[State Of Trance]

EDIT: My situation becomes clearer in the following posts.
 
Thinking about buying a Bluray player but I'm not in an environment where I feel comfortable blasting full surround sound, so I've decided to use my Sennheiser 598 cans for Bluray. Unfortunately, my impression is that most Bluray players don't have headphone jacks. I'm also under the impression that VLC doesn't support menus, so I guess Bluray on my laptop isn't an option (unless someone can recommend good / free Bluray player software).
 
Any ideas for a headphone setup with a Bluray player? Anyone know of a good player that does have headphone stuff?
 
Thanks.
 
(Sorry if wrong forum.)

 

[pbui44]

If you have the money, get the Oppo BDP-105 with headphone jack.

If you don't have that kind of money, check the audio ports behind your blu-ray player. If you have RCA (red-and-white) plugs, get a Schiit Asgard 2. If you have only a coaxial (orange) plug or SPDIF (usually black and square-shaped with plug cover) and plug, get a Schiit Modi 2 (uber model has both plugs and worth it in the long-run) and Schiit Magni 2 uber or Asgard 2.

 

[State Of Trance]

Hey, thanks for the quick response. I really need to get my Blu ray on soon!
 
Anyway, I don't own a Blu ray player right now and I'm not exactly in the $1,000 dollar price range, but thanks.
 
So it looks like I'll have to get a Schiit stack or some such. Hmm...Is there really no way to just rock my cans themselves? I hadn't really planned on upgrading my headphone setup for a while.
 
What's the greatest impedance headphones that the Schiit stack can power? I mean, I won't feel so bad getting that setup if I know it'll be good for even my second audiophile cans later on.
 
Nuts, I'm cheap. To overcome this cheapness I need to feel that I'll use what I'm purchasing for a while.
 
P.S. You can use a computer monitor with a Blu ray player, right?
 
Thanks again!

 

[State Of Trance]

Okay, just realized a problem. Here are my basic choices.
 
(1) Get the Schiit Uber stack. Get a Blu ray player. ($180 x 2) + 100-ish = $460.
 
(2) Get a PS4 for it's Blu ray($350). Get a Turtle Beach Surround Sound thing-y (like $20 bucks). $20 + $350 = $370.
 
So for cheaper I could a PS4 which will let me game AND watch Blu rays. Yeah, the Schiit stack will be a much better headphone thing for future cans, but as I said in my second post I wasn't planning on buying new cans for a while anyway.
 
By the way, am I correct that the free VLC software still doesn't support menus?

 

[pbui44]

PS4? Check here:

http://www.head-fi.org/t/534479/mad-lust-envys-headphone-gaming-guide-1-14-2016-final-section-updated

 

[State Of Trance]

PS4? Check here:

http://www.head-fi.org/t/534479/mad-lust-envys-headphone-gaming-guide-1-14-2016-final-section-updated

 
Thanks, but I'm planning to stick with the Sennheiser 598's that I already own. The problem now is finding a way to use them with either a Blu Ray player or a PS4. I suppose with the PS4 I could just use the Turtle Beach DSS, but things seem more complicated with a normal Blu Ray player. I could just get an external Blu Ray drive to use with my laptop and download VLC for free, but my impression is that menus don't even work with free software like VLC.
 
Basically, I want a Blu Ray setup using my current 598 cans.

 

[pbui44]

Thanks, but I'm planning to stick with the Sennheiser 598's that I already own. The problem now is finding a way to use them with either a Blu Ray player or a PS4. I suppose with the PS4 I could just use the Turtle Beach DSS, but things seem more complicated with a normal Blu Ray player. I could just get an external Blu Ray drive to use with my laptop and download VLC for free, but my impression is that menus don't even work with free software like VLC.

Basically, I want a Blu Ray setup using my current 598 cans.

No, I meant for you to look at the thread and at how you are going to set up everything, as MadLustEnvy talks about more than just headphones.

 

[State Of Trance]

No, I meant for you to look at the thread and at how you are going to set up everything, as MadLustEnvy talks about more than just headphones.

 
Oh, snap, sorry. My laptop is pretty good but for some reason that thread slows things down like CRAZY. I closed the tab before getting a chance to see the rest. While I'm still not definitely getting a PS4, I'll take a look later, thanks!

 

[XERO1]

FYI, just remember that Blu-ray players cannot down-mix the LFE channel into their RCA stereo outputs (if they have them) or their optical or coaxial digital outputs when set to output a stereo PCM signal.
 
So if you want to hear all the bass that is on the Blu-ray's multi-channel track, you are going to need a separate AVR or SSP to properly down-mix all the individual channels into a stereo signal.

 

[State Of Trance]

  FYI, just remember that Blu-ray players cannot down-mix the LFE channel into their RCA stereo outputs (if they have them) or their optical or coaxial digital outputs when set to output a stereo PCM signal.
 
