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$500 cans on, this is how you dream right - Official Headphone Thread
- Thread starter HiResDes
- Start date
Here's a review comparing the UE6000 and the Sony's if that might be more helpful, but I don't know if the store unit was defective or if their max volume was just set really low...I know firsthand that it's super easy to drive them to loud volumes with a sansa clip though
Big Chungus
Member
Looking for some good IEMs that have the mic/volume controls and are under $100.
Tried looking at the OP but most of the links are broken.
I looked at Beats by Dr.Dre but i've heard to stay away from them.
Tried looking at the OP but most of the links are broken.
I looked at Beats by Dr.Dre but i've heard to stay away from them.
Another question. Does anyone know how I would send a 5.1/7.1 signal from my PS3 to a theoretically capable headset? Would this be through the PS3's USB? Something tells me that is not possible. Would I have to use optical audio to my receiver and then hook the headphones into my receiver?
From what I can tell, the PS3 does not support multichannel audio output through anything other than the optical and HDMI ports.
From what I can tell, the PS3 does not support multichannel audio output through anything other than the optical and HDMI ports.
Something like the Astro Mixamp should do what you need. It's just virtual surround sound but it does an excellent job with stereo headphones.
killertofu
Member
Are TMA-1 or Studios a good buy?
Messofanego
Banned
Someone in this other thread is wondering about getting Beats Solo HD...
http://neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=717812
http://neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=717812
So it creates (good) virtual surround sound for any/all stereo headphones?
If yes, which headphones should I pair with them? Overall sound quality for games AND music is the most important thing for me. I do not like headphones with super heavy base like Beats. I like a clear/crisp sound, if lacking a bit of thump.
Guys, I am an ignorant moron when it comes to phones, but I hope you can still help me. A friend of mine who posts here regularly strongly recommended that I purchase a set of the MH1 Ericssons that are apparently hugely underpriced for their quality and have been bought by several people here lately.
Well, I got my pair today, and I have a problem with them that I can't seem to find an answer for anywhere else. Basically, when I first plugged them into my computer, the sound was incredibly muffled and distant; not at all like what I expected. I've experimented with a few different sets of phones lately and know about burn-in time and such, but this was so far from the quality that I expected that I had a hard time believing that this could just be the result of a need to "break in" the phones.
I finally got the idea to see if anything on the little button area was the cause of this, and sure enough, when I hold in the call button on the phones, the sound is unbelievably fantastic, but only when I continually hold in the call button. The second I let go, they go back to sounding terrible again. No matter how I fiddle with the controls, I can't seem to fix this, and the manual doesn't say anything about the call button affecting the quality of the sound from the phones. Furthermore, the volume controls seem not to do anything, and I almost think that the sound is also mono rather than stereo when the call button isn't held down. Is my pair a dud or is there something obvious that I'm missing? They came shipped in a baggy instead of official packaging so I hope that I didn't get hit with bootlegs or factory rejects or anything (if that's even a thing for phones; like I said, I know nothing.)
Thanks for any and all help.
edit: looks like someone on the last page had my problem and it's just a dud pair :/
Well, I got my pair today, and I have a problem with them that I can't seem to find an answer for anywhere else. Basically, when I first plugged them into my computer, the sound was incredibly muffled and distant; not at all like what I expected. I've experimented with a few different sets of phones lately and know about burn-in time and such, but this was so far from the quality that I expected that I had a hard time believing that this could just be the result of a need to "break in" the phones.
I finally got the idea to see if anything on the little button area was the cause of this, and sure enough, when I hold in the call button on the phones, the sound is unbelievably fantastic, but only when I continually hold in the call button. The second I let go, they go back to sounding terrible again. No matter how I fiddle with the controls, I can't seem to fix this, and the manual doesn't say anything about the call button affecting the quality of the sound from the phones. Furthermore, the volume controls seem not to do anything, and I almost think that the sound is also mono rather than stereo when the call button isn't held down. Is my pair a dud or is there something obvious that I'm missing? They came shipped in a baggy instead of official packaging so I hope that I didn't get hit with bootlegs or factory rejects or anything (if that's even a thing for phones; like I said, I know nothing.)
Thanks for any and all help.
edit: looks like someone on the last page had my problem and it's just a dud pair :/
This is normal - use a short headphone extension lead and the sound should be good. The problem is that the MH1 use an old standard for mic and ground, where most recent equipment expects a newer layout.
Find a headphone extension lead (socket - plug, say 3ft) with only 3 connectors (left, right and ground) and that should resolve the problem for you. No need to return.
