sterlingarcher
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2013
- Posts
- 5
- Likes
- 1
Hi,
I've been reading and reading and reading as much as I can to figure out a proper setup for the Q701s, so I thought I'd finally ask people who know.
Background:
I work in the film/video game music industry (so mostly orchestral music) and I needed to get a pair of headphones to help me with mixing and balancing. I work from home, but with a wife and kid I can't exactly play my studio monitors all hours, hence the need for nice headphones. I already own Shure SRH840s and ATH-M50s, however, I was finding my mixes on both are kind of off. I did a bit of research and figured the Q701s might work well for mixing.
Studio Setup:
My audio interface is an Apogee Duet 2 going into a Mackie Big Knob. Music quality is fine as it is the absolute source and I'm doing the mixing. I primarily use the headphone output on the Duet, but have tried the Mackie as well.\
Here are the specs for both:
http://www.apogeedigital.com/products/duet2.php#specs
http://www.mackie.com/pdf/bigknob_om.pdf
My question/concern is do I need a headphone amp for the Q701s? I'm trying to figure out the need for a headphone amp. Does it provide something the Duet 2 does not? I understand that higher impedance headphones require more gain, but is there something else they need to function properly?
So far I've been underwhelmed by the Q701s. I feel the bass doesn't have the punch that my other two headphones have. Mind you, I'm not a basshead, and I know the M50s have a lot more bass, but for my tastes I feel the Q701s could have a tad more. Will running through an amp help with this?
Finally, I feel the Q701s distort easily. For example (and I'm not running them at ear splitting high in volume), when I listen to an area that has a deep percussion or bass hit, the Q701s distort slightly, whereas the 840s and M50s have no problem. Does this have to do with the "max input power" (as labeled on the box)? The Q701s only have 200mW whereas the 840s and M50s have something in the 1000s.
I don't have thousands of dollars to spend on an amp if needed, but maybe a few hundred at the most.
Thanks a lot for your help and insight.
-James
I've been reading and reading and reading as much as I can to figure out a proper setup for the Q701s, so I thought I'd finally ask people who know.
Background:
I work in the film/video game music industry (so mostly orchestral music) and I needed to get a pair of headphones to help me with mixing and balancing. I work from home, but with a wife and kid I can't exactly play my studio monitors all hours, hence the need for nice headphones. I already own Shure SRH840s and ATH-M50s, however, I was finding my mixes on both are kind of off. I did a bit of research and figured the Q701s might work well for mixing.
Studio Setup:
My audio interface is an Apogee Duet 2 going into a Mackie Big Knob. Music quality is fine as it is the absolute source and I'm doing the mixing. I primarily use the headphone output on the Duet, but have tried the Mackie as well.\
Here are the specs for both:
http://www.apogeedigital.com/products/duet2.php#specs
http://www.mackie.com/pdf/bigknob_om.pdf
My question/concern is do I need a headphone amp for the Q701s? I'm trying to figure out the need for a headphone amp. Does it provide something the Duet 2 does not? I understand that higher impedance headphones require more gain, but is there something else they need to function properly?
So far I've been underwhelmed by the Q701s. I feel the bass doesn't have the punch that my other two headphones have. Mind you, I'm not a basshead, and I know the M50s have a lot more bass, but for my tastes I feel the Q701s could have a tad more. Will running through an amp help with this?
Finally, I feel the Q701s distort easily. For example (and I'm not running them at ear splitting high in volume), when I listen to an area that has a deep percussion or bass hit, the Q701s distort slightly, whereas the 840s and M50s have no problem. Does this have to do with the "max input power" (as labeled on the box)? The Q701s only have 200mW whereas the 840s and M50s have something in the 1000s.
I don't have thousands of dollars to spend on an amp if needed, but maybe a few hundred at the most.
Thanks a lot for your help and insight.
-James