NomadOvercast
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Feb 2, 2017
- Posts
- 6
- Likes
- 0
Head –Fi,
Good day to anyone who bothers to read this. I have been thinking about this list for quite some time now, I think I picked parts that would be within my budget as well as the ones I personally like the way they sound. Before I go into the list however let me explain what I am looking to accomplish and what I have now. I have always loved quality sound even if I did not always had the means to get what I wanted. My main uses for all the stuff would be gaming, voice communication, podcasts, music and maybe occasional movie. For my musical tastes it is all over place but in order of frequency it would be Metal, Industrial, Rock, House, Trance, Rap and then occasionally Pop. I generally like darker and warmer sound and I like songs that highlight that, songs that go from loud to quiet and back to loud again.
So here is what I have now and why:
Headset: Sennheiser Game PC360 – decent mic, light, open back. That is the headset that made me love Sennheiser stuff. I love how light and comfortable it is, I love elongated earcups and when I got it I realized I love the sound of open back headsets. I generally sweat a lot so open back helps with that and head from my head does not build up I have wore those for 8-9 hours straight with no issues. Before I had a pair of Sony MDR-V700’s and they used to cook my ears in 1-2 hours. I only recently gave them away since I realized that in the past 3 years I have not touched them ones, plus after Senn’s when I listened to them I had the feeling they were trying to rattle my brain due to closed back design. I had this pair for 5 years and they are starting to crackle like some wire is getting lose so it is time to get them replaced. The modern version of those would be Game One and they are roughtly equivalent to HD558.
Speakers: Corsair SP2500 – a really nice budget set for PC. I guess I have not mentioned yet that I use everything on my PC. I had them for 6 or 7 years at this point and they are still going strong. They are nice and perfect for my small place. Unless I use any VoIP I use those babies. They have good but not exceptional sound, the mids are a bit muffled and I would love if they were a bit darker. That aside they are an excellent bang for buck with outstanding build quality, surviving 5 moves in the time I had them with no damage. Honestly they will probably be the last piece of my audio set up to go.
Sound card: Creative Sound Blaster ZXR – this will probably be the most controversial piece of gear I had and it is the one I have the most trouble deciding on the replacement for. The reason I have it are twofold at the time I did not had a lot of space on my desk and I needed something internal and I really like the feature it has. It allows you to switch between headphones and speakers with a click of a button in the software. Though I think it is build into hardware since every time you do that there is an audible click from the sound card. As for sound quality I quite like it and it does not give me any trouble aside from occasional need to restart o reload whatever I am listening to if I need to switch my audio output. Also, I have not changed the opAmp it comes with.
Now that I have listed what I have lets go into what I am looking to get:
Headphones: Fischer Audio FA-011 Anniversary Edition – let me start by saying that for a longest time I wanted to go with Senneiser HD650’s. I even tried them on several occasions and love the sound and the comfort of HD650. Hell I might even get them at some point I loved them so much. So why did I went with the overpriced version of FA-011, well I saw them on Massdrop a short while ago and really loved they look of them so I started digging through the reviews and most of them mentioned that they sound similar to HD650’s but darker, so this is square my wheelhouse. And being Russian I thought it would be nice for change to trow money for a quality product from old country even if I was paying a premium for that. So I put my money down and they should be coming in shortly. I also have had Hifiman HE400i in my sights for some time, but no local shop carries them so I do not have an opportunity to give them a try. If you have any other suggestions of the open back, darker sounding headphones in this price range I would be open to suggestion though given that I already got FA-011’s there will be sometime before I would be willing to buy another pair of good headphones.
Mic: Audio Technica AT2035 – a nice no frills entry level mic with a mount. I do not really do any voice or studio work, this one is mostly for Skype, Discord and Teamspeak. I was looking for something not USB powered, never had luck with USB mics and I want everything to go through my soundcard/audio interface for neatness sake I guess. I know you can get AT2020, but it does not have a mount and when you factor that in the price savings is negligible. I also need it to pick up my voice from about 5m (16ft) away without picking up the sound from my speakers since sometimes I talk to my friends while doing choirs on the other end of the room. I also like the way it looks. It has this mic look about it. I do not like the way pop filters look it looks messy, so I found a windscreen like this one. To support it I plan to grab a cheap boom arm from Amazon. Other more expensive arms looked the same to me and I cannot find if there are any material differences to go with a pricier option. I am not opposed to the idea if you have a better more expensive option in mind if you can tell me what benefits it would give me. If you have any suggestion that would fit the bill and my requirements in the same price range let me know.
