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New Headphones Advice

post #1 of 9
12/23/11 at 9:57am
Thread Starter 

After spending a week or so looking around on the web and in particular these forums, I've decided to make a thread. I realise there are many of these everyday, but thought I'd try and get some more specific advice. 

 

My requirements:

 

  • Closed. My flat with my girlfriend is quite small at the moment, and I don't want to disturb her whilst she's reading/working. I don't want sound to leak out, unfortunately this rules out things like Grados.
  • Budget of about £150. This is 235 USD, but prices are cheaper in US than here in the UK.
  • I listen to a mix of music. My favourite band is probably "The Mars Volta" and I listen to some stuff like Hendrix, but then I also enjoy classical music, and some electronic (but not really drum and bass). I like technical pieces with lots of instruments things going on, so being able to separate instruments is important to me.
  • I will use both an iPod and my PC as a source, but mainly only PC.

 

 

I've looked at a few headphones recommended a lot such as the ATH-M50, dt770, SRH840. I'm sure there are a bunch of others I haven't heard of. What headphones should I go for?

 

 

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

I know this is the incorrect section but separately I am being bought a headphone amp for my birthday, from a separate budget of £100. If it makes sense to add this budget to the above £150 and just get better headphones, then I can also do that.

 

My PC has no sound card, but at the moment I use an amp/speaker set bought for me a few years ago. They are Bose Companion 3 ( http://www.bose.co.uk/GB/en/home-and-personal-audio/digital-music-solutions/computer-speakers/companion-3-speaker-system/ ) and they connect to the headphone out in the back of the PC.

 

I currently use the headphone output from that, as I found it sounded slightly better than straight from my PC. Would I be better off making use of this and in a few years time buying a proper DAC/Amp combo, and spend more on headphones now? Or should I get a sound card, or a USB dac/amp such as the Fiio e10? 

 

 

Thanks in advance for any help/advice :)

 

 

 

 


Edited by Deadeight - 12/23/11 at 10:26am
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post #2 of 9
12/23/11 at 1:08pm

If you listen to classical and electronic where seperation is important you'd want cans with a decent soundstage.  I think Denon D2000 are supposed to have a decent soundstage for closed.

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post #3 of 9
12/23/11 at 1:31pm

Heya,

 

Check out:

 

AudioTechnica A900

Fischer FA-003

Beyer DT770

Shure SRH840

used Denon D2000

AKG K271 MKII

Ultrasone PRO 650

 

I would definitely get off onboard sound and away from that Bose system in terms of your headphones. The cheapest route would be a Xonar DG soundcard for $30 that has a good DAC chipset and a built in amplifier good up to 150ohms. Otherwise, an external USB combo would be good, like the Fiio E10, or iBasso D-ZERO, etc ($80~100; handling up to 300ohms roughly).

 

Very best,


Edited by MalVeauX - 12/23/11 at 1:33pm
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post #4 of 9
12/23/11 at 5:40pm

Considering the music you listen to (which is generally very different but tends to depend on nice soundstage), I'd echo calls for the Fischer Audio FA-003 or the Denon D2000 used.

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post #5 of 9
12/24/11 at 8:01am
Thread Starter 

Thanks for all the replies!

 

I've investigated the suggestions, and I'm quite set on the Fischer Audio FA-003. I have found a place where I can pick them up for £109 as well, which is well under my budget. I'm going to try and get a test if I can before I buy.

 

That also gives me a little more disposable income for an interface with my PC. Looking elsewhere on the site, I see the Asus Xonar Essence STX held in very high regard, and I can afford this. Is this the best solution? Is it overkill and I may as well get a cheaper card? It's very tempting to just spend a lot.

 

 

Any comments on a FA-003 and Xonar Essence STX combo would be greatly appreciated.

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post #6 of 9
12/24/11 at 11:07am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Deadeight View Post
Thanks for all the replies!

I've investigated the suggestions, and I'm quite set on the Fischer Audio FA-003. I have found a place where I can pick them up for £109 as well, which is well under my budget. I'm going to try and get a test if I can before I buy.

That also gives me a little more disposable income for an interface with my PC. Looking elsewhere on the site, I see the Asus Xonar Essence STX held in very high regard, and I can afford this. Is this the best solution? Is it overkill and I may as well get a cheaper card? It's very tempting to just spend a lot.

Any comments on a FA-003 and Xonar Essence STX combo would be greatly appreciated.


I'm a big fan of Xonars and my current Essence STX, headphone amplifier rated up to 600-Ohms, upgradable op-amps,

Comes with Dolby Digital (Dolby Headphone surround sound), so it's great for movies, even Blu-rays, Dolby Headphone can even help in games.

But if all your doing on the PC is music (stereo 2.0 channel), then you might be able to use something cheaper like the Fiio E9 or E10.

With the Fiio E11, you can use it with the computer and the iPod.

 

Or just get the Asus Xonar DG (PCI)($30 USA), comes with a headphone amplifier rated up to 150-Ohms.

Comes with Dolby Digital (Dolby Headphone), good for DVD movies and gaming.

You can use headphones that are in the 25-Ohm to 150-Ohm range

 

All Xonars come with a front headphone output, you can hook it up to the computer case's front headphone jack, if there is one.

 

The KRK KNS 8400 headphone seem to have a growing group of followers.

 

 

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post #7 of 9
12/24/11 at 11:17am

For that price, I'd rather pick up a Creative X-Fi Go! with an O2 amp from JDSLabs. Use of that combo and controlling the volume at the amp, rather than from within Windows, should result in a more powerful amp with less distortion. 

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post #8 of 9
12/25/11 at 9:15am
Thread Starter 

@PurpleAngel I do play games on my PC, but only really Starcraft 2 with music off and my own music on, so it's only really music SQ that I need to worry about.

 

@SanjiWatsuki A similar solution people seem to recommend a lot is an e7 + e9 combo which would give me an e7 to use with an iPod. I think an external solution like you say would be preferable due to interference inside the case, especially as my sound card would have to be positioned just above my 1kW PSU. 

 

 

 

Supposedly the Xonar has a better DAC than the e7, so I'm leaning towards that still but as I say above a 1kW PSU is less than ideal. After Christmas today my budget for a DAC + Amp solution is ~£200, though ideally less. There is a lot of good information on amps out there, but I'm struggling for information on good usb DAC stuff. Things like http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/Headphoneamp/NFB12/NFB12EN.htm aren't really an option for me because with shipping its $250, and then I have to pay a massive import tax as it's shipped from the US. 

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post #9 of 9
12/25/11 at 11:12am

Try the Sennheiser HD380 pro. It is $145 on Amazon(US site). I don't know about European pricing.

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