[Yazen]

Thanks for your recommendations Yazen. As I am new to quality earphones / headphones and just want a bit more volume on my Audio Technica's is the E6 amp so bad?

They are only £21 delivered here in the UK

You could get the E6 but I can imagine you wanting something better down the road...If anything the E6 should give you more volume though!
 
This caught my curiosity: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Headphone-amplifier-eclipse-tin-cmoy-RECHARGABLE-audiophile-quality-Spearmint-/190949192833?pt=AU_Electronics_Audio_Amplifiers&hash=item2c75757481
 
AFAIK a fairly well assembled Cmoy sounds better than an E6. You should check out the UK Ebay site for something similar. I've seen some crazy projects that sold for ~£20-£35.
 
Just another thing to waste your time with ;P. You can always get the E6, because even if you stop using it, there's always going to be someone you know with a similar issue.

 

[CraigR1990]

bump.
 
I've just purchased a pair of ATH-m50 headphones myself and I'm concerned that they might be defective or fake (I got them from eBay). They don't seem very loud, max volume is still definitely within comfortable listening levels, even standard iPhone earphones are louder. I'm using my PC/phone as the source, and I've seen other people using these same sources say that they cannot go beyond 50-60% volume before the headphones become deafeningly loud. What do you guys think?

 

[JBZ30]

I too was not impressed with the volume of my Audio Technica ATH-M50'S. Especially after being used to the Jaybird Blubuds X's.

I bought the Fiio E6 amp which transformed the sound. I have only used the M50's with my phone and like any mobile phone source I imagine, it needs an amp.

I found an Audio Technica genuine to fake image comparison which i'll try and post here.

 

[CraigR1990]

Thanks for your response. The build quality on them is fine and they appear to be genuine after looking at the fake image comparison. They most probably are the real deal and I'm just not a fan of the product. I'm not overly impressed with the sound quality either if I'm honest. I wish I had another pair to compare them against, oh well I think I'll just return them and look for something else.

 

[JBZ30]

You're welcome.

I wanted to return mine at first. The next day I ordered a cheap Fiio amp and they came alive two days later when it arrived. I could listen to the Audio Technica's at max without the amp and was unimpressed. My Jaybirds were so much louder.

Now, with the amp I cannot have them at max or near max because it hurts my ears. The brief short bursts of time I've tried max volume they haven't distorted in my opinion and near max volume on bass songs I can feel the bass and not just hear it.

People here stress how important the source (the thing it's plugged in to) is. I can now see what they mean.

Plug them into a half decent home hifi and you'll see what I mean before maybe buying an amp.

 

[CraigR1990]

I'm going to return them to the eBay seller and repurchase them from a reputable trader on Amazon, if I'm still not satisfied then I'll purchase an amp. I want 2.0 speakers for my computer so I'm going to need an amp anyway, I think, unless I can find a decent pair of active speakers for cheap. What are your thoughts on the sound quality of the ATH-m50s? I have a Turtle Beech PX12 Gaming Headset and in all honestly, I can barely tell the difference, even when listening to high quality FLAC audio files.

 

[JBZ30]

That will give you peace of mind I see. I believe Amazon to be an Audio Technica dealer. Something I didn't know when I bought mine from them.

I'm pretty new to decent audio equipment..I bought some Jaybird Blubuds X's then Comply foam tips for them then wanted headphones for home so bought the M50's so I haven't got much to compared them to.

I feel my Audio Technica's are a different kind of sound compared to my Jaybirds. The M50's are so clear. This was the part I was impressed with the most.

Since getting the M50's I have downloaded some flac music and although very clear I too am unable to really tell the difference between flac and I'm guessing 320kbps. I can definitely hear a difference between say YouTube and the same song on Spotify at 320kbps.

It's like a black and white TV compared to HD.

I'm not quite there with the audiophile jargon yet heh.

 

[CraigR1990]

Hahaa I can identify with everything you've just said. These are the first high quality piece of audio equipment that I've ever purchased - normally I use stock apple or cheap £5-10 earphones. I only joined this forum yesterday and I had no idea that audio equipment could be so complicated lol. Did you notice an improvement with the ATH-m50s after you burnt them in?

 

[JBZ30]

Lool cool. I was told I'd catch the Audiophile bug when I started to buy these and it turns out I have. I never would've bothered learning what flac files are, where to find them etc. Standard earphones and YouTube was good enough for me.

One more thing I've remembered is that songs I didn't like I now like, and that I now hear things in songs which I've been listening to for years which I never heard before.

I did notice a slight difference after a couple of days of burning them in. I doubted this when I read about it but for me they did improve.

Now, I listen to them daily and I have missed so many TV shows which I wanted to watch because they are so enjoyable.

 

[Yazen]

That will give you peace of mind I see. I believe Amazon to be an Audio Technica dealer. Something I didn't know when I bought mine from them.

I'm pretty new to decent audio equipment..I bought some Jaybird Blubuds X's then Comply foam tips for them then wanted headphones for home so bought the M50's so I haven't got much to compared them to.

I feel my Audio Technica's are a different kind of sound compared to my Jaybirds. The M50's are so clear. This was the part I was impressed with the most.

Since getting the M50's I have downloaded some flac music and although very clear I too am unable to really tell the difference between flac and I'm guessing 320kbps. I can definitely hear a difference between say YouTube and the same song on Spotify at 320kbps.

It's like a black and white TV compared to HD.

I'm not quite there with the audiophile jargon yet heh.

Depending on the source of the FLAC and MP3 files (Vinyl/CD/etc), and the way the MP3 is compressed, you may be pressed to find a difference in the quality.  
Jaybirds are good for IEMs, but full size headphones have an edge for sure!

 

[JBZ30]

Oh I see. Only specific music I download in FLAC too. Mainly music with proper instruments like Pink Floyd etc.

Yes I agree.