[Change is Good]

Quote:

I think I'm gonna return the expensive cable for the X1, stick with the Mediabridge cable...

 
What is it that you didn't like about it? Is it that it wasn't much of a difference (sound wise) between the two?

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

What is it that you didn't like about it? Is it that it wasn't much of a difference (sound wise) between the two?

Oh, it's a great cable. But after tax and insurance, it was nearly $40. The Mediabridge cable cost me like $8, same length, same resistance, and is easier to manage. That, and there isn't much 'bling' factor with the Pipeline as it's black anyways. I probably should look into that other cable you posted, though it's short. My computer desk should be here any day now, and so I won't need a really long cable.


Oh, I just saw, the Xonar U3 has a terribly high 23ohm output impedance, so you'd definitely do yourself a favor by attaching an amp or a dac to it to bypass driving the headphones directly with it. It made the X1 sound pretty bright, when compared to the Mixamp. (did A/B comparison, and the U3's headphone out was NOT good for the X1).

This sucks, as I plan on using it with the KSC35 at work... but now, I'm not so sure I wanna do that, at least unless I get a portable amp or something. I might just contact JR and return it and stick to my Recon 3Di. It's become a hassle at this point. PC external devices are so problematic... I rather not deal with a mess of stuff hooked up to my laptop just to get good sound.

it would be:

Laptop -> U3 -> Fiio D03K -> Compass 2 (3 external devices tethered)

Or at work:

Laptop: U3 -> Fiio E17 (the cheapest spdif dac/amp I know of) (2 devices tethered, and expensive).


I rather just deal with THX Tru Studio and the 10ohm output impedance of my laptop's jack at work, and attaching my Compass 2 at home.

 

[Change is Good]

I swear curiosity is going to be the end of my wallet. Anyone here have any impressions with the HE500 for gaming?
 
I absolutely love the X1, but I have to be honest... it's a bit too much bass for my taste when gaming. It sometimes gets in the way of my chat sessions during chaotic moments on BF3. The researching task starts yet again... *sigh*
 
Edit: If things don't pan out I might just have to go back to my beloved Annies....

 

[mbyrnes]

I am starting to wonder if Astro could release a mixamp that uses HDMI. That way we could get the best audio. DTS Headphone X uses the DTS-HD bitstream for its signal. I would imagine this is a huge improvement over Dolby Headphone we have now. I don't know if Dolby Headphone can utilize the HD signal. 
 
Game audio can certainly get better. If my surround system has lossless audio, I would like that with my headphones as well. Give me the chance and I will pay a good bit for that luxury!

 

[Fegefeuer]

I swear curiosity is going to be the end of my wallet. Anyone here have any impressions with the HE500 for gaming?
 
I absolutely love the X1, but I have to be honest... it's a bit too much bass for my taste when gaming. It sometimes gets in the way of my chat sessions during chaotic moments on BF3. The researching task starts yet again... *sigh*
 
Edit: If things don't pan out I might just have to go back to my beloved Annies....

 
Which headphones did you try out so far? What is your budget?
 
I had the HE-500 for several hundred hours and still remember them very fondly for their musical joy but I never liked them for gaming. The same applies to other planars like LCD-2 and HE-400, even though from certain technical points (fast decay, bass reproduction etc.) they have everything. However they lack the necessary imaging capabilites and the rendering of the soundstage. Some people don't care about this for Singleplayer and just want the immersive tonality but I myself can't accept this.
 
In that case for instance the T1, D7000 fare very well both as gaming headphones and for music. From what I gathered (didn't listen however so don't take this as experience) the TH-600 seems to vaguely be along the lines of the D7000. At pricejapan you can get them cheaper than regular.
 
What do you not like about the Annies? What made you switch to the X1?

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

If he thought the X1 had too much bass, not sure he'd appreciate something like the D7000 with it's even more omnipotent bass (though more ambient than immediate).

 

[Fegefeuer]

Hm, I still have the Sig DJ and its subwoofer bass hits very hard yet compared to the X1 it stays less long and drowns out less while also being less "one-noty". That's what I didn't like about the X1.
 
 think the D7000 while still being bassy does it better than the X1 but that's out of memory. Since you know the D7000 better maybe my recommendation doesn't really  help him either.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

No, you're right. The bass hits hard on lower notes, and doesn't hamper the mids nearly as much. The X1 is more one-note-ish and less textured by a stretch.

 

[Chubtoad]

Hey MLE would you still choose the Creative Aurvana Lives over the M50 if the price difference was only $30?

Pretty much for Cdn pricing its 120 vs 150 price wise. Sucks because I see amazon USA selling the creative for 59.99 but they won't ship to my address even though it lets me set up an international account. I don't understand why they let you set up an account if you can't use it.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

I love both. For gaming, I'd choose the CAL every time. The M50 is 2 dimensional next to the CAL. The M50 has a more aggressive sound, while the CAL has a softer, warmer sound, but still very fun. You can basically consider the CAL a baby fostex. A little sibling to the Denons of old.