Dynamite Ringo Matsuri
Member
Geneijin has got the solution here: http://m.neogaf.com/showpost.php?p=90035366
Seems the phones don't like to be plugged into certain sources
It seems like the bigger the soundstage the more impressive the virtual surround sound is so I'd keep that in mind otherwise yeah, it'll work well with any pair of headphones as long as they aren't hard to drive.
I've found my Sennheiser HD558s, AD700s, Samson SR850s, and Beyerdynamic DT990 Pros all sound great with an Astro Mixamp. The DT990 Pros are bass heavy so you might not want those, and the AD700s have zero bass so I wouldn't recommend those for music either. The 558s and SR850s are what I'd recommend out of what I own with the SR850s being cheaper and probably better value.
fake edit: This guide might help, though it's more geared towards the gaming side than the music side.
I have looked back through the thread and most of the Bluetooth discussion is for headphones. I am looking for Bluetooth IEMs for my daughter for snowboarding, and given her track record with buds I don't want to overspend on something that might go missing.
I have been looking at the MEElectronics Air-FI Metro and the Plantronics Backbeat Go 2.
Any other recommendations under $100 or reasons why I should avoid either of these?
Or other recommendations I should keep my eye out for with Black Friday coming up?
I have been looking at the MEElectronics Air-FI Metro and the Plantronics Backbeat Go 2.
Any other recommendations under $100 or reasons why I should avoid either of these?
Or other recommendations I should keep my eye out for with Black Friday coming up?
Awesome. Thanks for the suggestions. That link was helpful.
But now I have a new question. Is there an affordable amp that decodes DTS audio into virtual surround sound?
Edit: whoops missed the ps3 solution. I'll still have to investigate how that will work with my media server and MKV files.
Thank you so much for pointing me in the direction of the solution, guys. Geneijin is actually the one who got me to buy them to begin with so I'll just confer with him on an adapter to use for these. So glad I actually get to use them after all; at least when they work they're amazing.
Was going to come in here and ask for iem gift suggestions, but I see you already have it covered. Just ordered two of these, should be interesting to see how they compare to MH1C/Ck-10s.
sixteen-bit
Member
Oh dear, looks like my old Senn 595 are succumbing to the cracking problem.
I own the TMA-1s, they're great for electronic or pop music but not much else. To be fair, these are DJ headphones and are tuned as such, so if you listen to a lot of vocals, or classical, you'd do better looking elsewhere. The Studios are supposed to be more neutral but I've not had a chance to listen to them.
BTW a portable version of the TMAs are set to drop soon: http://www.aiaiai.dk/store/headphones/tma-1-x
Gorilla Glue can't fix the problem?
sixteen-bit
Member
I haven't tried anything yet. I just noticed it.
hypostatic
Member
Any thoughts on the Bang & Olufsen H6? Pretty sure I'm going to find them under the tree this year in LE green.
It's a good excuse to get 598s or those Sony MDR MA900
Aizo
Banned
Hello, Headphone GAF!
Is it safe to assume that this is essentially an audiophile thread? I didn't know this existed. I'm going out to get some all right/good but not great headphones hopefully today.
I mostly listen to stuff in 320kbps. Do you all listen to FLAC exclusively? Perhaps I've just never had headphones with the range to fully enjoy FLAC, but 320 has always been good enough for me, especially in terms of hard drive space. I just couldn't have everything that I own in FLAC; I would need many TBs.
Is it safe to assume that this is essentially an audiophile thread? I didn't know this existed. I'm going out to get some all right/good but not great headphones hopefully today.
I mostly listen to stuff in 320kbps. Do you all listen to FLAC exclusively? Perhaps I've just never had headphones with the range to fully enjoy FLAC, but 320 has always been good enough for me, especially in terms of hard drive space. I just couldn't have everything that I own in FLAC; I would need many TBs.
PK Strawstorm
Member
Anyone here tried listening to PS4 games via the controller jack? Any reviews on cans for that?
Aizo
Banned
Thank you!
The better the hardware you have (headphones, DAC, and amp), the more exposed the quality of your tracks will be. If you're using a pair of Beats straight out of an iPhone, you won't notice the difference between lossless and compressed files. But when you're properly set up with a decent set of headphones, a DAC (Digital Audio Converter), and an amp, the more likely you are to hear the differences in quality between lossless and compressed.
You mentioned needing terabytes to store a FLAC collection, and that's not exactly the case unless you have many thousands of FLAC tracks. My collection is 1,800 FLAC tracks, and that adds up to only 56 GB.
