[Firevortex]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dqniel Thanks for all of the replies guys. I have another question- how is the A130? The Buyitnow price on ebay is ridiculously cheap and I've read a few good things about them on here when paired with the LDM+. If I get both an LDM+ and the A130 cans I'd still be way under budget, and I'd have an amp for when I decide to upgrade my headphones to something along the lines of the DT770 once I have more money in upcoming months. So, do you think the A130 and LDM+ combo could hold me over until around Christmas?

if its anything like the A250 then its a great buy. but it totally sucks in every way compared to my LTD though. i feel the A250 is rather thin with less bass but it has great detail.

 

[dqniel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Firevortex but it totally sucks in every way compared to my LTD though. i feel the A250 is rather thin with less bass but it has great detail.

What's the LTD? Also, what source and amp were you using hte A250 with. I've heard the A130 is absolutely awful until it's been broken in at loud volumes, and then the bass tightens up and highs smooth out a lot.

 

[Chimpie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dqniel What's the LTD?[/i]

LTD refers to the Limitid Edition version of the A900. Hence A900LTD.

I've had them, but only used them for gaming. Didn't think it was fair to keep them just for that! So I've sold them and now I'm using the DT770/80!

I've only received them today, but so far it sounds pretty decent. The bass is crazy!

The A900LTD bass was already amazing, but the DT770/80!! CRAZY, I tell you! For gaming it's great, but I have the feeling that the A900LTD had a bit better soundstage. Overall, the A900LTD sounded much clearer too. But the DT770/80 is definately sufficient while gaming... The DT770/80 has better isolation, although the A900LTD used pleather.

Hope this helps!

BTW, I'm using them both out of a Zhaolu DAC 1.3 -> HeadFive. And I cannot make a one-on-one comparison since I've already sold the A900LTD.

 

[Jeff.h]

With the music you listen to and the need for a good gaming headphone, I'd recommend you check out either Ultrasone HFI-650 or PROline 650's.
Both are very good and excel with electronic & rock based music, and provide a lot of punch and accuracy for games.
The HFI-650 can be had for below your budget online, the PROlines I do not know how much they are nowadays but not to much more, and definitely worth the difference in price.

 

[upangel180]

I'd also consider the HD595.

 

[Meyvn]

I vote PA2V2 + K501.

 

[clevermouse1984]

Well, it seems that K271s is not welcome here, but I still recommand it. It has a precise soundstage, and easy to drive. the bass is good, and the high is really smooth with moderate mid. the most important thing is you can get a new pair of it below $150! I used to compare it to the ath A1000, 271 performs great and basically evenly match with A1000.

501 shuold be out of consideration if you cannt afford a good amp----it`s too hard to drive. the LDM+ cannt work it out.

 

[dqniel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff.h With the music you listen to and the need for a good gaming headphone, I'd recommend you check out either Ultrasone HFI-650 or PROline 650's. Both are very good and excel with electronic & rock based music, and provide a lot of punch and accuracy for games. The HFI-650 can be had for below your budget online, the PROlines I do not know how much they are nowadays but not to much more, and definitely worth the difference in price.

Some people are forgetting my budget I think

Cheapest I can find the PROlines are for $280 or so.

Quote:

Originally Posted by clevermouse1984 the most important thing is you can get a new pair of it below $150!

Where?

 

[clevermouse1984]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dqniel Some people are forgetting my budget I think Cheapest I can find the PROlines are for $280 or so. Where?

depend on where you are. I got my pair at $130 around. In UK its 80 pounds. just check your local dealer of AKG, it wont cost too much.

 

[dqniel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meyvn I vote PA2V2 + K501.

I've heard that the K501 need a very power amp to reach their potential. Are the LDM+ or PA2V2 strong enough to fit the bill?

Quote:

Originally Posted by clevermouse1984 depend on where you are. I got my pair at $130 around. In UK its 80 pounds. just check your local dealer of AKG, it wont cost too much.

I can't find them anywhere near that cheap in the states

.

 

[Azure]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dqniel I've heard that the K501 need a very power amp to reach their potential. Are the LDM+ or PA2V2 strong enough to fit the bill?

From what I've read, I'd say no. If you're looking for gaming headphones you should stick to the usual suspects -- A900 and DT770. A900 if you're going ampless, DT770 if you want insane amounts of bass and have a juicy amp to drive them. I believe the A900s are supposed to have a larger soundstage and a smoother presentation.

