[ampair]

  Bah!  My head band broke after 4 days of ownership.  Now I'm really ticked.

How did you break the headband? It seems so sturdy...

 
maybe in a similar manner as tim3320070 did in this post...? luckily, he also found a way to (sort of) fix it.

 

[jellowiggler]

It's true. Just sqweezed a bit too hard to bend the head band and pop! Take it easy out there folks! Bend the metal without stressing where it meets the plastic.

The funny thing is I had fought to get a reliable seal and good sound from these phones for days, and I was finally happy with it. I had rolled and stuffed some felt under the ear pads and the head band was pretty close to perfect.

This story does have a happy ending. My dealer called AKG and they said they would replace it. Once the dealer knew they could get even on the deal they said I could refund or exchange them.

There is only one set left in the store but I don't want something that I have to tweek like that to make fit me right. So I'm still on the prowl for the right headphones for me.

I do have to give AKG in Canada HUGE props for backing their product and providing fantastic customer support. They had replied in a matter of hours and had it all ok'd at the shop and Memoryexpress had their remaining set on hold for me in case I wanted to try them again. That ensures a return customer.
I so wanted the k550 to work for me. Oh well. They only stock AKG on the higher end of things so I think I'm out of luck there.

 

[CyDe29]

Hi all
So after some struggles, I got these headphones to be comfortable for me. Now I'm wondering about improving their sound quality. I'm a big gamer, and of course I love to listen to music as well, so I'm wondering if I should get a DAC or a sound card. I need to have surround sound ability for gaming, but I've heard a lot of conflicting things about sound cards vs DACs. Any help? I don't know what budget I have, I guess preferably under $100.

 

[Crzomgwtf]

Hi all
So after some struggles, I got these headphones to be comfortable for me. Now I'm wondering about improving their sound quality. I'm a big gamer, and of course I love to listen to music as well, so I'm wondering if I should get a DAC or a sound card. I need to have surround sound ability for gaming, but I've heard a lot of conflicting things about sound cards vs DACs. Any help? I don't know what budget I have, I guess preferably under $100.

 
Here are some cool dacs + amps, dacs/amps
 
Quote:

Schiit Modi [~99$] + Magni [~99$]
ODAC [~150$] + Objective2 [~130$]
Audinst HUD-mx2 [~250$] 
Fiio E10 [~90$]
Audiotrak Prodigy Cube [~99$]

 
  Sound cards pretty much suck ass, but u can just get any sc with surround sound emu and a headphone amp.

 

[cel4145]

Hi all
So after some struggles, I got these headphones to be comfortable for me. Now I'm wondering about improving their sound quality. I'm a big gamer, and of course I love to listen to music as well, so I'm wondering if I should get a DAC or a sound card. I need to have surround sound ability for gaming, but I've heard a lot of conflicting things about sound cards vs DACs. Any help? I don't know what budget I have, I guess preferably under $100.

The problem is that many sound cards are not optimal in impedance output for the K550s.

See if the Razer Surround virtual gaming software works well for you (free download). Then maybe something like the Audioquest Dragonfly ver 1 or the FiiO E17 to go with it.

 

[GirgleMirt]

I'm using mine at work with a Aune T1 which can be found for around 130$ online, it's a tube DAC and an SS amp, connected via USB, for the price, hard to beat!

 

[rwpritchett]

^+1

 

[CyDe29]

The problem is that many sound cards are not optimal in impedance output for the K550s.

See if the Razer Surround virtual gaming software works well for you (free download). Then maybe something like the Audioquest Dragonfly ver 1 or the FiiO E17 to go with it.

Thanks for the response. Well, in terms of impedance and the headphones, I've actually noticed that my headphones are already really loud coming straight out of the motherboard. I have to keep the volume down at like <10, or else it gets too loud.
Also, I tried the Razer Surround software, and for whatever reason it didn't work for me at all. Using my built in motherboard's software (the dreaded Realtek HD Audio Manager), I can set it to 5.1 and get pretty good surround. The only problem is that the virtual rear speakers are really quiet and muffled (I've noticed this while playing games like Skyrim). The Razer software sounded exactly the same no matter where the noise was supposedly coming from. It was weird, it was like it turned my headphones into total stereo or even mono. So yeah, maybe I'm doing something wrong, but it was oddly ineffective for me.

Schiit Modi [~99$] + Magni [~99$]
ODAC [~150$] + Objective2 [~130$]
Audinst HUD-mx2 [~250$] 
Fiio E10 [~90$]
Audiotrak Prodigy Cube [~99$]

  Sound cards pretty much suck ass, but u can just get any sc with surround sound emu and a headphone amp.

I was looking for something preferably under 100 dollars. Given what I said in the post before, which of these do you think still apply?

Thanks for the help all.

 

[urbshas]

Ok, now I think I may want an amp for these. I am very new to researching amps/DACs, but have heard good things about the Fiio E10. Here in the Great White North they go for about $80 which is a price I am comfortable with. What is the difference between tube amps and other amps? What does an amp or a DAC do for my audio experience exactly concerning this specific pair of headphones (ie. make them bassier, smoother etc.)? Again, I listen to mostly metal - doom, thrash, death, progressive, technical. Bands like Suffocation, Tool, Electric Wizard, Cryptopsy, Bolt Thrower and whatnot.

 

[cel4145]

If the impedance output of the built in amp on the computer is not low enough, it won't affect volume. It will potentially skew the frequency response of the headphones.

Since the Razer Surround didn't work for you, I would recommend going with the Xonar DG or DGX. That has Dolby Headphone virtual surround. And it has a headphone amp built in, so it should work well with the K550s. Or if you want to spend more, the Creative Soundblaster Z would be a step up. It doesn't use Dolby Headphone, but rather Creative's solution for virtual surround.

 

[kvtaco17]

 

The Fiio E7/10/17 will all help out your K550's

 

[cel4145]

On second thought, scratch the Soundblaster Z suggestion. I forgot the low impedance output is not very good.

 

[urbshas]

  The Fiio E7/10/17 will all help out your K550's

is there a big difference between the e10/17? 17 is double the price...

 

[kvtaco17]

  is there a big difference between the e10/17? 17 is double the price...

The E17 is more powerful, has eq adjustment (vs just a bass boost in the e10) and is portable. It also can be used with the e09k to make it even more powerful as a desktop amp. 
 
I'd choose based on how far you wanna go with this setup. If you make no plans to upgrade the e10 will be fine. The E17 gives you room to grow.

 

[urbshas]

  The E17 is more powerful, has eq adjustment (vs just a bass boost in the e10) and is portable. It also can be used with the e09k to make it even more powerful as a desktop amp. 
 
I'd choose based on how far you wanna go with this setup. If you make no plans to upgrade the e10 will be fine. The E17 gives you room to grow.

Okay, thanks. I'm just worried that I will spend more than I really need to on an amp. I will only be using it for listening with my Mac, occasional iPod so I don't know if I need to spend $140 on an amp when I may only need to spend $20 on something like the Fiio E5.