[Groznyjgrad]

Any love for the T50p? I've heard that the DT1350/T50p mirror the Amperior/HD25-1 II relationship.

 

[potatoqueue]

There's a T51p already (successor of the T50p). I got to listen to it when buying DT 1350. IIRC, it's not neutral, more base, more aggressive, more fun. Less clamping force and it feels like you're almost not wearing anything. The pads are also softer and more comfortable. I'm not sure whether or not it's still gonna be comfortable after long hours of wear since it's an on-ear. If I could've tried it for long hours before purchasing, I would've bought it over DT 1350 for comfort purposes (I'd give neutrality away for comfort)

 

[TheVertigoIndex]

Some searching tells me that placing velour HD25 pads over the 1350's improves comfort but would they still fit over the larger stock pads on the facelift model? How do Beyer's own velour pads compare in comfort and sound quality? I can't seem to find many opinions over them.

 

[ekaknr]

Hello Guys !
 
First off, Happy New Year to everyone here !!
 
(Although, I have questions to ask, I will give a little review and comparison to my previous headphone if it could help other people like me. )
 
I'm a new member here, and I have some questions about improving my listening experience with the DT 1350, which I bought 5 days back. This was an upgrade for me over the DT 235 headphones, which I really like as well. The main reason I bought the DT 1350 was because of their immense popularity, build quality, and because they are so well known for noise isolation, which is really important for me as I live right beside the main road here, with continuous traffic noise. So far, I'm really pleased ~ I can't hear the traffic at all with the music on, and only slightly with the music OFF. Also, in the University Library, even though its supposed to be silent - everyone has a laptop and they keep on clicking and clicking - its a nightmare. That, and people keep coming and going, and while the whole set up is brought out (books, laptops, phones, removing coats, etc), its non stop disturbance. But now, these phones have made those sounds disappear - which is incredible for me. I'm pretty sure now I made the right move by buying these over Bose QC 20, which were my initial choice (and so damn expensive ! - but hey, it was a tradeoff to have some peace and calm). Also, I had no option to try the Bose OR the Beyer - all I had were reviews - here and amazon, innerfidelity and elsewhere.
So, first of all, I use an iPod touch 4G (never tried amps or other stuff).. and I listen to classical music (Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Vivaldi, Mussorgsky, Joe Hisaishi) - but very limited number of songs - its not like I have any substantial number of songs by these composers, and also anime music(Naruto, One Piece), Game Soundtracks (Assassin's Creed series), some calm minimal piano music. Those are all in lossless CD quality, which I have on my iPod in ALAC format. Other than that, I have music in much lower quality which I'm currently not listening to much. I do listen to vocals as well, except not right now because I'm a student and vocals dont work for background music while studying.
Compared to the DT 235, I can clearly hear new sounds showing up - I didnt think those background instruments existed, but after very careful listening I see that the DT 235 did have those sounds, but they were muffled, and almost inaudible - which I had to struggle to bring up, by raising the volume very high on my iPod. The DT 1350, on the other hand, shows a lot more detail - which really impresses me. The violins, the bass instruments sound good in the classical genre, but like many people said before (which I thought was interesting), the soundstage seems small - atleast compared to the DT 235. Oh well, I got my isolation ! The clamping force was really strong in the beginning, but I'm not one to give up just coz of that, and I endured a bit ~ and now, already the comfort has increased, and the pads seem to have become softer if that makes sense ?  I can keep it ON for 3 hours straight. Although, putting on the DT 235 is crazy coz its become so much looser than it used to be !
Ok, so, on New Years, I went and tried the Cambridge Audio Dacmagic XS at Richer Sounds - just to see if they make any difference. From my laptop, I listened consecutively to my laptop's headphone output and the DAC's output - and boy was there a difference ! After the DAC, the laptop sound just sounded too bad. Although, the iPod still sounds okay - which I'm grateful for. I was really surprised to know that my laptop soundcard (c220 series intel chipset hd audio - something called ViaHDAudio) could handle 192 Khz/24 bit stuff - which doesn't make any sense to me. Why the hell is the quality that bad then ?
Now, I set a goal to buy a decent DAC/Amp so I can listen to good music both on my laptop, as well as my iPod, on the move. I understand that it needs to be a 2-in-1 device. I found only Fiio E07k, E17, and E18 fit this description. I can't try any of these devices in any shop, although I'd love that.
So, here's the question - Can anyone tell me how the Fiio E07k fits my cause ? Also, how the Fiio fares against the Dacmagic XS in terms of sound quality - if thats a reasonable question?
 
Sorry about such a long FIRST post ! Please advise me and correct my understanding of anything I've said.
Cheers !

