[chroniX]

Quote:

I've noted the differences on the first post. Do people even look at my guide? Lol.
Id think the Q701 would be too much like the Senns. The DT990 is very different. I personally prefer the DT990 sound. I think the DT990 Pro has too much bass personally. The Premiums have better bass for me.

Sorry I actually did read it, I should have been more specific. I meant in my particular situation. I don't ever forsee myself spending a lot of money on an amp....maybe maximum e9 or O2. I'll be using whichever headphone I get with just a titanium hd for awhile though. 
 
And let's say I do get an amp like the e9, would I be losing out by getting the 32ohm versus the 250?
 
I know this is blasphemy, but seeing how I will not be getting an amp anytime soon, would your recommendation of the dt990 premium over the q701 still hold true?
 
Is it possible that any of these new headphones I get will sound worse than my HD595 since I won't be using an amp, or even without an amp it will be an improvement over the 595s?
 
Sorry for all the questions, it's just they all look like good choices to me. 

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

If you get the O2, it doesn't matter which ohm DT990 you get. They will all work fine, though the 600ohm might like a little more than the O2 or E9 can handle. The E9 will fit best for the 250ohm. The 32ohm is technically not good for it due to the E9's high output impedance.

BTW, I actually prefer the 32ohm, because even an E11 will make them sound great, as well as sounding good off the Titanium HD. They would IMHO, suit you best, and be the cheapest to get to sound great. You can buy it and probably be very happy with it with just your soundcard.

 

[Evshrug]

Mad,
In your post on the new HE 400 drivers, I don't see anything different in the picture that couldn't be explained by differences in lighting and white balance.

Nameless (and anyone else interested),
The difference in a better amp, even solid state, is of course a diminishing returns kind of thing, and only like 2-4% different between a great amp and cheap. But as you know from your headphones, sometimes that small change may have a much larger value/impact on a great presentation. Things like larger capacitors, clean power supplies, higher S/N ratio, etc all have their effects.

For example, if an amp doesn't have large enough capacitors, you'd notice things like the first bass notes or drum hits of a track have slam and authority/power, but later in the track that the same deep thrum or bam shares some of it's energy with all the other sounds being produced at the same time, and doesn't have the "juice" to have as much authority or stand apart. Clean PS (big diff between the common switching type vs the less efficient but better performing linear PS of the past) contributes to lower noise floor and background hiss, and so does a high S/N ratio. Higher current and voltage headroom makes a difference that you already know, I believe.

There are other effects to describe too, but basically the little nuances that mark a good/great amp can make the difference on difficult tracks like "Art of Almost" by Wilco between hearing something that sounds on the edge of going off tempo and kind of weird, perhaps overconfident in how cool they think they are to hearing a song that is successfully creative, masterfully walking a fine balance, and eventually "soaring" in the feelings they want to share.

At least, that's the difference I so far have always felt between my built-in iPod or FiiO E5 amp, and powering my AKGs off my receiver. What I've read about amp components lately seems to explain the differences I had been hearing, though of course learning that has taught me since then to appreciate the differences more.

 

[Evshrug]

So boiled it down to 2 choices. Ether the FiiO E11 or mixamp pro(which I can only get though ebay right now),
Which of the 2 you thinks worth getting for console use?

Just to clarify, I don't think you fully understood me. It is relatively simple to adapt a stereo amp such as the E6 or E11 to an Xbox, but the Mixamp is distinctly a different product, because it processes the 5.1 surround sound into a virtual surround for regular stereo headphones. So, the Mixamp (along with the other options listed in Mad's guide) is a DSP for Virtual headphone surround sound + an amp, while the FiiO products mentioned are just amps.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Mad,
In your post on the new HE 400 drivers, I don't see anything different in the picture that couldn't be explained by differences in lighting and white balance.

It's actually that color now. The new HE-400 has a sandy yellow plastic (confirmed on the HE-400 thread), as well as the Hifiman representative on Head-fi stating that the HE-400 has been revised with new material for better driver protection or something. Jerg and some others have stated that the new ones sound just a teeny bit brighter.

