[killeraxemannic]

Thinking of getting the Ultrasone Hfi 680 or the shure 840's. Which are better?

 

[Roller]

Quote:

Thinking of getting the Ultrasone Hfi 680 or the shure 840's. Which are better?

I'm not familiar with the HFI-680, but they're supposed to be slightly more balanced than the HFI-580. The SRH840 are a pair that leans towards the neutral side of things, which might or might not be your cup of tea.

 

[Vires]

Hey Roller
 
Can the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD amp the Ultrasone Pro 900's? If it can I might just return the FiiO e11 and just buy the sound card 

. Also, I know you said that you preferred the Titanium HD over the Titanium for gaming, but does the HD have better positional audio vs the normal titanium?
 
 
 

 

[Roller]

Well, while the Titanium HD does have a headphone output, it's not by any measure meant to drive very power hungry headphones. Though, Ultrasone Pro 900s aren't considered power hungry, and I can run them "unamped" from a rather weak DAP.
 
The Titanium HD does have better positional audio, both because of the newer DSP chip revision and because of higher quality components, even if it's not on a revolutionary scale.
 
So, if you have to return your E11 to get the Titanium HD, then I'd advise you to return E11, get the Titanium HD and after you gathered some money, buy E11 again. Or far far better would be for after you returned E11/got the Titanium HD, to save some more money and get Fiio E9

That would be powerful, in every sense of the word

 

[Roller]

I should add that the Titanium HD already has a nice output by itself, and along with the fact that Pro 900s aren't really power hungry, just that setup should work out for you for quite some time. Though, you might find yourself wondering if you could get more out of the gear you're using, and perhaps an amp would be the solution to that answer.
 
What I'm saying is that by no means should you feel forced to get an amp, just that it might make the headphones sing a little better and truly effortlessly.

 

[Vires]

Now I am interested in the Fiio e9 lol. The thing is, I am not planning on upgrading my pro 900 anytime soon so if the fiio e11 can amp it to its full potential then there is no reason for me to get a e9. Will I need to buy a cord to connect the e9 to the titanium HD? Also do you know if I can use the e11 while it's charging?

 

[Roller]

I understand you perfectly
The E9 amp is much more powerful than E11, which can be understandable given that E11 is just a portable amp, with all the (usual) limitations is has associated. E9 comes with the required cables, which in all truth is just a simple mini-to-mini cable that can be found at very inexpensive prices.
Unfortunately, E11 can't be used while charging, which was actually one of the reasons I steered away from it, after being quite interested. The battery is removable, which is great, but the battery type is not good at all, and I do have quite some experience with that model.
 
With all that said, while Pro 900s don't need amps to sound good, they do sound great when properly driven. I still say, for now run with your Titanium HD, and once you can, get E9 and be done with audio for quite some time. Oh, and after you get that combo, stop coming here for a while too, it helps to avoid upgraditis

 

[Vires]

Quote:

I understand you perfectly
The E9 amp is much more powerful than E11, which can be understandable given that E11 is just a portable amp, with all the (usual) limitations is has associated. E9 comes with the required cables, which in all truth is just a simple mini-to-mini cable that can be found at very inexpensive prices.
Unfortunately, E11 can't be used while charging, which was actually one of the reasons I steered away from it, after being quite interested. The battery is removable, which is great, but the battery type is not good at all, and I do have quite some experience with that model.
 
With all that said, while Pro 900s don't need amps to sound good, they do sound great when properly driven. I still say, for now run with your Titanium HD, and once you can, get E9 and be done with audio for quite some time. Oh, and after you get that combo, stop coming here for a while too, it helps to avoid upgraditis

 
When my e11's come in, I'll compare them to the HD with no amp to see if I notice a difference. I'll probably end up getting annoyed with having to charge the amp so I'm probably just going to get the e9 =D
 
And yes I will have to stay away from this website for a while as well haha.
 
 

 

[killeraxemannic]

Well I got a pair of the Ultrasone PRO 650's used on the forums here and I am very impressed with them! I'm pretty sure all the gripes I had with this soundcard were because of the AD700's not the Soundcard. 

 

[Vires]

Anyone know how long the cord that comes with the E9 that goes from the E9 to the sound card in my computer? Hopefully its like 3-4 feet long =/

 

[plastick]

I used to run a Creative card and was also not satisfied. I got one of these and never looked back: http://m-audio.com/products/en_us/Audiophile2496.html
 
You will obviously need to use a RCA-to-headphone jack cable, but it's definitely worth it. It produces a very clean and detailed, noiseless stereo sound. One of my favorite sound cards.

 

[Roller]

Quote:

I used to run a Creative card and was also not satisfied. I got one of these and never looked back: http://m-audio.com/products/en_us/Audiophile2496.html
 
You will obviously need to use a RCA-to-headphone jack cable, but it's definitely worth it. It produces a very clean and detailed, noiseless stereo sound. One of my favorite sound cards.

 
It is indeed a fine card, but has extra connectivity options that the OP won't use, and doesn't fit all his needs, which is why the Titanium HD was chosen.

 

[JesperZ]

I just got an E9 yesterday and it didn't include a minijack to minijack cable. It only included a USB cable since it was probably assumed I would use the E7 with it, which I'm not. So I had to go downtown and buy a minijack to minijack cable myself.
 
Quote:

Anyone know how long the cord that comes with the E9 that goes from the E9 to the sound card in my computer? Hopefully its like 3-4 feet long =/

 

 

[129207]

When I want CMSS-3D for gaming I unplug my DAC and use my trusty Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer. Sometimes I'm too lazy to plug in my DAC and listen to some tunes with the X-Fi with it's enhancements and fx off. It sounds fine with my AD700 and it's output is indistinguishable from my Sansa Clip's output. Not great but definitely not worse than my laptop's onboard. You're either having a driver issue or something weird's going on with your settings. Have you tried removing the card, driversweeping the drivers and then reïnstalling? Are your settings in the Windows controlpanel on "stereo" instead of fancy shmancy Dolby stuff? Are you running at 44khz instead of 48khz? This can confuse certain software audio players. Did you try Foobar with ASIO4ALL/WASAPI support? 

 

[Roller]

Quote:

When I want CMSS-3D for gaming I unplug my DAC and use my trusty Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer. Sometimes I'm too lazy to plug in my DAC and listen to some tunes with the X-Fi with it's enhancements and fx off. It sounds fine with my AD700 and it's output is indistinguishable from my Sansa Clip's output. Not great but definitely not worse than my laptop's onboard. You're either having a driver issue or something weird's going on with your settings. Have you tried removing the card, driversweeping the drivers and then reïnstalling? Are your settings in the Windows controlpanel on "stereo" instead of fancy shmancy Dolby stuff? Are you running at 44khz instead of 48khz? This can confuse certain software audio players. Did you try Foobar with ASIO4ALL/WASAPI support? 

First thing, Creative cards are NEVER to be configured through Windows' control panel, always through Creative's own control panels. And the X-Fi generation doesn't suffer from hardware resampling issues like the Audigy series did.
 
EDIT: Music should sound just fine with WASAPI output, given that it would automatically switch sample rates.