 

[autoexec]

Hi,
I being an owner of an E17 can attest that it pairs with DT 1350 decently. Too bad it's my only usb DAC right now so I don't have any comparison. But I think I know what sounds good. For example I can easily tell if a certain DAP sounds good or not. E17 has a good sense of neutrality and a decent soundstage that DT 1350 can benefit. They just pair very well to me.

 

[krayziehustler]

I just got a pair of Dt 1350s and my first pair was bad (the left side was scratchy/distorted).
 
My original pair was ALL RUBBER, now I got my replacements and it has a satin like finish...are there 2 different models???

 

[ekaknr]

Originally Posted by autoexec
Hi,
I being an owner of an E17 can attest that it pairs with DT 1350 decently. Too bad it's my only usb DAC right now so I don't have any comparison. But I think I know what sounds good. For example I can easily tell if a certain DAP sounds good or not. E17 has a good sense of neutrality and a decent soundstage that DT 1350 can benefit. They just pair very well to me.

Thanks for the info ! I thought the E17 would be very good. I'm glad to hear it works well with the DT 1350. Although, I looked around and read a couple reviews (on FiiO's own website) and comparisons of E17 and the E07K. It seems that apart from the SPDIF input on the E17, and the ability to handle 192 KHz/24 bit (E07k handles 96/24) quality music, they are both nearly the same. This is why I thought E07K will suffice for me. I'm pretty sure I'd take quite some time to migrate to such high quality music (first I have to find where I can get that kind of music !).  I did download a few samples of 192K music which apparently play on my laptop (but not on the iPod).. but I seriously doubt my laptop's sound quality..

 

 

[ekaknr]

  I just got a pair of Dt 1350s and my first pair was bad (the left side was scratchy/distorted).
 
My original pair was ALL RUBBER, now I got my replacements and it has a satin like finish...are there 2 different models???

 
Hello,
Yes, there are two models. I think your first purchase was of the "facelift" edition, and now you might have the normal version (mine's the normal one). Apparently, the only differences between the two are the looks .

 

[devhen]

@ekaknr, good impressions. I agree, the 1350 has more detail than the 235 but has a smaller soundstage. Overall the 1350 is by far the better of the two but I agree with you, I quite like them both at their respective prices.
 
The E17 should work well for your needs. I would try to find a way to demo it before buying it to see if it provides a noticeable improvement like the DacMagic you tried did.
 
FYI, what bit depth / sample rate a sound card supports is not directly related to how good it sounds. There are tons of built-in sound cards out there that support 24bit/192khz but sound like crap. Similarly, there are a lot of great DACs out there that sound brilliant but only support up to 16bit/44.1khz. Even a 24bit/192khz file, in that example, will sound better on the DAC that is downsampling it to 16bit/44.1khz.

 

[ekaknr]

  @ekaknr, good impressions. I agree, the 1350 has more detail than the 235 but has a smaller soundstage. Overall the 1350 is by far the better of the two but I agree with you, I quite like them both at their respective prices.
 
The E17 should work well for your needs. I would try to find a way to demo it before buying it to see if it provides a noticeable improvement like the DacMagic you tried did.
 
FYI, what bit depth / sample rate a sound card supports is not directly related to how good it sounds. There are tons of built-in sound cards out there that support 24bit/192khz but sound like crap. Similarly, there are a lot of great DACs out there that sound brilliant but only support up to 16bit/44.1khz. Even a 24bit/192khz file, in that example, will sound better on the DAC that is downsampling it to 16bit/44.1khz.

Thank you for the response. Yup, I figured quality isnt all about numbers, the DT 235 is proof of that, I think (in this case, the number being the cost)

I was thinking the E07k would be sufficient, mainly because, many people have said it is very similar to the E17 (on this forum - example ). It would help me to save those extra £ 30. Now, I don't have optical connectors, so I can't make use of the extra features of the E17. Does the extra amplification power of the E17 over the E07k make any difference here ? I'm assuming amplification's purpose is to strengthen the signal properly without introducing distortions..If so, am I correct in thinking that although the DT 1350 has a moderately high impedance of 80 ohms (which is supposedly harder to drive compared to the 32 ohms of the DT 235), it can still do well without amplification from something like an iPod, thanks to much higher sensitivity(compared to the 235's 95 dB)... so the main concern is the sound quality difference between the E17 and the E07k - so how do they differ in performance playing 16 bit 48 KHz music ?

