[VulgarDisplay]

One thing I notice about the q701's is that I can tell UP and Down much better than I could with AD700's.  
 
This is all stereo by the way, no mixamp involved.  It's not necessary with these at all. 
 
If you even remotely like the AD700's this is the only logical upgrade from there.  Better sound and what I consider to be a better soundstage than the vaunted ad700's.  
 
Just be ready because they need an amp.  I kept the volume at where my AD700's were at.  Plugged these in and didn't hear anything.  Flipped the gain switch to high and turned them up and said ok they are working.  

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

That's precisely what I thought about the K701. It was like a jacked up AD700. If anyone has the AD700 and wants the superior version of it, the AKGs are it. I wonder just how close the K701 and Q701 are.

 

[ducker3]

Quick question on headphone gaming - Is there an easy way to have your voice sound in your headphones when using a mic?
 
I've found for as much as I love my DT770's I have to constantly check to make sure I'm not yelling.
 
In addition, that I don't really love playing in Dolby while using Ventrilo - as it makes all the people sound ... echoy.
 
I'm using a Xonar DG - and I'm assuming a little bit that to go Dolby, is to enable the headphones dolby setting via the checkbox.
(I've only had these can's for less then a week - so still testing things out)
 
Thanks

 

[dexvx]

I'm thinking about getting the DT990/250 Premium (they're around $250). What kind of portable amplifier would you suggest? I was looking at the Fiio E17 or an E9 (I have an Asus Xonar DX sound card).

 

[Hailin]

I just ordered my HD598's from Razordog should be here Friday or Monday. I hear these opinions on the Q701's I am slightly worried. They sound like my perfect headphone. But I didn't want to spend another 100 bucks for headphones + 150 for an amp. Since I do a ton of chatting. I live in Canada too so everything is price up 100% more then american prices.

 

[Riku540]

Quote:

I'm thinking about getting the DT990/250 Premium (they're around $250). What kind of portable amplifier would you suggest? I was looking at the Fiio E17 or an E9 (I have an Asus Xonar DX sound card).

 
The E9 is going to have a more potent power output than the E17. However, the E17 is pretty decent in the amp section for being portable and battery operated, but it truly shines as a DAC, which on its own will probably outweigh the better power benefits of the E9 if you had to pick one over the other.
 
However, in the interest of gaming, the E17's DAC is a waste because you will not get the virtual surround your soundcard will provide. Think of it as a second soundcard. You will have to pick between virtual surround, or pristine stereo.
 
Many Xonar soundcards do have built-in headphone amplifiers that support up to 300 ohms, so you may not even need an amplifier at all. If yours does, I couldn't recommend spending the extra $100~$140 for an amp for gaming purposes.

 

[dexvx]

Quote:

 
The E9 is going to have a more potent power output than the E17. However, the E17 is pretty decent in the amp section for being portable and battery operated, but it truly shines as a DAC, which on its own will probably outweigh the better power benefits of the E9 if you had to pick one over the other.
 
However, in the interest of gaming, the E17's DAC is a waste because you will not get the virtual surround your soundcard will provide. Think of it as a second soundcard. You will have to pick between virtual surround, or pristine stereo.
 
Many Xonar soundcards do have built-in headphone amplifiers that support up to 300 ohms, so you may not even need an amplifier at all. If yours does, I couldn't recommend spending the extra $100~$140 for an amp for gaming purposes.

Hi, thanks for the reply. Xonar DX does not have a head-phone amplifier (at least it does not say on the spec sheet; whereas the Xonar STX does). I do NOT plan on using the E17 DAC on my desktop (correct me if I'm wrong but the Xonar DX is of similar quality). However, I occasionally will use my laptop about 20% of the time.
 
My question would be if there is a big difference between the E17 and the E9 in terms of being able to drive the DT990/250 Premium. 
 

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

If you're NOT going to use the DAC on the E17, you're better off with the E11 than the E17, as it's still portable, and a little better than the E17's amp section. Though if you do plan on using the E17's DAC for the laptop, then I guess it makes sense to get the E17.

The E9 is considerably stronger than the E17, and should be better for the 250ohm Beyers, though because the E9 is pretty much uncolored, you may not notice the difference.

If I were in your shoes, I'd get the E17 first, since a DAC for the laptop is a must, IMHO.

I remember going from my Asus dual-core netbook's onboard soundcard and jumping to the E7. The difference was night and day. For a decent soundcard though, the difference wasn't that big. The E17 would be a clear improvement over the E7 (let alone an onboard soundcard) though, so it would probably be noticeable for you.

I'd order the E17 for myself, but I got some other higher end stuff coming in, making it a moot purchase. If I ever go back to a laptop, I can see myself getting another transportable DAC/AMP combo that is powered by USB. The E17 or whatever successor comes afterwards. For now, my purchases are complete. The D7000 should be coming in next week, and my Audio-GD stuff comes after the Chinese holidays. The wait is killing me.

