[Ronnie]

I'd like to read any suggestions on the best headphone setup for watching DVD movies on my computer (Apple PowerBook G4).

After reading Head-Fi for days I'm thinking of getting Senn HD600, small amp (Headroom Little?) & Clou Red. Would this be be overkill? Would the HD590, no amp, no cable be nearly as good considering the source? Or some other suggestion? I don't listen to music, or use headphones while I play games. This is a DVD specific interest.

Thanks for any advice!

ps - I fall into the 'new baby' catagory that severly limits my home audio system.
pss - 1st post!

 

[Steve999]

Welcome to the new baby club! If you are going to get headphones as nice as you are considering, think about using them for music away from your computer too.

But DVDs have pretty darn good sound too. As you suggest, your soundcard on your computer may be a limiting factor, though.

I have a two year old and another on the way. I used to listen to music on loudspeakers a lot but the new child changed my listening habits drastically and now what I do is sneak little block of time now and then, here and there, to listen to music on the headphones without disturbing the family. The surprise treat is how great the quality of the sound is and how closely I can concentrate on the music.

As for my choices, you can see them in my setup below, in the signature thing. I also have a Corda HA-1 on the way.

The nice thing about headphone listening is you can get scary good sound pretty cheap. I think I've pretty much finished getting everything I want, but then again...

My favorite current set-up right now is my porta corda and my sennheiser HD 580s, coupled with any portable player or receiver or minisystem in the house (there are lots of them!). It always sounds great to me.

Everything else you see in my signature I love, too, though.

If you have the money (and it sounds like you do), I think you should go a little overboard and enjoy the quality. Treat yourself, it's a very satisfying hobby. You'll probably find other uses for your superb gear as your family gets bigger or your baby gets older.

Good luck!

 

[MacDEF]

Ronnie, for movie use out of a PowerBook, I'd forget about the amp and go with a pair of Beyer DT250-80. They sound great out of the PB headphone jack, have good bass, good midrange, and good soundstage, which are the most important parts of the spectrum for movie watching, IMO. (They also have good detail, but bass and mids are their strong points.)

Plus you save money this way

 

[Steve999]

MacDEF makes an excellent point... the DT 250-80s would be an absolutely superb way of meeting your needs directly, getting wonderful sound, and not spending nearly so much money.

So if that's your story and you're sticking to it, I think the DT 250-80s would be GREAT.

I never use my headphones out of my computer so I'm not nearly so knowledgeable about such things.

Quote:

Originally posted by MacDEF Ronnie, for movie use out of a PowerBook, I'd forget about the amp and go with a pair of Beyer DT250-80. They sound great out of the PB headphone jack, have good bass, good midrange, and good soundstage, which are the most important parts of the spectrum for movie watching, IMO. (They also have good detail, but bass and mids are their strong points.) Plus you save money this way

 

[bobjew]

This is my going to Mexico and watching DVDs at the airport/plane/B&B setup:

G4 ti book

splitter—"y" cable with one 1/8 male and two 1/8 female jacks

x2 Markertek mini2mini cables

x2 Fixup SuperMinis—tiny great sounding amps

Tiny great sounding phones—1 pair Ety4s and 1 pair Sennheiser mX500's or possibly 2 pairs of the MX500's (one for the girlfriend, one for me)

Subscription to Netflix

Tried it out tonight and it Rocks, baby! (sound/picture out of the PBook was better than expected!)

 

[Suedama]

Ronnie: If you are truly interested in quality audio, the weak links in the chain are the computer sound card (which is always low quality) and the ambient noise. My "computer" setup consists of a Stereo-link USB DAC => Creek OBH11-SE => headphones. With this setup, you completely bypass the sound card. The audio signal is transmitted to the DAC via the USB port. The Stereo-link (www.stereo-link.com) is a nice piece of equipment and not at all expensive (@ $150 I think). It has its own headphone amp built in, although I prefer the Creek. With any computer setup ambient noise is a big issue (more so with desk tops than with notebooks). So, a good set of closed headphones is better for this environment.

There will be drawbacks with every computer setup. There is a fairly high demand on computer processing power when listening to music. With most computers (P3 500 MHz or greater) this generally has no effect on the quality of the music unless you are doing some other task that similarly requires large processing power. Then you might hear some artifacts in the music. But this would be true no matter what the setup.

 

[Ronnie]

Thanks for all the replies thus far!

The suggestion of Beyer DT250-80 is very helpful. However, I currently own a Sony MDR-V300, which is mid-sized earmuff style. I hate this. Hurts my ears after an hour or so. I'm interested in a full size headphone as it seems to be the most comfortable. Open is not a problem either as by the time I can watch a movie, it's late at night with the family asleep and no noise. This is mainly how I came the the Senn HD600 (and the quality of course). I should have mentioned this in my first post.

Would you reccomend sticking with Beyer and moving up the chain to the DT 990 Pro for the same purposes?

Best ...

 

[kyr]

the problem is that no matter how good a headphone and amp you get, if your source sucks, the sound isn't going to be good.
Oh, and the mdr-v300 is supraaural. The Beyers are circumaural. They are absolutely not the same size...makes all the difference in the world, unless you have huge ears.

 

[Ronnie]

Quote:

Originally posted by kyr Oh, and the mdr-v300 is supraaural. The Beyers are circumaural. They are absolutely not the same size...makes all the difference in the world ...

So size matters

. What is the difference?

Quote:

... unless you have huge ears.

I am only 1/4 Ferengi on my mothers side. So, ears are normal.

Best ...

 

[zbuddah]

circumaural surrounds your ears so there is little of none of that pressure you would feel with a supraaural phone that lays on your ears. Your ear might touch the cup in a circumaural phone but there will be no pressure resting on your ear.

 

[bangraman]

I'll throw in the Audio-Technica ATH-A900 in here again. Outstanding comfort, wide soundstage, not too harsh, not laid back, excellent clarity of sound, very good detail and nicely set up bass. For all-round use, especially without an amplifier, in my opinion it completely outclasses an unamped DT250-80 (which were, come to think of it, as closed off soundstage-wise as the MDR-7506 is and gutless out of my VAIO).

 

[Goober]

Quote:

There will be drawbacks with every computer setup. There is a fairly high demand on computer processing power when listening to music. With most computers (P3 500 MHz or greater) this generally has no effect on the quality of the music unless you are doing some other task that similarly requires large processing power. Then you might hear some artifacts in the music. But this would be true no matter what the setup.

Actually, music listening on todays computers is trivial. Even my old P75 could handle up to 160kbps mp3's. Of course if your referring to the external usb things then I have no idea what kind of requirements those have.

 

[MacDEF]

Quote:

Originally posted by bangraman DT250-80 (which were, come to think of it, as closed off soundstage-wise as the MDR-7506 is and gutless out of my VAIO).

The DT250-80 have *much* better soundstage than the 7506/V6. (I also find the DT250-80 to be quite competent out of every laptop I've used... but in fairness, they were all Mac laptops, which tend to have much better headphone jacks than PC laptops.)

 

[Ronnie]

Quote:

Originally posted by MacDEF (I also find the DT250-80 to be quite competent out of every laptop I've used... but in fairness, they were all Mac laptops, which tend to have much better headphone jacks than PC laptops.)

Glad to read this as I have ordered the DT250-80 for my PowerBook G4.

Best ...