[chicolom]

Quote:

Astro took out the RCA inputs in their 2013 mixamp. How could I connect/stack a schiit magni to it? i've asked before if it is possible to add the magni to the mixamp … but I first want to know if that can be done with the 2013 version of the mixamp before I spend the $100 on a magni.

Please provide links or cable names so I can look into it more. Again I have the 2013 astro mixamp with akg q701 headphones connected to a playstation 3.

 
You hook up external maps by taking the signal out from the headphone jack.  Look at the diagram below...
 
RCA inputs wouldn't have helped, because you can't get surround from the RCA inputs.
 

 

[widdyjudas]

Never tried the AD series before, so I want to test it. I had an AT m50 before and hated it. The cup is not big enough, the leather is sweaty and clamp is too much. Many said its over the ear design, but its on ear for me. So, the cup pressed against my ear and add the clamp.
Sound is ok, good low and hi, but the soundstage is too small. Everything is cramped on the middle.
Too bad that the AD series are using leather too. I want to test the new one, but its still unavailable here. Don't now if envy will try the new updated AD, compared to the old one.
HE400 is good enough for me, although I want more soundstage. The weight and long cable is minus point for it. I wish Hifiman has coiled cable.
 

 

[roguegeek]

Never tried the AD series before, so I want to test it. I had an AT m50 before and hated it. The cup is not big enough, the leather is sweaty and clamp is too much. Many said its over the ear design, but its on ear for me. So, the cup pressed against my ear and add the clamp.
Sound is ok, good low and hi, but the soundstage is too small. Everything is cramped on the middle.
Too bad that the AD series are using leather too. I want to test the new one, but its still unavailable here. Don't now if envy will try the new updated AD, compared to the old one.
HE400 is good enough for me, although I want more soundstage. The weight and long cable is minus point for it. I wish Hifiman has coiled cable.

The AD700 pads are velvet, not pleather/leather.

 

[SoAmusing777]

Quote:

Most/many other receivers have their own surround processing, but they don't usually bother branding the tech or build-in a lot of adjustability. Before I got my headphone amps, I preferred to send the audio out from the Recon3D to the stereo input of my Yamaha receiver, set to "straight" mode. What headphone do you have now?

Right, thanks for reminding me. I have the Annies. It should be in my profile and sig. I'm gonna get a DH receiver then.

 

[widdyjudas]

Is annies really that good? Compared to HE-400? Can it be driven properly with the E-17?
But it use leather pad, will it compromise comfort much?

 

[chicolom]

Quote:

Is annies really that good? Compared to HE-400? Can it be driven properly with the E-17?
But it use leather pad, will it compromise comfort much?

 
Leather?  Both have velour (optional on HE400) earpads...
 
They sound different, the anniversaries are darker and the HE400 are brighter.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Annie is a very competent all rounder with very balanced, warm sound, non tiring treble, large soundstage, and fantastic positioning for games. The bass doesnt hit like the HE400, but it has much better mids and treble to me. The bass is still good, and accurate.

Its a bit overpriced at $500, but if you can find them for around $400, I think its worth it. You can do that, or find a Q701 for around $250 and try and get Annie pads for $70, though I dunno how long it will take AKG to start sending them out. That will give you the Annie sound for like $100 cheaper, but without the comfy headband and limited quantity aesthetics/prestige.

 

[Hawaiiancerveza]

Frank from AKG emailed me and said about 2-3 weeks. 
Quote:

Annie is a very competent all rounder with very balanced, warm sound, non tiring treble, large soundstage, and fantastic positioning for games. The bass doesnt hit like the HE400, but it has much better mids and treble to me. The bass is still good, and accurate.

Its a bit overpriced at $500, but if you can find them for around $400, I think its worth it. You can do that, or find a Q701 for around $250 and try and get Annie pads for $70, though I dunno how long it will take AKG to start sending them out. That will give you the Annie sound for like $100 cheaper, but without the comfy headband and limited quantity aesthetics/prestige.

 

[chooka]

Quote:

Just my two cents on ad900. I remember positioning to be good as well as sound stage.

But

Treble was piercing at the volume I wanted and comfort was absolute non starter. Drivers touched my ears and mine are small. Pads practically rested on my cheek bones.

