I'm contemplating buying some Shure SRH440's, anyone have any experiences? (Or if anybody know anywhere to buy Audio Technica ATH M50's for around 100 bucks, that would be appreciated as well.)
I just got the 440s and I love them. The coiled detachable cable is really nice and they sound amazing (although I am not an audiophile). Solid build quality and good isolation. I was debating between these and the 280 Pros, but I heard the clamp force on the 280 could be uncomfortable.
My only gripe with the 440 (and you may not have this problem), is that since my head is kinda.. pointy I guess, I get some uncomfortable pressure directly on the top of my head with extended use. I've heard of a mod that removes some of the weight from the headband - I may try that. Another popular mod is to replace the earpads with the 880 earpads (its about $20), which adds a bit more bass, isolation, and comfort.
Good luck.
Totally worth it. I've used the SRH440s for about a week, and eventually switched for the SRH840s since they came on special.
The earpads are MUCH MUCH better and make the headphones go from slightly uncomfortable to very comfortable. Love it. As for the sound, I found the SRH440 very neutral and analytical whereas the SRH840s had that same feel, but were a lot warmer. (Unamped, anyway.)
I'm contemplating buying some Shure SRH440's, anyone have any experiences? (Or if anybody know anywhere to buy Audio Technica ATH M50's for around 100 bucks, that would be appreciated as well.)
I just got the 440s and I love them. The coiled detachable cable is really nice and they sound amazing (although I am not an audiophile). Solid build quality and good isolation. I was debating between these and the 280 Pros, but I heard the clamp force on the 280 could be uncomfortable.
My only gripe with the 440 (and you may not have this problem), is that since my head is kinda.. pointy I guess, I get some uncomfortable pressure directly on the top of my head with extended use. I've heard of a mod that removes some of the weight from the headband - I may try that. Another popular mod is to replace the earpads with the 880 earpads (its about $20), which adds a bit more bass, isolation, and comfort.
Good luck.
Totally worth it. I've used the SRH440s for about a week, and eventually switched for the SRH840s since they came on special.
The earpads are MUCH MUCH better and make the headphones go from slightly uncomfortable to very comfortable. Love it. As for the sound, I found the SRH440 very neutral and analytical whereas the SRH840s had that same feel, but were a lot warmer. (Unamped, anyway.)
Allright, thanks. Just ordered them, I'll see once they show up about the earpads.
I play cod a lot. I'm looking for something under 150$. I'd like to be able to use it with my iPhone but it's not a need. I also do not need a microphone.
Sorry it's not descriptive. I know nothing about this stuff
On August 08 2011 05:47 ranshaked wrote: I play cod a lot. I'm looking for something under 150$. I'd like to be able to use it with my iPhone but it's not a need. I also do not need a microphone.
Sorry it's not descriptive. I know nothing about this stuff
This is indeed not descriptive, but there are some things that might be answered even if you don't really know what you're looking for.
You can use pretty much anything out of an iPhone. It's just some headphones won't get loud enough, particularly when playing music with larger dynamic range (read: most classical and jazz recordings and little else these days).
But does that mean you will be using them outside or just at home? Open headphones are vented to the outside so they will leak all the sound out and not prevent any sound from getting in, so that's usually unsuitable for use outside the home. Closed-back headphones are sealed and isolate sound in both directions, at least to some degree.
Along with possible portability concerns (any?), do you prefer ones that sit on top of the ears or all the way around the ears on the head?
What kind of music would you listen to, or are you more concerned about getting good audio positioning cues for FPS gaming?
I currently have some Sennheiser HD 595s. While I like them a lot, I want some closed headphones that will offer better noise insulation both ways, mainly for blocking out outside noise. Also, I want headphones that would be portable enough for use out and around to some degree while the 595s are too big and bulky for that.
