[rotax]

Hey all, pretty new to this world of "hi-fi" audio.  Been reading/researching for a few days now...just getting started, I know.
 
Anyway, I'm pretty set on the 558s right now, I think... 
 
I will be gaming: FPS, RPG, MMO.  TF2, DoD, CoD, and other random shooters.  Diablo 3, and other similar RPGs.
 
I will primarily listen to electronica music (most sub-genres): Progressive House/Psy/Trance, some dubstep or dub n bass.  I do listen to some hard rock, rock, classic rock.  Sometimes a bit of technical metal. A bit of hip-hop/trip-hop/electro-hop.  Love a bit of turntablism now n then.
 
I've read about the 'foam removal' mod which can help wake up the lower frequencies a bit..so will consider that.
 
I've also read many posts indicating an Amp/DAC will work quite well to wake these phones up a bit further.
This is where I still need some direction.  What to look into/research?
I currently just have an onboard sound (Realtek ACL898) which is a decent chipset for an onboard..
I've seen the FiiO E17 USB DAC/Amp mentioned.. 
I'd also consider a sound card upgrade..Asus Xonar DGX, which has an amp built-in..and priced pretty nice ~$40?
How would something like that compare to a spendier ~$100-150 USB DAC/amp?
I'd prefer to stay sub $100...unless an extra 50$ will really make a difference.
The FiiO E7 looks like its in my price range $65~; how would this pair with the 558s?  Good entry level?
I will primarily use this at my desk in a mostly permanent position.  So I'd rather not deal with batteries/charging..
 
Finally; burn-in? I've read many mention it, whats entailed?  Leave headphones on with music playing through them? Run a tone/frequencey through them?  Just let them sit playing all day for a few days?
 
 
Thanks all for any input/suggestions/ideas for further consideration.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

Hey all, pretty new to this world of "hi-fi" audio.  Been reading/researching for a few days now...just getting started, I know.
Anyway, I'm pretty set on the 558s right now, I think... 
I will be gaming: FPS, RPG, MMO.  TF2, DoD, CoD, and other random shooters.  Diablo 3, and other similar RPGs.
I will primarily listen to electronica music (most sub-genres): Progressive House/Psy/Trance, some dubstep or dub n bass.  I do listen to some hard rock, rock, classic rock.  Sometimes a bit of technical metal. A bit of hip-hop/trip-hop/electro-hop.  Love a bit of turntablism now n then.
I've read about the 'foam removal' mod which can help wake up the lower frequencies a bit..so will consider that.
I've also read many posts indicating an Amp/DAC will work quite well to wake these phones up a bit further.
This is where I still need some direction.  What to look into/research?
I currently just have an onboard sound (Realtek ACL898) which is a decent chipset for an onboard..
I've seen the FiiO E17 USB DAC/Amp mentioned.. 
I'd also consider a sound card upgrade..Asus Xonar DGX, which has an amp built-in..and priced pretty nice ~$40?
How would something like that compare to a spendier ~$100-150 USB DAC/amp?
I'd prefer to stay sub $100...unless an extra 50$ will really make a difference.
The FiiO E7 looks like its in my price range $65~; how would this pair with the 558s?  Good entry level?
I will primarily use this at my desk in a mostly permanent position.  So I'd rather not deal with batteries/charging..
Finally; burn-in? I've read many mention it, whats entailed?  Leave headphones on with music playing through them? Run a tone/frequencey through them?  Just let them sit playing all day for a few days?

The Xonar DGX should make your HD558s sound better then plugged straight into the motherboard.
There is also the Creative Recon3D (basic card is $70) sound card.
 
Personally for breakin headphones, is to plug my new headphone into my Yamaha receiver, volume louder then normal listening, set cable box to Metal music.
Leave headphone inside a closed box so I can not hear them while I'm sleeping.

 

[Meddle]

I have owned the 558's and the E7, but have not tried the E17. They pair fairly well, and you have the added bonus of both a DAC and an amp. The 558's do benefit from an amp, though not massively. On a budget, the E7 is pretty good, though the E17 or the nuforce icon mobile may be better, if anyone can weigh in on these particular portable DAC/amps. Personally, I dont know an awful lot about sound cards, so i cant really offer any help there.

 

[rotax]

Thanks for the feedback guys.  Appreciate it.
 
I'm leaning more towards a USB DAC/Amp now (versus a addon soundcard), adds a little more useability around the house with other devices and such.
 
I've checked out the nuforce udac-2.
 
I'm liking the 'bass' options on the fiio's so far...since the 558s may be lacking a little in that area.
Will the E7 power itself directly from the USB power?

 

[Misios]

your genre's consist of a lot of bassy music, are you sure you want a 558 sennheiser for that job? I don't think they are particulary bassy.

 

[rotax]

Quote:

your genre's consist of a lot of bassy music, are you sure you want a 558 sennheiser for that job? I don't think they are particulary bassy.

Yeah, I wondered about that as well.. However, I just ordered a refurb 558. I'll see how I like them.  I may just need a couple pairs...for music and gaming.
For now, I have to start somewhere I figure, so I'll see how these work for me.
I did like my roomates AT M50's, very nice bass [compared to what I'm currently using].
 
Regardless, these 558s should be better than the "5.1 surround sound" (4 speakers per ear) gimicky headset I have now; which I originally purchased primarily for gaming.. Lesson learned.
 
