[Apillusionz]

Hello everyone,
 
I am here to ask for your advice which headphone and soundcard to go with. I am in the market for upgrading my computer sound. I am currently running Tritton Ax pro's off the onboard card. I would like to "invest" in a good headphone and soundcard. 
 
My interests are listening to movies&Tv shows&youtube (60% of the time), games (30%, usually Battlefield), music (10%). 
 
I have a budget of 500-700 Australian dollars. I would like to get some good branded headphones. I would also like them not not leak too much sound. I dont want people around me to hear what I am listening to all the time. 
 
Any advice will be highly appreciated. 
 
Thanks for taking out your time and helping a newbie. 

 

[SimonReborn]

A Asus xonas essence STX would do the job. You are getting some great audio for the price. As far as the cans goes, It really depends what sound you are looking for. Beyerdynamics DT880 and DT990 would be a great choice IMO. The DT880 if you want a more balanced pair of cans, DT990 if you want abit more bass and treble boost. Both are fine.

The DT990 is however a open pair of cans, while the DT880 is semi-open. So you should probably consider the 880 if you you want to keep the audio for yourself. On the sidenote, both of these headphones should be considered open ones and WILL leak.

Philips Fidelio X1 seems to do a great job aswell if you are ready to get some pretty bass heavy cans. You gotta love that it got a detachable cable as well. Prolly the best in that price range. I still think these are open tho

One step up you'll find the beyerdynamic T90, still an open headphone but offer some great Tesla audio. Its on the bright side tho and would sound best with a warm tube amp so I'm not sure how It'll sound with the STX. The T90 got a closed brother, the T70. It will not leak that much but doesn't offer close to the performence of the T90, especially if you are planning to get a "real" amp later on.

I could probably recommend a few closed cans, but they are usually designed to be portable and easy to drive, at the cost of sound quality. A closed pair of headphone brings out the bass, so if you are a basshead, it might be something to look into. The Sennheiser Momentum is a great pair of closed allrounders with a built in mic, so quite versatile. And as mentioned above, this ends up being easy to drive due the portable goal of these cans but will not offer as good audio as the open ones I've mentioned, IMO.

Pro tip: If you are going with the STX, you might want to switch out the op amps. 1x lme 49990 and 2xlme 49860, or perhaps x3 49990 would give you that extra magical touch to the sound quality

 

[Apillusionz]

Yes sir. I was looking at them with deep interest. I think they are one of the better ones out in the market. Now the question is which headphone best goes with this sound card and my requirements.

 

[SimonReborn]

Yes sir. I was looking at them with deep interest. I think they are one of the better ones out in the market. Now the question is which headphone best goes with this sound card and my requirements.

Please look at my updated post above. I'm very unused to typing on my smartphone and I accidentally clicked the "reply" button.

I hope you find my post helpfull

 

[SimonReborn]

Anyways, I don't really see why anyone would drop 500-700$ on a apair of headphones if music isn't their prior concerned. You are better off with a 5.1/7.1 speaker system, perhaps paired with the Xonas essence ST. With that being said, if you invest in a high end pair of headphones and soundcard/amp, you can't help yourself but to listen to music all day

 

[connieflyer]

I would go with the Xonar sound card also.  Have had mine for over a year, no problems and the sound is excellent.  I now use the Senn. HD 650's and get great sound, before that I was using a pair of Senn HD380 Pro as these are closed back you would get better isolation, both for you and those around you.  They sounld really good also.   http://en-us.sennheiser.com/monitoring-headphone-studio-headphone-professional-audio-hd-380-pro are the ones I had and Amazon has them for less.  Good luck.  Don

 

[Apillusionz]

Thanks for the detailed post simonreborn! What's the difference between different ohms? Which one would work the best with the suggested sound card?

As I said, I don't want to limit my experience. I just put the price there as i don't want to spend money on a pair of can and then regret it. I take care of my electronics and use them for years before retiring them. I agree with you, once I get an upgrade, time devoted to music is surely going to go up.
How's the comfort level on these? I usually wear them for hours on end. I have a medium sized head and average ears.

I am thinking about getting a pair of momentums as well but for portable usage. Is there an amp you would recommend? I'll be listening through my iPhone.

 

[Apillusionz]

I was looking at reviews for D880 are noticed there is a lot of sound leak. This is a huge problem for me. I need headphones that have minimum leak.

How's the AKG550 or 701. Better for my requirements?

 

[SimonReborn]

Quote:

Thanks for the detailed post simonreborn! What's the difference between different ohms? Which one would work the best with the suggested sound card?

As I said, I don't want to limit my experience. I just put the price there as i don't want to spend money on a pair of can and then regret it. I take care of my electronics and use them for years before retiring them. I agree with you, once I get an upgrade, time devoted to music is surely going to go up.
How's the comfort level on these? I usually wear them for hours on end. I have a medium sized head and average ears.

I am thinking about getting a pair of momentums as well but for portable usage. Is there an amp you would recommend? I'll be listening through my iPhone.

 
Without going to technical, the frequency response ends up being slightly different for the same pair of cans, with higher impedance/Ohm usually sounding the best and cleanest, less strained. With higher impedance you´ll need more power to drive it, therefore an amp is required. Id say 250Ohm is the sweetspot and is usually what mid-high stuff comes with. But ofcourse a really good amp could take use of a pair of 600ohm cans, but I dont think you´ll hear a big difference if any when partnered with the STX.
 
Fiio 11 or 17 would be a sweetspot as far as portable amp goes, the e17 does have a inbuilt dac if you need that.
 
Quote:

I was looking at reviews for D880 are noticed there is a lot of sound leak. This is a huge problem for me. I need headphones that have minimum leak.

How's the AKG550 or 701. Better for my requirements?

 
As I mentioned, both the DT880 and DT990 WILL leak. Personally, I wouldnt recommend the k701/702, they are quite boring and sounds artificial. They are very natural, with little to none bass, this isnt really working for me. (Im partly a basshead.) (I did find the anniversary edition slightly better, so that might be an option) I did also find the AKG550 pretty good but the treble is pretty raw and harsh on your hears.
 
There arent that many closed cans I would recommend in general, not in the high end region atleast. This is because you´ll get a much more natural and audiophile like sound with open ones. Sennheiser Momentum and Beyerdynamic Custom Pro are pretty good, especially the Momentum, but the BD pair is slightly more fun with current gen music with abit more bass boost. (even got "on the go" bass changer on the side of them). In the higher-end spectrum, I would say the T70 is the one to roll with. But once again, build yourself a tree house or something and get a pair of open cans and enjoy it all by yaself!, Its worth it!