Any suggestions? And anyone want to buy a pair of 595s.
my brother is travelling in europe, and he´s going to visit barcelona and some cities in italy (rome, etc).. i need a suggestion of which places with good prices to buy some headphones.. thanks
So I'm most likely going to be picking up a pair of Astro A40's when I attend MLG Orlando in October, but I'm unsure of if I want to get the headset+mixamp or just the headset. Could someone that is more versed in the ways of audio equipment let me know what the mixamp does and if its worth it to get the mixamp.
On August 09 2011 03:36 Satisfaktion wrote: So I'm most likely going to be picking up a pair of Astro A40's when I attend MLG Orlando in October, but I'm unsure of if I want to get the headset+mixamp or just the headset. Could someone that is more versed in the ways of audio equipment let me know what the mixamp does and if its worth it to get the mixamp.
Thanks!
I've never seen one IRL, but from the manual, it looks like it's a headphone DAC/amplifier (i.e. sound card) with some extra functionality above the norm.
1) It can process two different audio streams (one for game audio and one for voice) -- there is a physical knob that lets you mix and configure the relative loudness of each. Hence mixamp. You could just do this in software, with this or with any device. 2) It includes Dolby Headphone and other surround sound effects processing. It can convert 5-channel or 7-channel surround sound into 2 channels in a way that make sense for binaural (headphones) listening, or mix together a 2-channel source such that it again spatially makes sense for binaural listening rather than stereo speakers (which are in front of you rather than beside your ears). Note that some other sound cards have Dolby Headphone, including the ~$30 Asus Xonar DG, a PCI audio card.
Obviously it does digital-to-analog and has an integrated headphone amplifier for driving headphones. The amp seems to be fairly weak, rated at 70 mW into 32 ohms (probably much less into higher impedances). That's perfectly fine and plenty loud for the Astro headset and most consumer headphones, but probably insufficient for studio headphones or many higher-end headphones.
There's no way to tell about sound quality from their spec sheet so I decline to comment much there. It's probably not super amazing, but I wouldn't expect anything terrible either. Anyway, the effect of non-lowest-end DACs and amplifiers on sound quality is often overstated, unless they're attempting to add an EQ or distort the signal, so it's probably not a huge deal here, particularly just for gaming.
For a PC user I don't really think it would be worth its price based on those features. It would be one of the only cheaper ways to get surround-type processing for headphones--if you're interested in that--on a console, but that's not true in the PC realm.
I've been loving my SRH-840s for music these last few months. However, I recently went to my friends house and ran them from his fancy yamaha amplifier and ... damn, was there a difference. It's not as if it was louder, but as if they just had more juice and could more accurately portray the sound. I don't know. I'm a noob at this stuff.
My question is: is it worth it to get a big, old amp for cheap? I keep seeing the Fiio e7 and other DAC/Headphone amp combinations be promoted everywhere, but I really don't mind having a huge box for the same price, esp. since my source is fine. Example of amp im looking at : http://seventiesstereo.blogspot.com/2009/09/rotel-ra-840bx2-integrated-amp.html
On August 09 2011 13:12 Twistacles wrote: Hey guys, a question for you all.
I've been loving my SRH-840s for music these last few months. However, I recently went to my friends house and ran them from his fancy yamaha amplifier and ... damn, was there a difference. It's not as if it was louder, but as if they just had more juice and could more accurately portray the sound. I don't know. I'm a noob at this stuff.
My question is: is it worth it to get a big, old amp for cheap? I keep seeing the Fiio e7 and other DAC/Headphone amp combinations be promoted everywhere, but I really don't mind having a huge box for the same price, esp. since my source is fine. Example of amp im looking at : http://seventiesstereo.blogspot.com/2009/09/rotel-ra-840bx2-integrated-amp.html
If not, what should I look for?
Speaker amps are generally not ideal unless maybe you have electrostatics (and you don't since you have an ordinary dynamic driver headphone). Fraudulent or best-case-scenario type specs are commonly given in audio, but that thing claims 50W per channel? If you are listening with 50 mW into the SRH840, that's about...118 dB SPL already.
What the speaker amps and receivers usually do for headphone outputs is just to put a big resistor in between the normal speaker amp circuit and the headphone jack, so the output power and current is sufficiently limited to reasonable levels. This effectively increases the source output impedance by that resistor value.
