Quote:

Originally Posted by razzz42 

Maybe I am more old school listening off a desktop computer but my sound card drives everything nicely, my headphones or speaker system. I don't game but the sound card would do the same for games.

 

Reading up on Pandora, it is like most other music services and will be of high quality. Still, I would check the sound off a CD  or DVD newer movie just for comparison.

 

I like long cords, gives me a bit more freedom to move around.

 

You should be able to call up the properties on a music file. On  a computer you can right click for 'Properties' for the very basic information or a player, like Foobar 2000,  will give you the info. Win7 has 'MediaInfo' on right click that will tell you everything you wanted to know about music and video files and more.

So does the subscription to Pandora give you better sound quality? I happen upon a thread about Mad dogs whats up with that. They said you need an amp and some mods but the sound quality and comfort is worth it. Does anyone have some experience with those compared to the A900x.

Quote:

Originally Posted by acti0n 

I found that I couldn't tell the difference between 192kbps and 320kbps in ABX tests, so I went with the streaming service that has the best user experience: Rdio. They stream at 192kbps.

Hearing is dependent on many variables, such as age, and live music or night club experience. Disease can affect hearing. Actually there are so many variables, I know at least three people in my age group who have lost hearing in at least one ear. One of the three never attended rock shows or night clubs, the other was a rock/punk show promoter, and the third was a nightclub regular.

Getting to my point, one person may be perfectly able to tell mp3's apart from flac, or tell the difference between mp3 rates, while another may not. Actually I would bet that most average people would not notice the difference.

Myself, as I was a deejay for a good 15 years, and played music live two times a week  within a club with an great sound system, plus a weekly radio show, then attended loud live shows fairly frequently, I should be happy to hear anything at all. I can tell the difference between 192 and flac, but not between 320 and flac. And my "middle" age, doesn't help things one bit...

My answer to the flac is the one all, and mp3's are inferior, well, maybe for you, but not necessarily for the rest of us.

I do use flac for archival purposes, however.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pngwn 


For soundcloud, it depends in what the user uploads. I try to upload either .wav files or 320kbps, but Ive sadly downloaded 128kbps tracks and mixes from soundcloud...

320kbps is just starting to be good quality. I'm amazed the streams are not better. How about satellite radio, do they stream any better? 

With these A-T phones I have i.e. M40f/s, T500, AD700 and now AD900X (have portable Senn HD 238 which are pretty good) combined with my sound card and favorite opamps, I hear the difference between 128, 192, 320 no problem, each step goes from muddy to defined to clarity depending on the original recording. Between FLAC and WAVE or AIFF I can't really can't tell the difference esp. if I did the FLAC conversion myself but those are all fat files but worth it on good phones. Then there is resampling up or down (plus bits ex. 8, 16, 24 ) at different rates ex. 44.1 (CD quality) 48 (DVD quality) 192 (studio quality), that will change sound quality, not always for the better. I try to stick with the original specs.

Off some DVDs, the AC-3 files could contain 5.1 or more sound mixes which you can down mix to 2 channel for added sounds again depending on the recording but you need to be able to see and rip those tracks for conversion if you want to take them with you. Just watching a DVD you can usually selected which audio track to listen which can fun even on a down mix to 2 channel.

Newer movies or music videos are supposed to be cutting edge as they are always trying different sound technologies, proprietary maybe (DATASAT ?) that the movie house has to have the equipment to read the encoding but the tried and true encodings like Dolby, SDDS, and others are still really good (usually 48Hz).

Window Media Player Classic keeps up with the latest available codecs to choose from in video or music (yes single music tracks), the options menus can be overwhelming. It is Windows based but don't confuse it with Windows Media Player. http://codecguide.com/download_kl.htm

I have to add Windows Media Player Classic does a damn good job of handling any song track, Video the same. I swear the music sound is better than Foobar output. Try it sometime. Like I said, the options (if you can find them all) are many and is about as good as it gets when it comes to software manipulation. If you like playing around. But crap sound signal in gets you crap signal out. A good recording sent through a good amp and dacs makes a world of difference.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mitchm 

So does the subscription to Pandora give you better sound quality? I happen upon a thread about Mad dogs whats up with that. They said you need an amp and some mods but the sound quality and comfort is worth it. Does anyone have some experience with those compared to the A900x.

