[ytisawfulnow]

How would i go using the E9 or E17 with an AV Receiver?

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

How would i go using the E9 or E17 with an AV Receiver?

Unless your Sony receiver has a digital output (which I'm sure it does not), you can not use the DAC part of the E17.
Hopefully you can plug the E9 into the RCA outputs on the Sony receiver?
(which model Sony receiver is it? and what source(s) do you plug into the Sony?
You can at least try the Q701s plugged straight into Sony receiver, just to see.

 

[zazex]

Quote:

I currently own a pair of ATH-M50 but i've noticed the Q701 have come down in price a lot on Amazon.com, from what i originally thought were $400 to $240.
 
Anyway, here are my questions:
 
Is it worth buying these if i already own the M50s? do they sound significantly better?
Which amp should i use to drive them? Under $100 preferred, willing to go up to $200 if i HAVE to.
How badly do they leak sound? my room is right next to my parents, door shut, i listen about 1/4 way on speakers, half way on iTunes, air con on most of the time.
If i have anything else i forgot to ask i'll post later.
 
I listen to mainly electronic music and rock music, also instrumental and ambient stuff, some hip hop... I don't like a lot of bass, M50 have about the right amount of bass for me, maybe a little too much now that i think about it.
I will also be using them for movies and gaming as well.
 
My source is an AV Receiver on a cheap (around $300) Sony home theatre system (so obviously i will need an amp)
 
I think that's about it....
yeah.

 
The Q701's are not for you.
 
Yes, they're very high quality.
Yes, they sound much better than the M50's.
But they're fully open headphones; others near you will hear them playing.
They need an amp.  A FiiO will do, but more than many headphones they
benefit from high quality amplification.
Bass is not their strongest attribute in any event; their real strength is in
their massive soundstage.  Electronica and rock don't show them at their
best, especially without a quality amplifier. 
 
In short, for $240 or so you can get headphones that are much more suitable
for your listening  preferences..

 

[chicolom]

Quote:

 
The Q701's are not for you.
 
Yes, they're very high quality.
Yes, they sound much better than the M50's.
But they're fully open headphones; others near you will hear them playing.
They need an amp.  A FiiO will do, but more than many headphones they
benefit from high quality amplification.
Bass is not their strongest attribute in any event; their real strength is in
their massive soundstage.  Electronica and rock don't show them at their
best, especially without a quality amplifier. 
 
In short, for $240 or so you can get headphones that are much more suitable
for your listening  preferences..

 
I doubt they would leak through a closed door into another room enough to bother anyone.  And I think electronic music really benefits from a nice open soundstage.  I also think they're bass is very good for an open headphone.
 
But if he wants more isolation and more bass he can look at the D2000, K550, or A900x.

 

[zazex]

Quote:

 
I doubt they would leak through a closed door into another room enough to bother anyone.  And I think electronic music really benefits from a nice open soundstage.  I also think they're bass is very good for an open headphone.
 
But if he wants more isolation and more bass he can look at the D2000, K550, or A900x.

 
I agree with you 100% on each of your points.

 

[ytisawfulnow]

This is my receiver:
http://esupport.sony.com/US/p/model-home.pl?mdl=STRKG700&template_id=1&region_id=1&tab=manuals#/manualsTab
 
lol 6ohms

 

[cvision123]

Quote:

This is my receiver:
http://esupport.sony.com/US/p/model-home.pl?mdl=STRKG700&template_id=1&region_id=1&tab=manuals#/manualsTab
 
lol 6ohms

I think that there is some misunderstandings here. The specification states that the impedance of the speakers as well as the output impedance of the receiver to these speakers are 6 ohms. This value is not the output impedance of the headphone output socket. In general, receivers tend to have much higher output impedance on the headphone output due to their design which is either based on a resistor network or dedicated op-amp design for the headphone output. Thus, the headphone output impedance is usually around 120 ohms. I tried the Q701 with a Marantz stereo amp and got a good result but I believe that a dedicated headphone amp with lower output impedance can provide better result.

 

[ytisawfulnow]

Damn... i checked the manual that came with my receiver and it only seemed to have digital inputs/outputs for coaxial and HDMI, no RCA by the looks of it either which is... odd.
There is a thing for Digital media port adapters and two Audio IN Jacks... that's about it. I'm not good with this stuff.

 

[Lorspeaker]

Q701 is a path all true headphiers must take....then to keep it or to pass it on is the next pain.....zen.

 
ok seriously, since u alrady have the m50, just get the q701 as a contra sound to sleep with...
and explore/discover your taste in music...u might just surprise yoursel what u like ultimately.

