[HiCZoK]

thanks for the input. In fact I don't have much money and want to get a "bang for the buck" headphone. But almost convinced myself to buy something very expensive on a loan or something.
I could only be able to buy headphones for around 100$ without straining my wallet too much.
Had sound blaster mkII and they were most comfortable. Had fantastic leathery memory foam but sounded like muffled trash. Although bass shahing was great.
Had sound blaster sigma headset. Comfortable but no memory foam. kinda lacks detail and horrible cable.
Now have cal! and the sound is almost perfect. Could use some more bass shake but it's ok. The comfort is bad tho. Too small for me and headband just hurts.

So I am looking for something with leather/y memory foam, good non squeeky construction, Something that would last. wireless or detachable cable.
As far as the sound goes, I like warm sound with enthusiastic low extension. Not owerpowering too. Just for playing games but non competively and for listening to music or movies.

So now kingston hyperx cloud seems to be great contender minus the detachable cord. But i hear reports that it have good sq. memory foam + additional velour pads. aluminium construction and detachable mic. I dont use microphone as I rarely play mp games, so I would just detatch it. Dangling mic jack would annoy me though... I could jsut cut it as I did with sigma headphones tho.

I guess wireless doesnt make sens as You say. Plyr is unavailable here in Poland. How about wireless sound blaster sigma or rage ? anyone tried them out ?
edit: hmmm maybe cal 2 or denon d1100... I dont know how much better would those be from what I have tho

 

[Sam21]

" hmmm maybe cal 2 or denon d1100... I dont know how much better would those be from what I have tho"
 
CAL2 is very comfy, bassy and the soundstage is very good too, I find it to be too dark though...

 

[HiCZoK]

cal2 is 2x expensive as d1100 here tho. But have detachable cable.
btw. Does any of tose 2 have memory foam pads ?
edit: oh no, wait. They are only slightly cheaper than cal2. I've looked in a bad store

 

[Sam21]

they both have the same driver...

 

[HiCZoK]

no. D1100 have 50mm driver

 

[ShadowSkulkerer]

Just checking if my tiny head grasps this.
 
The x7 has a switchable output impedance of 4-8 ohms for passive speakers.  This is only necessary for passive speakers.  So it is irrelevant for powered speakers.  It doesn't even use the same connectors.  Which means it has no bearing on these...  Which say they have an input impedance of 10 ohms... What's that mean?
 
http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/B2031A.aspx
 
BTW...  These have switchable voltage, and seeing as I'm in the US and not Europe...  As it mentions in the manual I'd need to switch out the fuse.  Anyone know how one even does that?  Is it easy?
 
And if virtual surround devices are DACs, then why is the schiit magni, which is an amp/DAC, recommended?


HiCZoK

I'm zereoing in on the fidelio x2. I'm a newbie so don't take much credence in my choices but from what I've read on here it appeals very strongly to me. Read up on 'em. Fun warm sound but not overdone. Incredible soundstage, imaging and articulation. Pair it with a mixamp as the DAC and and an amp and you're all set.

(Someone tell me to shut up if this is grossly unsuitable advice.)

MadLustEnvy

So if you're saying basically that the x7's headphone amp may be too strong, then are there such things as dampeners?

 

[Evshrug]

Shadow...
The Magni is an amp, only.
*Surround processors only work in the digital stage, they take the 5.1 directional instructions and process what those directions would sound like once they reach your two ears.
*DAC = Digital to Analogue Converter, changes the digital 1s and 0s and converts that into pulses of power with frequency and amplitude (what speakers and headphone drivers can respond to).
*Amplifiers attenuate the power pulses to appropriate current and voltage, and then attenuated that with a resistor so that the volume is right.


Most of the surround processors are all-in-one units with processing, DAC, and amping stages, which is why some of us have gotten used to them so much that we've found their flaws and wish for upgrades. Our first effort is to add an external amp to the output of a surround processor, since the amp "sees" the connection as an analogue signal like any other. Generally, you want to turn the processor's volume up as high as you can without getting distortion because you want to use as little of the processor's resistor as possible, but each processor behaves (or misbehaves) differently.

Regarding the 1/8th "rule." It was originally brought up by speaker amp makers who conveniently had incomplete studies and conveniently made pretty good amps which had low output impedance. I didn't see the tests, but I think they were arguing something about crossovers (which headphones don't have, since most have just a single full-range driver for each ear). The 1/8th "rule" never entered into headphone land until just a few years ago, where an engineer basically mentioned it also around the time he made a low-output-impedance amp. After he got banned from Head-Fi over a very public flaming of an amp company (and gained notoriety), he wrote a blog post where he tested one headphone (Sennheiser HD650) and found that it responded differently depending on frequency, the effect becoming noticeable as the output impedance of an amp got above 1/8th the HD650's impedance, and concluded that all headphones reacted the same. THEY DON'T THOUGH. Headphone.com and InnerFidelity.com post "impedance curve" graphs, you can see if a headphone has a linear, mostly flat graph or have a bit of a u-shaped slope like the HD650. I was surprised at how many headphones have flat impedance curves when I looked it up, and even so a lot of people like U or even V-shaped sounds to their headphones (like Mad's primary preference). Bigger picture, there's A LOT more that goes into good amp design than output impedance, it's more important for an amp to have low distortion and a well-implemented Circuit design, and sometimes you just have to hear an amp to know what it's like (or read a lot of reviews), just like clothes or alcohol or anything else. The ultimate test, of course, is trying it for yourself, but you have to keep in mind as a consumer and not an amp designer that you're hearing an amp as a whole sum of it's parts, not the exact same amp with just the output impedance changed... Something that the O2 designer guy seems to miss: the complete picture.

