[KtoEto]

Hi, i'm new here. In the last weeks, driven by the need to better the quality of my music listening, I browsed through a lot of posts and ended up liking this forum very much.
I've found honesty, knowledge, will to help, will to share, intelligence, tech know-how, fun. It's very well done.
My experience in the quality headphones world has just started and I'm not yet sure if I'll be able to give to this community something worthy with my posts to come (given the high level of knowledge you have), but I'll surely read and learn, humbly.
So, the first step i've taken is buying a Sennheiser HD 595. They'll arrive tomorrow 12 july (not 100% sure but the swiss post is very efficient) after a looong 6 weeks waiting period. I choosed them following your impressions. I still don't know if it's the right choice for me, I've never put them on and listened to them (through them), so I'm a bit nervous. I don't know if I'm going to feel "sorry for your wallet" and for my head (worst case), or happy for my ears, for my head and money forgotten (best case). I already had a bad experience with the Sennheiser PC 150 headset, not comfortable for my ears. So let's wait and see. In the worst case I'll make a voodoo doll out of your printed posts. The other thing that is worrying me are the first attacks of buyitis. I haven't even received my headphones and I'm already indulging in fantasies of buying a good amp, a good source, and maybe a better soundcard, and cables too, and try some other headphones and ... and ... and ... (you know the drill)). Since i'm not rich, there is a natural limiting factor that will surely enhance the pleasure of buying something new.
If you can afford to buy everything, there's no struggle and no real satisfaction, you don't really take your time to desire things and work to see your dreams become a reality. The way towards the goal make the goal much more interesting this way (so i'm already working hard to plan a successful bank robbery).
So cut the crap and my questions are:
What should I do with my mint new headphones, must the process of breaking them in be done without interruptions?
Can't I just let them work during the day with an MP3 list on repeat and turn them off during the night?
Would letting them break in by using them only when I listen to the music be a bad break in?
I'm really not in a hurry, so I'd like them to change and notice the change while listening to the music.
Another question: should the mp3 list cover all the possible frequencies or is it better to just let the music I love through (to let them get used to my music preferences)?
Thank you.

 

[Jasper994]

You can really do the burn in any way you like... I would recommend however, a little bit of running at higher than normal listening volumes (off of your head of course) and a few hours of stuff with a variety of different sounds particularly heavy in bass. A lot of people break in their headphones on their head and don't just leave them running for a few days... I'm doing that with a pair of Shure E2's right now, they're comming along very well...

For a nice setup to start with that can tide you over for a while, get a decent amp as the 595's will benefit from one and an EM-U 1212m. The E-MU is a new sound card put out by Creative/E-MU that will compete very well against some very nice stand alone players.

BTW, the 595's are really nice, I have the 555's and spent quite a bit of time with the 595's at the last meet. I should be getting some 595's fairly soon and will use the 555's as my work headphone.

Also, welcome to Head-Fi!

 

[KtoEto]

Thank you for the welcome and the advice Jasper994.
Sound card and stand alone players is not really a choice but it seems to me to be the only solution.
I use my PC a lot and I listen to my WMA collection during that time so the e-mu would be nice, but at the same time I'd like to have the chance to enjoy SACD and DVD-A, so a stand alone universal player would also be nice.
So I think I'll need both.
But the problem is that I got 2 PCs, one for playing, the other for working, surfing, and music listening.
The first is a 3Ghz, XP, 1 Gb system. The second 1Ghz, Windows Me, 256Mb. I heard that the E-mu 1212 do not work with Win Me, so I'd have to change OS and that would be a problem because I don't want to touch it, I almost never get a bluescreen. And I don't want to touch my gaming Pc either because I want to keep it as light as possible (no antivirus, no firewall, no useless software running in the background) to better the performance.
So I think I'll keep quiet for a while and concentrate on the amp first, standalone later (Welly Wu and other wrote that Q3 and Q4 are good times, many new universal players will be out by then).
So the amp I'm already after would be a Talisman T-3H, I read positive reviews, but I'm not sure if the HD 595 would really make a nice partner. If somebody has tried them, please let me know.

 

[Mr.Radar]

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduc...120-103&depa=0 Instead of the EMU you could get the AV-710 which should be a pretty good improvement and to the best of my knowldege it works under WinME.

 

[KtoEto]

Thank you for the suggestion, Mr. Radar. But I doubt the Chaintech AV-710 would be an improvement over an Audigy 1. Am I wrong?
Cheers

 

[remilard]

The AV-710 is an improvement over the Audigy for music. The creative cards are optomized for and excel at gaming. They are bested by less expensive cards for music though.

Have fun with your 595s!

 

[KtoEto]

Thank you remilard.
But I'm a little confused.
As soon as I get an amp, I'll connect it to the analog out of the sound card.
Is the AV-710 really better than the audigy 1 for this purpose?
Maybe you meant the digital out is better (but i'll have to put a dac beetwen soundcard and amp).

taken from http://www.short-media.com/review.php?r=140&p=4
Quote:

The AV-710 is the mid-ground between the 16-bit/44.1 KHz sound cards and motherboard audio solutions and the higher end, more expensive audio cards that are two or three times the price. The analog outputs are limited to 20-bit/48 KHz audio but remember that CD and DVD audio is 16-bit/44.1 KHz unless you are one of the lucky ones buying SACD discs. The AV-710 is a good, inexpensive audio solution to upgrade from that old Soundblaster or bolted on motherboard audio. A few motherboards, including some from Chaintech, are beginning to emerge with this same chip onboard which promises to elevate onboard audio to meet the needs of many. Just don't be fooled by the lofty claims of 192 KHz audio. Only the more expensive cards support 192 KHz on two channels and 96 KHz for multi-channel

 

[Skarecrow]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KtoEto Thank you remilard. But I'm a little confused. As soon as I get an amp, I'll connect it to the analog out of the sound card. Is the AV-710 really better than the audigy 1 for this purpose? Maybe you meant the digital out is better (but i'll have to put a dac beetwen soundcard and amp).

