Pondering Darth Beyer...

[HyperTension]

Alrighty, I'm pretty new to the audiophile world, and recently transitioned from a Altec-Lansing headset to a Beyer DT770Pro (250ohm) and the Headroom Mini Amp, and was totally blown away by the difference.

Mostly a gamer, but it's brought new life into listening to mp3's (except I can now tell what ones are poorly encoded.. thanks

). The bass of this cans are pretty impressive, but I have noticed that the midrange seems shallow with a tendency to be overwhelmed by lingering bass.

After trolling around here, I have seen several impressive threads with regards to the Darth Beyer, and after looking at his site, I'm about 90% sold on upgrading my cans.


A few quick questions for ya 'all. I saw that I have to ship my headphones to him, with about a 1.5-2 month holdover. Painful, but acceptable. what do you guys recommend with regards to recable options? Does going "woody" make a credible difference / improvement or pretty much anesthestic only?

Does going "balanced" make another credible improvement? If it does, and that option is chosen, I'm assumining that I need to get a different amp that supports "balanced". If thats the case, I'm still within my 30 days to upgrade my amp from Headroom.

Another question is: Will adding a DAC make another improvement that is worthwhile (again, I mostly game (FPS), and getting back into my mp3's)

Soundcard wise: Creative Labs X-Fi Plat

Any suggestions / recommendations are more than welcome, and encouraged.

Thanks again, Chris

 

[flamerz]

If you really like the bass, then I suppose Darth Beyers are a good upgrade. However, it sounds like a completely new set of headphones would be a good option for you.

 

[lutwey]

since this is ur first post, let me give useful tip-

darthbeyers=skylab(fellow headfier)

look up most of his post, he owns like at least a half dozen. he might be here anytime now. he is really friendly in giving info to newbies like us.

 

[willtothewong]

i am also interested but why does the black wood have to be so $$$

but i guess its worth it

=)

 

[threEchelon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HyperTension /img/forum/go_quote.gif A few quick questions for ya 'all. I saw that I have to ship my headphones to him, with about a 1.5-2 month holdover. Painful, but acceptable. what do you guys recommend with regards to recable options? Does going "woody" make a credible difference / improvement or pretty much anesthestic only? Does going "balanced" make another credible improvement? If it does, and that option is chosen, I'm assumining that I need to get a different amp that supports "balanced". If thats the case, I'm still within my 30 days to upgrade my amp from Headroom.

You could order a whole new set of darth beyers from headphile and then sell your old ones when you get the headphile pair. http://headphile.com/page7.html check out Deal 18

Going balanced is very expensive. The cheapest balanced Headroom amplifier is $900, and that is about the cheapest you'd want to spend for a balanced amplifier. You would not need a balanced source, though. You would also need a headphone recabled with 2 3-pin XLR's.

 

[roastpuff]

I think if you spring for the recable, might as well spring for the wood. It's the complete package, you know?

The wood affects the way the sound resonates, and different woods make a (slight) difference.

Cable... BlackMax and BlackCopper have been bandied about as the top choices for a Darth cable, but the stock BlackSilver is also pretty good. Length has to be 1.5 - 2 metres, else it is too short. This I learned from personal experience.

Balanced... that's overkill, IMO. Don't do it unless you want to be shackled to a balanced amp when you use them - and balanced amps are rare creatures, indeed. The DAC can be added on at a later date, whether it be USB or optical. The X-Fi has been pooh-poohed around Head-Fi, but I have no practical experience with it, nor do I have any knowledge regarding which sound the best, so I'm going to leave it to another member to answer.

Darths are quite good for gaming, because they make everything sound better - bigger, more involving, more exciting. I love playing Rainbow Six Vegas or BF2142 with the Darths! Soundstaging is good, so you can keep track of that pesky APC or enemy running around outside of your bunker, if it's not super-noisy with explosions left and right. Some weapons will surprise you when you first hear them with the Darths, because they will have impact. Let me tell you that I flinched the first time I heard a shotgun go off next to my character.

And if you regret it, you can always resell the Darths in the FS forum for a good price.

 

[Xanadu777]

Just a couple of quick points, because I think some don't think of them (and I get asked often)...

If a person is sending their own headphones, they don't need to have them arrive until (currently) approx 7-8 weeks. Payment gets you on my list, but no need to have your cans sit in a box here until I need them

In regards to Darth Beyer and sending your own cans, you lose the option to purchase black pads. I can use the new silver I take off for the $10 difference, but I can't use anyones used pads...

While I'm at it...

I get asked which cable is the best for these, and which wood sounds best. Since it's subjective, no way I can know for you folks. BlackMax is most popular, though I wouldn't say it's the best (figure it out).

The wood is not just cosmetic, since I specifically shape the interior and other tweaks. These are what make them V3. Woods sound different, but very subtle. Get what looks good to you, since your attitude when listening (and anything you do in life) is better when you feel good about whatever. If someone wants to hear the subtle difference in each wood, get one of each! I'll even let you get Wenge then

 

[flamerz]

And I believe Skylab said wenge had the best bass.

 

[HyperTension]

... what is Wenge... .... (Have a feeling it's a loaded question....)

 

[flamerz]

A type of wood. It's a dark, rich brown. Very beautiful.

 

[HyperTension]

Nice..

The other question is that have is that my current 770's, the seem to bottom out with significant bass. Amplification comes from my mini headroom amp.

Do these still need time to be broken in (2.5 weeks now), or is more power needed to cleanly drive these? Or just poor sound encoding?