 

[Riku540]

The E17 should have enough power to drive the DT 990 at 250 ohms. Keep in mind that only the first batch has been shipped, and many people do not yet have it to give first-hand impressions on amplifying power, myself included. But as I stated before the E17 minus the DAC is a waste. If you want portable for cheaper and more power go with the E11.
 
The E9 has more than enough power, and then some. If power is your only goal, the E9 will deliver.
 
Personally, I think the E17 has greater value long-term. Especially if your DT 990's will be used for music as well, and on your laptop from time to time. The sound quality will be far superior to your sound card, and you can switch between your desktop and laptop as much as you like, and have the same sound quality and amplification all the time. The DAC in the E17 is invaluable since you don't have one yet, and will be a great source should you decide to invest in a desktop amplifier to go with it, like the E9, which will conveniently let the E17 dock on top of.

 

[chicolom]

Quote:

I just ordered my HD598's from Razordog should be here Friday or Monday. I hear these opinions on the Q701's I am slightly worried. They sound like my perfect headphone. But I didn't want to spend another 100 bucks for headphones + 150 for an amp. Since I do a ton of chatting. I live in Canada too so everything is price up 100% more then american prices.

Q701s DO NOT need an external amp when used with the mixamp.  The mixamp is enough.  Even when mixing in chat to 65-70%, my master volume is around 60%.
 
Some people have been surprised and have said they are much easier to drive then standard K70x. 

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Q701s DO NOT need an external amp when used with the mixamp.  The mixamp is enough.  Even when mixing in chat to 65-70%, my master volume is around 60%.
 
Some people have been surprised and have said they are much easier to drive then standard K70x. 

That's good to hear, because the K701 was a b*tch to drive.

edit: Got my 5.8's battery pack in today (the PS3 chat cable however wasn't in the package, so I had to email Astro and ask where the eff it was). First thing I did was remove the battery bay from the Rx unit (it snaps off), since the battery pack replaces the battery bay completely. Plugged it in and saw the orange glow, noting that it's charging. Something I wish I saw with the Eneloops. Oh well.

I also moved some things around today. First was moving the E9 close to my monitor, removing the E7 from dock position, and hooking it up via the Fiio L7 lod cable to the E9's line in (I think it looks more legit undocked, and it's also just ever so slightly warmer which helps the DT990s. It's also behaving better now that it's not docked... I think my dock was messing up because I was getting weird distortions). I moved the PC further away to leave an open space for where I'm gonna stack the C-2.2 and NFB 3.1 in a few weeks.

Once I get those new two pieces in, I will be comparing:

E7+E9
E7+C-2.2
NFB 3.1+E9
NFB 3.1+C-2.2 via RCA (with Earth OP-amps)
NFB 3.1+C-2.2 via ACSS (which is known to be superior to the op-amps).

That's gonna take me some time.

I will of course be also doing:

Mixamp+E9
Mixamp+C-2.2

To see how it stacks up for gaming.


BTW guys, I know this is probably moot for a lot of you, I completely forgot that Fiio sells the D3, which is a simple optical/coaxial to RCA DAC (goes for $28 on Amazon). It's JUST a DAC without an amp section, which supposedly sounds better than the E7's DAC portion. So the D3+E9 may be a better combo than the E7+E9, though the E10+E9 or E17+E9 will still be better (but more expensive).

http://headfonics.com/2011/09/fiio-d3-dac-its-a-keeper/

Just throwing that out there.

 

[Hailin]

So it looks like I am not going to get the HD598 at all. A train derailed in Wolf Point MT and my headphones are part of it. /sigh. I am going to have to refuse them now cause god knows what UPS will send to me.
 
Update: Well I talked to Brian @ Razordog and he walked me through everything. So all is fine. If anything at all has been damaged he is going to cover all the shipping return costs. Razordog has been a total pleasure to deal with.

 

[weez82]

Quote:

So it looks like I am not going to get the HD598 at all. A train derailed in Wolf Point MT and my headphones are part of it. /sigh. I am going to have to refuse them now cause god knows what UPS will send to me.

trains derail all the time. It just means they went off track. It doesnt mean they wrecked. You're package is fine. It will just be late

 

[Hailin]

Quote:

trains derail all the time. It just means they went off track. It doesnt mean they wrecked. You're package is fine. It will just be late

I have never ordered anything from the US before through UPS and I have been truly confused by this whole experience. UPS tracking is one of the worst I have ever experienced. My package has been all over the place in the computers. So irritating! Only to find out it is probably still back at the original place.
 
So far then the tally is: Razordog Deals - 1, UPS - 0, Me -

 

[Eric_C]

All this talk of E17 vs E9, but isn't the E9 a desktop amp? i.e. it's not portable at all, it runs off a wall wart?