[1Time]

~$42 Headphones: Philips HP910 - best prices are on eBay and Buy.com

~$28 Sound Card: XS71 Diamond Xtremesound XS71

~$70 Total

Other:

My system: Windows XP SP3

Cmedia drivers 8768_20051116

The HP910 can be enjoyed stock or modified in various ways.

 

[driftingbunnies]

yay?

 

[MrGreen]

Other equipment?
Genres?

Details, baby.

 

[timmyGCSE]

naa but seriously glad you're happy with such a cheap setup, loving my £35 RX700's into a skanked Audigy Platinum. Not quite as much as the 13's but its good

 

[1Time]

For music I'm currently stuck on listening to classic rock because it's so intoxicating. Other than that it's also my favorite for movies and TV.

OK, the headphones that recall owning, none of them well amped:

Sennheiser
HD580 modded
HD650 modded
HD555
HD595
HD280
PX100

JVC
RX700 modded
RX900 modded
DX1

Ultrasone
Proline 650

DBI
Pro705

Creative
Aurvana Live! modded

Beyerdynamic
DT770 Pro / 250

JBL
410 modded

Koss
A130
KSC75 modded

Grado
SR80

Audio-Technica
A900
AD700

 

[tisb0b]

Lucky person you can be satisfied for only $70 and haven't fallen down the slippery slope.

 

[1Time]

That's cheap person to you... I'm mean frugal person... lol.
Quote:

Originally Posted by tisb0b /img/forum/go_quote.gif Lucky person you can be satisfied for only $70 and haven't fallen down the slippery slope.

 

[Punnisher]

Cool, but you should total the entire cost of your PC into the final price.

 

[1Time]

The $70 headphone rig works with any PC regardless of its cost.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Punnisher /img/forum/go_quote.gif Cool, but you should total the entire cost of your PC into the final price.

 

[dspang]

My curiosity is piqued 1time. Could you give us some quick impressions of what this phone sounds like stock. I'm thinking about biting on these as a budget phone freak.

 

[Il Mostro]

You are fortunate to be completely satisfied with such a modestly priced set-up. And it only took you 3,810 posts to reach that point.

 

[donunus]

I too have always noticed these Philips cans to be highly praised. There was a review a long time ago by Jan Meier preferring Philips over Grados for instance

 

[iPoodz]

Looks like the ATH-AD300/500/700/900s, which implies unbeatable comfort.

I just bought a pair of AD500s, hopefully they are as good as these Philips ones.

I'm curious to hear impressions/comparisons from anyone who has owned these.

 

[Sasahara]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1Time /img/forum/go_quote.gif OK, the headphones that recall owning, none of them well amped:

Sorry, don't mean to be picky but that could well be the problem. Have you tried using any decent amps?

 

[1Time]

To me it sounds like the offspring of a Grado and an Ultrasone. And when modded and used with the XS71 sound card and 2005 drivers, it sounds like it's on some heavy steroids... lol.

I recommend the HP910 if wanting aggressive sounding headphones, you will mod it, and you will use it with the XS71 sound card and 2005 drivers. That's the $70 combo that does it for me (although I only paid $12 for my XS71). Otherwise you get something else.

My HP910 sounds different / better now than when new. At first I ran it un-modded from the XS71 sound card but with a different driver. I soon determined it should benefit from modding. That improved things. Then I ran it modded like this: 0404 PCI > Presonus HP4 amp > 300 Ohm resistor > HP910. That helped. Then I sold that equipment, modded the HP910 for less bass, and went back to using the XS71 but with the 2005 drivers. MUCH better. I'll still tweak the mod later, but for now it's too much fun.

Lesson learned from this is synergy and preference. I MUCH prefer how my modded HP910 sounds now from the XS71 and these drivers. When I first switched to this latest rig, the bass was messed up, the highs were etched, and the mids shallow. Then gradually it changed while I listened for a couple hours or so to how it sounds now. It was adapting and burning in to the XS71 and drivers. If buying new, I suggest expecting a longer burn-in period than this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dspang /img/forum/go_quote.gif My curiosity is piqued 1time. Could you give us some quick impressions of what this phone sounds like stock. I'm thinking about biting on these as a budget phone freak.