[Ezero50K]

Where am I coming from?
ATH-A900, my first and only owned audiophile quality headphones. 2002~-2008 or so. After about 4 years, the thin plastic bands connecting the cans to the headband cracked and separated with the force of spreading them over my head. Superglue and duct tape got me through a couple more years, but they continued to break and just became a big mess of nasty. Going to attempt to repair them with some epoxy to seal the cracked and separated parts, and some epoxy clay to rebuild a chunk of missing plastic from another break.
 
The sound quality was amazing to me, the bass was fun and as far as I could tell didn't quite take away from the sound quality. Loved the isolation and seal. Really kept my world revolving around my music and games, not the ambient room noise around me.
 
I've never listened to open cans really, so I'm a little nervous about that idea.
 
What am I going to do?
I'm going to be doing mostly gaming, mmo/rts/some fps. Listening to a lot of music during which. Some movies in there too. Love the big exciting sound of movies through good high quality sound devices. ^^ The "WEE" factor with you will.
 
What am I looking for?
A decent all around upgrade from my ATH-A900.
 
Something that will provide an all around sound quality upgrade. Bass is good, but I don't want it to muddy up the sound. I like nice deep rich sound that won't treble my face off, yet remains clear and defined. Something that will at least come close to the comfort level of the ATH-A900. An improvement in build quality would be nice, thin plastic parts shouldn't be force-bearing. :\ Portability isn't really an issue, if it can fit in a backpack I can make it portable, so w/e. 90% of the time it'll be used at my home comp anyway.
 
What will it be running with?
ATM I'm running out of P8P67 Pro onboard sound. About the same time I make my purchase I will be getting a sound card that will match nicely. (Considering Xonar Essence STX, or maybe one of its little brothers if no benefit is to be gained.)
 
So setup will be:
(Game/FLAC or 320kbps MP3/Movie)Comp -> Sound Card -> Headphones -> Me
This provides the best overall well rounded quality for everything I will be doing as far as I can tell.
 
What's my decision?
Based at this moment on everything I could find, this selection appears to be the most appealing to me.
 
Asus Xonar Essence STX -> Ultrasone Pro 900
 
Top of the line sound quality and very little noise:sound ratio with the Essence STX. A nice headphone amp built in, running straight to the Ultrasone Pro 900s, who are acclaimed to have a beautiful punchy bass that doesn't take away from the rest of the sound stage.
 
(Other sets that have come across as potential options: D2000s, Shure 940s.)
 
What do you think?
Based on reading everything I've said here, do you think I'd be making the best decision? If not challenge it, tell me what you think would be better and support your claim well. If you think what I've decided is the best course, reinforce my confidence with some support. =)
 
Thanks in advance head-fiers!
 
Edit: Would like to throw in I'm considering the Xonar DX instead of the Essence STX under the assumption that the STX has a loud noise issue that some have reported, and that the DX may provide all the benefits I could need for half the price?????

 

[Ezero50K]

No opinions? :|

 

[Omark12]

D2000s for sure.

 

[Ezero50K]

Quote:

D2000s for sure.

Any particular reason why? Their sound quality seems appealing by description, but I'm worried about their loose fit not giving me the isolated seal I like, and the reports of their flimsy build quality and issues with screws being faulty have kind of deterred me a little.

 

[Omark12]

read this http://www.head-fi.org/t/592300/up-to-300-budget-what-would-be-best-for-my-needs-prefs pretty much in the same situation as you

1. Good build quality, don't worry about the screw it's fine, but still not something to be thrown around
2. Better soundstage than Pro 900
3. Better over sound quality, the only thing the  Pro 900 has over the D2000 here is bass, but the D2000's bass is still VERY good.
4. Great for gaming and movies!!! The large sound stage and bass is great for directional sound and explosions and what not. I use it with Dolby headphone, it comes with all the Xonar cards.
5. The D2000 is very comfortable
6. Pairs very good with Xonar cards, I have a DG, I personally think the STX is a little over kill for the D2000 and the Pro 900, yes the DX will work just as great

Get the D2000 and be happy.

 

[Sanity]

I would recommend the Beyerdynamic DT880. They are great all around headphones, are more neutral than their brothers, have great sound staging, wonderful imaging and detail, and not to mention they are really comfortable.

 

[grandehombre09]

I've got both ahd2000 and pro 900.

For your intentions, I'd personally prefer the pro 900.

 

[hoplite84]

D2000 get great reviews, try them out.

 

[RoboKrikit]

I love my D2000s, but if you are going to be throwing them in a backpack and carrying them around a lot, I would look for something else.  These things are for home use.  The build quality is fine, but they don't have a rugged design for portability.  If you're very worried about isolation at low volume I would look elsewhere too.

 

[stv014]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Omark12 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
Pairs very good with Xonar cards, I have a DG, I personally think the STX is a little over kill for the D2000 and the Pro 900, yes the DX will work just as great
Get the D2000 and be happy.

I do not know about the DG, but the DX, while not unusable for the D2000, is hardly great either. It has 100Ω output impedance, and the power will be limited to a few mW. Basically, the D2000 would not be powered better by it than the HD650. It is a fairly good DAC for use with an external amplifier, though. The STX is not only the better than the DG and DX, but would also be usable with any future hard to drive headphones.
 

 

[PurpleAngel]

The Xonar DX does not come with a dedicated headphone amplifier, but it does a decent job of powering headphones in the 32-Ohm to 80-Ohm range.
But the DG is cheaper and does come with a half-way decent headphone amplifier.

 

[stv014]

Quote:

The Xonar does not come with a dedicated headphone amplifier, but it does a decent job of powering headphones in the 32-Ohm to 80-Ohm range.

There is no advantage to using a high output impedance source like the Xonar DX with 32Ω headphones. It will not output more power than to a 300Ω headphone, and it will only have a poor damping factor.
 

 

[Ezero50K]

The problem with the Xonar DG is that it's a full PCI-E connection. I'm unsure if I can make that work, until I get my comp out on the table again and take another look. If I was going to crossfire gpus I wasn't going to be able to. But one card I ordered was defective so single gpu I can probably use a full pci-e connection. A PCI-E 1x would have been preferred leaving the option to crossfire gpus available.
 
Also, is the DG really that good? It's so cheap, like $30.
 
Edit: Was looking at the rear of the DG, has no indicated "Headphone" analog port, so then what would you do? If you ran an optical out wouldn't that render the sound card useless? My onboard has an optical port.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

The problem with the Xonar DG is that it's a full PCI-E connection. I'm unsure if I can make that work, until I get my comp out on the table again and take another look. If I was going to crossfire gpus I wasn't going to be able to. But one card I ordered was defective so single gpu I can probably use a full pci-e connection. A PCI-E 1x would have been preferred leaving the option to crossfire gpus available.
Also, is the DG really that good? It's so cheap, like $30.

The Asus Xonar DG is PCI, not PCI-Express.
The DG is a really great bang for the buck sound card.
Comes with Dolby Digital (Dolby Virtual Headphone).
 
I've used the Asus Xonar DG, DS, DX and currently using the Xonar Essence STX.
 
 

 

[Omark12]

Its really that good don't listen to anyone else who tells you otherwise, chances are they don't own one and theres like nothing better for $30.