projectcafe
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2013
- Posts
- 3
- Likes
- 0
Hi, this is my first post and I just literally started trying to learn what makes for good sound. I've never really understood the differences in sound that goes in my ear, be is 128k MP3 or lossless FLAC, so please bear with me.
I understand there are lots of noob threads asking similar things, and I greatly appreciate you guys taking the time to help me answer mine. I looked through the first couple of pages of the forum and didn't seem to find my specific questions, but if they have been asked before, I hope someone can post me the thread link.
About 2 weeks ago I picked up a pair of HD598 and my friend told me I should get an amp to make the sound better. Given I wasn't looking to spend an arm and a leg I decided to go with a sure thing, or the E17. Just got it in the mail today and I have a few questions I was hoping fellow board members can assist me with.
1) While I want to hook it up to my iPhone 5, I realized it will only serve as an amp and the DAC won't work. Alternatively I can plug it in USB and listen with my computer. I don't have a fancy sound card, but should that matter? If I have a FLAC that I play with say windows media player, does the "data" go directly to the DAC of the device, or would I still need a good sound card? And should I go with a better audio player?
2) Similar question but with a DVD player. If I plop in a CD and use the optical out of a regular DVD player and source it into the E17 (by the diagram I am assuming it goes into SPDIF IN slot? [although I have no idea what SPDIF means]) does it matter if I have a high end DVD player or a crappy one?
3) I mainly listen to adult contemporary, so no heavy bass and lots of solo vocals and maybe some piano, acoustic guitar, and maybe some sax. As I said before, considering I know nothing about sound, what are the best settings I can use? Should I increase the bass, treble, both, lower them? What about the "gain"? I was hoping that there'd be some quantitative method rather than just decide by ear (which I am not good at).
Thanks for your help!
I understand there are lots of noob threads asking similar things, and I greatly appreciate you guys taking the time to help me answer mine. I looked through the first couple of pages of the forum and didn't seem to find my specific questions, but if they have been asked before, I hope someone can post me the thread link.
About 2 weeks ago I picked up a pair of HD598 and my friend told me I should get an amp to make the sound better. Given I wasn't looking to spend an arm and a leg I decided to go with a sure thing, or the E17. Just got it in the mail today and I have a few questions I was hoping fellow board members can assist me with.
1) While I want to hook it up to my iPhone 5, I realized it will only serve as an amp and the DAC won't work. Alternatively I can plug it in USB and listen with my computer. I don't have a fancy sound card, but should that matter? If I have a FLAC that I play with say windows media player, does the "data" go directly to the DAC of the device, or would I still need a good sound card? And should I go with a better audio player?
2) Similar question but with a DVD player. If I plop in a CD and use the optical out of a regular DVD player and source it into the E17 (by the diagram I am assuming it goes into SPDIF IN slot? [although I have no idea what SPDIF means]) does it matter if I have a high end DVD player or a crappy one?
3) I mainly listen to adult contemporary, so no heavy bass and lots of solo vocals and maybe some piano, acoustic guitar, and maybe some sax. As I said before, considering I know nothing about sound, what are the best settings I can use? Should I increase the bass, treble, both, lower them? What about the "gain"? I was hoping that there'd be some quantitative method rather than just decide by ear (which I am not good at).
Thanks for your help!