120~ range for gaming? I like bass, but I'm more into clear, accurate sound... most of all, it needs to be comfortable, since I'll use it for long periods of time. On November 17 2012 15:03 Chairman Ray wrote: My old headphones broke so I'm looking for a new set now. I would like some midrange (>$50) IEMs. I listen to primarily classical and jazz. I am looking for IEMs with really good sound clarity and comfort. Can anyone recommend me some? I can recommend the RE0/REZERO from hifiman. The clarity is outstanding, and while comfort can be a little annoying at the start (since its metal), I got used to it extremely fast. When I first got them I was pissed at how much they bothered me and almost decided not to use them, but after 2 days of insisting I couldn't feel them anymore. However the little metal cap can't take TOO much abuse, or it will "open", but I fixed that with glue just fine. The sound is outstanding, and it's around 50 bucks today I believe. When I'm sweaty the tip would sometimes slide off my ear though, but I'm sure this would happen with any other IEM. I've never tried the really big tip, I only used the medium sized, so maybe this could be fixed with the bigger tip. | ||
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Rollin
Australia1552 Posts
On November 17 2012 15:03 Chairman Ray wrote: My old headphones broke so I'm looking for a new set now. I would like some midrange (>$50) IEMs. I listen to primarily classical and jazz. I am looking for IEMs with really good sound clarity and comfort. Can anyone recommend me some? As an alternative, the Soundmagic pl-30's are also viable, with a very balanced presentation, and wide soundstage, albeit a little mid-centric. How good they are depends on which tips you get, but I think all the recent batches ship with about 8 or so sets to choose from. | ||
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kaykaykay
Singapore637 Posts
 There's only sound coming from the right side.Anyone can recommend a decent value for money headphones with mic? I heard sennheiser ones are pretty good. | ||
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