[NamelessPFG]

Quote:

1) Mixamp, I believe the JVC is very difficult to find.
 
2) Hmm gives you a ton more options down the road and you could use it with a PC, PS3, Xbox, TV without having to play the swap the optical game. Not sure of the sound quality of amps though.

 
That's quite the understatement. The Victor-branded version with the AC adapter input is even more difficult to find; as luck would have it, I checked eBay at the right time and won an auction for it. There's more hiss in the analog output than I'd like, but it does work nicely for my Xbox and GCN/Wii games, and I don't need chat mixing for those.
 
The "receiver with Dolby Headphone/Silent Cinema" approach is probably much better off from a sound quality standpoint, along with being more versatile in terms of what it can power cleanly and digital codec support (DTS especially). I just didn't go that route because A/V receivers are bulky, heavy devices, and I'd have little use for the speaker amp portion besides powering electrostatic energizer/transformer boxes as the poor man's route to a 'stat amp.

 

[Evshrug]

Before I start I wanna say how refreshing it is to come back to a thread after a weekend of fun and only have 9 unread posts. The M-100 thread is outta control!

Hey guys, what would be a better choice for virtual surround + headphones for gaming?

1) Get a JVC / asto mixamp 

2) Get a 7.1 receiver from 2005 with some dolby virtual surround/ virtualization feature?

How do 7.1 HT receivers usually perform for headphones?

Well, not only is the JVC Dolby Headphone processor harder to find, from what I read it has more hiss than an Astro Mixamp Pro anyway. Does the JVC even have a built in amp?

Anyway, my reason for commenting is I've been using my AD700 and Q701 headphones with my Yamaha receiver over the past week, to good effect. I'm trying to figure out how to objectively describe how Yamaha's "Silent Cinema" headphone surround sounds, but the short version is, subjectively, I think it sounds very good.

You can hear a definite directionality all around you: not merely "Oh, relative to the Orc chopping in front of me, the archer must be behind me," the experience is more like you can tell where the archer is aiming by the flight of the arrow, and occlusion gets interesting when you walk into a room out of sight of the Orc. So it's not a cheap trick, there is some real science there that can show off however good (or bad) the audio from your game is. Stereo music sounds best in stereo mode, I mean how often are you surrounded by instruments when you go to a music performance, but I'm curious to try the 5.1 re-recording of Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots album.

Overall, I'm not sure if I'd recommend receiver over Mixamp. I happened to have my Yamaha (not sure if other mfr receivers have 5.1 to headphone decoding) already for speakers and hooking up various sources to my TV, so I use that and find it very versatile, but the Mixamp collects the chat mic & audio and let's you mix it with the headphone audio, tuning the volume balance on the fly. I don't have a headset with integrated mic, so even with the Mixamp I'd have to figure out how to mic myself and thus it's not worth buying alongside the receiver. I can't speak for the Mixamp, but with my receiver I don't feel like I need to add an extra amp in-line, even with my "hard to drive" Q701s. Remember, some people spend over $200 on an amp alone, and I'd like to compare and contrast an audiophile amp some day, but for me I would have to have enough money where I didn't care much about the cost of things. My Yamaha is a 2010 entry-level model I got for $200 from an out-of-business sale.

I guess the Mixamp is strongest when you have a headset, but the Receiver is king if you want to use multiple sources and speakers alongside your game console and headphones. Does that help?

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

So my D7000s are up for sale (check my sig). I'm 50/50 atm moment. If I sell them, good. If I don't, then I'm okay with that as well. I'm just done with pleather/leather forever, if/when these are gone.

More than likely going to try some HE400s (buying the velours for it), or go back to the DT990...for the 3rd time (4th if you count the DT990 pros).

I'd get the HE-4, but with how stupid hard it is to drive, it'd only be relegated to the main setup, never for gaming...

 

[crzycuyler]

Quote:

So my D7000s are up for sale (check my sig). I'm 50/50 atm moment. If I sell them, good. If I don't, then I'm okay with that as well. I'm just done with pleather/leather forever, if/when these are gone.
More than likely going to try some HE400s (buying the velours for it), or go back to the DT990...for the 3rd time (4th if you count the DT990 pros).
I'd get the HE-4, but with how stupid hard it is to drive, it'd only be relegated to the main setup, never for gaming...

