Official Eargasm (Audiophiles thread)
03-29-2015, 07:43 AM
#16
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Just an update - my Sennheiser HD-380's have changed my life. These are wonderful, and I cannot wait until I can afford to pick up a set of HD-650's. The main reason I have not yet is that I never get any time to myself, and my listening environment is not conducive to use of open headphones.
I still use my Bose QC15's occasionally - but only inside of datacenters and then only connected to my phone or ipod. The amp makes them crap out a bit..
Leaving for Frankfurt in 2 weeks, planning on just taking the 380's and an amp. First time!
03-29-2015, 02:22 PM
#19
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We aren't big on crazy bass or crazy treble. We try to make phones that are flat on response, yet yield engaging sound.
The amps are both great. Especially the HA2 Portable Amp. The HA1 is great for a large room. Preamp, DAC and headphone amp all in one.
03-29-2015, 09:40 PM
#20
Lot's of good info here.
I play BF4 and opted to buy the Sennheiser PC 350 Special Edition for $100 from Amazon, I am in no way an official audiophile but I am really happy with them. My Asrock Z87E-ITX had a built in Amp and so does my Asus Maximus VI Hero Z87 so I get pretty good sound outof them. Like I said I mainly play BF4 and watch my tv shows on my PC and I am happy with my choice.
I play BF4 and opted to buy the Sennheiser PC 350 Special Edition for $100 from Amazon, I am in no way an official audiophile but I am really happy with them. My Asrock Z87E-ITX had a built in Amp and so does my Asus Maximus VI Hero Z87 so I get pretty good sound outof them. Like I said I mainly play BF4 and watch my tv shows on my PC and I am happy with my choice.
03-30-2015, 12:52 PM
#21
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Old thread, but I will put my $0.02s...Headphones heavily depend of their intended use and overall system. For example…
- What will be the main music source(s) and listening hardware?
- Does listener plan to upgrade their system at any point in the future (i.e. do they need scalable headphones)?
- Are these for home, portable or mixed use (i.e. latter rules out open-back headphones)?
- What is the music genres involved (i.e. AKGs are notoriously bright lean on base can that don’t work well with R&B, Hip Hop, Rap)
If it will be just your standard low quality Pandora radio and iPhone, then some quality $50 brand name headphones will be more than enough. I seen a lot of people disappointed with higher end cans without any other changes…because the headphone are not properly driven and/or reveal poor quality of the recordings.
In that case, ATH M50, HD598, HD600 and every other recommendation over $100 (or even ~$75?) would an absolute and utter overkill without a decent sound card, headphone amp and/or better resolution files. Don’t get me wrong, all are quality great pieces of equipment, but they are only a single link in the overall chain. Garbage in, garbage out.
Think about upgrading you mobile audio in the same sense as upgrading your car. Would upgrade a major component without upgrading other supporting items (i.e. coilovers without an alignment, turbo without a tune, etc.)?
- What will be the main music source(s) and listening hardware?
- Does listener plan to upgrade their system at any point in the future (i.e. do they need scalable headphones)?
- Are these for home, portable or mixed use (i.e. latter rules out open-back headphones)?
- What is the music genres involved (i.e. AKGs are notoriously bright lean on base can that don’t work well with R&B, Hip Hop, Rap)
If it will be just your standard low quality Pandora radio and iPhone, then some quality $50 brand name headphones will be more than enough. I seen a lot of people disappointed with higher end cans without any other changes…because the headphone are not properly driven and/or reveal poor quality of the recordings.
In that case, ATH M50, HD598, HD600 and every other recommendation over $100 (or even ~$75?) would an absolute and utter overkill without a decent sound card, headphone amp and/or better resolution files. Don’t get me wrong, all are quality great pieces of equipment, but they are only a single link in the overall chain. Garbage in, garbage out.
Think about upgrading you mobile audio in the same sense as upgrading your car. Would upgrade a major component without upgrading other supporting items (i.e. coilovers without an alignment, turbo without a tune, etc.)?
03-30-2015, 01:28 PM
#22
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Totally off the headphone topic - but wanna see what I'm about to build for a Bass Cab
greenboy fEARful Design Kits, fEARful 12" Kits | Speaker Hardware
I'm building the 12/6/1
fEARful™ enclosures for bass/drums/keys
http://greenboy.us/fEARful/DL/12+6/
greenboy fEARful Design Kits, fEARful 12" Kits | Speaker Hardware
I'm building the 12/6/1
fEARful™ enclosures for bass/drums/keys
http://greenboy.us/fEARful/DL/12+6/
03-30-2015, 02:54 PM
#24
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AIFF and WAV are a wash
ALAC and FLAC are a wash
ALAC/FLAC are bit for bit the same once unpacked as AIFF/WAV, but at typically 2/3rds the size. Therefore lossless audio is a winner in my book.
Also, I don't believe in HD Tracks or other HiRes audio sale sites. I doubt they have access to original 2" tape to make real HiRes audio files. I think they are just ripping CDs and up rez'n the files into 24/96 etc. which is BS.
ALAC and FLAC are a wash
ALAC/FLAC are bit for bit the same once unpacked as AIFF/WAV, but at typically 2/3rds the size. Therefore lossless audio is a winner in my book.
Also, I don't believe in HD Tracks or other HiRes audio sale sites. I doubt they have access to original 2" tape to make real HiRes audio files. I think they are just ripping CDs and up rez'n the files into 24/96 etc. which is BS.
03-30-2015, 03:05 PM
#25
AIFF isn't very portable and WAV was good in 1996 when it took 30 minutes to encode a 3 minute long mp3. Good for long term archival but flac is definitely the better way to go. alac = screw apple. Primarily because itunes sucks, second - flac is more efficient. (and because the only apple product I own is an ancient ipod 3rd gen.)