That is a combo set of phones and amp + dac (dac is Digital-to-Analog Converter chip also known  as opamp). Notice it is phone and amp + dac not just phones  or just an amp alone. The phones in the  combo for the suggested modification are these Fostex T50RP. Read the comment down below for quick opinions.

The point being, it is not the headphones alone that are going to please you, it is an amp with dacs (preferably swappable) that are going to get you where you want to go either portable or desktop models including sound cards;

Quote:

Originally Posted by razzz42 

That is a combo set of phones and amp + dac (dac is Digital-to-Analog Converter chip also known  as opamp). Notice it is phone and amp + dac not just phones  or just an amp alone. The phones in the  combo for the suggested modification are these Fostex T50RP. Read the comment down below for quick opinions.

 

The point being, it is not the headphones alone that are going to please you, it is an amp with dacs (preferably swappable) that are going to get you where you want to go either portable or desktop models including sound cards;

 

Today I was in SF and tried out the HD650, BT 880 and BT 900 in the Sound and Vision store. I used my Ipad mini and I don't think any were better then the A900x. But for the first time I heard the ones I was trying out on a CD source with an Amp. Now their was a nice improvement. So it was the source that was really helpful. Now I was so much enjoying the portability of using Pandora and my Samsung 3 or my Ipad mini. So maybe without changing my source I don't think their is a need to upgrade phones anymore. Is their anyway to improve my source and stay portable. Pandora said with a upgrade they improve sound has anyone experienced that or have any other ideas. It was so nice off a CD.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mitchm 

Quote:

Originally Posted by razzz42 

That is a combo set of phones and amp + dac (dac is Digital-to-Analog Converter chip also known  as opamp). Notice it is phone and amp + dac not just phones  or just an amp alone. The phones in the  combo for the suggested modification are these Fostex T50RP. Read the comment down below for quick opinions.

 

The point being, it is not the headphones alone that are going to please you, it is an amp with dacs (preferably swappable) that are going to get you where you want to go either portable or desktop models including sound cards;

 

Today I was in SF and tried out the HD650, BT 880 and BT 900 in the Sound and Vision store. I used my Ipad mini and I don't think any were better then the A900x. But for the first time I heard the ones I was trying out on a CD source with an Amp. Now their was a nice improvement. So it was the source that was really helpful. Now I was so much enjoying the portability of using Pandora and my Samsung 3 or my Ipad mini. So maybe without changing my source I don't think their is a need to upgrade phones anymore. Is their anyway to improve my source and stay portable. Pandora said with a upgrade they improve sound has anyone experienced that or have any other ideas. It was so nice off a CD.

Pandora's subscription service has slightly better quality than non-subscription, but, being MP3, it won't be quite as high quality as straight from a CD -- still great sounding, don't get me wrong, but it won't be CD quality.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mitchm 

Today I was in SF and tried out the HD650, BT 880 and BT 900 in the Sound and Vision store. I used my Ipad mini and I don't think any were better then the A900x. But for the first time I heard the ones I was trying out on a CD source with an Amp. Now their was a nice improvement. So it was the source that was really helpful. Now I was so much enjoying the portability of using Pandora and my Samsung 3 or my Ipad mini. So maybe without changing my source I don't think their is a need to upgrade phones anymore. Is their anyway to improve my source and stay portable. Pandora said with a upgrade they improve sound has anyone experienced that or have any other ideas. It was so nice off a CD.

You are going to have to figure out what made those phones sound better. Either the original source signal from the CD or the stronger signal from the amp or both.

