[HalidePisces]

I was searching around on eBay and found this auction for the Mixamp Pro. Does this look legit? Or is this some sort of knock-off version? One of the pictures shows the back of the unit, and the little door/flap is missing for the toslink input. Others have mentioned that this piece is prone to breakage, but the seller claims these units are new.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Astro-A40-Gaming-MixAmp-Pro-Only-without-cables-and-headset-/120997609987?pt=Video_Games_Accessories&hash=item1c2c050203

I have a 2011 Mixamp and the TOSLINK port has a small detachable rubber plug covering it rather than the standard flap door. I took off the plug on my Mixamp and the TOSLINK port matches the picture. That said, it probably doesn't come with the plug. I don't know how much of a good idea it is to leave a TOSLINK port exposed since they're usually covered. It may be due to light or dust sensitivity reasons... but I have no idea.

 

[JONvincible]

Quote:

I have a 2011 Mixamp and the TOSLINK port has a small detachable rubber plug covering it rather than the standard flap door. I took off the plug on my Mixamp and the TOSLINK port matches the picture. That said, it probably doesn't come with the plug. I don't know how much of a good idea it is to leave a TOSLINK port exposed since they're usually covered. It may be due to light or dust sensitivity reasons... but I have no idea.

 
Oh interesting. I wonder if they took into account the reports of breakages and replaced the flap with the rubber cover for that reason. Thanks for the info.

 

[HalidePisces]

Oh interesting. I wonder if they took into account the reports of breakages and replaced the flap with the rubber cover for that reason. Thanks for the info.

I kinda prefer the flap door. One less thing to keep track of when you're using the optical port.

Was it just shoddy construction on the Mixamp that caused the breakage? The flap door is ubiquitous whether it be on a sound card or receiver or PlayStation 2. I've never heard of problems with the flap breaking off on them. Except for maybe the people who didn't take the protective tip off their cables when they were trying to insert it. Or was the Mixamp optical port just too tight?

 

[Makiah S]

Quote:

I have a 2011 Mixamp and the TOSLINK port has a small detachable rubber plug covering it rather than the standard flap door. I took off the plug on my Mixamp and the TOSLINK port matches the picture. That said, it probably doesn't come with the plug. I don't know how much of a good idea it is to leave a TOSLINK port exposed since they're usually covered. It may be due to light or dust sensitivity reasons... but I have no idea.

You know what, I have no Idea still what the heck an Mixamp is... aboviosuly it's an Amp but is it another DIY'r creation being sold to the ENTIRE world?

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

So my SA-31 came in. Looks like it gave the 600ohm the extra push I wanted.

It's not a night and day difference (think less than 10%), but it has more body than the E9K, and it helped the 600ohm DT990s fill out the way I wanted them to.

All this shows me is that don't expect SS amps to vary wildly in sound. A subtle eq of anything will make more of a difference.

 

[Evshrug]

Quote:

You know what, I have no Idea still what the heck an Mixamp is... aboviosuly it's an Amp but is it another DIY'r creation being sold to the ENTIRE world?

first page.
It's a virtual surround sound processor, made by Astro Gaming, recently aquired by Skullcandy.
 
Mad,
Is the SA-31 purely an SS amp, or a tube-hybrid like the Shiit Lyr you had before? Do you think that the SA-31 brought out the bass enough n the 600 ohm DT990 like you had hoped? Like I'd say the Q701 is 10% different from the AD700, but I value the difference 60% more enjoyable.


I find it fascinating that I have to turn my mom's receiver (not mine, which is packed in a box) up to -10dB to get a normal listening volume on my Q701. That's near the receiver's max setting, and some background hiss is audible. Sounds pretty good otherwise, though.

 

[chicolom]

Quote:

Like I'd say the Q701 is 10% different from the AD700, but I value the difference 60% more enjoyable.

 
LOL, only 10% difference between Q701 and AD700?  That's pretty conservative.
 
I'd say 10% difference is more like the AD900/AD700 or K702/Q701.

 

[Evshrug]

Quote:

 
LOL, only 10% difference between Q701 and AD700?  That's pretty conservative.
 
I'd say 10% difference is more like the AD900/AD700 or K702/Q701.

Well, when you count that they are both headphones and both make sounds... overall I think they're mostly similar except for the better bass preference and fit difference. These things are very unscientific, that's why this was the first time I put an arbitrary number to it

 

[I95North]

So my SA-31 came in. Looks like it gave the 600ohm the extra push I wanted.
It's not a night and day difference (think less than 10%), but it has more body than the E9K, and it helped the 600ohm DT990s fill out the way I wanted them to.
All this shows me is that don't expect SS amps to vary wildly in sound. A subtle eq of anything will make more of a difference.

I'm not sure if you sent the 250 ohms back or not but if not which of the two headsets do you like best with the more powerful amp??..

Also don't get rid of the amp it's always better to have more power than not enough. Obviously with more than enough power and a volume knob of course you can control the power but it sucks to not have enough and have to make yet another purchase because the volume knob came up short..

Nice amp btw..

 

[DaanaltheNoob]

Help a noob out here. 
 
