[ry_goody]

I'm thinking about ordering the ath a500 pretty soon, but before I do I have a couple questions.

1. Is the bass on these at all overpowering? I hear they have good bass and clear treble. But does the bass take away or drown out the treble at all? Because I would rather have very accurate treble than deep boomy bass. Will the a500's dissapoint me at all in this category?

2. What kind of volume levels am I looking at coming directly out of my PC sound card (Soundblaster Live!) without an amp? Will they be able to get loud enough to hurt? Or do they just get loud enough to be adequate?


thanks in advance

 

[lindrone]

1. No, the bass is not overwhelming. The Audio-Technica/Sony sound signature is usually the one with the most "balance" out of everything out there that I've tasted.

2. You can easily crank it up to ear deafening levels.. without an amp. So proper volume level can be easily achieved without an amp.


Note that volume "level" doesn't mean it'll bring all the proper sound characteristics anyway... all headphones will have an additional layer of performance added to them with an amp. With the A500/A900 it's not that dramatic, but the effects are still there.

 

[dj_mocok]

if you are talking about "making the volume audible",
what i know is, when i plug my A900 to my PC soundcard, i had to lower down the volume (the volume button on the bottom right corner of the screen) to about 30% only.
and thats already loud.

so dont worry about low volume when you plug an A500 to your pc soundcard.
you'd better worry about forgetting to tone down the volume, because im sure if you use it on max (like for pc speakers), you will either damage your hearing or your cans or maybe both.

 

[refault]

My ATH-500's are great for powering out of my sound card. At the highest volume on my onboard soundcard they are ear blistering and deafening. Their bass is really leveled out, nothing muddy. The bass is pretty clear though I feel the biggest weakness with the ATH500's is that the midrange is a bit toned down and dosen't sound too great. A very good warm sounding pair of cans.

 

[EightyEight]

Like the others have said, your soundcard will be sufficient. But I think you guys are overrating it, that it can go to "ear deafening" volumes...because i have mine at 75% all the time and this is not deafening at all

 

[dj_mocok]

Quote:

Originally Posted by EightyEight Like the others have said, your soundcard will be sufficient. But I think you guys are overrating it, that it can go to "ear deafening" volumes...because i have mine at 75% all the time and this is not deafening at all

it is ear deafening, at least using my (stupid) audigy card.
did you connect it through your speakers' headphone out jack or straight to the card ?

when i said it would be too loud, it's when you take out your speakers' "line-in" (where you connect your soundcard and speakers' cable) and replace it with your headphone straight to that "line-out" of your sound card.

i wouldnt even dare to go close to the max volume.