Head-Fi.org › Forums › Equipment Forums › Headphones (full-size) › Computer Audio Setup
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Computer Audio Setup

post #1 of 7
2/18/04 at 5:04am
Thread Starter 
I recently purchased an SB Audigy 2 ZS and the Sennheiser HD-590s. Bearing in mind that I do all my listening at/from my computer, are there any other worthwhile upgrades I should be saving up for? I might swap out the Audigy for a Revo but I'm an avid gamer and I only have about 15 songs I listen to on a regular basis. (Having a hard time finding good classical/chinese music, hopefully I'll be able to amass a nice collection over the next few years and once I get a job I'll invest in some real home audio equipment) I'm a college student so I really don't have room/money for an amp and cables running everywhere. Is my current setup sufficient for listening to mp3s or should I invest in an Equinox cable,etc? Thanks for any feedback!
Reply
post #2 of 7
2/18/04 at 5:09am
A headphone amp might be a worthwhile addition. Something like a MINT amplifier should make a difference over driving the headphones directly from your soundcard.
Reply
post #3 of 7
2/18/04 at 5:09am
Do a search! I asked this question yesterday!

For what you do, a small amp (eg http://headphone.com) would probably do the job. It's not worth spending big $$$ given that mp3s aren't great quality.

A word of advice - found out what you want then never come back to this place. If you hang around you'll want more and more gear that get more and more expensive. Upgraditis it's called. Get the system to do what you want, then go. Otherwise, get your credit card limit extended - seriously.
Reply
post #4 of 7
2/18/04 at 5:10am
I would keep the A2, since you're a gamer. Add a revo, audiophile, or RME if you ever become a more serious music listener.

EDIT: Wow 3 posts on 1 topic within a minute, that's got to be some kind of record!
Reply
post #5 of 7
2/18/04 at 5:42am
Quote:
Originally posted by donovansmith
A headphone amp might be a worthwhile addition. Something like a MINT amplifier should make a difference over driving the headphones directly from your soundcard.
Speaking from personal experience, no.... using a Mint with HD590 makes very little to no difference at all. HD590 is the easiest to drive out of all the high-end Sennheisers, and it's also the least effected by any sort of amping.

In fact, even hooking it up into my Emmeline HR-2 made a slight, noticeable, but not appreciable difference in the way it sounds. HD590 benefits from a cable upgrade much more dramatically than from an amp.

It's the best aspect about the HD590 (easy to drive from practically anything), but also its curse (sound quality doesn't improve much with any amp).

I would suggest adding a music-use only soundcard, that would give him a much improved sound quality over the Audigy, at a much cheaper cost as well.

You could spring for the Equinox cable upgrade if you really got the cash for it, it should improve it very nicely. I don't know spending $150 on a cable for a $150 (or thereof) headphone is really worth it though.. you could've gotten a really, really good $300 headphone
Reply
post #6 of 7
2/18/04 at 6:01am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
You could spring for the Equinox cable upgrade if you really got the cash for it, it should improve it very nicely. I don't know spending $150 on a cable for a $150 (or thereof) headphone is really worth it though.. you could've gotten a really, really good $300 headphone
Would getting an equinox cable be worth it if I'm using an HD590 unamped and directly from a sound card? Upgrades are a long way off (at least 6 months) cause I'm already broke from the Audigy and HD590s and I'm too lazy to get a job!
Reply
post #7 of 7
2/18/04 at 12:27pm
Like I said, getting a cable upgrade with the HD590 will affect it more than getting an amp. So if you're going to spend $200 on an amp for it, you won't notice as much of an improvement compared to if you spent that on the cable for the HD590.

So if I had to pick between the two, cable upgrade comes first for the HD590.

Edit:

Truthfully speaking though, soundcard probably will matter quite a bit as well.. I don't know if Audigy 2 ZS really improved that much in terms of sound quality over previous Audigy's... but there is a very, very noticeable difference between using my M-Audio Revo for music as compared to Audigy.

Basically, with the HD590, amp is just the least effective thing to get.
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Headphones (full-size)
Head-Fi.org › Forums › Equipment Forums › Headphones (full-size) › Computer Audio Setup