BUMP

Bumping again.

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I'd reccomend getting a DIY cable (or making one yourself) instead of getting that super-cheap cable. It should only cost about $20 and would at the very least be better built. I have an el-cheapo RadioShack cable on my turntable and its amazing how little wire is actually in it (I had to solder one end to my turntable).

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Yes. Also, any CD player with error correction is ruining the sound quality anyways (to get high skip protection they compress the sound similar to how MP3s do it and it has a noticeable impact on the sound quality). If you'd like to stick with CD-based players I'd reccomend getting an iRivier MP3/CD player.

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Yes. It uses the same DAC chip for all 5.1 channels and should support every game that uses DirectX for sound (which is pretty much every game).

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Your speakers shouldn't impact the sound quality of your headphones, except when you run the headphones through the headphone jack on the speakers (which is not reccomended at all because it usually decreases the sound quality, often significantly).

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The M-Audio does have a headphone jack but it will not replace an amp. The headphone jack will probably sound better than most portable players just because it has more power to work with (12 or 5 volts from the system compared to 3 volts in a portable) but don't expect miracles.

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Usually it sounds better when they're separated, but too much separation sounds unnatural (some would say that Sony cans like the CD3000 and Qualia 010 fall into this category). It's also a listening preference, some people like extreme separation while other's don't.

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Only $20? That seems awfully expensive for just an extension cable, doesn't it? I mean, that's like 1/5 of the price of the headphones I'm going to get! Isn't that overdoing it?

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I might end up getting a computer that is already going to be coming with an Audigy 2 ZS, which is supposed to be crap, right? So, would it be best to just stick with the crappy sound card or should I still get the M-Audio and replace the card?

I think you're going about this the wrong way. This hobby is suppose to be fun. Are you having fun worrying over every little decision you make? How much money to spend, what gear to get, etc... none of that matters as long as you are satisfied and enjoy what you're hearing. If this doesn't sound right to you, I think you are in the wrong place.

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I agree. You've been indecisive for almost a year... what gives? Just decide and buy already (EDIT unless you have a good reason not to). I mean, wars have been started after less indecision.

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wow, a year? I think i've gone through 9 headphones in the past 4 months...

yeah... this thread was started June 13, 2004.

Hmm...is it me or does the Audigy 2 ZS lack one of those headphone jacks like the M-Audio Revo 5.1 has?

Also, since it appears that I have to get an mp3 player to support VBRs (And so that I can have more room), which of the following do you guys recommend:
Rio Carbon Pearl
Rio Karma
Apple iPod Mini

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Yeah, but you could plug it into the line-out jack.

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I'd go for the Karma (they're discontinued so snap one up for cheap while you can). It has the most features and biggest hard drive of all the players you list and pretty respectable sound quality.

haha, stil hasn't bought a headphone, since june. LMAO.

The HD555's are better than the A500's, right? So, wouldn't it be better to go through this auction than to buy the A500's from audiocubes?

So, it looks like I'm going to get this:
A500s (HD555s?) - $109
Rio Karma 20gb - $175
Extension cable - $??? (Still not sure which one to get)
M-Audio 5.1 Revolution - $75

I'm still a little unsure about the sound card though. Exactly how much worse will the A500s sound through my on-board sound? Would it really be noticeable with the A500s? Is it worth spending $75 for a sound card for use with headphones that cost only $30 more? Also, what about the extension cable? $20 seems like overkill for an extension cable for the A500s. What would be wrong with those cheap <$10 ones?

bump

I listen to techno on Panasonic HS-77s attached to Sony MD player playing (of course) AATRAC format at low resolution, LP4 or whatever. I recently got an HD650 + Creek OBH-11 Amp set up, and I pass MP3 into that set up using a Motorola M25. I've found that MP3s at 128kps can sound really crappy if the source or the recording method was crappy. Notwithstanding, about 1/3 of the 128kps bitrate songs sound pretty good, meaning -- there is actually a soundstage and there is not that digitization effect or excessive static. The bad recordings can be very bad though. At 192kps most songs sound pretty darned good. There are MP3s like "Every Day Is Like Sunday" by the Smiths which have tremendous spacious er... open-ness. I've been experimenting with burning MP3s at different bit rates and different modes of processing using Wavelab and so far my conclusion is that the worse the CD source quality is, the less the bitrate matters. I've also played some relatively well processed recordings in 24 bit WAV format at CD quality and the 192kps bitrate version sounds about the same. One thing you could do is if you have an MP3 that doesnt sound so great, use a WAV processor and convert the MP3 back into WAV format and then recompress it at a higher bitrate with some filtering effects (to increase or decrease soundstage effect). I've gotten some pretty bad bootleg version of live recordings from the Internet and cleaned them up in that way. The sound can still be pixelly, if you know what I mean, but the clarity and stereo imaging can be improved greatly. The other thing you can try too, which is fun, is to use the spacial processing ability of programs like PowerDVD -- you can play MP3s on it and get different and interesting sonic renditions. Your headphones can sound like a live stage or a recording studio, for example.

I also have been trying the headphone amp with some lower quality headphones, and the shortcomings of lower quality headphones playing MP3s were magnified -- static and distortion beyond the dynamic range, or simply too much power or whatever than the headphone could handle which the HD650 had no trouble with -- much less clarity. I probably wouldn't care much if I were jogging, but if I'm laying in the dark and listening for textures then it would really bother me. Anyway, hope this helped somewhat.

The thing is man if you care at all what your music sounds like then any headphone that is recommened to you will be WAY better than whatever you have now. But on the other hand if you dont care what your music sounds like then by all means keep what you got, this has gone on for far to long. Either deciede you care what your sound is then decided on what price range you want or just be happy with what you have now as you already said that you liked its sound quality. No one says that you need good headphones its just what the people hear like, we like to hear everthing in our music and it brings us joy not unhappyness from picking a headphone (that is untill upgradeitis hit)