I want to get the DT770 Pros, and I was going to get the 80 ohm version (the one that is covered here), but I found the 250 ohm version for cheaper. How good is the 250 ohm version for gaming/music? I'm going to be using it for listening to music on my Galaxy S2, playing TF2 and listening to music on my Dell Latitude XT3, and playing games on my Xbox 360. Do I need an amp? I think I will, I'm not sure (I want to use Dolby Headphone when I'm gaming). If I do, I'd like to keep the price well down, as I'm maxing out my budget for these. Recommendations are welcome. 
 
Also, is it possible to turn down the bass for gaming, and crank it up for music?

 

[Evshrug]

Help a noob out here. 

I want to get the DT770 Pros, and I was going to get the 80 ohm version (the one that is covered here), but I found the 250 ohm version for cheaper. How good is the 250 ohm version for gaming/music? I'm going to be using it for listening to music on my Galaxy S2, playing TF2 and listening to music on my Dell Latitude XT3, and playing games on my Xbox 360. Do I need an amp? I think I will, I'm not sure (I want to use Dolby Headphone when I'm gaming). If I do, I'd like to keep the price well down, as I'm maxing out my budget for these. Recommendations are welcome. 

Also, is it possible to turn down the bass for gaming, and crank it up for music?

Both will probably benefit from an amp... A FiiO E9k would power either plenty, and the FiiO E11 would probably do an adaquate job as well. MLE knows this better than me. If you already have a receiver for your home theater, that will probably be an adaquate amp as well... I don't think the DT770 is the kind of headphone you want to wear while walking down the street anyway.

It is possible to turn down bass, IMO it hurts a SQ less than boosting it, but you'll need an amp or processor that'll offer an equalizer setting for reduced bass... not very common. The Recon3D has a full 12-band graphical equalizer you can adjust from your PC, but FWIR I think only the THX TruStudio Pro settings can be saved and used with an Xbox360. So you could reduce the bass for TF2 and any other computer games you play, but I'm not sure that carries over to the console.

If you want to use Dolby Headphone or another virtual surround processor, that will be another $70-$140 buying new to budget for. Mad Lust Envy pointed out a little processor from Monoprice that isn't too expensive yet shows promise.

I got by for a long time with just a nice headphone playing in standard stereo. You could choose to max out your budget on nice, long term headphones and add a surround processor or amp later, or you could also get cheap-but-cheerful headphones plus a processor to get most of the full effect, upgrade your headphone later. If you're considering the 2nd route, you can take a chance on a used Turtle Beach DSS on eBay (I've read several people say the DSS is good, but has a background hiss), or PM Head-Fi'er Nameless PFG about buying his barely used Recon3D off him, which is what I use and enjoy. Koss KSC 75 are great for their very low price, and work pretty well with virtual surround processing (I've borrowed the KSC75 I bought for my GF several times to use with my Recon3D).

Good Luck have fun!

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

There is a big difference between the 770 Pro 80 and 250. The Pro 80 has a lot more bass. The 250 is known to be pretty balanced and is basically identical to the Premium 250 with more clamp. The Pro 80 is the only one known to have its own sound signature, in that its curve is different.

I cant speak of the Pro 250, but the 80 ohm is the easiest Beyer to drive out of all I've used. They still need an amp unless you like your bass extra sloppy.

 

[Evshrug]

By the way MLE,
Are you of the opinion that the Dolby Headphone vs CMSS3D YouTube video in Crysis 2 is not representative of DH in general? DH sounded a lot like Yamaha's silent cinema to me in that vid, CMSS3D a little less "3D" but more natural and less like the environment is always a living room-sized concrete cell (with a bigger subwoofer)

Btw DH fit the atmosphere of Bioshock perfectly!

Chicolom,
Yeah, I know, weird to reply via an edit in a post before yours, but oh well...
Positioning was indeed believable for both, though I thought CMSS3D didn't echo as much nor sound as artificial. Things did seem more weighty in DH though. And I'm not saying DH is definitively echoey, though if anyone else thinks it usually IS pretty distinctly twice-played sounds, I would be interested to hear it.

I haven't heard SC in like a month, the only impressions I remember was that reflections/echos were apparent, and the Recon3D sounds more refined and my preference.

 

[chicolom]

Quote:

By the way MLE,
Are you of the opinion that the Dolby Headphone vs CMSS3D YouTube video in Crysis 2 is not representative of DH in general? DH sounded a lot like Yamaha's silent cinema to me in that vid, CMSS3D a little less "3D" but more natural and less like the environment is always a living room-sized concrete cell (with a bigger subwoofer)

 
Not really, because Crysis 2 is naturally an abnormally echoey game.  I've played through Crysis 2 several times, and it's just an echoey game (more than most).  Dolby headphone does add a little of it's own echo, but what your hearing for the most part in that demo is Crysis 2's default echo - so that part isn't representative. 
 
The positioning seemed OK though.
 
I've used silent cinema in the past, and the positioning seemed lacking compared to Dolby Headphone. 

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

The Crysis vid was a horrible demo for DH. Sounded like dh room 20 STADIUM with all that reverb. No, avoid linking DH with that vid.