[Roger de Ceiba]

I've decided to look into the he-400 or fiedelio.
 
I want a headphone for possibly both: he-400
 
one for mostly gaming: fidelio x1
 
If I understand it correctly, the latter has a soudstage similar (or better) than any closed headphone, except it is open and not as uncomfortable. And while the former does not particularly excels at any one category, it is one of the most balanced headphones out there.
 
I was going to go for the DT 770 but I think I might reconsider and just get one can that does it all. I'm probably leaning towards the he-400 although that fidelio does look intriguing. It would definitely be better for gaming, but I think I might want to do more than gaming if I spend 400 and change on a pair of headphones.

 

[cib24]

Quote:

I've decided to look into the he-400 or fiedelio.
 
I want a headphone for possibly both: he-400
 
one for mostly gaming: fidelio x1
 
If I understand it correctly, the latter has a soudstage similar (or better) than any closed headphone, except it is open and not as uncomfortable. And while the former does not particularly excels at any one category, it is one of the most balanced headphones out there.
 
I was going to go for the DT 770 but I think I might reconsider and just get one can that does it all. I'm probably leaning towards the he-400 although that fidelio does look intriguing. It would definitely be better for gaming, but I think I might want to do more than gaming if I spend 400 and change on a pair of headphones.

I personally think if you are willing to spend $400 on a headphone then the HE-400 is a damn fine choice from all of the praise it gets on here. I was heavily leaning towards the HE-400 as well but here in the EU, Amazon Italy had the Philips Fidelio X1 for €200 and that pretty much sealed the deal for me. The HE-400 in the UK goes for £400 and the Fidelio cost me £170 while it retails for £270 in the UK. I figured it was a lot easier to try out a headphone for £170 than £400. Having said that, I wish I could compare both and determine if the HE-400 is £230 better. I'm sure it is probably more balanced than the X1 but my guess would be not by much, if I simply go off of what I have read on here compared to my experience with the X1. 
 
The DT 770 is a pretty good headphone but the bass is just too much and the clamping force is fatiguing on your skull. The Fidelio X1 has a lot of bass but it is way more controlled than the DT 770 and does not drown out all of the other sounds like the Beyerdynamic does.

 

[Evshrug]

Quote:

 
 
I would totally make a video of different games toggling DH ON and OF, if I had a capture card.  Grabbing the audio is easy, but I can't grab the video...

I don't know very much about FRAPs, but couldn't you grab the audio during gameplay and use GarageBand or something to add it back on to a FRAPs video? Might be the cheapest option if you can get it to work.
Quote:

 
The StarTech PEXHDCAP. Why this specific card? This review says it all.
 
If you want a summary, it does everything from 240p analog RGB from retro consoles to 1080p/24 over HDMI (as long as it's not HDCP-encrypted). It's the most comprehensive capture device I've found for gaming because of that, and at $120-125 shipped, it's not all that expensive.
 
The only drawback is added input lag if viewing the signal through the capture card, which varies depending on the software used (and probably other PC hardware too), but that happens with pretty much any capture device. If the review is anything to go by, the lowest times are around 14ms, which is just under the 16ms that a 60 Hz frame lasts for.
 
I only have one remaining question with this card that said review did not answer: does it take 5.1 or even 7.1 LPCM over the HDMI input?

So that begs the question, especially since I happen to know a few people lusting after YouTube playcasting some competitive stuff (hopefully getting the attention of sponsors), how does one record and view the signal for playing? I think you mentioned an HDMI splitter, how much do those run for, and how involved and spacious is the setup?
 
If you're gaming on PC and your main goal is headphone surround demonstration, couldn't you record the audio, and synch it up to a FRAPs recording? Which brings up the issue, spending almost any money just for one or two examples of gaming videos with headphone surround baked in -- is it worth it?
 
Definitely bookmarking that capture card though. At the least, CoD and Halo have replay theaters, so you could "just" record good games after the fact (this is such a great feature for competitive games to include!) in the short run, get a lag-free splitter if other games are recorded.
Quote:

I don't have problems with the audio dropping out, but I use my own USB cable...
So the first post layout has been edit for easier browsing. Hope you guys like it. I was gonna start on the SLYR, but wanted to get that done first. The SLYR review will be up in the next few days. I promise.
Calpis, Nameless, and Chico, you three are on my mind when it comes to loaning my stuff out, so as soon as my stuff is situated, you three can expect some loans, soonish.

Woah, lucky guys! I was going to ask if we could back & forth share the Q701/65thAnniv K701 once to see if they're essentially the same or different, but it sounds like that won't happen now. Also would like to take a moment to mention that the new guide layout looks nice, much more "user friendly," gj

 

[anneoneamouse]

Can anyone recommend a Y splitter, 4 pin 3.5mm female (to receive a combined mic and headset plug) to 2x3.5mm male (to plug into two separate sockets on a soundcard) please?
 
