[mtbaird5687]

Im not audiophile at all, and im in need of some headphones. I want some ones that go totally around my head and block out a bunch of sound from my computer. These will be used for listening to music and gaming.

I was considering the 280 Pros because they block out a bunch of sound. and people seem to nit pick little problems.

but i've never really used any decent headphones, im using audio .90s right now (so ****ty).

My price range is around $75 and i think im going to get the 280 Pros because loads of people love them, even though some dont. So does anyone else have any opinions on these, or any other phones i might like?

These will be used in conjuction with my Soundblaster Audigy Gamer. Im going to run them through a headphone splitter so that i can listen to stuff on my surround sound reciever if im not in the mood to wear the headphones. Will this severly hurt anything? And i just will connect the phones to the same lil green output on my soundcard right? where normal speakers go? They are awesome quality headphones, so i dont know if that affects anything hahaah.


Aight guys if you can help me out then thanks a lot. If you have any otehr questions you need to ask me ill be checking this thread a lot.

 

[go_vtec]

For around $75, I would highly recommend either HD280 or Sony MDR-V6 (around $70). Senn is fine phone but if you have wider than average face/head, it will feel like vice-grip. Sony is more accomodating various head-sizes, but if your ears are above average, you may feel slight discomfort. They both offer descent isolation (closed phone, not much sound in or out). Now, sound-wise, HD280 is not as forwarding sounding as V6. Some people love V6 for its forward sounding nature, but some consider it as a bit too bright, and think its bass is slightly grainy. On the other hand some people criticize HD280, calling it sounding muddy (compare to V6). Although I had both in the past, I currently own V6 as my portable phone. FYI, I like my sound bright.

Quote:

Im going to run them through a headphone splitter so that i can listen to stuff on my surround sound reciever if im not in the mood to wear the headphones. Will this severly hurt anything?

If you are splitting up the output of your sound card to that either headphone or your reciever can be plugged (possibly both at the same time), it won't cause any physical harm in theory. In reality, it may not be such a good idea since it puts too much stress in a very weak output device (sound card is not as powerful as descent amp's output).

Oh yeah, I think HD580 (as you asked in title) is best sounding (a class or two over HD280 or V6), but you will need a good amp to make it sound good. It's open phone so you will hear all the background noise unless you cracking up really high (difficult to do with mere sound card output.

[edit: spelling]
-Mike

 

[pedxing]

Its usually best to use an audio switch box to determine which speaker or headphone the signal from the soundcard should go. In my experience, sharing outputs with multiple speakers doesn't break anything, but I think it may have some detrimental long term effects on the equipment. You will be splitting the signal between the devices which may affect output impedance and sound quality.

Connecting the headphones directly to the back of the sound card is plausible as long your sound card can power the headphones. Very sensitive and efficient headphones, like the portable ones that usually come with a portable cd player, can be easily powered by sound card. I think the 280 Pros may benefit with a real amplifier between itself and the sound card. You might be better off connecting the headphones to the surround receiver's headphone jack, it does have one, instead of directly plugging it into the back of the sound card. Then, you wouldn't have to worry about having quality or equipment problems about sharing signals between devices.

 

[mtbaird5687]

Quote:

Originally posted by pedxing Its usually best to use an audio switch box to determine which speaker or headphone the signal from the soundcard should go. In my experience, sharing outputs with multiple speakers doesn't break anything, but I think it may have some detrimental long term effects on the equipment. You will be splitting the signal between the devices which may affect output impedance and sound quality. Connecting the headphones directly to the back of the sound card is plausible as long your sound card can power the headphones. Very sensitive and efficient headphones, like the portable ones that usually come with a portable cd player, can be easily powered by sound card. I think the 280 Pros may benefit with a real amplifier between itself and the sound card. You might be better off connecting the headphones to the surround receiver's headphone jack, it does have one, instead of directly plugging it into the back of the sound card. Then, you wouldn't have to worry about having quality or equipment problems about sharing signals between devices.

So if i connect my AV cable i bought, headphone jack on one side, two RCA audio jacks on the other, Straight to my Sound Card and then connect my headphones to the jack in the back of my reciever, that will work ok?

Should i have a setting to just use the headphones or what? I dont want to have to listen to the sound coming from my headphones while the reciever speakers are playing in the background.

Its a Sony STR-DE485 reciever if that helps at all (althouht i doubt everyone here has much better systesms)

thanks guys