 

[Evshrug]

It's actually that color now. The new HE-400 has a sandy yellow plastic (confirmed on the HE-400 thread), as well as the Hifiman representative on Head-fi stating that the HE-400 has been revised with new material for better driver protection or something. Jerg and some others have stated that the new ones sound just a teeny bit brighter.

Maybe it's made of a rosin composite now

 

[Mjonir]

Ok I'm decided:
 
DT770 + Objective2 + Titanium X-Fi + TurtleBeach's DSS2 or Mixamp, I'm exploding my budget and hoping it's worth it
 
Last question though: Since I'm sure I'll be buying the Objective2 amp now, should I buy the 80ohm or 250ohm version of the DT770? Which is better?

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

Ok I'm decided:
 
DT770 + Objective2 + Titanium X-Fi + TurtleBeach's DSS2, I'm exploding my budget and hoping it's worth it
 
Last question though: Since I'm sure I'll be buying the Objective2 amp now, should I buy the 80ohm or 250ohm version of the DT770? Which is better?

I prefer the sound of my DT770 Pro 250-Ohm over my DT770 Pro 80-Ohm

 

[saladin]

Quote:

 
I think you need to find out how the 2 headphones work with the music you listen to. Check the first post, brief descriptions of both headphones' sound signatures are there. Also, lots more threads on AD700 and CAL for music only.

I have been reading many different opinions and reviews from different sources, but many are contradictory in opinions. From what I understand AD700= open, comfortable, very good soundstage, lacks the "thump" of bass; CAL= closed, good bass, well rounded overall, less soundstage and comfort. Again, I will be using these for gaming ( a lot mmorpgs, rpgs, fps, strategy) and listening to music (many forms of Jazz, old school rap, classical, some techno, oriental music, American music from the 30's 40's 50's, old school RnB). Gosh dang I'm so indecisive....

 

[genclaymore]

I had a Ad700 my self and interesting enough I did use it for Electronic Music as well DnB music. The bass was how can I explain it I guess was soft. It was there but not there. If that makes any sense. My work around for it at the time was me installing a op-amp that added more bass to the sound signature which worked very well too.
 
But another work around for the AD700 is that some people use the EQ of their music player or sound card settings to add a bit to the bass Freq to do it that way. Or using something that has a bass boost switch on it like one of the cheaper Fiio amps.  But if bass that important to you then the AD700 wouldn't be a good choice,unless you do either of what I mentioned.

 

[Evshrug]

I have been reading many different opinions and reviews from different sources, but many are contradictory in opinions. From what I understand AD700= open, comfortable, very good soundstage, lacks the "thump" of bass; CAL= closed, good bass, well rounded overall, less soundstage and comfort. Again, I will be using these for gaming ( a lot mmorpgs, rpgs, fps, strategy) and listening to music (many forms of Jazz, old school rap, classical, some techno, oriental music, American music from the 30's 40's 50's, old school RnB). Gosh dang I'm so indecisive....

Not only rap and classical in the same sentence, but right next to eachother!? I guess you know more rap that isn't just spitin' in the mike than I do... I guess that's why you added the "Old School" qualifier

My personal route was to start with the AD700, and I was very happy with my genre preferences for a long time (see my signature). The Bass is quite "cold," in my experience it was it's own kind of addictive because it was controlled like a... Well it was really tight. And the soundstage was addictive, details were great, and the purple grew on me before I even got them. Comfort was a little funny at first because, despite the great light weight and pressure, velour pads, and great heat ventilation, I had a problem with the bottom of the earpads pressing in more while there was almost a gap of no earpad contact at the top. I slightly bent the headband bars (those things do t bend easily!) and the earpads eventually broke in to improve the fit even better.