The SkullCandy SLYR documentation shows two separate wires connecting the headset / mic to their included amp.  But out of the (just arrived) box it's a single cable, one jack plug from the headset into a socket in the included amp.  I'd like to connect the SLYR to an Asus Xonar DGX (en route from Amazon), in a PC.
 
I'm not sure if there're proprietary 4 pin 3.5mm, or they're all standard.  Damn you Apple, for making me doubt something as simple as a jack.
 
I'm also not sure whether the quality of splitter will or could have any impact.
 
Apologies for the neophyte question, but I'm unsure where common sense ends, and voodoo begins, for audio quality.
 
Thanks
 
AoN 
 
(edit, added some explicit description of which were plugs / sockets, hopefully for clarity)

 

[burritoboy9984]

Delete

 

[chicolom]

Quote:

So the first post layout has been edit for easier browsing. Hope you guys like it.

Calpis, Nameless, and Chico, you three are on my mind when it comes to loaning my stuff out, so as soon as my stuff is situated, you three can expect some loans, soonish.

 
The first post looks sexy.  I like.
 

 

[Impulse]

Can anyone recommend a Y splitter, 4 pin 3.5mm female (to receive a combined mic and headset plug) to 2x3.5mm male (to plug into two separate sockets on a soundcard) please?

The SkullCandy SLYR documentation shows two separate wires connecting the headset / mic to their included amp.  But out of the (just arrived) box it's a single cable, one jack plug from the headset into a socket in the included amp.  I'd like to connect the SLYR to an Asus Xonar DGX (en route from Amazon), in a PC.

I'm not sure if there're proprietary 4 pin 3.5mm, or they're all standard.  Damn you Apple, for making me doubt something as simple as a jack.

I'm also not sure whether the quality of splitter will or could have any impact.

Apologies for the neophyte question, but I'm unsure where common sense ends, and voodoo begins, for audio quality.

Thanks

AoN 

(edit, added some explicit description of which were plugs / sockets, hopefully for clarity)

There's actually two TRSS standards, I think Nokia had originally defined one and then Apple came and reversed ground & mic... Which is why you see conflicting reports of Apple wired headsets working with some Android phones and not others.

Anyway, MEElectronics sells the splitters you want on their site.

 

[Naingolann]

Quote:

If someone buys them for me at that price and ships them here, then I'd be eternally grateful.

I'd obviously compensate the cost+shipping, though I prefer it be someone with some time spent on Head-fi.
Time to get started on my SLYR review. Still on the fence on the SLYR's scores, though I'm leaning on 8 fun-7 competitive.

The shipping cost would be even more expensive than the headphone itself, but I guess that you already know it.
 
I like the first post btw.

 

[raband]

Quote:

I like the first post btw.

 
Agree totally - your frequent updates and edits continue to improve it
 
1 other note that may be useful beside the descriptions are making a point besides the headphones that require additional amping than just the mixamp/soundcard.
 
There are some headphones that are in the same price-range and quality level but may or may not require the extra power - ("Needs AMP", "Better with AMP" etc or something similar besides the description would help to refine the comparisons?)

 

[ruuku]

Wow, great redesign, its much, much cleaner now. Great job MLE!

On another note I kinda see what you guys are talking about with cable upgrades, my friend just came back from Japan with this:

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

I've only spend a few hours with it, but changes are really, really small. The shorter cord (1.3M) is much more manageable though, and the silver/rhodium plugs look pretty slick with the color scheme on the Black Q701s.

 

[NamelessPFG]

Quote:

I don't have problems with the audio dropping out, but I use my own USB cable...
So the first post layout has been edit for easier browsing. Hope you guys like it. I was gonna start on the SLYR, but wanted to get that done first. The SLYR review will be up in the next few days. I promise.
Calpis, Nameless, and Chico, you three are on my mind when it comes to loaning my stuff out, so as soon as my stuff is situated, you three can expect some loans, soonish.

 
I see you finally took my idea of using the spoiler tag feature to hide the details and make it easier to browse through the guide itself.
 
It looks great! The prominence of those pictures makes it easy to find what you want at a glance, and center-justified text helps too.
 
I'm certainly up for any review products you might send my way, especially headphones/headsets. One of the things that has always bugged me here on Head-Fi is that I can't really draw a good gaming comparison between my prized Stax SR-Lambda and most of the popular headphones around here due to lack of first-hand experience. (Except the AD700, which the Lambda trounces in every single way.)
 
Quote:

So that begs the question, especially since I happen to know a few people lusting after YouTube playcasting some competitive stuff (hopefully getting the attention of sponsors), how does one record and view the signal for playing? I think you mentioned an HDMI splitter, how much do those run for, and how involved and spacious is the setup?
 
If you're gaming on PC and your main goal is headphone surround demonstration, couldn't you record the audio, and synch it up to a FRAPs recording? Which brings up the issue, spending almost any money just for one or two examples of gaming videos with headphone surround baked in -- is it worth it?
 
