[chicolom]

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All this DSLR talk reminds me of how even the more affordable models still cost hundreds, not including lenses. Too rich for my blood right now.
 
I'm still more concerned about the input lag than anything; the research I've done on nice plasma panels like the Panasonic VT50 reveals that they have over a frame of input lag, and the less I think about those LG plasmas over at the university game room, the better. (People somehow play fighting games on those things without complaining too much about the blatantly obvious input lag...) I go look up displays with low input lag, as in 16ms or less, and they're almost all LCDs.
 

 
 
I know what you mean

 
I finally got my first Dslr about 2-3 months ago (Canon T2i). Slowly collecting some lenses for it, but OMG it is expensive.  Except for a few cheap kit lenses and some primes, pretty much every lenses costs more than the camera itself. 
 
It makes head-fi look affordable

 
Still, you can get great shots without a DSLR.  I have a soft spot for digital super zooms, and I've gotten some nice shots with those types of camera. 
 
It's nice to see some of the manufacturers putting some bigger sensors in the cameras outside their DSLR lines.
 
 
I'm sure the list of HDTVs with input lag < 16ms is pretty small.   I think input lag is just something modern gamers have gotten used to.  Espeically when you mix it in with online lag - they probably don't notice it much.
 

 
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I plan to order the AD700 headphones for now, may change at a later date. 
 
-I plan to buy a magni amp as voice chat is a must for me...

 
Do NOT get the Magni amp for the AD700.  They will blow up.
 
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No. I believe my problem was the Astro usb cable. I stopped using it, and it worked again.

 
Should have used some garbage monoprice ones.

 

[nassq8]

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Hey guys
 
Been looking for a good pair of headphones to use while gaming and after a few weeks of deliberation I think the Q701 may be the one for me.
 
I plan to use it in conjunction with this soundcard on my Gigabyte-Z77M-D3H, http://www.ebuyer.com/345387-creative-soundblaster-recon3d-pci-express-bulk-version-for-system-builders-no-cd-30sb135000000 
 
Will this setup grant me Dolby Digital Live/surround sound access with the Q701 and also with my 5.1 Logitech Z506? Mostly planning to utilise this in Battlefield 3. 
 
Finally I'm still deliberating over what amp to use; leaning towards an E17 or Magni, any advice on that?

 
[size=10pt]Dolby Digital Live (DDL) needs a Dolby decoder like home theater receiver or some sort of stand along decoder like Mixamp. For your headphone, use the Mixamp to decode the DDL signal and enjoy HP surround sound. But this is not doable for your speaker system, which is based on an analog audio. [/size][size=10pt]Your speaker setup, however, can be easily handled by the soundcard you listed above through its analog outputs. For the HP amp, I use[/size][size=10.0pt] audio-gd NFB15.32 to drive my HE-500. It works very well for the price. It delivers the power needed for this hard-to-drive phones.  [/size]
 
[size=10.0pt]And ya thanks Mad for the effort you put here. It helped a lot in the deciding process of HP buyers.  [/size]

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

So I've watched some movies with the Annie and HE400. It's a pretty decisive lead for the HE400 in terms of movie theater sound and immersion. The bass is just incredibly deep and throaty. The Annie has a very balanced sound with good body in the bass but not on the HE400s level for action movies.

The Annie's soundstage is soooo much better than the HE400s, and the vocals and balance trumps the HE400. I'd say this is my non-action movie headphone for sure, and I would love them even for action movies (I do), but the HE400 is more satisfying in that aspect.

So I still have a good place for the HE400 (I'm sure action gamesas well, and my specific genres of music).

If/when the Philips X1 comes out, I may swap out, but I don't see myself selling the HE400 for any other reason.

 

[Hailin]

Quote:

So I've watched some movies with the Annie and HE400. It's a pretty decisive lead for the HE400 in terms of movie theater sound and immersion. The bass is just incredibly deep and throaty. The Annie has a very balanced sound with good body in the bass but not on the HE400s level for action movies.
The Annie's soundstage is soooo much better than the HE400s, and the vocals and balance trumps the HE400. I'd say this is my non-action movie headphone for sure, and I would love them even for that, but the HE400 is more satisfying in that aspect.

This is good news then. I guess I will be keeping my DT990s for action films.

 

[Caravet]

Quote:

 
[size=10pt]Dolby Digital Live (DDL) needs a Dolby decoder like home theater receiver or some sort of stand along decoder like Mixamp. For your headphone, use the Mixamp to decode the DDL signal and enjoy HP surround sound. But this is not doable for your speaker system, which is based on an analog audio. [/size][size=10pt]But , your speaker setup can be easily handled by the soundcard you listed above through its analog outputs. For the HP amp, I use[/size][size=10.0pt] audio-gd NFB15.32 to drive my HE-500. It works very well for the price. It delivers the power needed for this hard-to-drive phones.  [/size]
 
[size=10.0pt]And ya thanks Mad for the effort you put here. It helped a lot in the deciding process of HP buyers.  [/size]

Thanks, it's another £30 or so on the budget but if it's completely necessary for the surround sound then it will be done.
 