Anyways, thanks again for the feedback.
I jumped in with the E7 and 558s for now to get the ball rolling, I will let me ears decide which way to go next. 

 

[streetdragon]

foam modding will reduce subbass by a little bit, but will improve clarity by i significant bit and soundstage by a good amount, bass boost if you do plan to use be a -3db at around 60-100hz and a +6db at 30hz depending on what kind of bass you want

hope this helps

 

[rotax]

Quote:

foam modding will reduce subbass by a little bit, but will improve clarity by i significant bit and soundstage by a good amount, bass boost if you do plan to use be a -3db at around 60-100hz and a +6db at 30hz depending on what kind of bass you want

hope this helps

Thank you. Appreciate the info and suggestions!
I'm not sure how or what ranges the E7 bass-boost options effect, I'll have to do some more researching on that.
Stoked to get my gear now.
 
I was hoping the open soundstage would work well with gaming and pin pointing shots/sounds/footsteps n the sort.

 

[rotax]

Just got my 558s and I'm quite impressed.  More so than I expected tbh.
Even bass is far superior to the phones I had...  Can't believe I paied 140+ for what I had...
 
I'm only running these from onboard sound, until my E7 arrives.
 
I feel/hear a bit of muddying as I increase the 55hz frequency slider on my EQ.  I'm assuming this is somewhat due to lack of amp..not enough power to drive them when bass is increased drastically.  All volume seems to fall off a bit when I increase the 55hz slider.
For reference, I'm listening to Bassnectar, the Timestretch album in FLAC format. Obviously, lots of bass.. Very heavy in the 20-70 hz range.
 
The higher frequencies sound amazing; crisp, clear, detailed.
 
They still sound quite great though, far better than expected; granted I'm a noobie to this, so it may not mean much.
 
These phones seal better than what I had; and just feel like they fit really well on my head and ears.  So far quite comfy, slightly warmer, prob due to the efficient seal.
Much lighter than what I had, which should make them much easier to wear for longer sessions.
I wish they had inline volume control, and I wish the cord was ~2 feet longer..  I like to lay in bed and listen to music/watch tv/movies, these may limit that ability some.
 
Will try to get an update when I do some gaming; and get my dac/amp, and do some burn-in.
 
Props to Dakmart on Amazon for a great deal on some legit refurbs.
 
 

 

[streetdragon]

glad you like your purchase^^

what kind of eq are you using? is your lowest knob 30 hz or 62 hz? cause this headphone has a high upper bass, medium midbass and low subbass and i currently use a 0db@30hz,-7db@60hz and -12db@125hz to overcome this problem

anyway here's an image of an eq i use to enhance the sound and treble prominence along with subbass responce 


this was tuned by ear, no graphs were used as reference, hope this helps you tune your pair^^

 

[rotax]

great, thanks streetdragon.
 
i just transitioned to fubar2000 as my audio listening program [from winamp]. 
currently, the lower adjustments with this programs EQ is: 55 hz, 77 hz, 110 hz, 156 hz. I have yet to find a way to enable a more granular eq adjustments, or anything sub 55 hz.
 
I do not have any other means for EQ adjustments at this time.
 
But I will definitely keep all this in mind when I get to tuning further.

 

[streetdragon]

well i tried foobar yesterday, after some tweaking and messing around i decided to stay with winamp since i couldn't get used to the eq on the foobar, also winamp has global shortcut keys which means i can control my music by pressing the F1 - F8, home ,pgup, phdown, and the end keys without exiting any programs. (yes i know thise aren't sound related, but i got quite used to this, afterall i did not hear any better sound quality, but hey if you enjoy using either then thats great 

)

side note: the eq in the graph is bass compensated since my amp has a bassbost feature, so you might want to add a little more bass than what the graph states

 

[rotax]

foobar does also have global hotkeys. i also could never do w/o global hotkeys ever since winamp introduced them. 
i do like winamps lower profile however; visually..
the 'feature' that made me give foobar a try was the "kernel streaming" addon, which bypasses the windows kernel...which supposedly is a pro for foobar.  i have yet to get it to function tho, so i'm seeing little reason to continue w/ foobar other than as a learning experience at this point.
also, i found an eq addon for foobar; "graphic equalizer", this allows much more advanced eq adjustments.
certain songs sound better with the eq adjusted similar to your setup, others sound better w/ a flat/even eq...for me.  so i change it around a bit still.
 
anyway, on topic. I got my E7 yesterday.
 
It cleaned up the sound a bit, also, the bass boost (level 1) is a nice setting for me.
the frequency response is better than my onboard sound.
i can hear below 20 hz now.  however, my hearing must be damaged, as I still can't hear much above 18k hz.  too much exposure to snowmobile engines and muscle cars/hot rods..

 

[rotax]

I've had some good time to get used to the sound/feel of these phones.
Today I did the "foam [removal] mod".
 
I feel there is a thumpier? sound and more lower-end bass. I really do like the more open sound to them in this state.
However, its all at a slight reduction in accuracy/clarity.
 
I think I'll end up leaving them 'modded' for a bit, the openeness is enough of a positive for me to give them some time.
The different feel/sound in bass is nice, but the loss in accuracy/clarity is a bummer.