That said there are a very small number of amps that allow you to switch between output impedances so you can hear for yourself, however that ability to change it's setting also makes the design less simple, so basically just because an amp's output impedance is 10 or something doesn't automatically doom it as junk sounding. The original iPod had a 10 ohm output impedance, didn't stop customers from loving music.

 

[Evshrug]

Damn. Not a good sign for most headphones... I mean, it's not a dealbreaker, but it isn't ideal...

Still, your average consumer won't even tell the difference. Consider the high price tag, not sure your average consumer is the target demographic.

Well, if it really is 10 Ohms then it's like the Asus Essence One (which was 399$ as well) which became quite popular/successful (also being a good combo for the HD 800). Like the E1 Opamps are swappable. 

Right, and the FiiO E09K has 10 ohms output impedance on their 3.5 jack, and the first iPods had 10 ohms output impedance (dunno about later models), and many many other amps. What is the impedance on the HD800 again?

 

[benbenkr]

May or may not be minor, have yet to test it out. But the new PS4 2.0 update add this rather hidden new feature:
 
[Input Device] and [Output Device] has been added to [Audio Devices].
 
Will have to try later to see if bluetooth headsets will work in conjuction to headphones or not. If it does, that's golden.

 

[Fegefeuer]

300 to around ~650@kickbass regions

 

[HiCZoK]

I know I am getting really annoying of lately as i am changing my mind  by the hour BUT:
 
In my pursuit to find a "perfect" headphone/headset for me (warmy, comfy, over ear, durable, atmospheric and immersive sq) I've been searching for a last couple of days.
I've been thinking about many headphones like razer Kraken, Denon D1100, Cal!2, Plantronics Rig, Some steelseries headphones and I think I've got what i need.
 
Qpad qh-90 or Kingston hyperx Cloud. Now my question is... is there any difference ? Kingston gives additional velour pads in addition to their memory leather pads, so that's that. Also kingston seems to have even better headband (softer). I have xonard DG so it would drive those great. Build quality seems great, Comfrot seems amazing from reviews. And the sound signature seems to be what I am looking for, The price for both is the same.
 
So... have I found it ? I mean, NOBODY offers the build and sound quality for the price as qpad/kingston. Mic quality is a secondary thing to me btw
edit: How is the size ? I had to use CAL! fully extended to fit me head comfortably. heard that those apd/kingston are rather small. smaller than cal ?

 

[m50man]

Hi Guys.  I am new to the forums here, but I have lurked here for quite some time.  I have found this thread to be immensely helpful in my search not for a 'gaming headset' but for a pair of headphones to use for gaming (mic functionality I DON'T care about).   I have decided on the AKG K712 Pro, and I purchased them this morning.
 
 
I have a few questions about using these for console gaming (PS4):  I know these headphones do not sound nearly as good as they can without an AMP.  Right now I have a FIIO E17 'Alpen' amplifier.  Would this amp be suitable for these headphones... using a PS4 to game?  How would I go about hooking this up?  Are there any other suggestions?  I hear some people mentioning the Astro Mixamp but I have read a lot about hissing when paired with the AKG K712 Pro - this is definitely unacceptable to me and I would not be happy... after spending so much on the headphones just to hear hissing.  I want top notch audio quality/soundstage.
 
Please help.  I have searched a lot for the answers I am seeking....

 

[Evshrug]

HiCZoK,
Someone who has seen the Kingston/QPad headphones is who you want to talk to... Is there an appreciation thread? The thread regulars haven't heard those, so... we can't advise you on those.


m50man,
The k712 dampens amp noise a little better than typical 32 ohm headphones, but there would be a little background hiss. You'll mostly be paying attention to visuals while gaming so it probably won't bother you; but during music or cutscenes where you focus on audio, you might.

The E17 is decent as a start (better than the DS4 controller), will be nicer audio quality than a mixamp (though stereo not virtual surround). There are more expensive amps that sound better, but that's true for pretty much any product, and the K712 scales really well with better audio gear so you probably can stick with the AKG for a long time If you don't have a mixamp or DSS, I would connect the E17 to the PS4 by optical, make sure the PS4's audio output settings are set for LPCM stereo (no bitstreaming option), and everything should be shiny.

 

[m50man]

I much appreciate your quick reply... awesome stuff.  Just a couple quick questions regarding what you said... the FIIO E17 will not produce the surround effect that I desire? I'm aware that there is no "virtual surround effect" on the AKG 712 pro's like there is on some low quality 'gaming headsets', but I was under the impression that these phones were great for competitive usage (footsteps, bullets, positional idenitification, etc).  Was I wrong???
 
I want to be able to hear all of this... If the FIIO E17 will not reproduce surround sound (I am not sure why it wouldn't) then can you please suggest an alternative solution? You mention the mixamp and DSS(?), however you said that the FIIO will produce better sound than the mixamp. A little confused in this regard now.  
 
Money isn't really an issue, I would like a amp that could power the AKG K12 pros with my PS4 to give me great surround sound and soundstaging.
 
Thanks for reading, very much appreciated!!!

 

[martin vegas]

 After the new ps4 update without me pressing a button it changed my usb headset so I can now use my mic over usb..i couldn't use it before the update! p.s I am sending audio out over optical and receiving audio in from my usb mic on my headset!!!