 

[Vader2k]

Hey MLE, I know it happened a few weeks ago, but I'm really sorry to hear your Marantz died on you.  Mine has been having an ongoing problem with the right channel not receiving signal (over speakers and headphones), resulting in me not being able to use my Annies with it until its fixed.  Having mine partially out of commission has been hard enough; I can only imagine how frustrating it was to have the whole thing die.  Do you think you'll try to repair or replace it?
 
Anyway, if I remember correctly, your receiver died before you got the X1s, so you didn't get a chance to use them with it, right?  I'm just curious how you think the X1s would do off the Marantz, being that they're lower impedance cans and all?

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

I gave it up. My stepfather tried to see what's wrong, but couldn't figure it out. I already purchased a Mixamp, so I don't have any intention on paying to fix it now.

From what I could remember, it didn't do much to negatively impact headphones I hooked up to it, though I wasn't too worried about that with the AKGs and Planars (which both didn't really get affected by output impedance in general). The X1 definitely does alter it's response with high output impedances judging what I could hear of it with the Xonar U3 (made the treble quite bright). Once I hooked the Compass 2 to the 3.5mm jack on the U3 (with analog cables, not spdif) and the X1 to the Compass 2, everything sounded normal.

I dunno what kind of output impedance the Marantz has though.

I decided on sticking with the U3. I'll just leave it attached to my USB hub at home to use for gaming, and just use my soundcard when I'm at work.

 

[Vader2k]

Bummer, sucks that it's life is over. 

 
Yeah, I've never really found a solid answer on the Marantz's output impedance.  All Marantz tech support ever told me was a vague "it's powerful enough to drive any headphone" comment.  Like you said, it's not a prob with the Annies.  
 
I'm becoming increasingly curious to try out the X1s, but if they'll be altered by the likely higher impedance of the receiver, then I'd rather not.  I still have the Mixamp, but I'm trying to move away from that and primarily use the receiver, especially due to the low-end freq clip on the Mixamp.

 

[Change is Good]

Yea, the D7k might be too much for my taste... plus I'd rather have an open headphone for gaming. I think I'm just going to go with the Annies, again, and hope for the best.
 
Quote:

If he thought the X1 had too much bass, not sure he'd appreciate something like the D7000 with it's even more omnipotent bass (though more ambient than immediate).

 
The Annies were perfect for my gaming purposes, actually. I came across a bass rattle for the second time (first time with the Q701) so that is what made me switch to the X1.
 
Quote:

 
Which headphones did you try out so far? What is your budget?
 
I had the HE-500 for several hundred hours and still remember them very fondly for their musical joy but I never liked them for gaming. The same applies to other planars like LCD-2 and HE-400, even though from certain technical points (fast decay, bass reproduction etc.) they have everything. However they lack the necessary imaging capabilites and the rendering of the soundstage. Some people don't care about this for Singleplayer and just want the immersive tonality but I myself can't accept this.
 
In that case for instance the T1, D7000 fare very well both as gaming headphones and for music. From what I gathered (didn't listen however so don't take this as experience) the TH-600 seems to vaguely be along the lines of the D7000. At pricejapan you can get them cheaper than regular.
 
What do you not like about the Annies? What made you switch to the X1?

 

[SniperCzar]

Quote:

Hello,
I'm new to headphones and I have a question:
 
Currently I've got a Creative X-Fi Soundblaster Titanium (about 50€) which supports CMSS-3D Virtual Surround. 
If I want to get a Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro (250Ω), will it run fine if I get an Amp but no DAC? I read a lot about this but this topic really confuses me. I was thinking about an Fiio QOGIR E09K. Will it be sufficient? I don't want to spend more money than 250€ for the Beyers(160€), Amp and all the other stuff together. Maybe you have other recommendations concerning Headphones and Amps for me. I'll probably need to get a microphone too. I'm from Europe, Austria.
Currently I've got a Turtle Beach X41 headset + station plugged in the optical of my soundcard and I'm using the bypass function to get a bit of surround sound. I use them mostly for competetive gaming (50%), the rest is music of all kinds, videos and immersive gaming experiences.
 
I hope someone can clarify this to me.

I run a Titanium with the "play stereo mix through digital out" option flipped on to mirror the virtual surround over the optical out when the audio device is set to the speaker (not the SPDIF!) out. I run the digital out to a FiiO amp (E17) and that goes to my Beyerdynamic DT770 Pros. Works great, just make sure your speaker config in Windows is set to 7.1, but you have the creative panel speakers setting set to headphones, and after that is changed you have the CMSS-3D box checked.

I could always take a few pictures for you if you'd like.
 
I know the E09K actually has higher output impedance than their portable amps, not sure if that would matter on your 250ohm 990s but I know it makes a big difference on my picky 80ohm 770 Pros. As for mics, I have an Antlion ModMic that works wonderfully. They may be out of stock at the moment, though.