[He11fire217]

 
Quote:

Trust me you don't want the wireless mixamp especially if you have a dual router it will have interference

I own the Mixamp 5.8 and have never had a problem with interference. It sits about 3 feet from my router.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Do you have a dual band router that works in 5.8ghz frequency? Because that'd be the only reason the Mixamp 5.8 could have interference. Even then, 5.8ghz is a significantly less crowdedthan 2.4ghz, so I wouldn't see the Mixamp 5.8 having issues.

I myself haven't heard a single distortion from my 5.8, AT ALL aside from testing how far I can have the Rx unit away from the Tx, which was pretty far before audio dropped out. Sometimes I play from another room, and the audio is perfect, even with a wall separating them.

 

[mindstarr]

OK MLE - here's a tough one for you.
 
You have up to $600 to spend on one headphone (not headset) for gaming (online eg BF3 and single player eg Mass Effect) and ALSO listening to music, mostly electro/dubstep. Source is PC soundcard. 
 
You can also spend up to $300 on an amp or Mixamp.   
 
You can choose one open and one closed headphone option and one amp.
 
Go!
 

 

[chicolom]

Quote:

Does anyone hear know if the q701 pads will fit on the beyer headphones. I want to try some angled pads for my new headphones to try and inrease the soundstage on them.
THIS IS SPARTA!

I don't think so.  The AKG pads are a twist-lock type, whereas the beyer pads you stretch over the ear cup.  You would have to stick/glue the akg pads on.

 

[Phos]

It might be worth a shot to get some lawton audio pads, supposedly Denon pads fit HiFiMan pads which fit beyer pads.  
 
 
 

OK MLE - here's a tough one for you.
 
You have up to $600 to spend on one headphone (not headset) for gaming (online eg BF3 and single player eg Mass Effect) and ALSO listening to music, mostly electro/dubstep. Source is PC soundcard. 
 
You can also spend up to $300 on an amp or Mixamp.   
 
You can choose one open and one closed headphone option and one amp.
 
Go!
 

(I know this wasn't directed at me) How about the HiFiMan HE-4 off a mixamp (or similar) -> O2?  Actually I dunno if anyone has ever tried the HE-4 off an O2.  

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

OK MLE - here's a tough one for you.
 
You have up to $600 to spend on one headphone (not headset) for gaming (online eg BF3 and single player eg Mass Effect) and ALSO listening to music, mostly electro/dubstep. Source is PC soundcard. 
 
You can also spend up to $300 on an amp or Mixamp.   
 
You can choose one open and one closed headphone option and one amp.
 
Go!
 

Simple:

D7000 ($590) + JDS Labs Objective O2 amp ($150) + Mixamp ($130) + Fiio D3 DAC ($30, IF your source has an optical out, if not the Fiio E10 for $80+ as a USB DAC) = PROFIT

Though if you're gaming ON the PC, there are cheaper alternatives to the Mixamp and give you the same benefit. Go to the PC Gaming thread (link on the first page), for the right soundcard for you.

For a one all headphone, my vote goes to the D7000, no doubt.

And there is no way in hell the O2 can power the HE-4 properly. The HE-4 is known to need over 1watt per channel. At that point, the cheapest solution would be Audio-GD stuff, which are very powerful for the price. My NFB5 puts out around 3 watts for the HE-4. The cheaper Sparrow and NFB 12.1 also have the same power rating, though cheaper internals.

The HE-4 was noticeably struggling with the E9, which (at the HE-4's 38ohm) has more power than the O2.

 

[Ilya--s]

I find HE4 is excellent for multiplayer games, with both CMSS3D & DH - better than AD700 & DT880. it's nice for singleplayer too. But with proper amplification, of course.
LCD2 R2 gets my vote for Singleplayer, i place D5000 in the 2nd place.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

He's not going to get the LCD2 R2 for $600.

And I do like the HE-4 for all gaming purposes, but it needs some serious power behind it. The Audio GD stuff doesn't have analog inputs until you hit higher price points, so you can't attach them to the Mixamp. The cheapest amp solution I personally would get for the HE-4 that has analog inputs would be the Audio GD C.2.2 and that costs around the same as the Schiit Lyr. Not exactly cheap.

 

[Ilya--s]

HE4 is very good with something like T-AMP, it's cheap, but a little diy skills requreid.
LCD2 isn't actually my recommendation for him, they are just great headphone for gaming
also, in my country D7000 costs around $1200.

