[Evshrug]

Hey everyone. I read the entire first post of this thread which was very informative, thank you MLE. I've made my decision as to what headphones I was going to get (he-400), but I'm not sure which virtual surround device is right for me. They all seem to have pretty big cons. I'm looking for something that sounds great above all else, and wired if possible. Most of the devices don't seem to decode DTS natively. The Beyerdynamic seems to have everything but yeah, little pricy.

What I'm wondering is, if I don't mind paying a little extra and getting a receiver (I have to get a new receiver for my home theater anyway), would an AV receiver that supports virtual surround do a decent job? Which would produce the best sound quality? One of the virtual surround device listed at the beginning of this thread like the Astro mixamp pro, or a Yamaha/Harman Kardon receiver? Would love to hear opinions from those who have tried both.

A receiver is a totally valid choice. You get a high-current headphone amp, lots of power for speakers, Dolby 5.1 and DTS surround codec support (and more variants of those), bass and treble equalizers, remote-control, and, of course, radio reception! That's where receivers got their name from anyway, receiving radio. A good value you can live with and add to. I mean, so long as we're not talking about the cheapo receivers that come as part of a HTIB kit (home theater in a box; you know, the kind that usually come with a built-in DVD or Blu-Ray player, 5 cheap and small bookshelf speakers, and mud-slinging flabby subwoofers?). I bet most manufacturers have their own headphone surround processing now. I can't tell you for sure if that's because they didn't want to pay licenses for Dolby Headphone anymore, or if they thought they could do better. Since they already pay for Dolby and DTS decoding for the speakers... I think there's something more to it than just dropping DH because of overhead cost. I wonder what Denon uses, I see their refurbished receivers for a nice price all the time.

PurpleAngel and I have Yamaha receivers, and their Silent Cinema virtual surround for headphones is respectable. There certainly are a lot of options for tailoring the sound. If I didn't have to have a discreet setup in my bedroom, I would've just stuck with mine, but as it happens I personally prefer my Creative Recon3D USB instead of Silent Cinema because it "echos" less to my ears, but both have effects that "work." I will note that while my AKG Q701s were/are driven great by the receiver, the Recon3D's built-in amp had to be nearly maxed out. Adding a discreet amp (a tube amp) has really filled in the sound from the Recon3D, but you wouldn't have to buy an extra thing for the Receiver (or with easy to drive headphones).

 

[zaggynl]

Hi, I'm looking for a soundcard replacement or amp/dac advice for the Sennheiser HD650 headphones.
As it has 300Ohm impedance I will need a decent separate amp or should replace my soundcard.

I'm currently using the following setup:
PC with Creative X-Fi XtremeGamer soundcard and Sennheiser HD239 headphones with Antlion Modmic.
I have a 5.1 surround set connected to my soundcard at the moment and my headset connects into the surround set, the mic plugs directly into the back into the soundcard.
Sound is good, mic is okay, can't up volume with "mic +20dB Boost" on mic as white noise will creep in.

I've read about a number of soundcards and amps but I'm not sure what to pick.

Have had issues with the Creative drivers, currently using the Daniel_k drivers and they seem okay.
Reading up on the Xonar Essence drivers they seem to have gone the same way.
I have zero experience with amps or seperate dacs.
Location: The Netherlands, Europe.


edit:spelling.

 

[Evshrug]

Zaggyni,

To be honest, it sounds like you already know more than most of the people here. This is more of a "headphone gaming guide" than a guide or thread about amps/soundcards. You'll probably get a more complete response at Nameless' PC gaming thread: http://www.head-fi.org/forum/newestpost/593050

People who do have a good sense about soundcards and DACs do occasionally come by this thread, but like I said, NamelessPFG's thread is a more appropriate place to ask.

As a general piece of advice, I'd suggest getting a separate amp to depend on rather than a do-all soundcard. There are a number of reasons for this, such as power, versatility, and noise filtering, but the biggest is that the amp will always be useful, but computer hardware often changes or burns out.

 

[zaggynl]

Zaggyni,
To be honest, it sounds like you already know more than most of the people here. This is more of a "headphone gaming guide" than a guide or thread about amps/soundcards. You'll probably get a more complete response at Nameless' PC gaming thread: http://www.head-fi.org/forum/newestpost/593050
People who do have a good sense about soundcards and DACs do occasionally come by this thread, but like I said, NamelessPFG's thread is a more appropriate place to ask.
As a general piece of advice, I'd suggest getting a separate amp to depend on rather than a do-all soundcard. There are a number of reasons for this, such as power, versatility, and noise filtering, but the biggest is that the amp will always be useful, but computer hardware often changes or burns out.

Thanks for the advice, I'll post over at the suggested topic!

 

[Evshrug]

Thanks for the advice, I'll post over at the suggested topic!

No problem, hope I didn't sound unfriendly... I just wanted you to know there's a thread focused on your type of question.

 

[zaggynl]

No problem, hope I didn't sound unfriendly... I just wanted you to know there's a thread focused on your type of question.

Not at all, I'm happy to get any pointers at all!

 

[Youcan1]

Quote:

The review that someone linked to above said there were problems with certain xbox controllers (if this is the case, I'll be keeping it and for newbies this would be an awesome way to get into the world of DH, with some upgradability). I will try a couple of different controllers tomorrow when I am messing with it more and see if that helps or not. Anything you guys want to know/see about the headset itself?
 
-Erik

 
Have you listened to any music on it? How is the sound of just the headset itself without the processing unit?

