[tanis38]

Hello all, I am new to the world of HiFi audio and headphones.

I should be receiving my first pair of headphones next week, some Ultrasone HFI 700's.

I chose those after my girlfriend kept complaining about my loud gaming sessions when she was either sleeping or using her laptop (we live in a small apartment), so I wanted a pair of closed headphones so that I won't disturb her and she won't disturb me.

I've been reading up alot lately on headphones and I am amazed at how deep the culture is. Looks like I've been missing out.

Since I am completely new to all this I have a few questions. I will be using my headohones primarily for gaming, which I do only through my entertainment center (no pc gaming for me), I have an Xbox 360 and PS3 hooked up to my a/v receiver. I will also use them for dvd watching and listening to music (probably through the PS3) but it will be gaming 70% of the time.

Originally I was planning to just plug the headphones into the headphone jack of my a/v receiver and be done with it (I have a pretty old Sony receiver, over 10 years old). In all my reading lately I've now come across dedicated headphone amps and DAC units and I am wondering if my old Sony receiver is going to be up to the task of providing me with the quality audio I am going to be looking for or if I am going to need to look into getting a dedicated headphone amplifier.

Any advice? Will I get good use of my HFI 700's if I just hook them up directly to my a/v receiver and use them that way? Or will an amp be the way to go?

Thanks for any help/advice.

 

[ClieOS]

An external amp or DAC is of course always better, but since this is your first pair of quality 'phone (and the nature of being use mostly as gaming 'phone), I will suggest not to get an amp for now.

The only reason you must have an amp is when the 'phone is difficult to drive out of a normal headphone output. So you should try your 'phone on your setup first, and if you like how it sounds than you don't need to spend the extra money just to get that extra 10%(?) out of your 'phone SQ.

 

[tanis38]

Thanks ClieOS. I am really looking forward to trying them out.

I'll give them a test run and see how they sound. I see myself eventually getting an amp for when I'm going to use them with my laptop when traveling and listening to music, etc. I am sure I'll need them then.

 

[boomana]

tanis38, welcome to head-fi! Since you're a Miami guy, check out the CanJam '08 forum. We're hosting the third annual head-fi international meet in Ft. Lauderdale first weekend in May. You'll be able to catch up on anything you've been missing and then some.

Oh, and congrats on your first set-up!

 

[tanis38]

Quote:

Originally Posted by boomana /img/forum/go_quote.gif tanis38, welcome to head-fi! Since you're a Miami guy, check out the CanJam '08 forum. We're hosting the third annual head-fi international meet in Ft. Lauderdale first weekend in May. You'll be able to catch up on anything you've been missing and then some. Oh, and congrats on your first set-up!

Thanks for the welcome boomana!

And thanks for the info, I'll definitely check out the CanJam forum and will plan to attend. Sounds great! I'm pretty excited that I stumbled upon this new hobby. Although from what I've gathered, it looks like it is going to me more expensive than my other hobby, gaming.

 

[tanis38]

Quick follow-up question. Since I will have my headphones connected to my surround sound a/v receiver, should I have it output to my headphones in 2 channel stereo, or have it using one of its surround sound modes? Which would be best for positional audio? Normally I would think a surround mode, but since these are stereo headphones, maybe not?

 

[Cool_Torpedo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tanis38 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Quick follow-up question. Since I will have my headphones connected to my surround sound a/v receiver, should I have it output to my headphones in 2 channel stereo, or have it using one of its surround sound modes? Which would be best for positional audio? Normally I would think a surround mode, but since these are stereo headphones, maybe not?

Try them and choose which suits you best. For my taste, listening to 2 ch music I like better no additional processing, but for movies, on some of them, and gaming, the enhanced sorround sound can be quite funny. I don't think there's a right way to do these things, just choose what you like better.

Rgrds.