[redmaw]

hahahahaha 1400US for headphones, as great as "all rounder" sounds that's way outside my financial capability (I was not prepared for that price at all, was expecting at most half that figure lol). I really am looking for a good all rounder (for music) though since I listen to all kinds of music, which makes this decision so much harder as you know. The price limit should be around 200US. Originally I was thinking about 100US but quickly discovered I wasn't going to get what I wanted in that range >_<.

Thanks for the help alex. Priorities are music and comfort since I wear them for extended periods of time occasionally. For now I guess all-rounders (if they even exist in a decent price range) would be the best bet since I can't decide on what to sacrifice at the moment :\ I don't need a really strong bass, but not enough will make almost anything sound wrong no matter how good everything else is.

 

[alex30]

Hi again,
If you want a great all rounder and mega bass is not a priority then I would suggest going the extra mile and getting the AKG K 702. I paid $235 from Proaudio star about 6 months ago but they may be more now. You can always make them an offer. The AKG has great detail and clarity with excellent mids and highs. The sound stage is great and they are very comfortable. They are a great all rounder handling all music well but being especially strong on acoustic stuff and female voices. Of the 'phones I have tried they would be my choice if I could only own one set.

 

[redmaw]

Thanks again alex. I'll look into the AKG K 702, is a bit more than I was looking to spend but if they're worth it....well what can one do? lol.

Read some reviews on the Senn 800 and must say they do sound good, going to need a way to keep myself from figuring out a way to afford something in that price range XD

 

[alex30]

Hi redmaw,
the problem is with 'phones that you will find they sound great if amped correctly and can become addictive. I should mention that that the AKG and the Senns are not easy to drive and benefit from a good headphone amp, which is another can of worms.
You will find that all manufacturers produce 'phones with a different sound signature and it is very difficult to get one 'phone to do everything really superbly. IMO the AKG does a great all round job at the right price point and I honestly feel to go to $250 ish will give you a better choice of real quality 'phones than sticking to $200. I think if you go that bit further you will put yourself in a different class of 'phone and a couple of months down the line , when you have forgotten the pain of parting with your cash, you will feel it was worth it. Instead of having an OK 'phone you will have a great 'phone.. {excepting the Grado's which sound great but are a pig to wear]
I myself , at the moment , use the AKG for lighter type music where it's detail and rendering of acoustic instruments and female voices is superb but use the Denon 2000 for rock etc where its superior bass is wonderful. If I just had to have one , though, it would be the AKG as it is a better all rounder.
I suppose , I need next to be looking at the Senn 800, in the hope it will have the bass of the Denon coupled with the detail and clarity and great highs of the AKG. It would have to be a purchase made only after a good audition though, and at a time that I am able to take time out for a hospital stay to recover from the injuries that the wife will inflict !

 

[alex30]

Hi redmaw
Look here on ebay for the AKG [$260] At the store they are $450 ?????
If you want them from there make them an offer based around the ebay price. I paid $235.
eBay Store – ProAudioStar: Search results for akg k 702.

 

[devilshalo]

AKG K702 Open Back Headphones $254 at amazon, was $540.

 

[alex30]

Hi devilshalo.
that works out about the same as the Proaudiostar ebay price when you consider Proaudiostar give free shipping whilst the other company make a charge. It's a very good deal IMO.

 

[redmaw]

Quote:

Originally Posted by alex30 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I think if you go that bit further you will put yourself in a different class of 'phone and a couple of months down the line , when you have forgotten the pain of parting with your cash, you will feel it was worth it.

Are you talking about something beyond the 250 range, if so what would you suggest? Except for the Senn 800's the K 702 is the most expensive set I've looked at so far.