This has the effect of decreasing the damping factor and altering the frequency response, depending on the headphones. Many headphones including the SRH840 have a midbass hump--around 100 Hz--so they are louder at that frequency compared to others (has to do with resonance and size of the earcup). They also often have higher impedance around 100 Hz than at other frequencies. Some exhibit even more of a bump than the SRH840. So with higher source output impedance, this midbass hump is exaggerated further (reason why). Is that possibly what you heard?
Anyway, speaker amps are much harder to make than headphone amps, and make accurate, because of the approximately 3 orders of magnitude higher power required. They're also much more expensive to do right.
It's kind of like using a wrecking ball to tap a nail in. edit: on second thought, don't read too much into this analogy since it doesn't really match up
Then again, any type of difference in sound might sound better to you, so just go with whatever you want.
If your source is already good, then a device that's a DAC+amp like the FiiO E7 doesn't make much sense as you'd only be using the amp portion? The amp part of it isn't that much better than the $17 E5 btw, though that's more a testament to the E5 than a diss on the E7.
Any recommendations for a headphone amp under $150? I will be purchasing them online via someone in the USA, so links will be appreciated.
I use a pair of Beyerdynamic DT770 headphones. Thanks!
EDIT: Forget to mention I'll be using them via USB with my desktop computer. Portability is not an issue, since they're going to stay put. I guess I need a DAC+Amp combo?
Right now I'm looking at the Fiio E9 and NuForce Icon uDAC-2. Any idea how these are?
On August 07 2011 11:42 Tablespoon wrote: I'm contemplating buying some Shure SRH440's, anyone have any experiences? (Or if anybody know anywhere to buy Audio Technica ATH M50's for around 100 bucks, that would be appreciated as well.)
Just to echo really.
These headphones are not for you if you are a basshead. They do bass very well, almost tunefully but you will not be dominated by having your head bassed off. They produce a rather "flat and natural" sound, you can enjoy music the way it was meant to be.
I love my 440's, I wouldn't change them for anything in their price bracket. May want to change the earpads for ones from an 840, £15/$20 on ebay.
On August 10 2011 01:47 Gandalf wrote: Any recommendations for a headphone amp under $150? I will be purchasing them online via someone in the USA, so links will be appreciated.
I use a pair of Beyerdynamic DT770 headphones. Thanks!
EDIT: Forget to mention I'll be using them via USB with my desktop computer. Portability is not an issue, since they're going to stay put. I guess I need a DAC+Amp combo?
Right now I'm looking at the Fiio E9 and NuForce Icon uDAC-2. Any idea how these are?
Which DT770? There are like 6 versions at least. What's the impedance? How loud do you listen? Do you listen to any music with a very wide dynamic range (mostly just classical and jazz these days)? Depending on the answers, a lower-power device like the FiiO E7 may be just fine.
E9 is an amp only. If you want USB, you need a DAC that gets its data through USB, and then an amplifier that takes in the DAC's signal and outputs it to the headphones. uDAC-2 is a DAC+amp. FiiO E7 is another. Many more traditional sound cards do the same as well, like the Asus Xonar U3 (USB). The only difference is that a sound card may also have mic inputs or ports other than stereo out.
uDAC-2 has a few issues, including clipping 0 dBFS signals and often having poor channel balance at lower volumes, depending on the sample you get.
There's a pretty good audio blog that has caught the ire of the establishment and its trusty fanboys. It does technical reviews of headphone-related audio products. There's one for the uDAC-2, E9, E7, and DT770 Pro 80, among others. Many people don't agree with the tone and agenda (vigilante exposing bad products and fraudulent claims), but the technical analysis and measurements are solid.
EPT![[image loading]](http://img.clubic.com/03968448-photo-plantronics-gamecom-777.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.sennheiser.com/sennheiser/products.nsf/resources/D280067402B6A3D6C12575C200406731/$File/HD_428_ProductImage.jpg)
love them
