So I talked to the guys at the Turtle Beach booth a bit today. TAC confirmed not to be coming out this year. There is a new headphone for the PC that's USB and has DTS and lets you unplug the headphones. In theory this would let you use the DTS headphone x on PC with any headphone. Its the Z60 I believe and its aroun $110.

I don't think its worth messing with for that price... Omni/Z is cheaper and more versatile. But you know... Someone else might be interested.

Astro looks like they have a new model out (A38?) but their booth was busy so I'll check more later.

change is good said:

^Homie might need some rca inputs if he is using the mixamp.

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Thought he said he was ditching the astro. Might have misread.

He needs to be more clear then. I read "The sound doesn't come strong enough" so I was assuming he is going to be double amping. He gave no mention of what the optical input was for... so I hope he doesn't think what you recommended natively decodes digital surround on its own. Recommend the Omni as well if you assumed he's ditching the mixamp.

change is good said:

He needs to be more clear then. I read "The sound doesn't come strong enough" so I was assuming he is going to be double amping. He gave no mention of what the optical input was for... so I hope he doesn't think what you recommended natively decodes digital surround on its own. Recommend the Omni as well if you assumed he's ditching the mixamp.

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I assumed a lot of things that led to that recommendation. Let's correct that.

Two questions:

1 Do you still want surround?
2 Are you on PC or console?

The answers to these questions will change the recommendation.

For me, if im gonna spend money on amps/dac, it just makes all the sense in the world to get the Compass 2 and call it a day. Great dac, great amp for pretty much every headphone, analog input, various digital inputs, fantastic volume control. This is, if I was fully back in the headphone game.

mad lust envy said:

Spoiler

My next thing, though it's going to be done differently. I'll let you guys know when it happens.

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Ahoooooooo my GOD HE's BACK!

evshrug said:

 

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Having gone back and reading through some of the back pages of the forum. I noticed that Mad Lust Envy states that the Sennheiser are Jack of all Trades, but a master of none.
 
So with that in mind. I think I will buy a few headphones and see which one I like the best, as only my ears will be able to tell and no amount of research and 5 star ratings are going to help me without me actually hearing the differences in the quality of different headphones. I can either keep the ones I like or sell them.
 
Now that I have read that the Sennheiser HD 558 and HD 598 have a good soundstage when it comes to gaming, but it doesn't sound that great for movies.
 
An all rounder headphone was introduced on the page I have read: Creative Aurvana Live! and Philips Fidelio x1.
 
The Fidelio x1 is a bit on the pricey side for me. As of right now. But I may change my mind in the future depending what I find in headphones.
 
As for the Mixamp. I have read many reviews about the Astro Mixamp saying it was really a good amp. Although I haven't heard much about the DSS 3D Recon USB.. Now I am not saying they are not good. I am just saying of all the research I have done, only the DSS/2 has been mentioned a few times..The Recon 3D has not been mentioned.  However Fiio products have.
 
The Mixamp they sell on Astro site, are they different than the Mixamp they sell with all the headsets that Astro sells? I have learned that A30, A40 Mixamp won't work with an A50 Headset.
 
As for the mic, I am not too worried about the cost of the microphone as long as it has great sound quality. But I want to be able to chat and hear the soundstage of my game at the same time. I don't have to hear my voice when I chat, that is not needed, just as long as people can hear me. Remember this will be mainly for the Xbox 360 and PS4.
 
When I am not gaming. I want to hear my movies in that similar soundstage. If that is even possible. I am guessing with the right sound card it is. I will be using my computer for watching movies if that helps.
 
I have a Creative SOUND BLASTER X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Interface Sound Card I got a few years ago. When I first built my PC. What would you recommend for an upgrade if this outdated?

xander shade said:

So with that in mind. I think I will buy a few headphones and see which one I like the best, as only my ears will be able to tell and no amount of research and 5 star ratings are going to help me without me actually hearing the differences in the quality of different headphones. I can either keep the ones I like or sell them.