Speakers: Audioengine A5+ and S8 Sub – to me it looks like a straight up step up from Corsair’s. Reviews point out that they are extremely warm and bassy, mids are recessed and highs are crisp which is good. What is not so good is a lot of reviews mention that they are extremely loud and are basically designed for house parties and this is just not my situation living in a small apartment. I am also so-so on their looks. I like the way HD6 look but they are out of my price range and judging from the reviews they are overpriced. My last problem is I do not really like 2.0 setups since I do not like bass hitting me in the face so I need to add a sub, but S8 reviews are subpar, and it also makes A5+ irrelevant to a degree since their biggest Driver is a woofer. So I am really lost on this one. On one hand a lot of info suggests that A5+ is one of the best speakers under $500 and I have heard and I like the way they sound. On the other hand they are not 2.1 and are overly loud. So I am at a loss to find an alternative. I would appreciate if you can recommend any active 2.1 system in $400-$600 range that would have dark and warm sound.
Sound card/Audio interface: This is the only category I am at a loss to be honest. If I was not entirely sure if A5+ in the previous paragraph were right for me, here I do not even know where to start. Maybe my Sound Blaster is good enough for now, but in a year or so I will be changing my computer case for a smaller one and I would not have a space for it anymore. So technicly I do not mind getting a new audio interface now since it is inevitable. Though I do not know what to get, I know I need it to be powered so I can connect my mic directly in and I also want it to be able to switch between speakers and headphones on the fly for my audio output. I also listened to a few expensive tube amps and I loved the warm sound no surprise there I guess. So is there anything you would recommend that would be tube, would be able to power the mic as well as will let me switch the audio output without fiddling with the volume level for let’s say $300-$400 range? If you have more expensive options that otherwise would be ideal let me know too. I am really lost on this one.
Cables and Power: Depending on if I will stick with my sound card or not I will need a different combination of cables and I will need power supply for the mic. I was looking to get Monoprice cables for their low price and decent quality but also because the XLR plug is not chromed. I would like to keep everything black and conspicuous. If I need power supply, I found this cheap one on Amazon. It looks ok and revies do not indicate any major disasters with it. Once again any alternatives are welcome.
If you were able to get through this wall of text, I say to you thank you. Any recommendations would be welcome. For more impatient folk here is TLDR.
TLDR: I like my sound rich, warm and dark like milk with honey. I mainly use it for gaming, music and VoIP. I give names of gear at the start of each paragraph with links. The first half is what I have now; the second half is what I plant to get and looking for your input. Thanks.
Good day to anyone who bothers to read this. I have been thinking about this list for quite some time now, I think I picked parts that would be within my budget as well as the ones I personally like the way they sound. Before I go into the list however let me explain what I am looking to accomplish and what I have now. I have always loved quality sound even if I did not always had the means to get what I wanted. My main uses for all the stuff would be gaming, voice communication, podcasts, music and maybe occasional movie. For my musical tastes it is all over place but in order of frequency it would be Metal, Industrial, Rock, House, Trance, Rap and then occasionally Pop. I generally like darker and warmer sound and I like songs that highlight that, songs that go from loud to quiet and back to loud again.
So here is what I have now and why:
Headset: Sennheiser Game PC360 – decent mic, light, open back. That is the headset that made me love Sennheiser stuff. I love how light and comfortable it is, I love elongated earcups and when I got it I realized I love the sound of open back headsets. I generally sweat a lot so open back helps with that and head from my head does not build up I have wore those for 8-9 hours straight with no issues. Before I had a pair of Sony MDR-V700’s and they used to cook my ears in 1-2 hours. I only recently gave them away since I realized that in the past 3 years I have not touched them ones, plus after Senn’s when I listened to them I had the feeling they were trying to rattle my brain due to closed back design. I had this pair for 5 years and they are starting to crackle like some wire is getting lose so it is time to get them replaced. The modern version of those would be Game One and they are roughtly equivalent to HD558.
Speakers: Corsair SP2500 – a really nice budget set for PC. I guess I have not mentioned yet that I use everything on my PC. I had them for 6 or 7 years at this point and they are still going strong. They are nice and perfect for my small place. Unless I use any VoIP I use those babies. They have good but not exceptional sound, the mids are a bit muffled and I would love if they were a bit darker. That aside they are an excellent bang for buck with outstanding build quality, surviving 5 moves in the time I had them with no damage. Honestly they will probably be the last piece of my audio set up to go.
Sound card: Creative Sound Blaster ZXR – this will probably be the most controversial piece of gear I had and it is the one I have the most trouble deciding on the replacement for. The reason I have it are twofold at the time I did not had a lot of space on my desk and I needed something internal and I really like the feature it has. It allows you to switch between headphones and speakers with a click of a button in the software. Though I think it is build into hardware since every time you do that there is an audible click from the sound card. As for sound quality I quite like it and it does not give me any trouble aside from occasional need to restart o reload whatever I am listening to if I need to switch my audio output. Also, I have not changed the opAmp it comes with.
