[hifimanrookie]

I usually nevery listen to EDM.. But now I've heard the new Linkin Park album and I do agree the HE-400 excels with EDM. Although it does a lot of genres a lot of justice!

Just Wait until ur ears get the he500 jergulor treatment

 

[nicholars]

  I usually nevery listen to EDM.. But now I've heard the new Linkin Park album and I do agree the HE-400 excels with EDM. Although it does a lot of genres a lot of justice!

 
I have been listening to more genres on them since I have EQ them properly and it sounds a lot better now... Before I did not like them much for some genres and use my IEM's instead... But if you reduce the peaks in the treble and the other problems they sound good with singers and guitars etc.. Still a bit of sibilance if it is in the recording... I don't think it is possible to completely remove it without making them sound muffled. Still want to try some HE500 out as they are prob a better all rounder.

 

[Textfeud]

Just Wait until ur ears get the he500 jergulor treatment

Yep, can't wait. Now I just need to find the funds

 

[nicholars]

Here is a link to my EQ file.... That one is supposed to be smooth treble.... If you don't like it for any reason for example too much bass or want more treble.... Just move the dots up and down using the options box and changing the gain or bandwidth slightly... don't move the dots left / right.... Don't change the shape of it because it is exactly set up to remove the treble peaks and midrange glare, if you want less bass then just change the low shelf filter (that much bass sound bad on some music but good with EDM) and if you want more treble add a few DB of gain to the bits after 8khz, same with the midrange around 1-3khz... Although I find changing this too much makes them sound a bit odd. Not sure if all HE400 sound the same but this sounds good on my headphones / ears anyway..
 
http://www.filedropper.com/smooth3110_1
 
 

 

[Warmuth327]

Haven't tried the settings yet, but let me be the first to say THANKS!!!

 

[nicholars]

  Haven't tried the settings yet, but let me be the first to say THANKS!!!

 
No prob... Customise it to however you want just don't change the shape.. Change the gain or bandwidth, although don't change the bandwidth much because it will mess up the shape.

 

[Warmuth327]

Okay, got it all working...sounds fantastic 

 
Brings up one more question though LOL.
 
So I now have a bunch of volume controls for this wonderful setup...and despite reading lots of threads on which way to set them all, I am getting conflicting information.  Now to be honest and as I mentioned, I am new to all of this, so my listening skills may not be on par with everyone else's.  I could be hurting the sound and not realize it.  
 
Without further ado, here is the setup:
 
Laptop sound card to USB to Schitt Modi to Schiit Magni to HE-400s
 
I now have volume controls at the sound card/Windows level; Media Monkey (WASAPI); plus the EQ now; then at the Amp.  What settings should I have maxed and where should I be adjusting levels?
 
It was suggested that I even though my .flac files are 16 bit 44100, I should set the DAC for 24 bit 44100 which would allow the windows volume to be set to 25% without losing any information.  Next, I am assuming the EQ should be left at 0.0db and Media Monkey should be set to 100% with the listening volume levels set by the amp.  Does this all sound correct?  Seems to work even though it has been suggested windows should be set to 100% as well, but then even the lowest setting is too loud.  But should I have windows at 100% and cut it at the EQ now?
 
Sorry if this is the wrong thread to discuss this or if I should start a new one, please let me know.
 
Thanks in advance for all your help.
 
Darren

 

[hifimanrookie]

Okay, got it all working...sounds fantastic 

Brings up one more question though LOL.

So I now have a bunch of volume controls for this wonderful setup...and despite reading lots of threads on which way to set them all, I am getting conflicting information.  Now to be honest and as I mentioned, I am new to all of this, so my listening skills may not be on par with everyone else's.  I could be hurting the sound and not realize it.  

Without further ado, here is the setup:

Laptop sound card to USB to Schitt Modi to Schiit Magni to HE-400s

I now have volume controls at the sound card/Windows level; Media Monkey (WASAPI); plus the EQ now; then at the Amp.  What settings should I have maxed and where should I be adjusting levels?

It was suggested that I even though my .flac files are 16 bit 44100, I should set the DAC for 24 bit 44100 which would allow the windows volume to be set to 25% without losing any information.  Next, I am assuming the EQ should be left at 0.0db and Media Monkey should be set to 100% with the listening volume levels set by the amp.  Does this all sound correct?  Seems to work even though it has been suggested windows should be set to 100% as well, but then even the lowest setting is too loud.  But should I have windows at 100% and cut it at the EQ now?

Sorry if this is the wrong thread to discuss this or if I should start a new one, please let me know.

Thanks in advance for all your help.

Darren

If u use the laptop as a dedicated source for ur rig its said best to put volume on ur pc on max (as its digital) and regulate the volume through ur amp...

Doesnt the dac regulate itself to the bits (16/24) automatically?

For the eq thingie: one of the others can reply that better..

 

[Warmuth327]

If u use the laptop as a dedicated source for ur rig its said best to put volume on ur pc on max (as its digital) and regulate the volume through ur amp...

Doesnt the dac regulate itself to the bits (16/24) automatically?

For the eq thingie: one of the others can reply that better..

Yep, laptop being fed by a 2 tb media drive.
 
