[cold]

I'm new as my post count and lack of knowledge would suggest, that's right I SAID IT: I'm a newbie.

I have a question which I attempted to solve with the search function, using several different strings. . . I promise. . . I just couldn't seem to find exactly what I was looking for. Cute emoticons by the way.

So I spend my days using Sennheiser PC-150 headphones which I thought to be a nice improvement over my, erm, Sony walkman things that look cool. I think I got a compliment from someone at the mall once; but it wasn't a girl, so. . . blah?

These PC-150's sound boring to me, I feel like there could be more ya know? So I did a little research and as money management is something to be considered, I bought a pair of used HD 595's from an obvious audiophile knowing that they weren't tossed about in their fifty hours of use.

To my dismay, and now your's (especially when you discover that you read all of this for the question in the next couple sentences), I didn't consider the ohm value - I am going to be running these through a simple Audigy 2 ZS soundcard for games and music. I still am not sure if it's the 50 or 120, and I just learned the importance of this from lurking about the forums. That being said, am I in OK shape for experiencing these "cans" in a somewhat fully realized manner?

oK bYE
dAN

 

[familyman]

well let me be the first to say, sorry about your wallet.

 

[familyman]

as for your question, the 595's would improve greatly if you added a simple amp or cmoy in the chain. how do they sound to you, so far?

 

[angler31337]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cold I bought a pair of used HD 595's from an obvious audiophile knowing that they weren't tossed about in their fifty hours of use.

The HD595's are nice cans. I don't think any true audiophile would pass them by without auditioning for way longer than 50 hours.

At any rate, the 595's have a nominal impedance of 50 ohms @ 1kHz. Roughly translated, you should be fine running them out of your current source; the 595's were designed to be fairly easy to drive. That isn't to say that they wouldn't benefit greatly from a dedicated headphone amp (etc...), but if you don't want to spend money in that direction, you should still be getting some pretty good quality sound from your current rig.

-Angler

 

[cold]

Quote:

Originally Posted by familyman as for your question, the 595's would improve greatly if you added a simple amp or cmoy in the chain. how do they sound to you, so far?

My wallet and I have a comfortable relationship now, and I can only benefit from this purchase. I am still waiting for them to arrive and my ebayer is too busy recording for Madonna or something because he doesn't seem to enjoy replying to my questions. So this is a sort-of "suprise cake", although not quite as exciting.

Do you have any suggestions on affordable amps?

edit:

Quote:

Originally Posted by angler31337 The HD595's are nice cans. I don't think any true audiophile would pass them by without auditioning for way longer than 50 hours. At any rate, the 595's have a nominal impedance of 50 ohms @ 1kHz. Roughly translated, you should be fine running them out of your current source; the 595's were designed to be fairly easy to drive. That isn't to say that they wouldn't benefit greatly from a dedicated headphone amp (etc...), but if you don't want to spend money in that direction, you should still be getting some pretty good quality sound from your current rig. -Angler

Thanks for the response, it brings about the warm fuzzy feelings I was hoping to achieve here. I'm not sure if they are the older, 120 ohm version, though.

May you catch the finest fish mother nature has to offer.

oK bYE
dAN

 

[familyman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cold My wallet and I have a comfortable relationship now, and I can only benefit from this purchase.

"sorry about your wallet" is the official head-fi greeting to newcomers. I wasn't saying sorry about your purchase hehe. What happens is you come to head-fi seeking advice on a pair of headphones, and you end up with a amps, DACs, cables, monitors, everything, and then you'll want to upgrade it.
i have spent over $2000 since i stumbled upon head-fi.

 

[003]

If you don't want an amp a better choice would have been the A900.

 

[cold]

Quote:

Originally Posted by familyman "sorry about your wallet" is the official head-fi greeting to newcomers. I wasn't saying sorry about your purchase hehe. What happens is you come to head-fi seeking advice on a pair of headphones, and you end up with a amps, DACs, cables, monitors, everything, and then you'll want to upgrade it. i have spent over $2000 since i stumbled upon head-fi.

haha yeah, I know what you mean. For me the way of an audiophile is an awakening to new possiblities I will probably strive to master. You'd be suprised, but the general population doesn't have any idea about what goes on inside of your homes.

Fashion and cigars were my last two endeavours of a similar nature where you spend $$. And this journey appears to have more dynamic than those two, so we'll see.

My dad has a lot of bulky equipment which are probably from before my time (he's not an audiophile to my knowledge so that's why I'm here). I think the Technics SU-8077K was an amp, but there was a "4-track" above it which I have no clue about

, and considering the thing is the size of my pc tower I don't think it would work in my situation. Ah, the woes of a newbie.

 

[familyman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cold My dad has a lot of bulky equipment which are probably from before my time (he's not an audiophile to my knowledge so that's why I'm here). I think the Technics SU-8077K was an amp, but there was a "4-track" above it which I have no clue about , and considering the thing is the size of my pc tower I don't think it would work in my situation. Ah, the woes of a newbie.

Nice, it's always rad to have a parent with some vintage audio gear for you to mess with. MANY head-fiers, have vintage gear that is part of there regular setup. IMO(in my opinion) and a lot of other head-fiers, vintage gear has that smooth sound that is hard to find in newer audio gear. My mom hooked me up with a couple of technics loudspeakers a couple months ago, haven't tried em yet and i need to get a tweeter repaired. Lots of other head-fiers get there vintage stuff from there parents too.
http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showt...&highlight=mom
You will be a part of "team vintage" in no time.