 

[chicolom]

Quote:

 
As far as game SQ, if the Astro mixamp is a 10, this is probably an ~8.5 when set on the music setting. When on default setting, it seems VERY muddy, and even on the music setting there is slight muddiness and the rear cues seem lacking. These will most likely be getting returned due to the Xbox Live feedback..
 

 
I don't know why the monoprice decoder would be muddy.  I mean, if it's using the same dobly headphone algorithm as everything else it should nearly the same.  The turtle Beach DSS basically sounds identical to the mixamp apart from noise floor differences, and that is what I would expect from the monoprice decoder.  I don't think the amp hardware could screw up the sound enough to make it "VERY muddy", so perhaps it has some extra processing enabled ontop of the DH that needs to be disabled (?).
 

 

 

[burritoboy9984]

Quote:

Other than the controller feedback, do you hear any hiss or buzzing?
Can you test it on a ps3 too?

 
I never use my ps3, hasn't been hooked up in ages, don't think I have any games to test with, sorry.
 
Quote:

 
Have you listened to any music on it? How is the sound of just the headset itself without the processing unit?

 
I'm not really a music person, but for gaming they did alright when paired with the mixamp, surprisingly open soundstage for a closed headset. I currently only have a PC360 and AD700 to compare to, so I don't find a comparison to be fair.
 
Quote:

 
I don't know why the monoprice decoder would be muddy.  I mean, if it's using the same dobly headphone algorithm as everything else it should nearly the same.  The turtle Beach DSS basically sounds identical to the mixamp apart from noise floor differences, and that is what I would expect from the monoprice decoder.  I don't think the amp hardware could screw up the sound enough to make it "VERY muddy", so perhaps it has some extra processing enabled ontop of the DH that needs to be disabled (?).
 

 

 
It sounded MUCH cleaner on music mode. Regardless, the rears still seemed majorly lacking (even when paired with the AD700's or PC360's). When I switched the switch from PC -> AMP on the inline controller, I begun to notice a TON of static, even when the volume was all the way down on every adjustment, the static was still present. But it did seem like the AMP setting helped out positioning slightly, but again, it was hard to tell due to the static. When switching back and forth with the mixamp, you can tell how much more open and precise everything sounds.
 
Build quality is on par with other Monoprice items, not the best, but pretty darn good. They give you a TON of cables and goodies. You should be able to hook this up to anything.
 
Due to my frustration with the constant static, I hit up Monoprice chat, and they say it might be defective. So they are RMA'ing it, and I'll update you guys when I get the new one in to see if I am plagued by the same problems.
 
As of now, if you don't plan on using this to chat with, I think this is still an excellent deal, that provides upgradability in the future. Who knows, maybe my unit is all jacked up, and I'll be blown away by the replacement, time will tell.
 
-Erik

 

[Gallade475]

Quote:

I am playing around with the Philips Fidelio X1 since a few days and I am pleasantly surprised
- it's very very comfortable, it's number 2 for me behind HD 800 - I can't say though that the HD 800 is really better in that regard - I can wear the X1 for hours and hours and not want to take them off
- the material is of high quality, the whole build is well designed and crafted - kudos to Philips
- soundstage isn't HD 800 (I don't think headphones need to be as in this case it's awesome for gaming) like but it's pretty good nonetheless and especially important: it's spacious with great positioning - rear channels are on spot.
- no zingy or harsh treble, it's pretty smooth, it's actually astonishingly good
-mids are clear and beautiful, it's no LCD-2 or HD800 but those comparisons are unfair of course. They are better than T90/DT990/DT880/Ultrasones below Signature Pro, HE-400 as well.
-bass is prominent and very fun
I think this X1 is the new "bang for the buck" king

how much and what parts of the x1 are plastic
 
And can someone take one for the team and test the dss2?

 

[Youcan1]

Quote:

I'm not really a music person, but for gaming they did alright when paired with the mixamp, surprisingly open soundstage for a closed headset. I currently only have a PC360 and AD700 to compare to, so I don't find a comparison to be fair.
 
 
As of now, if you don't plan on using this to chat with, I think this is still an excellent deal, that provides upgradability in the future. Who knows, maybe my unit is all jacked up, and I'll be blown away by the replacement, time will tell.
 
-Erik

I hope so. My order is on the way along with my Koss KSC75, so I'll give both sets a shot with the decoder and see how they work. I still think I might order the Technical Pro HPT990/Takstar 2050 just to see how all these different types of headphones sound for myself. Thanks again for the info.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Dunno about you guys, but to make the KSC75 sound better, bend the metal clips inward so has to put the drivers closer to your ears. Last one I bought was quite separated from my ears, losing some SQ. I bent in (carefully), so it'd be a tighter fit.

 

[chicolom]

Quote:

Dunno about you guys, but to make the KSC75 sound better, bend the metal clips inward so has to put the drivers closer to your ears. Last one I bought was quite separated from my ears, losing some SQ. I bent in (carefully), so it'd be a tighter fit.

 
Yep, I do that all the time. 

 

[Hente]

If I want to get full efficiency from the Mixamp, will I need to have a motherboard with optical out?

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

If I want to get full efficiency from the Mixamp, will I need to have a motherboard with optical out?

To full use surround sound with the Mix-amp. and a motherboard, the motherboard need to have optical output and also DDL (Dolby Digital live).
Or just get an Asus Xonar DG ($27, PCI) or DGX ($39.99, PCI-E) sound card, then you would not even need to use the Mix-amp.
The Xonar DG/DGX comes with a half-way decent headphone amplifier and Dolby Headphone 5.1 surround sound.