No, he's talking about the analog out on the Chaintech. It is -almost- universally prefered to the audigy 2 zs, and the audigy 2 is supposedly noticably better than the audigy 1. Check out the Computer-as-a-source forums here. Because computer audio is not considered a traditional Hi-Fi source (yet), computer setups avoid a lot of the "audiophile markup", and you can get some real quality setups that rival stand-alone systems costing 3x and 4x as much.

If the music card will be going in your non gaming system, I see no reason to stick with an audigy at all.

My setup is actually remarkably similar to yours, and for advice on your future purchases, I'll say that the largest jumps in sound quality on my setup can be ordered as follows (although this is definatly not the order I did/purchased them in):
1. Amp
2. Headphones
3. Source
4. Headphone replacement cable
5. Switching to Lossless audio compression (FLAC)
6. Interconnect replacements

If I were you, a good amp would be next on my list. It is amazing what a good amp can do to the quality of sound. It is definatly NOT a question of "but my headphones already sound loud enough plugged directly into the card". It doesn't work like that. I've heard the same sorts of improvements on every set of headphones I have (from the $20 Koss KSC-50s up to the $450 Sennheiser HD650s) from my amp.

Btw welcome to head-fi. I was in the same situation as you a few months ago, and this place has absolutely decimated my wallet. Be careful and remember to enjoy what you have already... don't focus TOO much on what you want to buy next. This place can be bad about that sort of thing.

 

[KtoEto]

I did a little research and I found out that the audigy is bad for music because of the re-sampling (48Khz) using a bad algorithm. So the AV-710 does not resample or if it does, it does it better. Am I on the right track?

 

[KtoEto]

Thank you Skarecrow,
you convinced me. I think I'll get an AV-710 and forget the computer-as-source issue for the next year and a half. By that time I'll be upgrading my pc, so I'll get rid of the weak one and use the ex-gaming pc as a music, internet and work system. With XP I'll be able to install an E-mu (which will be cheaper, hopefully).
So, now I'm going to concetrate on the amp and have to find out if the HD 595 and the Talisman are a good match.
Or maybe choose another amp, because the Talisman is not cheap at all (around 700 $ in Switzerland).
Cheers

I forgot to ask:
Is it possible to listen to SACD with a PC?

 

[DevilDog]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KtoEto Thank you Skarecrow, you convinced me. I think I'll get an AV-710

I've never heard this card but after all my reading on here it sounds like a good decision.
You seem to have really done your homework well and thought out what you want to do. However, these guys around here will still talk you into opening up that wallet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by KtoEto I forgot to ask: Is it possible to listen to SACD with a PC?

I don't think so. At least I haven't heard if it being possible. Sorry.
BTW, concerning break-in, all of your observations seemed to be spot on. Anything will work, but my theory is that mp3s won't be as good as something lossless or a real cd because I think these would also also allow the full spectrum to be played. Does anyone else have any thoughts on this?
Also, while I'm on the subject, has no one ever had two new identical phones and burned them in differently? I'm assuming that since no one notices any difference between well broken-in phones of the same model that they even out over time no matter what you do.
Maybe this should require another thread. Oh well, I'm just rambling, now...

 

[DevilDog]

Oh, and you're going to LOVE the HD595s no matter what you drive them with. Since they're new I think a lot of folks are staying kind on the fence with them and not falling for them like I think they will in the future. They're great.

 

[Mr.Radar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KtoEto I forgot to ask: Is it possible to listen to SACD with a PC?

No. Computers, CDs, and DVD-Audio discs use PCM as the method for representing digital audio and SACDs use DSD instead (it is actually partially intentional that SACDs use an audio encoding method incompatible with computers). Also, if your MP3s are of high quality (encoded in high bitrates with LAME) then you may not gain much from switching to lossless audio, however if they're lower bitrates (160 kbps or less) or were encoded with bad encoders (like BladeEnc or Xing) then you'll definately notice a big difference.

 

[breez]

It's a shame that PC audio systems aren't DSD compatible, but I noticed that the Wolfson DAC in the Chaintech card actually supports DSD. I guess the problem is the host chip of the card and lack of any SACD software.

 

[KtoEto]

Thanks for the support
Quote:

BTW, concerning break-in, all of your observations seemed to be spot on. Anything will work, but my theory is that mp3s won't be as good as something lossless or a real cd because I think these would also also allow the full spectrum to be played

Since I don't have a cd changer, I think a collection of
wma encoded in high bit rates would do a better job
feeding the headphones with more variety.

Quote:

if your MP3s are of high quality (encoded in high bitrates with LAME)

I encode them in high rates using WMP. Is it decent?
Where can I get the LAME? (I tried searching for it, but as you can imagine my results had nothing to do with an encoder). POSTEDITED found the lame encoder

Guess what, no headphones in the postoffice of my little town today (%@&^##§^€°#@§@#§§¬¬#°¦@#°°#@¦#° <-----encripted curse)

The kind seller sent them friday afternoon, it takes them two working days to arrive and friday is between saturday and sunday and they are not working days (how come? I want my headphones).
But I got a tracking number, I can follow their route online.
Today at 14:42 they were 200 kilometers from where I live.
Nice to know that.