[vexeller]

This is my first post here so bare with me .
So i've been researching for a couple of days now and haven't got far so i decided to make a post here so that i could maybe get some help from a kind person that has good experience/good recommendations for the music type i listen to. I've never been a audiophile but now i really want to get into it. I have always loved to listen to trance/progressive psy trance/dubstep and psy trance. Right now i am sitting on a Asus Xonar DS 7.1 soundcard and a logitech x-530 5.1 speaker system. I also have pair of JVC ham5x xtreme xplosives around ear headphones but i feel like something is missing. I got them for 30 euros so i wasn't expecting too much. I have been reading alot of posts and reading reviews for hours and i found that the Beyerdynamics DT880 600 Ohm version, Sennheiser HD 598/558, AKG K 701/601 are supppost to be good. I don't have a great soundcard and i know that i would need to spend some money on that aswell and i'm willing to pay around 400 euros for the soundcard and the headphones. I have read that the Asus Xonar Essence STX and the Creative Soundblaster ZXR are suppost to be good for music and have a good inbuilt headphone amp. And i wont be travelling with them so it will be only my desktop headphones.
My big question is, what are the best headphones for under 300 euros that are mind blowing in the electronic genre? I love bass also and loud music so i would prefer if the headphones had some nice bass in them aswell. I've read that the sennheiser HD 598 have good sound but lack bass and if that is true ithink i will continue searching. Also if someone knows a shop in Gothenburg/Sweden that allows you to tryout some headphones that would be great.
Thank you for your time and if i can get some help with this i would be very happy

 Have a nice day.

 

[joelpearce]

None of the ones you've listed are noted for their bass response.
 
I would definitely consider looking at the Beyer 990 or 770 instead.  Both have excellent bass but also offer a good introduction to higher end sound.

 

[vexeller]

Okay i will look further into those instead then! Thanks alot.

 

[vexeller]

Which one would you personally go with? The Beyerdynamics DT770 Pro 80 Ohm. DT770 250 Ohm or the DT990 Pro 250 Ohm. And are they all required a good soundcard like the Asus STX or the Creative Soundblaster ZXR. All of thies dynamic versions have the same price tag so i will go for the one that works the best ofcourse! Thanks for further help.

 

[PurpleAngel]

The PAV2V (Personal amp 2 version 2) headphone amplifier can function as a portable or AC power head amp.
Sells on eBay for $66.30
 
I would think the DT880 Premum 600-Ohm would offer the best bass, but really needs a headphone amplifier.
 
You could plug the HD598 or AKG K601/701 straight into the Xonar DS, because of the DS's impedance, you might get a slightly bloated bass.
Which might be a good thing as the HD598 and 701 are not really bassy in the first place.
I believe the AKG K601 have more bass then the 701s,
 and the K601s are 120-Ohm, so might need an amp.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

Which one would you personally go with? The Beyerdynamics DT770 Pro 80 Ohm. DT770 250 Ohm or the DT990 Pro 250 Ohm. And are they all required a good sound card like the Asus STX or the Creative Soundblaster ZXR. All of thies dynamic versions have the same price tag so i will go for the one that works the best of course! Thanks for further help.

I own all three of these headphones (DT770/DT990).
Personally I would get the DT990 Pro 250-Ohm, being an open head means you can wear them for longer periods of time.
The DT990 has a "movie theater" like sound, full bass & treble, which slightly over shadows the mids, but the mids are clear.

 

[vexeller]

Thanks, it looks like i'm leaning towards the DT990. And if i may ask do they need a better soundcard like the STX or the creative for them to really shine? or is the difference small that it is not worth paying the extra 180 euros.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

Thanks, it looks like i'm leaning towards the DT990. And if i may ask do they need a better sound card like the STX or the creative for them to really shine? or is the difference small that it is not worth paying the extra 180 euros.

The Essence STX is a nice value, can drive headphones up to 600-Ohms, good DAC (PCM1792A), so should be able to drive any headphones you get now, or in the future.
 
The Xonar DS can not drive 250-Ohm headphones.
So you would need to buy a separate head amp to use with the Xonar DS or replace the DS.

 

[vexeller]

I also heard that the creative soundblaster ZXR is supposed to be good with music and games. If that's true i would rather go with the Newer creative soundcard because it also has 5.1 channel for my speakers. And i would love to be able to switch from the speakers to the headphones with just afew clicks on the software. But if the Asus STX is much better i would go for that ofcourse.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

I also heard that the creative soundblaster ZXR is supposed to be good with music and games. If that's true i would rather go with the Newer creative sound card because it also has 5.1 channel for my speakers. And i would love to be able to switch from the speakers to the headphones with just afew clicks on the software. But if the Asus STX is much better i would go for that ofcourse.

If your looking to hook up an analog 5.1 speaker setup, then the Sound Blaster Z seems like the better choice.
Which 5.1 speakers are they?

 

[vexeller]

Nothing fancy just some cheap logitech z-530 but the sound in my ears is good enough so i guess im not that of an audiophile they do the job well when im playing games and listening to music. I'll upgrade these in the future tho so if you have any suggestions i would be happy to hear them.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

Nothing fancy just some cheap logitech z-530 but the sound in my ears is good enough so i guess im not that of an audiophile they do the job well when im playing games and listening to music. I'll upgrade these in the future tho so if you have any suggestions i would be happy to hear them.

The Sound Blaster Z seems the right pick, you can find the OEM version selling for around $80.

 

[vexeller]

One more question, if i get the Sound Blaster Z OEM version would i be able to still plug in my headphones in my speakers without loosing any sound quality? i'm doing that right now with my speakers and it works fine but would it make a difference if i got a more high end card? also would the DT990 250 ohm be affected?

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

One more question, if i get the Sound Blaster Z OEM version would i be able to still plug in my headphones in my speakers without loosing any sound quality? I'm doing that right now with my speakers and it works fine but would it make a difference if i got a more high end card? also would the DT990 250 ohm be affected?

With the SBZ (Sound Blaster Z), you would want to plug the headphones into the SBZ dedicated headphone jack, not the speaker's headphone jack.
The SBZ's headphone jack comes with a true headphone amplifier, the headphone jack on the speakers does not.

 

[vexeller]

Thanks alot for the help, ithink im gonna go buy this setup and get myself a ssd since everything got alot cheaper