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YES! This! This so hard! We can point out above-average headphones and weed out the trash, but ultimately personal taste is the only thing that can determine what "best" sounds like. The only thing to keep in mind is that a headphone might surprise you, liking it more or less than you expected.

As for the Mixamp. I have read many reviews about the Astro Mixamp saying it was really a good amp. Although I haven't heard much about the DSS 3D Recon USB.. Now I am not saying they are not good. I am just saying of all the research I have done, only the DSS/2 has been mentioned a few times..The Recon 3D has not been mentioned.  However Fiio products have.

The Mixamp they sell on Astro site, are they different than the Mixamp they sell with all the headsets that Astro sells? I have learned that A30, A40 Mixamp won't work with an A50 Headset.

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Astro does a good job getting their name out in ads and MLG. Creative's been around a lot longer, but are less ineffective in marketing. Creative makes both the soundcard you have and the Recon3D USB. The Mixamp sold separately, A30, and A40 kits is an open system to which you can plug in any headphones, but since the A50 is wireless that is closed and is made just for the A50. I personally have had a DSS, a Mixamp 5.8 wireless, and two Recon3D USBs, again subject to taste but the DSS and Recon3D technically had the least background noise and bass bloat, and the Recon3D uses THX TruStudio Pro processing for surround processing which to me sound more natural with less or no reverb.

Oh and your creative soundcard is fine, I just personally prefer the newer THX and SBX over what your creative comes with, CMSS 3-D, I think CMSS-3D sounds a bit too sharp for me at treble.

Spoke with Astro today. New Mixamp is coming in October. There will be no SQ changes or feature changes, just visual. Confirmed no plans for more wireless mixamps; those were an interim solution until they got the A50 out.

So yeah Astro is coasting. Yet for some reason there we TONS of people buying them there. Thanks to MLE, I never made that mistake.

stillhart said:

Spoke with Astro today. New Mixamp is coming in October. There will be no SQ changes or feature changes, just visual. Confirmed no plans for more wireless mixamps; those were an interim solution until they got the A50 out.

So yeah Astro is coasting. Yet for some reason there we TONS of people buying them there. Thanks to MLE, I never made that mistake.

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Dammit Astro, get it together. Some native PCM, DTS to Dolby Headphone conversion would be nice. Receivers have been doing that for years...

Do they at least plan to add extra digital inputs? Because this is one thing that is unacceptable nowadays. Gamers don't tend to have just have one console.

FiiO could have came out on top, here. I don't get why they keep making all these excess versions of their X DAPs and E1x amps. I mean, I get it... but.. c'mon already! They can really take over in this situation...

Rant over...

Well FiiO did already state in the petition thread that they'd be open to the idea, but right now they have too many things in the pipe to start branching out into a whole new area. But I agree with you that FiiO really could come in and make the gaming device of the people. They have the capacity to really deliver on an appropriately priced DSP with all of the features the gaming market would like to see. I guess there's not much we can do right now, though. We'll just have to wait it out and see what they do at this point.

I mean, that's FiiO's speciality, right? Making the "Device of the People." I still think they'd be good to go if they just took the 3rd party DSP/DAC chip used in the DSS and tied an E11 amp to it, at least as an easy introductory unit, and then when they make good sales they can release an upgraded unit with the input and amping features we'd love.

Really, any manufacturer could do this... It's a currently underdeveloped entry-level niche.
So, nobody is suggesting FiiO is bad or has any responsibility for this, but it's an opportunity, heck if I had the money I might try to make a startup and create a nicer device.

It would be nice, but don't hold your breath on FiiO. Not when they are opening threads like "what is your dream DAP." We'll probably have to wait for ten more DAPs and a couple more versions of the E12 and E11 to come out before they take a look at the petition again.

Okay, I may have over exaggerated a bit...

But you are right, Ev, they have no obligation to us. Kind of seems like we got put on the back burner, though... and have been forgotten about...