I just bought the AKG K550s I decided to stop thinking about it and just buy them. /shrug if they rock they rock. Hopefully will have them this week by Friday. I will take the dolby plunge on them.
Hey, if they sound at all like the Q701, they will NOT be boring or disappointing at all. Plus somebody just made a good point about sealed vs open: the Xbox is noisy and sloppy as hell, I hate that fan, twice as loud as the one on my computer's midrange graphics card and half as effective. Plus, closed makes a big difference when you want to use the headphones anywhere but a quiet room.
By the way MLE, I'm loving my Q701's so much I'm having a hard time putting them down and going to bed at night. SOOOO GOOD! Also, my LOD cable was definitely the problem earlier, I just remembered today that I can use my Mom's iPod dock for line out. I'm impressed with the quality even from my E5, though I want to re-buy my favorite albums on CD or some lossless format... Damn Rabbity hole!
I really want to unpack my Yamaha Reciever before upgradeitis urges get me to buy a Mixamp when I think I've already got the capabilities covered and then some. I will probably lose the battle (but win the war?) if i see a used Mixamp at a good price. Did awesome in CoD4 yesterday, but in stereo the positional cues are too vague to make me think my gaming experience is elevated from the AD700... But my music never sounded so good!
Can't sleep but I had a thought: does the Mixamp act as a DAC+AMP if it is connected via an optical cable? I have an optical out on my PC and Xbox, this could tip the scales...
Can't sleep but I had a thought: does the Mixamp act as a DAC+AMP if it is connected via an optical cable? I have an optical out on my PC and Xbox, this could tip the scales...
Can't sleep but I had a thought: does the Mixamp act as a DAC+AMP if it is connected via an optical cable? I have an optical out on my PC and Xbox, this could tip the scales...
Yes, the Mix-amp has a DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) and is there to turn the optical digital (zeros & ones) signal into an analog (wave) signal.
As the mix-amp has been able to power 250-Ohms headphones, it at least has some feature that acts like a headphone amplifier.
I'm pretty certain that if you want to hook up the mixamp to the computer via optical you have to have a Dolby Digital Live capable sound card or the game has to have a Dolby Digital sound mix.Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
I'm pretty certain that if you want to hook up the mixamp to the computer via optical you have to have a Dolby Digital Live capable sound card or the game has to have a Dolby Digital sound mix.Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
I'll test 2 channel PCM later on today. I believe the Mixamp might default to mixing a Pro Logic II signal from 2 channel sources, but I'm not certain if it works with strict signals like that. I do know it will mix PLII into DH if the signal is a Dolby Digital signal compressed to 2 channels (via RCA cables), or if the source itself has a PLII setting set to on.
I just read a reason I may not be happy with the hm5s for gaming :/ someone said the sound seems further away if it is in front and closer on the sides like putting a v on your head looking at the point. Now of course I'm going to be looking for that and may be unhappy. Oh well I guess if that happens the pc360s are on sale for $200. If that's the case they'd be top of my budget but would those be the best $200 headphones? Helps lower cost that they have a built in mic and don't need an amp...
Yes, the Mix-amp has a DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) and is there to turn the optical digital (zeros & ones) signal into an analog (wave) signal.
As the mix-amp has been able to power 250-Ohms headphones, it at least has some feature that acts like a headphone amplifier.
Rats/Yay, depending on perspective.
Thanks for defining DAC for those following the thread, I forget to do that sometimes. I haven't researched the full specifications on my motherboard's sound capabilities yet beyond the brief printed manual (Gigabyte GA-Z68A-D3H-B3), but I assume that because it can send out 5.1 channel surround out through it's analogue and HDMI ports, so can it do through the optical port (S/PDIF).
Any info on if the Mixamp is a low-impedance amp?
Also AudioPhizle, I can attest that Xbox Audio sounds fine through adapters and a cheap E5 or E6 amp, I've been playing that way for years, and a microphone such as this one [=http://www.dealextreme.com/p/mini-clip-on-microphone-7080][/] is so cheap that it's negligible to the overall cost. All this is assuming you don't want equipment to enable Dolby Headphone or similar surround-to-binaural decoding. If you only have $200 you may be better off overall getting a CAL! and the Astro Mixamp.
So now that I've learned that I'm looking for an open or semi-open headphone, what would you recommend to be fun and comfortable?
The first page lists Beyer 990, but those are $300 on Amazon. They sound awesome (great sound, great spacial positioning, enough bass to make games fun, very comfortable) but they're also really expensive since I'm only going to use them for gaming.
1) I've seen the SR850 and HD668B recommended ($50 + $35 for velour pads on Amazon = $85 total), but heard they have strong clamping force. I think a local Sam Ash has the SR850, so I'll see if I can try them out. Any recommendation whether the SR850 or 668B design is more comfortable?
1a) I've heard that you can find velvet pads on Ebay for $15 for them, but I couldn't find anything other than the AKG pads for $35. Am I just doing it wrong?
2) I've also seen the Panasonic RP-HTF600-S listed as an option ($30 + $23 for Beyer velour pds = $53 total). How would these compare to the SR850/668B? Which would you recommend?
3) It seems like I'm jumping from $30-50 phones + $23-35 for pads to $300 phones. Any other models that I should look at?
Anyone have suggestions for a closed competitive sub-$100 headphones (used or new)? Are the A700's same as the AD700 but closed? I'm looking for headphones for competitive FPS gaming (ESEA CS1.6, CSS, etc). I was concerned about open headphones leaking out too much sound and disturbing my parents for late night gaming, but if Open is the best for competitve gaming then I'm alright with it. These wouldn't be used for music or anything else (got D7k's for that). Bass really doesn't matter to me, as my main issue with the D7K's is that the bass can be fatiguing after an hour of gaming.
Also I have a Creative X-fi Ti Fatal1ty (non-HD) that these would be running with using the Creative CMS 3D, EAX, etc. Is that pretty much the same as the Dolby headphone?
The A700 is NOT a closed AD700. Not in the same series nor the same drivers.
Unless your parents are in the same room, an open headphone is not going to be an issue.
Sennheiser HD555 if you can find them for cheap, and do the easy mod to make them sound like 595s. Should be quite a bang for buck IF you can get them now for under $100.
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