Think I've decided on the Xonar STX with the Matrix M stage for the SC&amp, anyone had any experience with this pairing on the Q701s?

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

The K702 Annie has just really open soundstage for movies through Dolby Headphone. Its ridiculous, really. Amazing. Its been awhile since ive heard the other two AKGs, but yeah, these are on par, really.

 

[SoAmusing777]

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Isn't it obvious? The GDM-FW900 is my primary PC monitor. Only a PC would really take advantage of its capabilities anyway. (2304x1440 at 80 Hz, and lower resolutions at up to 160 Hz, should give you an idea of why it's so sought-after.)
 
Getting consoles hooked up to it just happens to be a side bonus. No need to waste money on an HDTV when the FW900 could do the job.
 
 
Heh, camera sensor discussion...brings to mind all those Bayer vs. Foveon arguments. Too bad that Foveon sensors are only used by Sigma (with very few exceptions), and Sigma's DSLR offerings are hideously expensive, still behind in a few areas compared to the competition, and worst of all, use a proprietary SA lens mount, as if we didn't have enough competition between Canon EF, Pentax K, and whatever Nikon's using right now.
 
I thought that part of the reason green was favored to begin with, including giving it an extra bit of data over the red and blue channels with current RGB standards, is that the human eye is naturally more sensitive to green than the other additive primaries. Probably an instinctual thing for finding plants and whatnot.
 
Indeed, higher refresh rates are moot for consoles that were designed around 60 Hz displays anyway. PCs can get away with it because their performance isn't really fixed due to their nature, and also because PC CRT monitors were generally designed to run higher than 60 Hz. The best ones can max out at 160 Hz (most FD Trinitrons like the FW900), or even 180 Hz (certain Diamondtron NFs that I don't immediately recall at the moment).
 
I have no comments on Xbox 360 VGA cables; all I recall is that while Microsoft did offer an official one at launch, people complained about the brightness being way too high. I don't know if they fixed that in the numerous firmware overhauls they've released since.
 
As for how good higher refresh rates look, that really depends. Movies work differently than video games, the latter of which ALWAYS look better with higher framerates, especially when most games don't have any form of motion blur that obscures the jarring transitions between frames. Movie cameras obviously have the motion blur, so it looks more natural.
 
 
You struck the nail on the head with that underlined bit. The real benefit to be had is when the game in question is already running at over 60 FPS. It's pretty easy to do if you're a hardcore Quake or Unreal Tournament player with today's hardware that can run those games in excess of 120 FPS constantly, and fast-paced shooters like that really benefit from the extra visible frames.
 
People tend to think that higher refresh rates were just to eliminate flicker from CRTs; apparently, they didn't consider the smoother motion benefits, probably because they're not competitive PC gamers. Then again, there are plenty of people who foolishly believe you can't see more than 24-30 FPS, while I can clearly perceive the added smoothness between 60 and about 90-100 FPS on a display that can actually refresh that fast.
 
Also important to know is that refresh rates, response time, and input lag are all completely separate things. High response time on LCDs does make higher refresh rates pointless if the frames are all blurred together like someone held down the shutter on a camera too long, but low response times do not equal high refresh rates. Meanwhile, input lag is the delay between when the display receives the signal and when it actually starts to render the signal on its surface; it's from that point that the response time starts.

Just making sure. Yup, I can totally understand. Which HDfury should I get if I wanted to use the PS3 with this monitor? The 3rd Hdfury? Any need to get the 4th?

 

[NamelessPFG]

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Just making sure. Yup, I can totally understand. Which HDfury should I get if I wanted to use the PS3 with this monitor? The 3rd Hdfury? Any need to get the 4th? What the crap is that other port besides the VGA port though?

 
From what I can tell, the latest HDFury models do add some neat features, but the older ones are still available if you don't need those features and want to keep the cost down. The first one does have some sort of horizontal image shifting issue, but the GDM-FW900's geometry controls are versatile enough to sort that out, in all likeliness.
 
The HDFury4/3DFury might be useful if you intend to play PS3 games in 3D. My knowledge of PS3 3D support over HDMI is rather limited, but I would think that it could output a frame-interleaved 120 Hz 720p signal, and the 3DFury will just page-flip the alternating frames on the monitor, just like how NVIDIA 3D Vision works.
 