 

[ytisawfulnow]

Can somebody please help me with my receiver question on driving the amp?
I am new to all this stuff.

 

[obobskivich]

The receiver you have has a headphone output jack; that'd be the first place I'd start (many receivers are pretty competent, albeit huge and impractical, headphone drivers).

If that fails for whatever reason, then you get an amplifier. I'll use the E9 as an example, but you can adapt to whatever amp you get.

First we have to know how you're connecting this receiver to other components. If via analog, it's quite simple; the E9 has a "bypass" feature. Just connect your source's (let's say a CD player) stereo analog output to the E9's analog input. Then connect the line output (not the pre-amp output) from the E9 to the receiver's analog input. Simple as pie, and everyone "sees" the same signal. If you end up with an amplifier that lacks a parallel loop like this (like the Woo WA6) just use RCA splitters (or use a TRS splitter and then break that to RCA at the end-point; same difference).

If you're using a digital source, it gets a bit less clear-cut. You can either get an optical splitter, a DAC device with digital pass-through, or a DAC/amp combo (and I can actually name a product that has every single feature eek I've described for both analog and digital too: Audio-Technica AT-HA25D), and then hook things up that way. For example if you got a FUBAR, you could take digital from whatever source (USB, coax, whatever you like) and feed the stereo analog out to the receiver, and use the front hp jack for your headphones.

Finally, you could use two audio interfaces. For example you could drive the receiver with a soundcard, and get an independent USB device (or stack) just for your headphones. In components, it could look like this:

PC -> Sound Card (let's say X-Fi Titanium) -> Sony Receiver -> Speakers
PC -> USB DAC (let's say Firestone ILTW) -> Headphone amp (let's say Woo WA6; if you haven't figured it out yet, I'm picking entirely random components just for the sake of example) -> Cans


Based on the declaration page for the Sony receiver, it will decode Dolby and DTS. It can probably downmix them to stereo as well, for the headphone output. This is more feature-packed than simple PCM decoding that you'll find with something like the Audio-Technica (that doesn't make it better or worse, it's just more features); which is one reason I would suggest just trying the receiver's headphone output at first blush.

Now that we've gotten THAT out of the way - onto the more pertinent question: should you buy these headphones?

I would not worry about the leaking; they leak sure, but you would only bother someone sitting on your lap or similarly close (and if you're listening loud enough to bother your parents in the next room, turn that racket down!).

Regarding your musical preferences - I really enjoy/ed the K701 for ambient and rock and all that. It does it well. I like them for electronic music as well, but that doesn't seem to be a very popular opinion.

Regarding bass - I have not heard the M50, but the K701 are generally regarded as fairly bass-light or "thin." They have a slightly less than neutral amount of bass. They do very good (imho) with music like AFX, but with something like Metaform they will probably leave you wanting a bit more down-low. Other options I would consider within that $200-$300 price range would include the Ultrasone HFI-2400 (darker, more bass), and Grado SR-225 (brighter, more crunch). Depending on how you like your music, pick one of the three.

EDIT

Oh! Just thought of YET ANOTHER way you could do this:
http://www.sound.westhost.com/project100.htm

You do need the switch.

 

[ytisawfulnow]

Oh, i forgot to mention... my source (what i use the receiver with) is a blu-ray player which i use to watch blu-rays (obviously) but also listen to CDs and MP3 and loseless files off USB.
 
Thanks for your long and incredibly detailed reply, i'll see what i can do.

 

[obobskivich]

How is the Blu-ray player connected, and what kinds of connections does it have? It may present some quirks compared to a conventional CD player or computer.

 

[ytisawfulnow]

HDMI cable

 

[bowei006]

I have the HFI 580. I bought it instead of the M50 after much more better impressions and reviews and people that had experience with both saying that the 580's were sonically superior. But I never tested the M50s and only know that they, like my HFI 580's are bassy.
 
Anyway, I absolutely LOVE HAVING the two HFI 580 and Q701 combo. Looking at them from another view it may seem weird as the HFI's are bassy and the Q701's aren't. But really I listen to ALOT of differnet kinds of music and it's just perfect. The bass doesn't have much quantity and the quality of it is hard to explain. For most bass the Q701's does it well. Not punchy but detailed and layered however sometimes it's lost and get's really muddy or the bass on the Q701's just can't keep up and sound disgusting due to what the song requires form a headphone to play well. Anyway, if you are like me that listens to a lot of different types of music, then the Q701's would be fantastic. I am currently using both with an E17 and they are both utterly fantastic with them. I will be getting an O2 to play around with soon and then an NFB 12.1.