Back on headphones, I've never been a fan of open ear. Maybe if you're at home on the couch, sure. I enjoyed my Sennheiser HD495, HD595's immensely while at home. But rarely am I ever at home with headphones. They were terrible when traveling. Closed ear are bulky and kind of a PITA to pack if you prefer to travel light. I sometimes forget to charge or carry batteries so active noise cancelling isn't that important to me.
Since I'm on the run all the time, I've never actually understood why someone would want a headphone amplifier. I might eventually try one at work but I can't picture wanting to worry about yet another device somewhere on me.
Here's my current lineup -
home: Logitech G930 7.1
work: Razer Chimaera 5.1
gym: Yamaha EPH-SL100
on the go: Sennheiser CX-890i
I agree with the garbage in/garbage out on source. Also am a bit of a skeptic when it comes to wireless headsets - bluetooth/RF. The Razer and Logitech sets I got were on a deal and I just wanted to try them out. They work out okay for their intended purpose. At work the Chimaera mainly is for Cisco/Skype VOIP calls and occasionally listening to streaming music while I work. The Logitech at home is for gaming/teamspeak2. The 7.1 functionality on the Logitech works pretty well and I don't really listen to music on the PC much so it works well.
Have to say my gym set gets used the most as they get at least 2 hours use a day during the week. next up would be the 'on the go' set which lives in my backpack. I try out an on the go set before it gets promoted to gym. Sometimes I'll just replace the gym set directly. Of those, I prefer IEMs due to the light weight and passive noise isolation. The Yamaha's have been pretty good. They're about a year and a half old..Although I don't know if they'll last much longer. Occasionally I'll hear static briefly from one ear if I turn a certain direction. The Sennheisers CX890s were a bit of a disappointment.
Probably my most favorite old IEMs were from Denon. After that it was old school Sony, then WestOne and lastly Klipsch. I tried JLab and Skullcandy. Have to say the JLabs were better. Skullcandy was absolute garbage and I ended up giving them away to my nephew after about a month.
Back on headphones, I've never been a fan of open ear. Maybe if you're at home on the couch, sure. I enjoyed my Sennheiser HD495, HD595's immensely while at home. But rarely am I ever at home with headphones. They were terrible when traveling. Closed ear are bulky and kind of a PITA to pack if you prefer to travel light. I sometimes forget to charge or carry batteries so active noise cancelling isn't that important to me.
Since I'm on the run all the time, I've never actually understood why someone would want a headphone amplifier. I might eventually try one at work but I can't picture wanting to worry about yet another device somewhere on me.
Here's my current lineup -
home: Logitech G930 7.1
work: Razer Chimaera 5.1
gym: Yamaha EPH-SL100
on the go: Sennheiser CX-890i
I agree with the garbage in/garbage out on source. Also am a bit of a skeptic when it comes to wireless headsets - bluetooth/RF. The Razer and Logitech sets I got were on a deal and I just wanted to try them out. They work out okay for their intended purpose. At work the Chimaera mainly is for Cisco/Skype VOIP calls and occasionally listening to streaming music while I work. The Logitech at home is for gaming/teamspeak2. The 7.1 functionality on the Logitech works pretty well and I don't really listen to music on the PC much so it works well.
Have to say my gym set gets used the most as they get at least 2 hours use a day during the week. next up would be the 'on the go' set which lives in my backpack. I try out an on the go set before it gets promoted to gym. Sometimes I'll just replace the gym set directly. Of those, I prefer IEMs due to the light weight and passive noise isolation. The Yamaha's have been pretty good. They're about a year and a half old..Although I don't know if they'll last much longer. Occasionally I'll hear static briefly from one ear if I turn a certain direction. The Sennheisers CX890s were a bit of a disappointment.
Probably my most favorite old IEMs were from Denon. After that it was old school Sony, then WestOne and lastly Klipsch. I tried JLab and Skullcandy. Have to say the JLabs were better. Skullcandy was absolute garbage and I ended up giving them away to my nephew after about a month.
03-30-2015, 03:20 PM
#26
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It's been awhile since I deal with Apple formats, but they all sounds good to me. Especially I don't have golden ears or true high end audiophile gear.
I know I cannot distinguish between these on my portable set up. I would like to think raw files sound cleaner/crisper/fuller on my home rig, but it just be my imagination/desire to hear a difference...I usually get 16/44 FLAC or 320kb files, which is CD quality. Anything greater is silly IMHO There are snobs who only want 24/96 or 24/192 quality files...which I think is beyond human hearing capacity anyway (or available equipment)?
For reference, my most common set up are...
Portable: Cowon J3 -> FiiO E12 -> Senn IE80, Phaiton PS200 or Senn Ampheriors
Home: Schiit stack -> HD600, Beyer DT990, AKG K702.
I know I cannot distinguish between these on my portable set up. I would like to think raw files sound cleaner/crisper/fuller on my home rig, but it just be my imagination/desire to hear a difference...I usually get 16/44 FLAC or 320kb files, which is CD quality. Anything greater is silly IMHO There are snobs who only want 24/96 or 24/192 quality files...which I think is beyond human hearing capacity anyway (or available equipment)?
For reference, my most common set up are...
Portable: Cowon J3 -> FiiO E12 -> Senn IE80, Phaiton PS200 or Senn Ampheriors
Home: Schiit stack -> HD600, Beyer DT990, AKG K702.
04-04-2015, 10:49 PM
#27
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favorite pair right now is the AKG K7xx
Massdrop is currently my go-to site usually pretty good deals but its a groupbuy site.
Last edited by Eckshero; 04-05-2015 at 12:51 AM. Reason: forgot something
