[starbearer]

Hello,
 
I am new here, and do not have much experience with Headphone settings and tweaks.
 
I purchased a paid of Sennheiser Momentum Headphones after much research, most of the reviews were quite positive and I was expecting the sound quality to be quite decent.
 
I do own a pair of Sennheiser 300 CXII earplugs and the larger, heavier, bassy Beats by Dr.Dre Headphones. 
 
I own a Dell laptop with realtek audio drivers.
 
Unfortunately when I plugged in the Momentums, I was quite underwhelmed. I was anticipating quite a lot from these since most of the reviews were quite positive.
 
I suppose the sound is alright, but these just aren't loud enough. The Sennheiser earplugs which i mentioned before, do a better job near the lower quarter or a third of my PC's volume. That is the general range at which I prefer to listen to music or videos. But the Momentum cans are neither loud enough, nor are they significantly better than even the earplugs which cost half the headphones.
 
I checked the settings of my audio, they're set to Stereo without any normalization.
 
So, could I be missing anything. Of course, I have not used the earphones for more than 20 minutes, so i am hoping they get better...but what else should I be doing to get a better sound out of these?
 
Kindly advise.
 
Thanks.

 

[jmills8]

Amp?

 

[starbearer]

Amp?

Ah, I didn't quite understand that?

 

[jmills8]

You need an amp.

 

[starbearer]

You need an amp.

Could you suggest one?
 
Also, why do I need an amp with these headphones when the Sennheiser earplugs seem to work fine without them?

 

[jmills8]

Could you suggest one?

Also, why do I need an amp with these headphones when the Sennheiser earplugs seem to work fine without them?

headphones needs more power. Look at Fiio amps inexpensive a good affordable amp.

 

[jmills8]

Or this higher quality amp/dac - https://www.meridian-audio.com/products/personal-audio/explorer2/

 

[starbearer]

headphones needs more power. Look at Fiio amps inexpensive a good affordable amp.

mm, even my inexpensive JBL Tempo On-ear J03B Headphones sound louder than these Momentum ones. I was surprised when I put these on, I couldn't imagine it would be so highly rated when it sounded so mediocore.

 

[starbearer]

headphones needs more power. Look at Fiio amps inexpensive a good affordable amp.

With the exception of the Amplifier, is there anything else I can do to improve the sound out of these headphones? These cost me almost a 100 Euros, and I'm not sure I want to shell out more for an amplifier just now...

 

[jmills8]

With the exception of the Amplifier, is there anything else I can do to improve the sound out of these headphones? These cost me almost a 100 Euros, and I'm not sure I want to shell out more for an amplifier just now...

use it with a good amp. 100 euros not bad, there are headphones costing 1500 and more.

 

[starbearer]

use it with a good amp. 100 euros not bad, there are headphones costing 1500 and more.

Heh heh, yes, I am sure there are headphones which cost a lot more, but I can only stretch as far as my bank balance allows. I should've done more research on these before buying..
 
Thanks a lot for your suggestion. I shall consider an amp.

 

[OMGLadyGaga]

Coming from your beats and the cx300, the Momentums are gonna have way and I mean way less bass than those. They are a bit harder to drive although it shouldn't be that bad to the point you need an amp, they are a little bit easier than an m50x for example and those don't need an amp either. Simply turn them up louder or return them for something more bassy if that's what you'd prefer IMO

 

[jmills8]

Coming from your beats and the cx300, the Momentums are gonna have way and I mean way less bass than those. They are a bit harder to drive although it shouldn't be that bad to the point you need an amp, they are a little bit easier than an m50x for example and those don't need an amp either. Simply turn them up louder or return them for something more bassy if that's what you'd prefer IMO

An amp is not just about volume. I use an amp with iems and I can have the volume pretty liw while getting everything out of my iems. So headphones for sure be able to scale with an amp.

 

[PinkyPowers]

The Sennheiser Momentum does not need an amp. Period.

starbearer, make sure both the PC main volume AND the media application volume is up all the way.

 

[Abl3rider]

I agree with Pinky, I've even heard that these hp sound better without an amp since they are designed for portable devices and phones. Mine get plenty loud played on my iPhone. The more I listen to them the more I like them. I usually stream from Tidal at 320 bit rate. I would guess that your Dell output would at least equal an iphon's?

Did you ever resolve this issue?