Now that I have listed what I have lets go into what I am looking to get:
Headphones: Fischer Audio FA-011 Anniversary Edition – let me start by saying that for a longest time I wanted to go with Senneiser HD650’s. I even tried them on several occasions and love the sound and the comfort of HD650. Hell I might even get them at some point I loved them so much. So why did I went with the overpriced version of FA-011, well I saw them on Massdrop a short while ago and really loved they look of them so I started digging through the reviews and most of them mentioned that they sound similar to HD650’s but darker, so this is square my wheelhouse. And being Russian I thought it would be nice for change to trow money for a quality product from old country even if I was paying a premium for that. So I put my money down and they should be coming in shortly. I also have had Hifiman HE400i in my sights for some time, but no local shop carries them so I do not have an opportunity to give them a try. If you have any other suggestions of the open back, darker sounding headphones in this price range I would be open to suggestion though given that I already got FA-011’s there will be sometime before I would be willing to buy another pair of good headphones.
Mic: Audio Technica AT2035 – a nice no frills entry level mic with a mount. I do not really do any voice or studio work, this one is mostly for Skype, Discord and Teamspeak. I was looking for something not USB powered, never had luck with USB mics and I want everything to go through my soundcard/audio interface for neatness sake I guess. I know you can get AT2020, but it does not have a mount and when you factor that in the price savings is negligible. I also need it to pick up my voice from about 5m (16ft) away without picking up the sound from my speakers since sometimes I talk to my friends while doing choirs on the other end of the room. I also like the way it looks. It has this mic look about it. I do not like the way pop filters look it looks messy, so I found a windscreen like this one. To support it I plan to grab a cheap boom arm from Amazon. Other more expensive arms looked the same to me and I cannot find if there are any material differences to go with a pricier option. I am not opposed to the idea if you have a better more expensive option in mind if you can tell me what benefits it would give me. If you have any suggestion that would fit the bill and my requirements in the same price range let me know.
Speakers: Audioengine A5+ and S8 Sub – to me it looks like a straight up step up from Corsair’s. Reviews point out that they are extremely warm and bassy, mids are recessed and highs are crisp which is good. What is not so good is a lot of reviews mention that they are extremely loud and are basically designed for house parties and this is just not my situation living in a small apartment. I am also so-so on their looks. I like the way HD6 look but they are out of my price range and judging from the reviews they are overpriced. My last problem is I do not really like 2.0 setups since I do not like bass hitting me in the face so I need to add a sub, but S8 reviews are subpar, and it also makes A5+ irrelevant to a degree since their biggest Driver is a woofer. So I am really lost on this one. On one hand a lot of info suggests that A5+ is one of the best speakers under $500 and I have heard and I like the way they sound. On the other hand they are not 2.1 and are overly loud. So I am at a loss to find an alternative. I would appreciate if you can recommend any active 2.1 system in $400-$600 range that would have dark and warm sound.
Sound card/Audio interface: This is the only category I am at a loss to be honest. If I was not entirely sure if A5+ in the previous paragraph were right for me, here I do not even know where to start. Maybe my Sound Blaster is good enough for now, but in a year or so I will be changing my computer case for a smaller one and I would not have a space for it anymore. So technicly I do not mind getting a new audio interface now since it is inevitable. Though I do not know what to get, I know I need it to be powered so I can connect my mic directly in and I also want it to be able to switch between speakers and headphones on the fly for my audio output. I also listened to a few expensive tube amps and I loved the warm sound no surprise there I guess. So is there anything you would recommend that would be tube, would be able to power the mic as well as will let me switch the audio output without fiddling with the volume level for let’s say $300-$400 range? If you have more expensive options that otherwise would be ideal let me know too. I am really lost on this one.
Cables and Power: Depending on if I will stick with my sound card or not I will need a different combination of cables and I will need power supply for the mic. I was looking to get Monoprice cables for their low price and decent quality but also because the XLR plug is not chromed. I would like to keep everything black and conspicuous. If I need power supply, I found this cheap one on Amazon. It looks ok and revies do not indicate any major disasters with it. Once again any alternatives are welcome.
If you were able to get through this wall of text, I say to you thank you. Any recommendations would be welcome. For more impatient folk here is TLDR.
TLDR: I like my sound rich, warm and dark like milk with honey. I mainly use it for gaming, music and VoIP. I give names of gear at the start of each paragraph with links. The first half is what I have now; the second half is what I plant to get and looking for your input. Thanks.
