[inthere]

Just an update.... The low volume seemed to be caused via connecting using usb host, as when connecting via bluetooth (tidal) it sounds plenty loud.

My next concern is that yes the headphones sound great! But I find the vocals really fatiguing and forward where as all the other sounds have more distance.....

Any ideas? Must be a setting... I will change op amps soon

Ok, that sounds about right and was the same problem I had with my HD800's. That headphone was basically made for listening to classical music at low volume. If you listen at higher volume the sibilance is going to hit you. This can be solved somewhat with EQ and fortunately the HD800 is very receptive to EQ. What's fatiguing you is in the 1k-4k range, so you want to lower those frequencies until things are not so harsh. 

 

[TMRaven]

The HD800 has a gradual  recession starting at around 1khz down to 4khz.  By 4khz it's 10db lower than the low midrange.
The 6khz area is peaked and can cause fatigue.  Anax-variant mods can help tame the peak, while the HD800S's resonator gets rid of it altogether from the looks of things, bringing it in line with the upper treble.

 

[inthere]

  The HD800 has a gradual  recession starting at around 1khz down to 4khz.  By 4khz it's 10db lower than the low midrange.
The 6khz area is peaked and can cause fatigue.  Anax-variant mods can help tame the peak, while the HD800S's resonator gets rid of it altogether from the looks of things, bringing it in line with the upper treble.

This is correct, sorry, it is the 6k range

 

[jamieuk147]

Ok....what settings am I loooking to change in the x7 eq?

 

[ProtegeManiac]

My next concern is that yes the headphones sound great! But I find the vocals really fatiguing and forward where as all the other sounds have more distance.....

 
That's exactly how music is supposed to be on playback. Haven't you heard an actual, proper speaker system before? The vocals are very forward, and the drums are very clearly behind the vocals, and guitars are clearly to the left and right. In classical music you can pick out where each section of the orchestra is sitting.
 
Quote:

Ok....what settings am I loooking to change in the x7 eq?

 
Depends on what your goals are. If you want to trim the sharpness of the treble and make it more accurate, reduce the 6khz peak, and also the plateau in the upper bass to low midrange area centered at around 400hz. I have no idea what settings are available for the X7's EQ, but if I was using a parametric EQ like the one on NeutronMusicPlayer, I'd use:
 
1. Center Freq = 6khz ; Q-Factor = 1.8 to 2.0, Gain = -2dB to -4dB
 
2. Center Freq = 400hz ; Q-Factor = 0.8 to 1.2, Gain = -2dB
 
3. Center Freq = 2,500khz ; Q-Factor = 1.0 to 1.4, Gain = +2dB
 
-----
 
Now, if your goal is to make the soundstage of the HD800 less spacious, there are a number of solutions other than EQ:
 
1. Check and make sure SBX Pro/DolbyHeadphone/etc aren't running
2. EQ : boost bass and lower midrange everywhere, which will throw the drums and guitars forward to where the vocals are
3. Sell the HD800 and get a headphone that doesn't have angled driver mounts, because this is one physical attribute of the design that helps with making the imaging as it is, which you can only overcome with EQ by totally screwing up the frequency response, which basically is a waste of $1,200, when you can cut your losses and just use a headphone that makes no attempt to try to sound like speakers

 
 

 

[jamieuk147]

Thanks!!!!

This is my eq settings... Am I right in thinking bars 8 and 9 are related to treble?.. Any idea which slider or sliders relate to bass?

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Quote:

Thanks!!!!

This is my eq settings... Am I right in thinking bars 8 and 9 are related to treble?.. Any idea which slider or sliders relate to bass?

 

Bass is to the left and treble is to the right, but those sliders are as useless to me as White Castle Sliders that fell on the kitchen floor with unknown microbes on them because they aren't labelled for what particular frequency they are for. That would be like if the President was given a set of unlabeled budget folders and then he's tasked to split the budget between them, knowing only that domestic policies are to one side and foreign policy is on the other, but he has no idea whether the extreme left is the Interior or Agriculture or if the extreme right is Defense or Foreign Ministry, much less what projects each of them have.

 

That said, we can play with that like a kid plays the boardgame Battleship...you have a problem with treble and you boosted the frequencies on the right? Put the three on the right to -2dB, maybe set the third from right at -4dB, and the two on the left at +4dB (1st from left) and +2dB. Don't touch anything else.

 

[Soundizer]

I think it might be something on your settings. I have the portable Soundblaster E5 and use it to drive the (300ohm) HD 650's. It is extremely powerful and very loud via (1) iphone 6 via bluetooth, (2) digital out into mini toslink from my Sat Receiver, (3) USB into my MAC.

YOU HAVE TO ADJUST THE MIXER VOLUME SETTINGS WHICH I DID NIT REALISE AT FIRST AND ALSO THOUGHT THE VOLUME WAS TOO LOW UNTIL I DID THIS. Adjust volume in Mixer for both (Speaker) and the other input volume.

I do not even need to toggle it to high gain as the volume is so loud and i listen at high levels.