They were absolutely a revelation in detail and "speaker-like" outside your head presentation, and many a time did little noises I hear for the first time startle me and make me turn around cuz I thought something was in the room with me. Great with games! Maybe not with good horror games, you'll freak out Loved em for two-and a half, I forget how many years. But one day, I decided I needed to research portable audio, and I auditioned some cheap Sennheiser HD202 cans that were what I first listened to Arcade Fire's "The Suburbs" album on. The pleather sucked, my ears hurt, the treble was making my ears hurt worse, the bass was fat... but... The bass was phat. I dunno, I had a lot of fun letting the album play full through two or three times. And when I got home, I just wasn't getting as involved through my AD700. A sobering feeling for headphones that had cost about 3x the price.

I think many here have similar revelationary experiences with the Audio Technicas, and they remain exceptional for gaming, but they are dry and analytical, best performing in the upper mids and treble frequencies. You also wouldn't be confident wearing them in public, I felt shy the one time I used them in the computer lab. Meanwhile, the Denon clone CAL! headphones are not detail monsters, pleather-padded and heat generating, and not the marathon session headphones that I feel the AD700s are, but their more warm and liquid sound presentation may be more fun for you. I want to hear my AD700 in an A/B comparison with my newer Q701, powered off the $200 tube hybrid amp that should arrive in a little less than a month, and I want to test the AD700 to see how well it takes to a bass EQ (more mild than a full freq-curve balance EQ), but you'll probably have more fun with the CAL!s out of the box.

IMHO, of course.

 

[Evshrug]

I had a Ad700 my self and interesting enough I did use it for Electronic Music as well DnB music. The bass was how can I explain it I guess was soft. It was there but not there. If that makes any sense. My work around for it at the time was me installing a op-amp that added more bass to the sound signature which worked very well too.

But another work around for the AD700 is that some people use the EQ of their music player or sound card settings to add a bit to the bass Freq to do it that way. Or using something that has a bass boost switch on it like one of the cheaper Fiio amps.  But if bass that important to you then the AD700 wouldn't be a good choice,unless you do either of what I mentioned.

Oh, I used mine for electronic and dubstep
It's interesting how much texture a shy-bass headphone like the AD700 can reveal in bass notes, when fed enough current. I liked the E5's bass EQ before the switch started misbehaving, but it would clip sometimes when activated (probably a fault in my E5), and most of the time I would listen without any EQ. I bet if I had started with the E11 amp instead, with it's low output impedance and plentiful current for the AD700, I would have been even longer away from Head-Fi I've also read that the E11's bass boost is a tad more sub-bass than the average boost, which would mate ideally with the AD700.

Glenclaymore, it was very interesting to use iTunes' EQ in opposite of Headroom's published freq curve graphs. I was surprised how well it took to some pretty extreme EQ, but I tweaked it to be a bit more moderate of a change

 

[chicolom]

Quote:

Ok I'm decided:
 
DT770 + Objective2 + Titanium X-Fi + TurtleBeach's DSS2 or Mixamp, I'm exploding my budget and hoping it's worth it

 
I would pick the DSS v1 of the DSS 2...

 

[William007]

Hello, i'm looking for some good gaming headphones <€60 for a friend. He wants a mic on it, i said he'd better buy an external mic like i do but he want's a build in mic.. So please recomand me some

 

[Evshrug]

I would pick the DSS v1 of the DSS 2...

Agreed

Hello, i'm looking for some good gaming headphones <€60 for a friend. He wants a mic on it, i said he'd better buy an external mic like i do but he want's a build in mic.. So please recomand me some

IMO, good + gaming headset + <60 € = can't be done. I literally don't feel the headsets in that price range are pleasant nor good. If you want to spend more, gaming headsets eventually do become pretty good, but all the turtle beaches and tritons hurt your ears audibly and physically after a moderate gaming session. Tell your friend how cheap lapel mics like this one are, let him know that my friends can hear my voice better through it than their turtles, and that it works seamlessly even with an Xbox. He/she can even coil the wire around the headphone cable if they want to not have a lot of dangling wires.

Then, read the first page guide on this thread for the best low-price headphones for gaming currently out there.

I don't mean to sound harsh, but if he/she just gets a cheap gaming headset, he/she will really be missing out.