[mindcloud]

Ok so I am new to this site, and mainly new to trying to listen to REALLY good headphones =)

So here is my "typical use" setup....
I will either be playing directly from an ipod 80gig video, or my Work laptop, which has pretty standard sound system......

Now heres what I have:
Philips ear buds (surround sound) sound pretty good

and Sennheiser HD555's.

Now I really hate the 555's as in certain areas, I just miss sound. Perfect example would be in Pink Floyd's "Money" the effin cash register noises aren't even really audible....

Now I'm thinking about getting either the Senn HD650 or Ultrasone PRO 750's.. I'm really looking around 300$

What do you guys think? I've heard great things about the Ultrasone.

 

[fraseyboy]

Headphones are not and will never be true 'surround sound'. They are stereo.

What type of music do you listen to mostly? What bit-rate are your music files?

 

[mindcloud]

I listen to just about everything. I love techno-ie dance music, rap, rock. Most are downloaded from itunes. (so 128)

 

[fraseyboy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mindcloud /img/forum/go_quote.gif I listen to just about everything. I love techno-ie dance music, rap, rock. Most are downloaded from itunes. (so 128)

Well in that case...

Your major bottleneck will be your 128k mp3's.

Maybe the reason why it sounds bad on the HD555's is because they're revealing the crappyness of your files?

 

[mbd2884]

X2

I'd upgrade your music first.

And lol at surround sound ear buds.

 

[mindcloud]

Ok well... as I said im completely new to this.

Some of the stuff is 128 (mostly from when I ripped my CDs) and some of it is 256 (new itunes-ie downloads)

I don't really know of a free converter to make them all high qual, and itunes doesn't do it anymore

 

[mindcloud]

Right... its fake surround sound but they sound much better then the senns...

 

[fraseyboy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mindcloud /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ok well... as I said im completely new to this. Some of the stuff is 128 (mostly from when I ripped my CDs) and some of it is 256 (new itunes-ie downloads) I don't really know of a free converter to make them all high qual, and itunes doesn't do it anymore

You can't convert crappy quality into good quality. It will just be crappy quality with a higher bit-rate.

You need to re-rip all your music into FLAC lossless or higher bitrate MP3.

 

[mindcloud]

Ok well most is purchased through itunes, so what do I do there? I have like, 70ish gigs of music and I don't want to go through and re-rip everything

 

[fraseyboy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mindcloud /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ok well as I said most is purchased through itunes, so what do I do there? I have like, 70ish gigs of music and I don't want to go through and re-rip everything

The only way is to re-rip all the music you listen to. Or just sell your senns and make do with 128k mp3 and your 'surround sound' earbuds. Anything else will probably just make it sound worse.

For the stuff you bought on iTunes, I think there's a thing where you pay a bit and you can re-download it in 256kbps?

 

[mindcloud]

Yeah, most of the files from itunes appear to be in 256K. I think maybe I will just have to start by ripping the floyd album again in 256, and see how it sounds then

 

[nullstring]

Don't you have any CD's?

play them directly off the CD and see how that sounds.

else, I suggest you "sample" some of the FLAC available from some of the more questionable sites on this here interwebz.

EDIT: if you're going to rip them again, why don't you just rip them to Apple Lossless (ALAC).
Hard drive space is ridciously cheap right now.. there isn't much of a reason not to use some sort of lossless format.

also, I suggest EAC. I haven't done that much research into how much it matters.. but it is suppose to make a more accurate copy of the CD. http://www.teqnilogik.com/tutorials/eac.shtml

 

[Duckman]

The 650's would sound fairly flat and ordinary through your ipod/soundcard. Unless you aim to spend some $$ on an adequate amp.

Denon D2000 might be a great alternative.

 

[Moontan13]

I have heard that playing ALAC files uses a lot of power, as much as playing videos. Is this true?

 

[nullstring]

It does use more power.. but no where close to as much as decoding video does.

I don't really use my ipod anymore.. but in high school I used to have some ALAC albums on there and I didn't notice any problem with battery life, even when I was listening to that particular band (with all ALAC songs.)

anyway, I didn't really mean to suggest you use ALAC for all the songs on your ipod.
I guess I wasn't thinking the suggestion through. In any case, you should try playing a CD and see how that goes.