BNC jacks are something you will never see outside of professional video equipment, in all likeliness. It's not just a single port, but five discrete jacks for each component of the video signal. Really, they just transmit the same RGBHV signals that a DE-15 VGA cable will, although the VGA input also uses EDID pins that the five BNC jacks can't account for, thus connecting a PC to the BNC inputs with a VGA-to-BNC cable will cause it to be seen as a "Generic Non-PnP Monitor", and your resolution options will be significantly limited. (Nothing over 1600x1200, for starters.) I don't think that'll be a problem for HDFury use, though.
 
Eventually, you'll learn to make the distinction between the signal/protocol and the connector it is transmitted through. DE-15/VGA, BNC, and SCART are very different connectors, but all carry the same basic form of RGB video (with minor differences in how the sync signals are handled).

 

[SoAmusing777]

Quote:

 
From what I can tell, the latest HDFury models do add some neat features, but the older ones are still available if you don't need those features and want to keep the cost down. The first one does have some sort of horizontal image shifting issue, but the GDM-FW900's geometry controls are versatile enough to sort that out, in all likeliness.
 
The HDFury4/3DFury might be useful if you intend to play PS3 games in 3D. My knowledge of PS3 3D support over HDMI is rather limited, but I would think that it could output a frame-interleaved 120 Hz 720p signal, and the 3DFury will just page-flip the alternating frames on the monitor, just like how NVIDIA 3D Vision works.
 
BNC jacks are something you will never see outside of professional video equipment, in all likeliness. It's not just a single port, but five discrete jacks for each component of the video signal. Really, they just transmit the same RGBHV signals that a DE-15 VGA cable will, although the VGA input also uses EDID pins that the five BNC jacks can't account for, thus connecting a PC to the BNC inputs with a VGA-to-BNC cable will cause it to be seen as a "Generic Non-PnP Monitor", and your resolution options will be significantly limited. (Nothing over 1600x1200, for starters.) I don't think that'll be a problem for HDFury use, though.
 
Eventually, you'll learn to make the distinction between the signal/protocol and the connector it is transmitted through. DE-15/VGA, BNC, and SCART are very different connectors, but all carry the same basic form of RGB video (with minor differences in how the sync signals are handled).

All right, thank you. What happens when this monitor starts going out though? Also, would I need to get anything along with the HDfury? Gamma-X?

 

[PurpleAngel]

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Thanks, it's another £30 or so on the budget but if it's completely necessary for the surround sound then it will be done.
 
Think I've decided on the Xonar STX with the Matrix M stage for the SC&amp, anyone had any experience with this pairing on the Q701s?

If your getting the Asus Xonar Essence STX sound card, can't see why you would need to get the Matrix M stage?

 

[chicolom]

Quote:

If your getting the Asus Xonar Essence STX sound card, can't see why you would need to get the Matrix M stage?

 
Ya, I was going to say the same thing earlier but I forgot.
 
The STX is already pretty powerful (I think I read it's similar to an E9), so I doubt an M-stage is needed.

 

[Sleinzel]

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Thanks, it's another £30 or so on the budget but if it's completely necessary for the surround sound then it will be done.
 
Think I've decided on the Xonar STX with the Matrix M stage for the SC&amp, anyone had any experience with this pairing on the Q701s?

 
I have Xonar ST with Q701 and with HD650.
 
The amping of the Xonar ST is good enough to power even HD650.... In Q701, I do not get past 20% Volume in windows with High Gain setting (64-300ohm)

 

[Impulse]

My STX works great with my 250 ohm DT 880 too, that card is a great little value for a PC DAC/amp combo, specially if you can get it on sale for like $150.

 

[Caravet]

Thanks guys, the Matrix M-Stage was only meant to be a follow up if the STX didn't prove enough - conveniently enough the M-Stage was only available for me to buy after I had both the stx & q701.
 
Finally though there is one more barrier before I break out the plastic. I've heard that a X-Fi Titanium HD might be suited to gaming over the STX - although I'd be tempted to disregard this based on a couple of Creative cards I had in this past (although this would be under a decade ago now) that didn't live up to expectations.
 
In addition for my setup will I need any extra cables? On the back of my sub there are both 3.5mm and RCA connectors - could I use a splitter with the sub & Q701 to boost it a little? Would all these cables fit okay into the card? Do I need any optical/toslink cables?

 

[Jhalf]

Well, my 702 Annies will be here today (Thanks MLE for all the great recommendations). Im super pumped. I'm going to go to Microcenter after work to get a Xonar STX until my M-Stage gets here on order from Amazon. Then I will most likely return the STX for the DGX (Just for the optical out with encoded Dobly Headphone) and pic up a nice DAC that has a optical in.
 
I really wanted to spring for the WA6, but just couldn't feel right about spending that kind of money for my first amp.
 
Also i just realized that my G35s use Dobly Headphone, so I am anxious to see how the annies compare. I will also post comparisons between the STX/M-stage when i get all of it.
 
MLE, are the 990/600 ohms a good contrasting pair of cans for the Annies? Might pick up 990s with a OTL tube amp next for some contrast.