Dang... your getting rid of your highest recommended fun and all-around headphone that you've raved about. How does the pleather/leather ruin this pair for you?

 

[Eric_C]

Quote:

Dang... your getting rid of your highest recommended fun and all-around headphone that you've raved about. How does the pleather/leather ruin this pair for you?

 
My guess is the heat.

 

[dentnu]

Quote:

I am not suggesting just pointing in a direction to start reading, 
 
DT770pro 80ohm
AKG K550
CAL!
 
Even more closed sounding not necessarily more isolating.
 
KNK8400
Koss DJ100 with M50 pads
Tockdweller (Sorry for the spelling) has had some success with dolby headphone with these cans.
 
I would say the Fischer Audio FA-03/Yoga/Lindy/Digitech/Jaycar variant but until I have heard mine I am not even thinking of recommending it I still can't find any info of anyone trying it with dolby or cmss.

 
 
Thanks for the reply. I have been reading and saw in another post someone recommend the Sennheiser HD 380 Pro . Would be great if some of you could shed some light as if these would be a good pair to buy for gaming and music ?
 
Thanks

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

That's right. The heat. I mean, its not a D7000 problem. I have that problem with every single pleather padded headphone. EVERY single one.

With velour padded cans, even closed ones, I can wear them all day and not sweat at all.

Trust me, selling them is like losing a part of my soul. I have zero replacements for that amazing sound. The Pro 900 surely isn't a replacement.

 

[chicolom]

Quote:

So my D7000s are up for sale (check my sig).

 

  I thought you were "never" EVER going to sell them

 
Your not going try and modify the pads somehow?  I think that's what I would do, before I sold them. 

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

I don't want to sell them, but that's money I can use, for something I would use. My D7000 rarely gets touched.

Pleather is that unnecessary evil to me. The time and money spent trying to find a velour alternative that won't mess with SQ would probably be a lot more than anyone would deem logical. Hell, there are people still trying to find a velour pads for the M50s that doesn't negatively impact sound, and the M50 has a size where pads are easily swapped.

Don't have faith in some freak occurrence where the first velour pad/mod for the D7000 would be perfect. I'm not going to mess with the pads. No one really has yet, and going to velour would undoubtedly change the SQ, which is something I would never want on the D7000.

I don't trust pad rolling. I've seen first hand how much pads can alter SQ.

 

[Fegefeuer]

I don't buy pleather either, it was the first thing I changed about my HE-500. I hate pleater and all that heat.
 
Ordered Beyerdynamic T90 a few hours ago. Says 3-4 weeks.

 

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

I thought the HE500 came with velours? Lol.

I'm pretty much set on the HE400, yet, I'm going off the basis that changing those pleathers to Hifiman velours won't change the SQ enough. I really wish I could test it out beforehand.

I was interested in the T90, but what I hear of the bass, it's turned me off completely.

 

[Fegefeuer]

My HE-500 came with pleather on and a velour set, I changed instantly. Sound changes definitely. I like velour better.
 
HE-400 should act the same.
 

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Sweet. That's what I'll do then.

But what are the sonic differences?

I'm afraid that the HE400 will be too dark for me, and not bassy enough. If it has more bass than the HE4, then good.. but not less.

 

[Fegefeuer]

Pleather makes a darker sound, bass is more prominent (for me actually a bit too much). It's very noticable. Changing to velour leads to arier sound, smooth very detailed highs (my english lacks good words, HE-500 highs are excellent) and the bass is perfect. The HE-400 is darker than the HE-500.
 
To be honest, I don't see why someone would pick the HE-400 over the 500. If it's a financial thing, ok, but if not: the HE-500 is better in everything, in fact it's the best bargain I can think of and I listened to the LCD-2 and HE-6 a lot as well. They are not worth +400€. Never.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

How's the bass on the HE500s vs the HE400. Which one has more bass presence?