Definitely bookmarking that capture card though. At the least, CoD and Halo have replay theaters, so you could "just" record good games after the fact (this is such a great feature for competitive games to include!) in the short run, get a lag-free splitter if other games are recorded.

 
For FRAPS or other PC game video recording apps like that, you just point it to the "What U Hear"/Stereo Mix input on your sound card, and it records exactly what the sound card outputs, surround processing and everything.
 
My main incentive for getting a capture card is so that I can stream and/or record my console games with the best video quality possible (remember, I'm a guy who goes to great lengths to get RGB video signals out of consoles that predate component video), and also use those consoles with my GDM-FW900 in the process. (The HDFury would only be good for the PS3 and do absolutely no favors for the rest of my consoles.) It's for far more than just making a few headphone surround demonstration videos, which I wouldn't even need a capture card for.
 
That said, I may also have my retrogaming desktop PC connected to the capture card as well, since I don't think FRAPS and other popular apps like that even run on Win98SE.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Yeah, I needed some pre-Spring cleaning. I de-centeralized the text though (except the intro and section headers, as I want to keep just them that way to easily find them.)

I wanna apologize to everyone for the reviews varying in content by quite a bit from one headphone to another. Most of the headphones were reviewed prior to my want/need to expand on them and flesh them out, so if it looks like I'm heavily favoring certain headphones content-wise, it's because those are the most recent reviews, and not because any others aren't worth it. I'm still learning how to write these reviews, and what to add to them. I can't just go back to older entries, as I no longer own those headphones and don't wanna things based off my horrible memory.

The last 4 headphones on the guide have a lot more written in the review than all the others because they were the most recent.

I plan on adding an external amp section with a few amps worth checking into (i.e. Schiit Magni, Fiio E9K, Objective O2, etc.) , as well as whether a headphone deserves being powered by an external amp or not on all the reviews (I can remember at least that much).

Great ideas given to me by you guys help make this guide much better than it's rocky and ugly looking beginnings, lol.

 

[raband]

Might be away for a few days so I just want to say thanks heaps to everyone for all the help and advice over the last year or so and helping me on my way to fantastic sounding gaming and headphones (my wallet hates you all)
 
Hope you all have a great xmas and hope to continue the reading in the new year

 

[Roger de Ceiba]

Quote:

I personally think if you are willing to spend $400 on a headphone then the HE-400 is a damn fine choice from all of the praise it gets on here. I was heavily leaning towards the HE-400 as well but here in the EU, Amazon Italy had the Philips Fidelio X1 for €200 and that pretty much sealed the deal for me. The HE-400 in the UK goes for £400 and the Fidelio cost me £170 while it retails for £270 in the UK. I figured it was a lot easier to try out a headphone for £170 than £400. Having said that, I wish I could compare both and determine if the HE-400 is £230 better. I'm sure it is probably more balanced than the X1 but my guess would be not by much, if I simply go off of what I have read on here compared to my experience with the X1. 
 
The DT 770 is a pretty good headphone but the bass is just too much and the clamping force is fatiguing on your skull. The Fidelio X1 has a lot of bass but it is way more controlled than the DT 770 and does not drown out all of the other sounds like the Beyerdynamic does.

Yea, I definately don't need pressure in my skull. I'll probably look into one of those two models (he-400 and fidelio x1). I won't purchase the DT anymore. 

 

[burritoboy9984]

Ok, just got in my PLYR 2 headset. Build quality feels good, there are no rattles, plastic feels nice and the mic is nice and sensitive (has voice monitoring feature). When the mic is in the upright position, it mutes the mic like the PC 360's. The headphones are circumaural, but are a tight fit, similar to how MLE said the SLYR's were. Turning up the volume too high on the headset produces a slightly audible hum, as with most headsets that produce hiss, it isn't noticeable during action, and you mainly notice it when you are looking for it (I just turned up the mixamp volume to compensate). I only had time for about a 5 min gaming session, first impressions were very good though (especially for the $65 I paid from the 50% off sale). A more detailed post will be following in the next couple of days, but for now some pics.
 

 

 

 
Top left to bottom right: Headset, transmitter, RCA->3.5mm, 2.5mm->3.5, 2 USB to micro USB cables (1 to charge the headset when plugged in the transmitter, and one to power the transmitter).
 

 
Top to bottom on the right side: micro usb port to charge the headset, an EQ switch (Bass Mode, Supreme Mode and Precision Mode), and Xbox live port.
 

 
Power/sync button, With the 4 directional button you can adjust the volume as well as adjust the game/voice volume.
 

 
Top of the transmitter, the skull is the sync button.
 

 
Back of the transmitter: Usb port to charge the headset, micro usb power which powers the transmitter, and 3.5mm input
 

 

 

 
 
 
Sorry about the crappy quality. More impressions in the coming days, if anyone has any questions, lmk.
 
-Erik