So if you want to hear all the bass that is on the Blu-ray's multi-channel track, you are going to need a separate AVR or SSP to properly down-mix all the individual channels into a stereo signal.

 
Snap, this audio stuff is too much for me. I know what an AVR is, but I don't know what an SSP is. Ugh, if I have to buy so many different things just to use my cans I may as well buy normal speakers or something.
 
...Except that the whole reason I want to use the cans is that I'm in an apartment and don't want to disturb neighbors.
 
Man, I need a house! Then I could build a real man cave and pump dat bass.
 
Let's go back to the possibly of watching on my laptop using VLC and an external Blu Ray drive. Would I still have this problem with audio not properly downmixing to stereo? What could I do about that?

 

[PurpleAngel]

   
Snap, this audio stuff is too much for me. I know what an AVR is, but I don't know what an SSP is. Ugh, if I have to buy so many different things just to use my cans I may as well buy normal speakers or something.
 
...Except that the whole reason I want to use the cans is that I'm in an apartment and don't want to disturb neighbors.
 
Man, I need a house! Then I could build a real man cave and pump dat bass.
 
Let's go back to the possibly of watching on my laptop using VLC and an external Blu Ray drive. Would I still have this problem with audio not properly downmixing to stereo? What could I do about that?

 
Can an external Blu-ray player even be connected to your laptop?
What kind of input does your laptop have that will connect to a laptop?
 
You can get the Program Cyberlinks PowerDVD 14, sells on eBay for just over $40.
Will play all your Blu-ray movies, but max audio will be 16/48k, which is still fairly good audio.
The FiiO E10K ($76), USB-DAC-amp, can be connected to your laptop and the HD598 connected to the E10K.

 

[State Of Trance]

   
Can an external Blu-ray player even be connected to your laptop?
What kind of input does your laptop have that will connect to a laptop?
 
You can get the Program Cyberlinks PowerDVD 14, sells on eBay for just over $40.
Will play all your Blu-ray movies, but max audio will be 16/48k, which is still fairly good audio.
The FiiO E10K ($76), USB-DAC-amp, can be connected to your laptop and the HD598 connected to the E10K.

 
Nuts, I keep forgetting you guys can't magically know what's in my head. lawlz
 
My intended possible setups are as follows:
 

1. Buy a Blu Ray Player and a monitor. Find some way to use my current cans.
2. Buy a PS4 and a monitor. Use my current cans with them somehow.
3. Buy an external usb Blu Ray drive for my laptop. Use either free blu ray software or, yeah, I could purchase commercial Blu Ray software. Use my current cans.

 
I actually own the Fiio E10K. I haven't used it in months because I have this weird feeling that the soundstage feels tiny or something on it. I dunno, it just rubbed me wrong. Might try it again soon.
 
Anyway, I'm skeptical of the Blu Ray software for purchase like PowerDVD because I keep hearing bad things about commercial Blu Ray software. That said, $40 bucks is lower than I heard, so I'll take a look. Anyone here used PowerDVD14? Is it too bloaty? Any issues?

 

[DangerClose]

If you have an E10K, you don't need a Schiit Stack for HD598.  
 
If you play the movie through the laptop somehow, output the audio to the E10k and plug your headphones in.  Done.  You could even leave the E10k out of that if you want, though E10k most likely will sound better than your laptop audio.
 
Or...
You should be able to send the movie to your TV/monitor through a Roku or FireStick or something using a direct cable or wi-fi.  
 
Does your laptop have video-out for a monitor?  Just plug the monitor into your laptop if it does.
 
This assumes any weird copy protection stuff doesn't get in the way.  

 

[PurpleAngel]

   
Nuts, I keep forgetting you guys can't magically know what's in my head. lawlz
 
My intended possible setups are as follows:
 

1. Buy a Blu Ray Player and a monitor. Find some way to use my current cans.
2. Buy a PS4 and a monitor. Use my current cans with them somehow.
3. Buy an external usb Blu Ray drive for my laptop. Use either free blu ray software or, yeah, I could purchase commercial Blu Ray software. Use my current cans.

 
I actually own the Fiio E10K. I haven't used it in months because I have this weird feeling that the soundstage feels tiny or something on it. I dunno, it just rubbed me wrong. Might try it again soon.
 
Anyway, I'm skeptical of the Blu Ray software for purchase like PowerDVD because I keep hearing bad things about commercial Blu Ray software. That said, $40 bucks is lower than I heard, so I'll take a look. Anyone here used PowerDVD14? Is it too bloaty? Any issues?

 
Just buy a stand alone Blu-ray player, one with an optical output.
Connect the older model FiiO E17 (not the newer E17K) to the Blu-ray's optical port and the headphones to the E17.
Connect the Blu-ray player to a monitor, using HDMI.