The Big Rig
Member
I tend to use ALAC, just because I use my iPhone for my music. Depending on the cans you wear, you may or may not notice a difference between 320 mp3 and a lossless format. For most people though, 320 is fine.
Aizo
Banned
It's not that I can't tell the difference, but more that it is negligible for me considering the space requirements.
I meant that if my whole collection was in FLAC, I would require TBs.
I meant that if my whole collection was in FLAC, I would require TBs.
I'm telling you that most people cannot tell the difference between V0 MP3 and 160kbps AAC and when you have 350,000 tracks the size difference is tremendous.
The recording and mastering of a track will matter infinitely more than the compression when it comes to sound quality, as long as the compression isn't like 64kbps or something, I think. Personally, I probably couldn't tell the difference between 320 and FLAC. Don't care, I keep lossless around for archival and conversion purposes.
Dynamite Ringo Matsuri
Member
A million times this.
FLAC and HD tracks are a crock of shit IMO. I've got a new Sony F886 Walkman that's capable of playing 24 bit HD tracks and I dunno, I've never noticed any difference between any of it and a well mastered album ripped to 320 Kbps. I mean, maybe you can notice a difference if you've got a DaVinci DAC and cable everything with Nordost I dunno. Just rip your shit to hi bit rate MP3 and conserve your space
Anyone have any experience with Brainwavz IEMs?
I just need a basic but durable IEM to block out my surroundings while I listen to podcasts and occasional music, and it seems like the Brainwavz Delta would do the job. I've previously gone through a whole bunch of MEEelectronics and Sennheiser IEMs but they've all stopped working in about a year (even though I take good care of them). I wouldn't be opposed to paying a bit more if it meant that the earphones would last longer.
I just need a basic but durable IEM to block out my surroundings while I listen to podcasts and occasional music, and it seems like the Brainwavz Delta would do the job. I've previously gone through a whole bunch of MEEelectronics and Sennheiser IEMs but they've all stopped working in about a year (even though I take good care of them). I wouldn't be opposed to paying a bit more if it meant that the earphones would last longer.
Just bought those babies (picture not mine):
Sony MDR-MA300. For under 40 Euro, this is mindblowing stuff. And I really like their timbre, very neutral, natural and an amazing overall performance. Like Sennheiser, only waaaaaay less expensive.
And I really have to sell my M-50 and K-550, those two are such letdowns for me.
Sony MDR-MA300. For under 40 Euro, this is mindblowing stuff. And I really like their timbre, very neutral, natural and an amazing overall performance. Like Sennheiser, only waaaaaay less expensive.
And I really have to sell my M-50 and K-550, those two are such letdowns for me.
If you have bad luck, you may consider paying more to get high-end IEMs with improved durability and that allow user-replaceable cables. Maybe even customs like the Ultimate Ears UE4 or whatever the kids are smokin' these days.
Just bought those babies (picture not mine):
Sony MDR-MA300. For under 40 Euro, this is mindblowing stuff. And I really like their timbre, very neutral, natural and an amazing overall performance. Like Sennheiser, only waaaaaay less expensive.
And I really have to sell my M-50 and K-550, those two are such letdowns for me.
The MA-900 are even better : )
I just had to spend 650 on my PC upgrade, nothing left at the moment
ZedIndyLil
Member
This thread on the $130 Sennheiser Amperior Newegg deal has made me a little poorer, and has had me looking at phones all afternoon. I blame everyone there and everyone here
(subscribed)
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I am sure this has been asked before, but this topic is a bit overwhelming since I don't really pay attention to this stuff.
Anyways, what is the best IEM for under 50 bucks? I know, you get what you pay for, but I don't need awesome sound quality. I just want the best I can get for around 50, and if its closer to 30 than 50, well, that is even better.
Thanks!
And how do those compare to the Yuin PK3? I know those are good and cheap, but I think I would prefer the overall design of an IEM more.
Anyways, what is the best IEM for under 50 bucks? I know, you get what you pay for, but I don't need awesome sound quality. I just want the best I can get for around 50, and if its closer to 30 than 50, well, that is even better.
Thanks!
And how do those compare to the Yuin PK3? I know those are good and cheap, but I think I would prefer the overall design of an IEM more.
I want those KEF M500s so bad, man I wish I made more money.
PK Strawstorm
Member
Just ordered some for myself off your recommendation. I got $35 riding on you!
Sweet, thanks. I think I might go with the Vsonic VSD1
The Big Rig
Member
My Fischer headphones broke
I have FA003s and love them to death but the plastic portion holding the headrest to the earpieces cracked. Is there a way to get replacement parts anywhere?
I think those are just the Jaycars if you want to just get a new pair.
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