Possible to not notice hifi?

[deadlylover]

Quote:

I actually played a game or two with these and I have to say that really changed my tune drastically.
 
While my music may not be as punchy I guess as I wanted (the song in particular was http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR00969/ which is a 160kbps MP3 file, a few 256kbps files in my audio directory and one 320kbps.
 
But I say again.  The quality difference when playing GAMES really just made the sounds quite detailed and crisp.  So these headphones are great, but NOT for the reason I intended, hah.

Yeah mate the AD700 just won't have the bass/punch that you desire (for that particular song/genre). You might actually get used to it's bass-lightness, I kind of did when I had it.
 
Even with the AD700 fed from my Audio-gd dac19 and amped by a beta22, they just don't have any balls.
 
But it doesn't mean you can't enjoy it for other things!, I'm just trying to prevent you from barking up the wrong tree with the AD700's ^^.

 

[sidel]

 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Tinari /img/forum/go_quote.gif

 
Well, looks like I have me a goal.  I'll hold you personally  accountable for my results.  (just kidding! )

You'll notice a good difference right off the bat if you simply pick up a dac (the laptop is just going to leave a lot to be desired) and get some higher quality files.

 

[Tinari]

I'll confess, I used the term 'punch' a bit improperly as I just realized in the audio market, that typically means bass thumps I think (maybe?) so that was wrong.
 
They're not bad quality by any means.  I am gonna try a large variety of music.  Unfortunately, I doubt the music I listen to even HAS lossless or higher quality versions available, really.  Sad days.

 

[BobSaysHi]

@OP
 
a list for you to do
 
1. upgrade your files to at least 256 vbr (V0), but lossless is preferred 
2. don't fall for hype
3. Get a DAC. DAC upgrades are a better initial use of your money, giving better results for less
4. Get an amp. Amp upgrades are far more subtle, and don't really improve past a certain point, but just give a different sound
 
And lastly, if you don't like the sound of the headphone, no amount of amps, cables, DACs or equipment will change their sound sig. Gather a few more posts and sell them in the forums if you are unhappy.

 

[TMRaven]

Quote:

1. upgrade your files to at least 256 vbr (V0), but lossless is preferred
2. don't fall for hype
 

Sad day.

 

[BobSaysHi]

Quote:

Sad day.

lol. You simply can't go wrong with lossless. I have my portable library ripped at I think 256 kbps, if that makes you feel better.
 

 

[Tinari]

Unfortunately, as I said before, a good portion of my music is at the mercy of those who upload the MP3s for me to download.  If I pay 99 cents to download an MP3 and its' 256kbps and nothing more, I can't re-encode it productively.
 
I don't even know on some if I have the original sources anymore.  I basically lost or threw away all my CDs I had ages past.  Just redownloading what I've bought or trying to see if the original artists can upload higher quality.

 

[BobSaysHi]

Quote:

Unfortunately, as I said before, a good portion of my music is at the mercy of those who upload the MP3s for me to download.  If I pay 99 cents to download an MP3 and its' 256kbps and nothing more, I can't re-encode it productively.
 
I don't even know on some if I have the original sources anymore.  I basically lost or threw away all my CDs I had ages past.  Just redownloading what I've bought or trying to see if the original artists can upload higher quality.

If it's electronic music like you linked earlier, I wouldn't worry too much about it.
 
I was under the general impression that AD700s were meant almost exclusively for gaming, not music listening. 

 

[TMRaven]

Well I think it's always nice to have the highest quality song you can have if you have the space for it, but I think having a song lossless over say 256 or 320kbps songs, or even some 128kbps songs that are recorded well certainly isn't the most prudent thing to do when it comes to improving audio quality.  I think his priorities right now should be a dac/amp and then a different headphone afterwards.  I'm inclined to think a lot of it is just the AD700s, they don't really jive well with electronica.

 

[Arnotts]

Quote:

Sad day.

If you can't tell the difference on your setup, it doesn't mean other people can't.

 

[Arnotts]

Quote:

If it's electronic music like you linked earlier, I wouldn't worry too much about it.
 
I was under the general impression that AD700s were meant almost exclusively for gaming, not music listening. 

I use them for gaming, but they perform VERY well for classical and some jazz.

 

[TMRaven]

Quote:

If you can't tell the difference on your setup, it doesn't mean other people can't.

Nah that's not the point at all.

 

[Omnirai]

Quote:

Unfortunately, as I said before, a good portion of my music is at the mercy of those who upload the MP3s for me to download.  If I pay 99 cents to download an MP3 and its' 256kbps and nothing more, I can't re-encode it productively.
 
I don't even know on some if I have the original sources anymore.  I basically lost or threw away all my CDs I had ages past.  Just redownloading what I've bought or trying to see if the original artists can upload higher quality.

I have suffered from this problem before, but perhaps one just has to look harder. OCRemix (I love them btw) for example certainly offer high quality files last I remembered, and I'm sure it's possible to find higher quality sources for even the most esoteric genres. With a decent set-up, the difference in simply changing the source file can be like night and day, and I don't use that description lightly!
 
And to echo what basically everybody has said, you are not going to get good sound with onboard soundcard with any headphone. A simple external DAC will do a world of good, the ubiquitous Fiio E7 (or the E7 + E9 combo) is cheap, probably easy to obtain and is likely to greatly improve the music you get. You also have the benefit of a good base to drive any future headphone purchases (if you decide to sell your ADs for something better suited to the genres you prefer) as you don't have to worry about driving them properly.
 

 

[roma101]

Or you could just get other headphones that are more forgiving of your low bitrate files and might sound better to you than the current phones you have.

 

[Tinari]

Well I was warming up to these headphones as a gaming set and thinking of what I could do  for my music in general when I started listening to some old, high quality files I had (uncompressed WAV files... actually...) and they were still just "good".
 
I then on a random whim dug into my old NSF/SPC (Nintendo Sound File / Sony SPC700 for SNES).  These files are being played in about their purest form possible through Chip Amp.  Now let me get this clear first, I can listen to nostalgic music and get a nice feeling and I always think they sound fairly good.
 
These headphones caused my some sort of sound euphoria.
 
I have dug up and listened to about three hours of various NSF and SPC tunes from various games and the clarity, purity and punch of the bips and beeps is just making the nostalgia trip all the more sweet.  I don't know why my MP3s can't seem to get this same sort of reaction out of me.  Maybe it's more my state  of mind perhaps?  Oh well.  I had planned on keeping these cans but this cinches it.
 
Now I feel like a bit of an ass.  Makes me wonder if it's that my MP3s are just that... bad.
 
And in checking, IT files, MOD files, XM files are the same.  Amazing.