[proteinpig]

I am in similar situation as drumshark.
I see that a specific mp3player/DAC/EQ setting combo would bring out the best bass performance from a particular headphone. But, what HP do you guys suggest (within a budget of $200) for the strongest and the cleanest bass impact from a laptop w/o dedicated sound card w/o any amplifier w/o any EQing?
I have an M50 currently and love it. However, I wouldn't really mind some more bass if it's clean. I don't really know if investing in a dac would improve the sound quality drastically. Would there be a day/night difference in the sound if I use something like a nuforce udac? I feel apprehensive to invest $100 on something if it leads to a negligible improvement in SQ. I would rather spend $100 more and get another headphone which would give me stronger bass impact right out of my laptop.

 

[drumshark]

So what would you say would be paired better with just an ipod? 580, 780, M50, Denon or XB 5/700?
 
Also, why would even a decent amp not effect the sound too much? (Im a noob and im just curious)
Note: Im also looking for more bass punch than woofer bass.
 
Quote:

I am in similar situation as drumshark.
I see that a specific mp3player/DAC/EQ setting combo would bring out the best bass performance from a particular headphone. But, what HP do you guys suggest (within a budget of $200) for the strongest and the cleanest bass impact from a laptop w/o dedicated sound card w/o any amplifier w/o any EQing?
I have an M50 currently and love it. However, I wouldn't really mind some more bass if it's clean. I don't really know if investing in a dac would improve the sound quality drastically. Would there be a day/night difference in the sound if I use something like a nuforce udac? I feel apprehensive to invest $100 on something if it leads to a negligible improvement in SQ. I would rather spend $100 more and get another headphone which would give me stronger bass impact right out of my laptop.

 

[drumshark]

IDK much about souncards/headphones, but I know a little somthing about computers, and say that with a budget of only 200$, all HP's will sound exactly the same. Maybe comp's over $1500 will have a designated soundcard, but anything else, and they'll just give you whatever is cheapest. Spend that $200 ON a soundcard instead. A $200 lap top will be a P.O.S. too honestly.
 
Quote:

I am in similar situation as drumshark.
I see that a specific mp3player/DAC/EQ setting combo would bring out the best bass performance from a particular headphone. But, what HP do you guys suggest (within a budget of $200) for the strongest and the cleanest bass impact from a laptop w/o dedicated sound card w/o any amplifier w/o any EQing?
I have an M50 currently and love it. However, I wouldn't really mind some more bass if it's clean. I don't really know if investing in a dac would improve the sound quality drastically. Would there be a day/night difference in the sound if I use something like a nuforce udac? I feel apprehensive to invest $100 on something if it leads to a negligible improvement in SQ. I would rather spend $100 more and get another headphone which would give me stronger bass impact right out of my laptop.

 

[proteinpig]

lol . I think I was not clear enough . I do have a laptop that costs ~1500 and it is pretty new. But, it doesn't have a dedicated sound card. The sound that it gives out is very good IMO (and is in fact better than the SQ from my zune). I was just wondering whether I should invest $100 - $150 in a dac or buy a new headphone altogether that costs ~$200 (hifi 780 / 580 ?) for stronger bass . To be concise, my question should have been "How much improvement in bass can I expect if I power my M50 through a nuforce udac instead of directly from my laptop". If the answer is "not much", then what headphone would give out better bass directly from my laptop without any amping. Either way, my budget is $150-$200.
Quote:

IDK much about souncards/headphones, but I know a little somthing about computers, and say that with a budget of only 200$, all HP's will sound exactly the same. Maybe comp's over $1500 will have a designated soundcard, but anything else, and they'll just give you whatever is cheapest. Spend that $200 ON a soundcard instead. A $200 lap top will be a P.O.S. too honestly.
 

 

 

[1Time]

Hiding questions inside massive threads like this isn't the best way to get someone to answer. I just happened to look. 
 
There's no guarantee you'll prefer your M50 with the uDAC2 over the laptop's on board sound. You probably will, and it wouldn't cost much to find out - return it if not satisfied. Or, you could try amping the headphone out of your laptop to get better bass from your M50.
 
But one problem is would any of this get you the kind of bass you're wanting? 
 
So what kind of bass are you wanting that's different than the bass you're not getting from your laptop > M50? And what types of music do you listen to that you want this bass improvement? 
 
Quote:

lol . I think I was not clear enough . I do have a laptop that costs ~1500 and it is pretty new. But, it doesn't have a dedicated sound card. The sound that it gives out is very good IMO (and is in fact better than the SQ from my zune). I was just wondering whether I should invest $100 - $150 in a dac or buy a new headphone altogether that costs ~$200 (hifi 780 / 580 ?) for stronger bass . To be concise, my question should have been "How much improvement in bass can I expect if I power my M50 through a nuforce udac instead of directly from my laptop". If the answer is "not much", then what headphone would give out better bass directly from my laptop without any amping. Either way, my budget is $150-$200.

 

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

 
Quote:

So what would you say would be paired better with just an ipod? 580, 780, M50, Denon or XB 5/700?
 
Also, why would even a decent amp not effect the sound too much? (Im a noob and im just curious)
Note: Im also looking for more bass punch than woofer bass.
 