Perfect cans for huge heads tiny ears and screechy treble lovers. No thank you.

I bought the AD700's I read more stuff about the AD900 and they weren't as comfortable and I was worried about the drivers and being shocked n stuff even though I didn't know what that means, may take a pic when I get them and post it although you professional sound types have seen it all before....I hope they fuken work good! lol

 

[OnePunchMan]

^_^ Thank you too Evershurg, you've been a great help also. So um, if i dont amp the headphones......I mean I'm almost positive I can t just plug them into my Xbox controller so uh, how would I use them to get the most out of them I guess?  Sorry if that's a dumb question, but this all literally goes right over my head; some of what you guys have been talking about reminded me of the time when my friend tried to teach me Russian. 

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Uh, no. The Xbox controller's output is for microphone/chat.

We were under the assumption you were gonna use something like the Mixamp, which would connect directly from the Xbox.

You need some form of an amp, as you need volume control coming out of the Xbox. Or you're just confusing me.

Basically, anything with a standard heafphone jack has amplification, which is why there is volume control. Phones, mp3 players, etc, all have internal amps. When we say amps here, we mean audiophile amps like those I posted on the first page. The AD700 doesn't need anything past whatever internal amp is on devices like ipods, and cellphones. They're that sensitive.

However, game systems don't have headphone jacks, so you need a way to plug in your headphones to them. Our faves are tbings like the Mixamp which has virtual surround. I'm not gonna explain all this again though.

If you want the AD700, you don't need anything past something like a Mixamp. As far as portable use, you dont need any amp. Just plug them straight into your devices.

At that point you might have a crappy device with a horrible dac, like noisy laptops, so you might need something like the Fiio E7 for portable use which is an external usb dac and amp, and allows you to bypass the noisy laptop soundcards and headphone jacks. This has n9thing to do with gaming use, so if you wanna learn more you can ask or read up the millions of threads on head-fi about it.

 

[theman1285]

What would be a good upgrade from a AKG Q701. I am looking to get better directional cues while playing online with my playstation 3 and eventually playstation 4 when it comes out. I dont know if the headphone exists but is there a better headphone for gaming with even better directional cues?

Also where can you buy the Annie pads from? Wouldn't mind trying them on the Q701's

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

You'll just be wasting your money at this point. No headphone is gonna make positional cues noticeably more accurate. At this point, best thing is jumping to a new virtual surround tech device like the Beyer Headzone. You can only do so much with headphones.

 

[unclerico]

Hi, I'm new here and new to advanced audio in general. I'm a pretty big xbox360 Call of Duty player and I'm ready to take the next step. I've been using turtle beach x11's, I think they're called for many years. After doing tons of research, the same names keep coming up, (Astro A40's, Sennheiser PC360&598, steelseries Siberia V2, etc, so I've decided to go for the ole' Ad700, mixamp, modmic combo.
My question is...Which mixamp to go with? Either Astro mixamp 2013, which I've read thousands of horror stories about or the previous version(2011 i think). Has anyone heard if Astro actually fixed their mixamp. I know about the updated firmware which is supposed to fix sound dropping and a new usb-mini to push the extra power, but i still read tons of unhappy customers on their forums. If anyone has any experience or suggestions I would greatly appreciate your feedback/help!!
 
Thanks very much for your time

 

[chicolom]

Quote:

What would be a good upgrade from a AKG Q701. I am looking to get better directional cues while playing online with my playstation 3 and eventually playstation 4 when it comes out. I dont know if the headphone exists but is there a better headphone for gaming with even better directional cues?

Also where can you buy the Annie pads from? Wouldn't mind trying them on the Q701's

 
You could downgrade to the AD700, which has a bit better positioning.  Just be aware of the sound signature that headphone comes with.
The HD598 might be a hair better then Q701, but not sure.  Again, the signature...
 
The Q701 sound is a lot more fun than either of those two though, and it still has one of the best soundstages out there.  You probably have to jump up to the HD800 to get an improvement (...maybe the T1).
 
Also....stax...
 
The anniversary pads won't be available for another 2 weeks or so, FWIR in the thread below:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/626971/akg-k702-65th-anniversary-edition/1770