 

[mindstarr]

 
Quote:

Simple:
D7000 ($590) + JDS Labs Objective O2 amp ($150) + Mixamp ($130) + Fiio D3 DAC ($30, IF your source has an optical out, if not the Fiio E10 for $80+ as a USB DAC) = PROFIT
Though if you're gaming ON the PC, there are cheaper alternatives to the Mixamp and give you the same benefit. Go to the PC Gaming thread (link on the first page), for the right soundcard for you.
For a one all headphone, my vote goes to the D7000, no doubt.

 

 
Thanks for the response - genuinely helpful BUT there is a premium on simplicity and you have recommended a lot of wiring. I'm a complete noob and the chances are I'd screw something up with connecting all the bits and also getting the PC settings right.  
Why do I need all this gear (amp+mixamp+DAC)? Would a great set of headphones + an amp not do the trick?
Also you only chose the Denon D7000 but did not give an open backed (or semi-open) option as well...?
 
 
 

 

[mindstarr]

 
Quote:

Simple:
D7000 ($590) + JDS Labs Objective O2 amp ($150) + Mixamp ($130) + Fiio D3 DAC ($30, IF your source has an optical out, if not the Fiio E10 for $80+ as a USB DAC) = PROFIT
Though if you're gaming ON the PC, there are cheaper alternatives to the Mixamp and give you the same benefit. Go to the PC Gaming thread (link on the first page), for the right soundcard for you.
For a one all headphone, my vote goes to the D7000, no doubt.
And there is no way in hell the O2 can power the HE-4 properly. The HE-4 is known to need over 1watt per channel. At that point, the cheapest solution would be Audio-GD stuff, which are very powerful for the price. My NFB5 puts out around 3 watts for the HE-4. The cheaper Sparrow and NFB 12.1 also have the same power rating, though cheaper internals.
The HE-4 was noticeably struggling with the E9, which (at the HE-4's 38ohm) has more power than the O2.

Also, D7000 costs nearly $1000 in the UK...
 

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Well, that's why i say go to the PC gaming thread. The people there are a LOT more helpful than I'd be in how you're going to set all this up.

If $600 is the limit on headphones, then:

D2000 Closed
+
Q701 Open
+
Good soundcard like the Essence STX (which has a strong amp by itself, is a soundcard which means it's a DAC, and has Dolby Headphone)
+
Optional: JDS Objective O2 amp

That saves you a lot of money and does everywthing you want. If you feel like being even more audiophile for music and non gaming needs, then you can decide on an external dac, later on for music needs. For now, these three things would be quite enough.

This would be the route I'd go in your position.

 

[mindstarr]

 
 
Quote:

Well, that's why i say go to the PC gaming thread. The people there are a LOT more helpful than I'd be in how you're going to set all this up.
If $600 is the limit on headphones, then:
D2000 Closed
+
Q701 Open
+
Good soundcard like the Essence STX (which has a strong amp by itself, is a soundcard which means it's a DAC, and has Dolby Headphone)
+
Optional: JDS Objective O2 amp
That saves you a lot of money and does everywthing you want. If you feel like being even more audiophile for music and non gaming needs, then you can decide on an external amp+dac, later on. For now, these three things would be quite enough.
This would be the route I'd go in your position.

This is genuinely helpful. Very grateful for the advice.
Is the D5000 much better than D2000? I could stretch to the D5000 if so.
BTW I just bought those Koss KSC75's you really like for £9 from Amazon, just for fun.   
 
 

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

The D5000 has the same exact drivers as the D2000. The wood cups are what gives it a different sound. I haven't heard either, but I heard they were the warmest and smoothest of the three Denons. I don't like anything warmer/smoother than the D7000, so I personally would go for the D2000 over the D5000, but if more bass and smoothness is what you want, the D5000 would be a better option for you. Apparently the D7000 has the least bass of the three, and it's still very bassy, so I would probably find the D5000 overwhelming.

 

[mindstarr]

Quote:

 

Optional: JDS Objective O2 amp
That saves you a lot of money and does everywthing you want. If you feel like being even more audiophile for music and non gaming needs, then you can decide on an external dac, later on for music needs. For now, these three things would be quite enough.
This would be the route I'd go in your position.

 
Thanks for the great feedback on Denons.
I can't find the JDS amp in the UK. Any alternatives?