Quote:

Originally Posted by alex30 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I suppose , I need next to be looking at the Senn 800, in the hope it will have the bass of the Denon coupled with the detail and clarity and great highs of the AKG. It would have to be a purchase made only after a good audition though, and at a time that I am able to take time out for a hospital stay to recover from the injuries that the wife will inflict !

haha sounds tough XD

I was considering looking into a set in that range since that what it seems like it'll take to get some real good all 'rounders but adding the cost of an amp to that makes it go from "really expensive" to "absurd". Although having the Dennon and AKG in one 'phone sounds really good, kind of worried how rock will sound on the AKG.

Quote:

Originally Posted by alex30 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I should mention that that the AKG and the Senns are not easy to drive and benefit from a good headphone amp, which is another can of worms.

Time to open that can X) My computer has both optical and coaxial output and I use MediaMonkey (saw your post about it earlier in this thread) but I'm guessing I should pony up and do this properly. No point in buying nice 'phones and squandering their ability. In case you haven't figured it out already I'm pretty lost when it comes to audio equipment; doesn't help that there is usually multiple solutions to any given "problem" lol.
Short look around turned up the HEED CanAmp, although all I found was a couple good reviews and that it looks good, no price. If you've got any advice and/or suggestions on amps I'd be very glad to hear what you have to say.

Thanks,

redmaw

 

[alex30]

Ok, Here goes,
When I said go further I was talking about going from $200 to $250. That will take you to the Senn 650, the AKG K 702 and the Denon 2000 [+ others I have no personnel experience of. If you want the best all rounder then IMO it is the AKG. However both the Senn and Denon have better bass for rock. IMO the Senn is between the AKG and the Denon. It is better than the Denon for light acoustic stuff but not as punchy on the rock. The Denon excels at rock , the AKG excels at light acoustic stuff and IMO the Senn is somewhere in between.
As I have said before IMO the AKG is the better all rounder but I own both the AKg and Denon and would not like to part with the Denon as they are great for heavier stuff. If the Senns were closed back [needed to keep wife happy] then maybe I would have kept them but perhaps the AKG / Denon combo is best as they are more dissimilar.
As regards amps I would say yes go for an amp. You will get the best from your 'phones. I bought the Yulong Dah 1 Dac mark 2 headphone amp and it was a great buy at the right price. I would have no hesitation in saying go for that. The amp is less critical than the 'phone as long as it has the power to drive the 'phones. Recommending a 'phone is more difficult because each will have it's own sound signature and people will take to one other another. With an amp the differences are much less marked so you need not worry so much. Sure , there are differences but they are subtle. With 'phones they can be big. The good news is that great 'phones can be had for $200 to $300 so maybe you can aspire to a couple of sets.

 

[alex30]

Sorry ,
Should have mentioned that whatever you do PC wise you should be bypassing the soundcard in the PC. The Yulong is a Dac and headphone amp combo so the soundcard of the PC is bypassed when I put a usb cable from PC to Yulong.
You do not want to be sending an analogue signal from PC to amp as that would likely not be best quality.

 

[redmaw]

Again, thank you alex. Couple more question's then I'll be off to figure out how much to spend lol.

Since the Senn's are open back I'm assuming that means there's a lot of leakage? Didn't see any in my current price range though so it's not a big deal, plus I'm considering going with something "cheaper" (like the AKG) until I have enough for something like the HD 800 as I would rather have one really good all round 'phone instead of multiple pairs (mainly because I listen to a wide variety of music in one sitting and typically just put the entire library on shuffle lol).

If I end up getting something like the Senn HD 800 what kind of amp would I need for it? I'm pretty sure those 2k+ amps I've been reading about aren't necessary and are most likely extreme overkill for some one like me, but I do want the amp I buy now to be good enough. IMO any decent amp should be good enough, it just won't bring out the 'phones full potential, which won't really bother me (I can always get a new amp if I win the lottery....). The Yulong Dah 1 Dac mark 2 looks good, doesn't quite match my other equipment but I'm not the type to care about that lol.

Also I've read that optical input usually sounds better (very slightly) than USB. If I can set the computer to not processes the signal would using the optical out be better?

