[syrianrue]

Hi guys,

I just purchased a HD595 for $168 bucks from amazon (quite a steal i must say) This is pretty much my first decent headphone, so i'm very excited for its arrival. I was initially thinking about getting a steelseries siberia v2 because i also play a first person shooter game, but since i am also a big music fan... decided to go with the HD595 'cuz it's much better for music.

I do havea few questions though. To fully get see the capabilities of the headphone, will i need a really good sound card? the sound card i have right now i think is Realtek AC'97 Audio.... got it maybe 2-3 years ago.

Also, how much nicer will the headphone sound with an amp? 'cuz i hear a lot of people talking about using their headphone through an amplifier.

Lastly, does anyone know any good songs that are great for testing headphones?

 

[mritt400]

I can't speak to the soundcard issue but I am pretty sure a current, quality, aftermarket soundcard would be better than a stock install in general. I am sure someone will pipe up with a suggestion/recommendation. For amping, try to search the forum - I am sure there are like 5k posts that pertain to your exact question with many suggestions, recommendations and opinions.

What headphones were you using previously?

As for the songs to test them with, you should use songs that you love and have heard a million times - this way you are very familiar with how the song "normally" sounds or "should" sound, and you can draw comparisons from there. However, be sure that they are in the highest quality format that you find practical. One thing about quality headphones is that they tend to reveal a lot of inconsistencies and quirks in low bit-rate, lossy, formats...Congrats on the upgrade!

 

[RallyMaster]

Do get a sound card. My conclusion after trying the Realtek ALC888, ALC889 and the ALC1200 audio codecs is that they come close to my X-Fi XtremeMusic but as soon as you throw it into a game, Realtek is absolute rubbish. If you're gaming, you should go for an X-Fi. I would say that even though Asus makes good sound cards with decent DAC chips, the hardware DSP on the "real" X-Fi cards (with the EMU20K1 or EMU20K2 X-Fi chip) work better out of the box with games.

The HD595 doesn't improve greatly with an amp. However, I have noticed that mine went from too mellow to listen to and causing me to fall asleep to actually allowing me to enjoy certain genres of music quite nicely after I bought a Little Dot MKII.

The songs you test your headphones with should be the ones you know well as stated by mritt400. People that audition my headphones always ask if a certain song they're hearing is "sounding correctly." My standard answer is "Yes and no, depending on your taste." If you enjoy what you're hearing, then the answer is an obvious yes.

 

[syrianrue]

just received my sennheiser hd595... WOW!!!! just WOW!!!

i went back to my old headset just to see the difference in quality... the comparison is literally night and day.

this is my old headset:
.Audio 750 DSP Stereo Headset

LOL

 

[loopfreak]

After you get a decent soundcard and lossless files its going to be even better !!
For music get esi juli@ or M-AUDIO - Audiophile 192(have same chip differences are subtle)

Enjoy your new toy

 

[sithompson]

Quote:

Originally Posted by syrianrue /img/forum/go_quote.gif just received my sennheiser hd595... WOW!!!! just WOW!!! i went back to my old headset just to see the difference in quality... the comparison is literally night and day.

I know what you mean. The HD595's were the first real cans I bought and I just could not believe how good they were, different world to the cheap pair I used to own. Enjoy

 

[syrianrue]

Quote:

Originally Posted by loopfreak /img/forum/go_quote.gif After you get a decent soundcard and lossless files its going to be even better !! For music get esi juli@ or M-AUDIO - Audiophile 192(have same chip differences are subtle) Enjoy your new toy

should i get a really good sound card or dac? what would be better? what are the advantages and disadvantages of each?

what about preamp and amp?>

 

[loopfreak]

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f46/so...vs-dac-204743/

 

[Ninkul]

Just to clarify.

Sound cards are technically "DAC"s. Just usually we reffer to a DAC as an external DAC (DAC being Digital to Analog Converter... which is what a sound card does).

Anyways, sound cards are inside your computer which means its exposed to the interference from the other components.

Either way you go, you should be satisfied imo. Most good sound cards have decent amplification circuits in them. Thee 595's aren't terribly difficult to drive anyway.

 

[nwkid178]

I have an old Creative external usb 24 bit LIVE! sound card that I use with my HD-595's with lossless music and I can't complain one bit. I got my HD-595's from Amazon too. Cheapest price I could find!!

 

[geoffbrecker]

I'm so jealous man. I'm also looking into a pair of these.
I would recommend a good soundcard designed for music
production rather than one of these cheap, nasty game
soundcards.
 
My 2 cents.

 

[hans030390]

Get a Xonar DS or DX for a sound card. My HD555s, which I've modded to HD595s, sound fantastic out of my Xonar DX! They sound like ass out of my iPod Touch.

 

[Vlooienuker]

Ive got a ASUS Xonar DX 7.1 Soundcard and DFX on Winamp, How good does the modded 555's sound like?

 

[deadspider187]

I listened to the HD555's and HD595's at a local audio dealer.  There were very little audio differences that I heard between the two (and that was using a $2500 tube amp).  However, the mod to convert the HD555 to HD595 is painless, and you can only gain from it.  Search the forums for the mod.  The soundstage mod, however, is much more involved, and pretty much guarantees you won't be selling it for the price you bought it for since it's irreversible.  It did open open the soundstage about 10-20% though, and made the whole headphone seem more "open".
 
Quote:

Ive got a ASUS Xonar DX 7.1 Soundcard and DFX on Winamp, How good does the modded 555's sound like?

 

[tziqegnz7]

/img/forum/go_quote.gif

I can't speak to the soundcard issue but I am pretty sure a current, quality, aftermarket soundcard would be better than a stock install in general. I am sure someone will pipe up with a suggestion/recommendation. For amping, try to search the forum - I am sure there are like 5k posts that pertain to your exact question with many suggestions, recommendations and opinions.

What headphones were you using previously?

As for the songs to test them with, you should use songs that you love and have heard a million times - this way you are very familiar with how the song "normally" sounds or "should" sound, and you can draw comparisons from there. However, be sure that they are in the highest quality format that you find practical. One thing about quality headphones is that they tend to reveal a lot of inconsistencies and quirks in low bit-rate, lossy, formats...Congrats on the upgrade!

It is exactly what I need, Thanks for your effort!