[Liljaa]

Hey lovely people.
I've just bought a pair of ATH-M50x. Listened to them in the shop, and they were fantastic. I know the shop owner had both a DAC and an amplifier coupled to the computer which were playing, however I also tried them on my iPhone in the shop, just to see how big a difference there were, and I was actually quite impressed by the sound when used with my phone. However when I came home and used them with my computer, every bit of decent sound was gone.

So I guess I'll have to acquire both DAC and amplifier, which I'm okay with, but I don't really know what to get, so I would like to hear some advise on that part.
 
And also I'm really curious how it can be that there is so much better (or just less crappy) sound in my phone, than in my laptop?
 
I bought the headphones as an all purpose pair, as I will be using them both on the go, and in front of my computer, both when recording music, but also when just listening to music for hours/gaming/Skype. 
 
I have lot of lossless music on my computer, but I've heard people get great sound even out of YouTube, so I have a hard time imagining that this is the main problem. 
I hear lot of different genres, folk, pop, rock, metal, orchestral/cinematic, so it's important to me that I can hear both stuff like Sonata Arctica and Enya and get an awesome experience.
 
And since it was possible in the shop where I bought it, it should be possible at home as well.
Hopefully.?
 
 
So any advice?

 

[ProtegeManiac]

 
I bought the headphones as an all purpose pair, as I will be using them both on the go, and in front of my computer, both when recording music, but also when just listening to music for hours/gaming/Skype. 

 

That's a tall order - games usually need virtual surround, all of those need a mic input. And since you're recording, you'd need a good mic input. What you need is an Audio Interface, but since it hooks up via USB you can't use virtual surround in case you have that in your mobo. Also the problem with the more affordable ones and many of the others is that they have a high output impedance that causes distortion in lower impedance headphones like the M50. As a general rule you need to have a 1ohm output impedance to 8ohm headphone impedance ratio (so a 32ohm headphone needs around 4ohms, maybe 6ohms max, output impedance).

 

If you don't use virtual surround or other gaming DSP then get an interface, but pick one with a low enough output impedance, so take into account the nominal impedance of your headphone.

 

[kimvictor]

  Hey lovely people.
I've just bought a pair of ATH-M50x. Listened to them in the shop, and they were fantastic. I know the shop owner had both a DAC and an amplifier coupled to the computer which were playing, however I also tried them on my iPhone in the shop, just to see how big a difference there were, and I was actually quite impressed by the sound when used with my phone. However when I came home and used them with my computer, every bit of decent sound was gone.

So I guess I'll have to acquire both DAC and amplifier, which I'm okay with, but I don't really know what to get, so I would like to hear some advise on that part.
 
And also I'm really curious how it can be that there is so much better (or just less crappy) sound in my phone, than in my laptop?
 
I bought the headphones as an all purpose pair, as I will be using them both on the go, and in front of my computer, both when recording music, but also when just listening to music for hours/gaming/Skype. 
 
I have lot of lossless music on my computer, but I've heard people get great sound even out of YouTube, so I have a hard time imagining that this is the main problem. 
I hear lot of different genres, folk, pop, rock, metal, orchestral/cinematic, so it's important to me that I can hear both stuff like Sonata Arctica and Enya and get an awesome experience.
 
And since it was possible in the shop where I bought it, it should be possible at home as well.
Hopefully.?
 
 
So any advice?

Hmm simple. Your phone has a better DAC than the computer. It's not that uncommon, considering many smartphones nowadays have decent DACs from wolfson, cirrus, or even ess. Get a small DAC. M50 doesn't need much power(50x is the same), so even something cheap will do, and even a DAC like Fiio's E7k would sound better than most smartphones. I suggest you look for a small USB DAC(with an amp of course). If you want something small, I recommend Dragonfly or Calyx PaT. For something really budget, Fiio(they still sound reasonably good).

 

[cel4145]

The Fiio E10K usb desktop DAC/amp would easily power the M50X well.