TIA,

redmaw

 

[bdbjr]

hey, after reading and researching a bit more, I think the Denon D2000 might be better for me. I listen to mostly rock and hip-hop, and a fair amount of jazz, so I think they would better suit my listening habits. Are these extremely hard to drive? I'll be plugging them into a Onkyo AV Reciever HT-R530. Will it be sufficient? Thanks for all of the help


Oh yea, what bands do you listen to from Atlanta? Mastodon maybe?

EDIT: also, I looked up my sound card, and it says it has "High performance DACs with 108dB signal-to-noise ratio (A-weighting)"

Would not work as a DAC, and if not, how come?

here is the link to the full specs of it
Realtek

Thanks

 

[alex30]

Hi You Two !
Redmaw first, The Senn 650 are open back so leak sound as do the AKG. I am surprised you cannot find the Senn at the same price as the AKG. I actually paid less for my Senns than my AKG. Both brand new.
The Senn 800 are pretty difficult to drive as are the AKG [despite their faily low impedance they are inefficient] but you are right when you say a decent headphone amp will do the trick. The Yulong certainly will not struggle . It has an optical in and you are correct to think , as a generalisation, optical will be better than USB. I am awaiting delivery of a Decco2 however , which has optical as well as USB and here the USB is said to sound as good. The Decco has a great Dac, great headphone amp [which can be used as a tube amp or solid state] It also has a great preamp function so you can feed it into a second amp and also has a decent 40 watts per channel amp so you can hook up suitable speakers [ie not very high impedence] directly to it.
It is a fair bit costlier, $800 , but I needed a second system and fancied the sound of it. I will post when it arrives and give you my thoughts. Having said all that, I can unreservedly recommend The Yulong. It is a clean, detailed presentation and I would be very surprised if the Decco sounds much better. I just like the idea of running my speakers straight off it and like the idea of a tube function. The tube should slightly alter the sound.
High bdbjr,
I think , as I said earlier, If you listen to heavier stuff then the Denon would be a great bet. They have superior basss to the AKG and a really nice up front presentation which brings hip hop to life. I prefer my AKG for jazz and light acoustic stuff. I play Jack Johnson, Ben Harper, Richie Havens, Joan Armatrading, Madeleine Peyroux etc etc and the AKG does these better.
As regards your sound card it sounds like it will be fine. As we said, if your PC struggles to drive the Denon, just boost it with the preamp function of medimonkey and you will be OK.
The Denons , however are a lot easier to drive than the Senn or the AKG so you will probably have no trouble.
As regards my Atlanta music, I am a 54 year old guy who grew up in the North of England when American soul music became a big thing. I started going to clubs when I was just coming up to my 15th birthday and was weaned on soul. We also listened to Tamla, as opposed to more hard core soul. When Stax did a tour in the early seventies , the artists [ Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Wilson Pickett, Don Cavoy, Rufus Thomas, Steve Cropper etc ]could not believe how much we knew about their music
I am also very into blues.
Nowadays my tastes are more varied having Florence and the Machine, Lilly Allen, Kings of Leon, Euphoria [ electronic] alongside my blues , R & B , Soul , Jazz and a good smattering of pop music. I used to malign pop but have come to realise that actually there are some great pop records out there, you just need to find them.

 

[redmaw]

The cheapest I saw the Senn 600 (not 650, they cost more) was 300US. As for the AKG being closed back, not sure what I was thinking, it's obvious the AKG are open back lol.

Budget wise I think I'll stick with the AKG's since they'll probably do fine and I'm hoping to stay under 600US for now. Just looking at the amps I prefer the Decco2 however for more than twice the cost it's not an option for me right now.

Thanks for all your help alex, I'll post again to let you know how the new setup is working

 

[alex30]

Hi redmaw,
Good luck and do post when you get everything sorted giving all the gory details.
One last word of advice , give yourself time to settle in with the new stuff before you really judge it. I know that my appreciation of the AKG grew massively over the first month. You have to adapt to the new sound more than it will change , although there is some improvement in the 'phones with time.
Any way do let me know your experiences after a while.
Adios for now.