Re: the DAC...it was posted elsewhere on the forum to specifically go into the DAC properties and set to 24/44,100 even though the files were at 16/44,100 which allowed lowering of the master windows volume without discarding any information as the other 8 bits were empty.  Sorry I can't elaborate, but I don't yet understand all the science.
 
If I turn my master volume to full, even the lowest volume on the amp is too loud.  The new EQ settings helped with this a bit, but not enough to put the system volume to 100%, so I have to attenuate somewhere prior to the amp.
 
Darren

 

[nicholars]

If you don't like using the windows volume control you could use WASAPI plugin which bypasses the windows volume control. Then you control the volume using the slider in Foobar.
 
http://www.foobar2000.org/components/view/foo_out_wasapi

 

[hifimanrookie]

Yep, laptop being fed by a 2 tb media drive.

Re: the DAC...it was posted elsewhere on the forum to specifically go into the DAC properties and set to 24/44,100 even though the files were at 16/44,100 which allowed lowering of the master windows volume without discarding any information as the other 8 bits were empty.  Sorry I can't elaborate, but I don't yet understand all the science.

If I turn my master volume to full, even the lowest volume on the amp is too loud.  The new EQ settings helped with this a bit, but not enough to put the system volume to 100%, so I have to attenuate somewhere prior to the amp.

Darren

about the volume..if the volume is to loud (thats also because of the peaky treble that the he400 sounds unbearable loud very fast) try to go down with the volume on pc until u can use the volume on the amp a bit normally..but still..the shiit u use is not a very powerful amp..i find it odd that it is not usable with pc volume on max.. But i am guessing the he400 is very efficient to be driven then..

And nicholars is right..wasapi bypasses the internal volume..but am guessing that will be to loud also..as my pc sounds the loudest (but best!) when using wasapi..but try it out urself..

About dac...i was talking in general..but as I never used that dac, i see i am not right person to give u specific advice on that one... Am sure others can help u with that..

 

[Warmuth327]

  If you don't like using the windows volume control you could use WASAPI plugin which bypasses the windows volume control. Then you control the volume using the slider in Foobar.
 
http://www.foobar2000.org/components/view/foo_out_wasapi

Hi,
 
Am using WASAPI on exclusive but still doesn't bypass windows audio control...at least not on my system.  Additionally I do not have a problem using windows audio control, just looking to make sure I am not hampering sound quality by doing so.  
 
I will try to find the thread on this and post it.
 
Darren

 

[nicholars]

  Hi,
 
Am using WASAPI on exclusive but still doesn't bypass windows audio control...at least not on my system.  Additionally I do not have a problem using windows audio control, just looking to make sure I am not hampering sound quality by doing so.  
 
I will try to find the thread on this and post it.
 
Darren

 
Nah I doubt it.... Just set the volume to 30% or something... I do not think it is really an issue with windows 7 / 8 ....

 

[Warmuth327]

   
Nah I doubt it.... Just set the volume to 30% or something... I do not think it is really an issue with windows 7 / 8 ....

In case anybody is curious about this, the discussion can be found here starting about half way down.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/643368/schiit-modi-and-magni-comparison-to-bifrost-and-asgard/15
 
Sorry for hijacking the thread.  I think you are right in that it does not make a difference on Windows 7, so will leave it as is....sounds good!
 
Darren

 

[mlxx]

The sound card in your laptop will be completely bypassed by the modi USB. The windows system volume will be controlling the modi USB level directly.
Set it to 100% (the windows system volume in the system tray for the modi USB output).
 
Use replay gain to set your volume to be consistent through out your music collection so you don't have to be fiddling with the volume all the time.
If you haven't already done this, you must do it, it will prevent having to adjust the volume after every song and throwing shoes at it.
 
Set your software player for music to 100%.
The only place you will control your volume from is your software player(s).
You can leave this at 100% always since you will use replay gain so that all songs will have the same loudness.
Next, set the physical volume on your magni to about your normal listening volume and leave it there always (* see below).
This is what I do and it works for me.
 
* Instead of setting the magni volume to your normal listening volume, you can set it to say 150% normal listening volume, to give you some leeway for when you listen to youtube etc. that don't have replay gain applied and which may require a higher volume. You then use the volume control in the software player (youtube in the case) to control the volume as required. Your software player for music won't be at 100% anymore in this case too, set to it to match your normal listening volume and leave it there always.
 
Some other points...
You can set the modi to 24bit, and according to that thread you linked, it will then allow you to reduce the volume (anywhere in software) with no data loss.
There is a lot of ifs and buts in that thread so I am not sure it's 100% accurate but it can't hurt to do that (but it might cause drop outs if your pc is slow).
I don't notice any difference if its 16 or 24 bit.
 
With regards to the EQ volume, its not really there to be used as a traditional volume.
Your EQ setting (nicholars file) is reducing all the frequencies (everything is below the 0dB y-axis), so you should leave the volume at 0dB always.
If you had frequencies being boosted in the EQ, say the bass was boosted by +4dB, you would then reduce the volume by a matching -4dB to keep the overall frequencies always at or below 0dB. This is to prevent your amplifier from clipping and causing distortion.