 

[devhen]

Thank you for the response. Yup, I figured quality isnt all about numbers, the DT 235 is proof of that, I think (in this case, the number being the cost)

I was thinking the E07k would be sufficient, mainly because, many people have said it is very similar to the E17 (on this forum - example ). It would help me to save those extra £ 30. Now, I don't have optical connectors, so I can't make use of the extra features of the E17. Does the extra amplification power of the E17 over the E07k make any difference here ? I'm assuming amplification's purpose is to strengthen the signal properly without introducing distortions..If so, am I correct in thinking that although the DT 1350 has a moderately high impedance of 80 ohms (which is supposedly harder to drive compared to the 32 ohms of the DT 235), it can still do well without amplification from something like an iPod, thanks to much higher sensitivity(compared to the 235's 95 dB)... so the main concern is the sound quality difference between the E17 and the E07k - so how do they differ in performance playing 16 bit 48 KHz music ?

 
Roughly, yeah, I agree with your assessment. Its always best to compare products directly to know for sure. Personally I would value the one with the higher powered amp slightly more just because with most headphones that do need amping its pretty much a case of the more the marrier. You're right, the DT1350's sensitivity makes it useful directly out of a portable device and you don't need a whole lot of amping for them but if, like me, you don't use a gain normalizing feature and some of your music is very quietly recorded (think old recording pre-loudness wars, classical/orchastral stuff, some live stuff) then you'll be glad to have as much amp power as you can get. Its rare that, for example, I'm on a plane and I want to get plenty of volume from a quietly recorded track so I can hear it properly, but when it does happen its very handy to have some extra power from your amp.
 
Anyway that's a long winded example but I do think trying them out, if possible, would be ideal. If you can afford to buy both of them off of Amazon, they have a great return policy so you should be able to return the one you like least. My suspicions are that they are extremely similar but you never know.

 

[Puchacamilo]

Dear fellows, I really like to have these great phones, I can tested in stores and are amazing!. Sadly the stores here don't have the straight version

So I have think buy in Amazon, but anyone know if the version that's sell Amazon in the ads here ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004QMH8KI/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER) is the face-lift? Or at least if these have the more padding ear cups?.

Anyone have bough from Amazon?.

Thanks in advance

(and sorry for my poor English)

 

[ekaknr]

   
Roughly, yeah, I agree with your assessment. Its always best to compare products directly to know for sure. Personally I would value the one with the higher powered amp slightly more just because with most headphones that do need amping its pretty much a case of the more the marrier. You're right, the DT1350's sensitivity makes it useful directly out of a portable device and you don't need a whole lot of amping for them but if, like me, you don't use a gain normalizing feature and some of your music is very quietly recorded (think old recording pre-loudness wars, classical/orchastral stuff, some live stuff) then you'll be glad to have as much amp power as you can get. Its rare that, for example, I'm on a plane and I want to get plenty of volume from a quietly recorded track so I can hear it properly, but when it does happen its very handy to have some extra power from your amp.
 
Anyway that's a long winded example but I do think trying them out, if possible, would be ideal. If you can afford to buy both of them off of Amazon, they have a great return policy so you should be able to return the one you like least. My suspicions are that they are extremely similar but you never know.

I've first ordered the e07k... hopefully it'll sound good with the dt 1350's. I will compare it to the Dacmagic XS at richer sounds, and will tell people how they compare. And yes, if I don't like it, I'll use Amazon's returns policy, thanks for that idea !
Cheers !

 

[ekaknr]

Dear fellows, I really like to have these great phones, I can tested in stores and are amazing!. Sadly the stores here don't have the straight version

So I have think buy in Amazon, but anyone know if the version that's sell Amazon in the ads here ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004QMH8KI/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER) is the face-lift? Or at least if these have the more padding ear cups?.

Anyone have bough from Amazon?.

Thanks in advance

(and sorry for my poor English)

Hi,
Amazon only sells the normal edition I think. The Facelift edition, from what I've heard, is a very rare model. They're probably sold out by now. Other than the looks and comfort though, there is no difference between the two models. Honestly, I prefer the looks of the non facelift model. You can always purchase the other earpads if you want, for increase in comfort. But I think if you just bear it for a few days, you'll get used to the clamping force  - as even I with glasses have managed to find it tolerable now. Hope that answers your question.
Cheers !

 

[Puchacamilo]

 
Hi,
Amazon only sells the normal edition I think. The Facelift edition, from what I've heard, is a very rare model. They're probably sold out by now. Other than the looks and comfort though, there is no difference between the two models. Honestly, I prefer the looks of the non facelift model. You can always purchase the other earpads if you want, for increase in comfort. But I think if you just bear it for a few days, you'll get used to the clamping force  - as even I with glasses have managed to find it tolerable now. Hope that answers your question.
Cheers !

 
ekaknr,
Thank you Very much for your reply .
Ok, I see.. well if you say that I can purchase the other pads later, I'm Happy!. 
You see, the comfort for me is a very important issue, and I really like these headphones, but I don't try them enough time to know if the clamp force is annoying for me.
Glad to know that the earpads are changeable.
Also I like the looks of the normal edition too, but this issue is important to me.
 
Thank you Again!!