I'm also looking for a gaming rig at the moment and I instantly went to these two headphones. I decided that was going with the A900s simply for convenience and comfort (I did own the A500s for about a year a while ago and was pleased with their performance). But then I realized that the difference between these two (in terms of gaming -- imaging) will be quite small after you have the appropriate hardware and software running (X-Fi, CMSS 3D, EAX, etc.), so I decided to just use my STAX rig

 

[denl82]

Yea, for gaming, I'd stick with the hd595, a900, and dt770/80. The important thing to remember is that you want a new can for BOTH music and gaming, so even though I've never heard them, I'll recommend the hd595 right off the bat. Why? People say that the a900 and dt770/80 have recessed mids. I have the dt770/80, and can attest to that. It doesn't bother me because I listen mostly to electronic music (without vocals), and even when I'm listening to vocals music, the recessed mids sounds "normal" for the headphone, so it doesn't irritate me. But when I'm listening to well known songs, or rock with loud guitars, I almost immediately notice something is wrong with the vocals. They seem hidden, someplace too farrr within the earcups.

But every headphone has a pro and con, as people also say here

With the hd595, you'll get balanced mids (from what I've read), but you won't get the sheer quantity and awesome "closed-headphone" bass from the a900 and dt770/80 that makes gaming soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo l33t ([size=xx-small]I know you've said you're not interested in l33t bass for gaming, but I'll assume you're not cuz you haven't heard it out of a higher-end can yet

)[/size].

I can say more than ever, since I got my x-fi xm sound card a few days ago, that the dt770/80 OWNS for gaming. Absolutely biggg soundstage (with cmss3d turned OFF), AMAZING bass, beautiful clarity, and excellent positioning. Everything you need for a modern fps( I play bf2 a lot...). And then, the mids are just *fine* for video games, but not exactly so for regular/vocals music

You see, you'll have to carefully decide what's most important to you: Music, or gaming? Funny thing with me is, I game 100% of the time I'm using headphones, but I'd rather my music sound top notch than my games sound top notch

So it's a hard decision. Music>games for you? Hd595. Games>music? a900|dt770/80!

p.s. o btw, I'm using my dt770/80 without an amp, and they sound gr8

But I do plan to get the little dot micro+ when I can=)

 

[Azure]

If you don't have any experience with high-end headphones and aren't an audiophile by any means at all, I'm not sure if you'd even be able to notice "recessed mids." The HD595's are open headphones, while the A900s and DT770s are closed.

denl82 - DT770 ampless? What the heck? I listened to my DT770s both with a PA2V2 (Admittedly a bassy amp), my old stereo receiver, and ampless and I found the bass to be out of control (In a bad way, as in the kind of bass that "normal" people would call bloated, almost to the point of defective).

 

[denl82]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Azure If you don't have any experience with high-end headphones and aren't an audiophile by any means at all, I'm not sure if you'd even be able to notice "recessed mids." The HD595's are open headphones, while the A900s and DT770s are closed. denl82 - DT770 ampless? What the heck? I listened to my DT770s both with a PA2V2 (Admittedly a bassy amp), my old stereo receiver, and ampless and I found the bass to be out of control (In a bad way, as in the kind of bass that "normal" people would call bloated, almost to the point of defective).

lol

In my case, my first REAL *higher*-end headphone is the dt770. I'm also not an audiophile. But for instance, I was listening to the radio and this song came on that I knew from since I was like 5-6. The first thing my mind did was prepare to sing along with the vocalist. As soon as she started singing, I was like "What?" I just expected her voice to be allll in my ears and stuff, but it wasn't. It was too far back in the background;/ Then another time, when I was messing around with the equalizer, I was listening to a rapper named DMX and turned the equalizer to the rock preset. Before I changed the eq.'s setting, his voice sounded normal, at least up to that point. When I changed the setting to rock, his voice was suddenly filled with his trademark "coarseness" and "crazyness." It was like the the dt770 couldn't even reproduce the mids, or, I'm guessing, his voice, to the fullest. These are the times that I discovered that dt770/80 has recessed mids.

Here's the contradictory part. Where most hi-fi/experienced ears would say that the dt770/80's bass is loose unamped, I find the opposite to be true. I've listened to songs with fast bass, and the bass is just that on the dt770's--fast. But I do admit that when I played around with the equalizer, I got the bass to be tighter sounding, which I preferred. So *I* personally wouldn't say that the dt770/80's bass is slow unamped (mind you, to my newb ears), but it can sound tighter

I guess the best thing for the op to do is to get a good listen to as much headphones as he can, since (and imo this is VERY true), we mean what we recommend, but our ears all interpret things differently

*edit* o btw, Azure, I had the same mind frame when I first got the dt770's. I got on here and told people, "Hey look, I'm newb, O.K.! And I don't hear any recessed mids!! So you guys are just tooo hi-fi for the likes of me!!" LoL. But as I got to toying around with the dt770's, and gained more experience with them, I found their knowledge to be more and more correct as time passed on

 

[sgrossklass]

For gaming, a HD590 refurb should also be considered - bass, details, soundstage, comfort, all there. Upper mids are a tad recessed but certainly not DT770-like. Very open design (and sounds like it).