Ojannen
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2004
- Posts
- 28
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- 0
I am replacing some aging audiotechnica A900s that I bought around Christmas of 2005. My source is an Edirol ua-25.
Overall, the A900 was a great headphone and great introduction to the audiophile world. I have no regrets buying it and have recommended it to other people looking for headphones. My big complaint about the headphones is that the soundstage is too wide for my tastes. My listening time is split at roughly 50% brass heavy classical music and 50% gaming.
The music sounds unnatural because I am normally sitting in an ensemble or sitting 50 rows back in a concert hall. I either want the music to sound as though it is happening directly around me or blended and some distance in front of me. Instead, it felt like I was listening to two speakers, one twenty feet to my left, and one twenty feet to my right.
I didn't see a big advantage in gaming either. It was not an advantage to hear sounds between 20 and 30 feet away to my left rather than 1 and 10 feet away to my left. For gaming, I want to be able to tell where the sound is happening. I am not sure if the term for this is positioning or imaging. This distance is determined by the volume of the sound from the game engine. As long as the positioning/imaging is good, the size of the soundstage doesn't really matter.
Reading some posts, it looks like most people who are looking gaming/classical music headphones prefer a wide soundstage. Is there one that works well for those categories with a narrower soundstage?
Overall, the A900 was a great headphone and great introduction to the audiophile world. I have no regrets buying it and have recommended it to other people looking for headphones. My big complaint about the headphones is that the soundstage is too wide for my tastes. My listening time is split at roughly 50% brass heavy classical music and 50% gaming.
The music sounds unnatural because I am normally sitting in an ensemble or sitting 50 rows back in a concert hall. I either want the music to sound as though it is happening directly around me or blended and some distance in front of me. Instead, it felt like I was listening to two speakers, one twenty feet to my left, and one twenty feet to my right.
I didn't see a big advantage in gaming either. It was not an advantage to hear sounds between 20 and 30 feet away to my left rather than 1 and 10 feet away to my left. For gaming, I want to be able to tell where the sound is happening. I am not sure if the term for this is positioning or imaging. This distance is determined by the volume of the sound from the game engine. As long as the positioning/imaging is good, the size of the soundstage doesn't really matter.
Reading some posts, it looks like most people who are looking gaming/classical music headphones prefer a wide soundstage. Is there one that works well for those categories with a narrower soundstage?