Then was the amp you plugged into at the store just an amp or was is also enhancing the signal somehow besides just boosting the signal?

Figure those things out, then you can narrow down what you need like only a portable amp; Or a amp + dac.. Maybe at home use and portable combination. The FiiO Line has a good selection to cover your needs once you narrow it down.

As far as sound quality, best you convert CDs into another format like FLAC yourself. Not sure if handhelds have an application and/or ability to input and convert CD tracks. A laptop or desktop computer with a CD tray will do it with the right program like Foobar, it does different formats and converts to FLAC if you load the plugin,  Do you load your handhelds with some music yourself or are you relying on a service for all your music?

Maybe paying for the upgraded sound signal from a service and a small portable amp will satisfy you, I don't know.

I sometimes wonder what the reviewers are basing their opinions on, only the sound of the headphones and/or the source. Helps when they list what all the equipment is and where the music came from ex. type of file or CD or vinyl, etc.

Quote:

Originally Posted by razzz42 

You are going to have to figure out what made those phones sound better. Either the original source signal from the CD or the stronger signal from the amp or both.

 

Then was the amp you plugged into at the store just an amp or was is also enhancing the signal somehow besides just boosting the signal?

 

Figure those things out, then you can narrow down what you need like only a portable amp; Or a amp + dac.. Maybe at home use and portable combination. The FiiO Line has a good selection to cover your needs once you narrow it down.

 

As far as sound quality, best you convert CDs into another format like FLAC yourself. Not sure if handhelds have an application and/or ability to input and convert CD tracks. A laptop or desktop computer with a CD tray will do it with the right program like Foobar, it does different formats and converts to FLAC if you load the plugin,  Do you load your handhelds with some music yourself or are you relying on a service for all your music?

 

Maybe paying for the upgraded sound signal from a service and a small portable amp will satisfy you, I don't know.

 

I sometimes wonder what the reviewers are basing their opinions on, only the sound of the headphones and/or the source. Helps when they list what all the equipment is and where the music came from ex. type of file or CD or vinyl, etc.

The other phones didn't sound better when using the same Ipad mini source with Amp. They only sounded better when using a CD source, I still haven't tried my A900x with a CD source. So not a true comparison using a CD yet. Hope I explained that correctly. I'm just saying what you already know is that the source helps a lot.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mitchm 
I bought both these phones thinking I would not need a Amp. I have no experience with an Amp. I didn't want to carry one around. But now that I have the cans for the house my mind could adjust if it would make a nice difference with the A900x. But I'm not looking to make the music louder so what would the improvement be, is it the ability to make adjustments in EQ?

I'd say the improvement of an amp highly depends on your source, so what's your source? Most amps don't have EQ controls btw. Typically the primary benefit of an amp, especially for Audio-Technica headphones, will be proper high-current delivery to drive the headphones. The sonic result varies between headphones, though usually there's an increase in clarity throughout the spectrum.

If some one is looking for a used AD2000X

http://www.head-fi.org/t/651807/f-s-audio-technica-ath-ad2000x

Quote:

Originally Posted by jacknight 

can anyone give me some review link for ath ad900x?

I made a review here jacknight: http://www.head-fi.org/t/654161/review-comparison-ath-ad900x-vs-mdr-ma900-its-over-900

Also a youtube video, if you like that sorta thing :) It's linked in the review above.

I auditioned the old ad700 just recently. Not trying to step on people's toes but I find it a little lacking in body. Recessed lower-mids that gives fullness to the music. Apparently, this is the sonic sig. of the HD800 of senns. so since the HD800 has many fans, I believe this can would too. I just don't prefer thin sounding cans. Btw, anyone who are considering these like full, warm sound signature (ala Old Denon Dxxx Series), these aren't for you. My 2cents.

EDIT: Apparently, the guy from the store told me the AD900x is the AD700 to the max so oh well. Doesn't mean I would not give it a shot so, I'll see.