Phillips Citiscape Uptown (Question for anyone else that owns it.)

Well. I got mine today and at first I was satisfied with their comfort and everything out of the box, but I found a few things underwhelming. Firstly, the volume doesn't seem to get very loud. I don't have an amp and am just using the stock 3.5mm jack in my laptop to power them. Secondly, the bass is very underwhelming and sometimes buzzes out on really low basses. My question is, for anyone that has owned them longer than i have, does burn-in fix this and make them sound better in the long run? I have never had a pair of headphones comparable to these in the sense that I have never spent more than 35 dollars on a pair. That being said i have never burned in headphones either except naturally so I'd like to make sure im doing everything apprioately.

TL;DR

1) Do the Uptown's get better volume as well as the bass doesn't buzz out at low frequencies/gets a better punch to it after burning in?

2) Am I burning them in correctly? I know I already made a mistake in that in the first hour I got them, I was using them at full volume and trying to figure out how to make them sound more pleasing to my ear but after that hour I set the volume to 50% of max volume via pc volume control and have left it there for the like 5 hours or so while playing through a 3 day playlist on iTunes with various genres. I know there is different ways people like to burn them in, but will this way be effective?

Quote:

Originally Posted by RPGWiZaRD 

Sounds like you're just needing more power, a built-in laptop onboard chip probably isn't enough to drive these nicely and that's probably where the buzzing in the lows comes from. From experience Philips often have quite a lot demanding power requirements even in lower cost headphones.

 

At least burn-in won't fix this issue.

So lack of power driving the headphones will cause that buzz and what not at the really low frequency's? 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lorspeaker 

Fwiw.....I hav jacked the uptown into my BCL amp..
The bass is well under control.
But dun be mistaken, this uptown is not a denon..or a pro900, it ain't no bass monster.
It's euphonic, captivating ...an all rounder.
I didn't do any special burn in....just enjoyed every song that I pumped thru the iPad.
One way out is to get an iPad
Or a samsung phone...
And rip your songs in lossless format.

Right I understand, I wasn't expecting it to be a bass monster. I'd deffiantly not want to sacrifice high's and mids for an overwhelming bass, I was just expecting it to have a lil bit more punch to it I guess. As they've been burning in over night it does seem they are getting a lil bit better over night.

So with an amp your bass is a lot better, as in will it give me that small bit of thump im looking for? Im not asking for anything overpowering per say just like to feel the bass a little bit. What else does the amp change to just the stock sound of them out of curiousity?

Quote:

Originally Posted by RevAmped 

Have you turned down the built in volume control because that isn't an actual control its just shielding which degrades quality

No I haven't. I kept that at full volume because I knew coming into buying the headphones that the in-line control had some issues with it such as staticy response when altering the levels.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lorspeaker 

i just took out the uptown and plug it straight into the macAIR...no amp.

the volume isnt as high as i like it to be..so i went into the PREFERENCE setting and unchecked the SOUND CHECK button..

that gave me another 10% volume thereabout which is just right for my listening.

Does your laptop have a feature like tat...which modulates all the songs such that it stays within a certain volume range??

 

the bass is quite tight...but not thumping tight...abit of reverb on the ears as i played the album FOURPLAY.

 

edit : this uptown is fine...BILLIE JEAN is punching hard right this moment...i dun see anyone greatly dissatisfied with wats coming out of the uptown right this moment :P

 

 

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wait.....i just plugged it into my V-CAN amp...omg...Billie JEAN just went on STEROIDs....lol

 My laptop doesnt, I know iTunes did but I disabled that a while back.

And I am completely satisfied with my uptown's, its just that I was curious if they were going to improve in those two small area's over time or if I should save up for a portable amp I can run with my phone and laptop later on. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lorspeaker 

absolutely u will WANT an amp...this uptown is punching way up to the top cans i have heard.... at the cost of a penny.

Do you have one you would recommend for a beginning audiophile type person for just phone/laptop use that will be cheap as well? Also with an amp, it won't distort any of the sounds right? Im somewhat worried it will push to much power through the headphones and either blow the drivers or make it distort. I don't know to much about headphones/amp's etc so if it sounds absolutely stupid don't mind me just trying to learn heh. 

Also will this fix the really low end distortion? I guess from what im gathering from everything that was said is that it's distorting at the reallllllly low frequencies because it doesn't have enough power to push them rather than the drivers just not able to reach that range.

Quote:

Originally Posted by manveru 

 

For a cheap amp you will probably end up with a Fiio. Though exactly how cheap are you talking? Sounds like an E7 could do you well, since it can be used both as a DAC/amp with your computer and as a portable amp. If that's already too expensive they have some cheaper amp only items as well.

 

You shouldn't have to worry about any of those things with an amp, unless maybe you have a very powerful one and blast your music to the point of hearing damage. If distortion is coming from not having enough power on the laptop, then having an amp with more than enough power will fix the problem. These can reach pretty low in the bass, and I haven't experienced any distortion. I saw someone else post about this same problem recently as well, so I guess some laptops are just too weak to power these. They work from my laptop just fine however, as well as from my portable player and the amp in my HRT HeadStreamer.

Can you explain what exactly a DAC is in contrast to an amp for me? Never really experienced using them obviously.

As far as budget would go for an amp, immediatly speaking I could spend somewhere between 20-30 max for an amp. In around a month though possibly 75ish. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by sygyzy 

 

DAC stands for digital to analog converter and what it does is take a digital signal (1's and 0's) and converts it to analog sound. This happens all the time around you except usually the DAC is embedded in the device you are using. What this means is your home theatre receiver has a DAC. So does your iPod and your iPhone as well. The DAC does not increase or add any power to the signal, so it doesn't change the volume. What some people in this thread are saying is you need an amp (which amplifies) the volume. You don't really need a DAC unless you care about being really picky about how your music sounds. I can try to be more specific if you need.

Ok, I guess I really only have 1 question. I noticed the E7 had an EQ built into it as well, is that part of it being a DAC or are there other amp's out there (without being DAC's) that include an EQ as well. The EQ is really the only reason I would consider buying one considering my phone nor my laptop has a built in EQ and it would be very handy for me. Other than that, do you have an suggestions for amp's? 25-75ish.