 

 
Between those headphones XB500 would be the easiest headphone to drive (probably among the very easiest driven headphones for that matter in my experience and boy these play LOUD) that will sound like pretty much at its full potential unamped even from an ipod (I tested mine with an old Creative Zen mp3 player and compared to XB700 and XB500 did sound better unamped from it) while the rest sorta needs an amp to get the full potential out of them. XB500 un-equalized packs A LOT of punch to the bass (so much I had to boost especially 62Hz slider a bit to balance the woofer/punchy bass out for my taste as I like to have about 50/50 in sub-bass and punchy midbass) even from a weak source like mp3 player but it's also capable of sub-bass but you'll only get the kinda bass that the song has anyway, if it's punchy upper bass u get punchy upper bass, if u listen to dubstep or hardstyle with <70Hz bass then you get the subbass. In my experience XB500's bass is accurate and doesn't really overpower the mids cuz the bass is quite a bit snappy or has a lot of "kick" in it even if it's highly boosted, XB700 is often unable to produce the punchy upper bass unless it's amped properly or EQ-abused it seems. Just do yourself a favor and stay away at least from XB700 if you're into punchy bass and not woofer bass.
 
With a decent/good amp you would probably get great results with the Ultrasones or M50 (especially Ultrasones are known for punchy & tight bass) too from the ipod but unamped I think XB500 would do great and packs a great bang-for-the buck deal, with the others you may want to use an amp to get the full potential, otherwise at least I thought M50 unamped wasn't sounding better than XB500. I haven't tried those Ultrasones though but with a EQ setting like this the XB500 sounds amazing for the price IMO (EQing it like this provides a night and day improvement):
 

 

[Mochan]

I would just like to report my findings with the uDAC. The uDAC is an excellent DAC. It's headphone amp is pretty powerful and loud, BUT and this is a big but for you, its headphone amp is not very good for bass. It is unable to properly drive the XB700's bass, for instance, reducing it to a muddy mess. I had far better results with the Cobra's amp than the uDAC's when it came to filling out that low end. I wouldn't expect too much out of the uDAC in driving the low end.  I haven't tried the uDAC with the M50 per se, as I no longer have my M50, but I don't think it would reproduce the bass properly either. 
 
Quote:

lol . I think I was not clear enough . I do have a laptop that costs ~1500 and it is pretty new. But, it doesn't have a dedicated sound card. The sound that it gives out is very good IMO (and is in fact better than the SQ from my zune). I was just wondering whether I should invest $100 - $150 in a dac or buy a new headphone altogether that costs ~$200 (hifi 780 / 580 ?) for stronger bass . To be concise, my question should have been "How much improvement in bass can I expect if I power my M50 through a nuforce udac instead of directly from my laptop". If the answer is "not much", then what headphone would give out better bass directly from my laptop without any amping. Either way, my budget is $150-$200.

 

 

[Mochan]

Yeah, I tried it on both high and low gain, I've come to the conclusion that the D10 doesn't have enough juice to really power the XB700's bass. The XB700 sounds good out of a DAP or portable, but you realize after plugging it into a beefier desktop that it really needs power to shine.
 
Quote:

Did you use the D10 on "high gain"? I would think that would be enough due to its sensitivity.
 
I definitely should get a better solid state amp though. Looking into Meier Concerto.

 

[proteinpig]

Thanks for the replies. I mostly listen to rock, alternative rock and electronic music.
I would like my HPs to pack a stronger bass punch - extremely tight but very strong. For example, I would be happier if the bass lines in White Stripes's "Seven Nation Army" and Kraftwerk's "Man Machine" had more punch to them. But, the bass shouldn't be all over the place. It should hit extra hard when it's supposed to hit and then vanish. M50 has extremely tight bass but I sometimes wish it hit harder.
If uDAC is not going to help my cause much, what other DACs do you suggest (within $150) that might do the job for me?

 

[maverickronin]

Maybe a uDAC and a cmoy.  A Bravo/Indeed/Muse hybrid amp from ebay could work as well.  I've got one of the Indeed G2s and like it well enough, though I'm getting the urge to upgrade to a better hybrid.  If your PC, CDP, etc already had a decent line out you might want to get a cheapish desktop amp like a Millett Starving Student or something.

 

[1Time]

For a different computer source / amp, I suggest posting in Head-Fi's computer forum. Or, continue posting here for full size headphones to replace your M50.
 
Quote:

 
If uDAC is not going to help my cause much, what other DACs do you suggest (within $150) that might do the job for me?

 

[Mochan]

uDAC is a plenty punchy DAC, what you need is a seperate amp to go with it to give that extra bass power. I'd suggest some kind of Solid State amp, not really good at recommending these as I have not tried many but you can check out the Master Original or the Audio-GD C2C. 

 

[1Time]

Before spending $150 to $200 on a DAC / amp, I'd want to see a thread where M50 owners post the equipment they're using and their take on the results. 
 
Quote:

uDAC is a plenty punchy DAC, what you need is a seperate amp to go with it to give that extra bass power. I'd suggest some kind of Solid State amp, not really good at recommending these as I have not tried many but you can check out the Master Original or the Audio-GD C2C. 

 

[silverbox]

I disagree. PRO 900s have more bass imo. I like my XB700 tho and I use them with the Cowon D2+ player. I also don't hear this insane bass in XB700 that everyone mentions. They are bassy but I want more and this is why I bought the PRO 900

 
EDIT: How can I add signature?
 
Quote:

.These are the monster kings of bass. And they have far more bass than the Pro 900s if memory serves me correctly.
 

 

[wind016]

U serious? Try the machbass settings on the Cowon with the XBs. Theres no doubt in my mind that the XBs have more bass than the Pro 900s. Though I prefer Ultrasones.
 
Quote:

I disagree. PRO 900s have more bass imo. I like my XB700 tho and I use them with the Cowon D2+ player. I also don't hear this insane bass in XB700 that everyone mentions. They are bassy but I want more and this is why I bought the PRO 900

 
EDIT: How can I add signature?