Best headphones for a major audiophile and gamer?

[creatip123]

the higher the impedance of a head phone requires either an increase in voltage or an increase in current to achieve the same decibel level as a lower impedance headphone.

 

Actually impedance value is in line with voltage value, therefore it's in inverse with current value. The higher the impedance, the lower the current needed. It's in the ohm's law. 

 

It's been discussed in another topic. That's why a small Fiio E6 that can drive most 32 ohms headphones with no problem, can't drive a passive 8 ohms bookshelf/standing speakers properly. Because that tiny battery powered E6 can't provide the stable amount of current needed. 

[ShearMe]

So if I'm a guy that primarily likes classic rock, which brand would be more ideal?

 

Unfortunately, it's not that easy. No one can tell you what your ears will prefer without you having tried more headphones.

 

I suggest you decide off other factors: price, build quality, features, comfort, etc.

• If the T70 is anything like the T1 I've tried, it's pretty freaking comfortable. The 600's are alot like my 650's - they might not be the most comfortable new, but once you break them in they fit like a glove.
• Once you break down the Beyerdynamic pads, you're likely to want to replace them, with the Sennheiser pads you want them molding to your head a bit.
• The T70's are closed-back, meaning they will isolate outside noise, and wont leak noise - the 600's are open-back so have next to no isolation, and at higher volumes others will hear it. The open back is also a comfort plus, as it lets your ears breathe.
• The 600 has a removable cable. Though it's not recommended to disconnect it repeatedly, it is good for durability purposes - because the cable is the most likely thing to be damaged, removable means easily replaceable (I've ordered a replacement direct from Sennheiser for about $12).
• The T70 does not have a removable cable, but is otherwise has more durable components. This isn't to say the 600 is not durable, but to save weight Sennheiser likes to use a lot more plastic.

[Toddwjp]

Actually impedance value is in line with voltage value, therefore it's in inverse with current value. The higher the impedance, the lower the current needed. It's in the ohm's law. 

 

It's been discussed in another topic. That's why a small Fiio E6 that can drive most 32 ohms headphones with no problem, can't drive a passive 8 ohms bookshelf/standing speakers properly. Because that tiny battery powered E6 can't provide the stable amount of current needed. 

 

oops ill edit that

[ThatFatMan1911]

 

Unfortunately, it's not that easy. No one can tell you what your ears will prefer without you having tried more headphones.

 

I suggest you decide off other factors: price, build quality, features, comfort, etc.

• If the T70 is anything like the T1 I've tried, it's pretty freaking comfortable. The 600's are alot like my 650's - they might not be the most comfortable new, but once you break them in they fit like a glove.
• Once you break down the Beyerdynamic pads, you're likely to want to replace them, with the Sennheiser pads you want them molding to your head a bit.
• The T70's are closed-back, meaning they will isolate outside noise, and wont leak noise - the 600's are open-back so have next to no isolation, and at higher volumes others will hear it. The open back is also a comfort plus, as it lets your ears breathe.
• The 600 has a removable cable. Though it's not recommended to disconnect it repeatedly, it is good for durability purposes - because the cable is the most likely thing to be damaged, removable means easily replaceable (I've ordered a replacement direct from Sennheiser for about $12).
• The T70 does not have a removable cable, but is otherwise has more durable components. This isn't to say the 600 is not durable, but to save weight Sennheiser likes to use a lot more plastic.

 

So...essentially the Beyer's might be more ideal for me I guess? I don't know of any place I could try ANY of these headphones. I live in the Dallas area as well so maybe you know of a few local places that I don't. But with people saying I need an amp for the HD 600's that makes me want them even less because I don't want to pay for an extra device just to get the full potential of the headphone. 

[xtroria]

So...essentially the Beyer's might be more ideal for me I guess? I don't know of any place I could try ANY of these headphones. I live in the Dallas area as well so maybe you know of a few local places that I don't. But with people saying I need an amp for the HD 600's that makes me want them even less because I don't want to pay for an extra device just to get the full potential of the headphone. 

 

Buy them from online store that has 100% money back return policy, probably like amazon or something? If you don't like them, just return them

[ThatFatMan1911]

Buy them from online store that has 100% money back return policy, probably like amazon or something? If you don't like them, just return them

You probably don't understand that if I wanted to try each one then I would have to buy them one at a time and then send them back if I don't like them. Better to find a store that has all of them locally and try them all in one place rather than having to go through that mess...

[Lutkeveld]

More impedance is less current. Less current is less power. But if it's more efficient it needs less power to go loud. Doubling in impedance can be countered by doubling power (voltage) or having 3db more efficiency.

Edit: woops, replied to previous page.

[creatip123]

You probably don't understand that if I wanted to try each one then I would have to buy them one at a time and then send them back if I don't like them. Better to find a store that has all of them locally and try them all in one place rather than having to go through that mess...

 

Buying them and returning the ones you don't want got 1 good side, which is you can test them as long as you want, in the convenience of your home. Bad side, of course gotta have lots of money to start with.

 

Going to a store to test them is the 2nd best thing, but you gotta take into account that you're testing them in a public and foreign place (the store), so it won't sound as good as if you're using them in your home. 

 

See if you can find a store like this: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/147249-candy-store-for-audio-manias/

[xtroria]

Buying them and returning the ones you don't want got 1 good side, which is you can test them as long as you want, in the convenience of your home. Bad side, of course gotta have lots of money to start with.

 

Going to a store to test them is the 2nd best thing, but you gotta take into account that you're testing them in a public and foreign place (the store), so it won't sound as good as if you're using them in your home. 

 

See if you can find a store like this: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/147249-candy-store-for-audio-manias/

 

I think 3 big stores in jakarta is Jaben (Mall Artha Gading), Headfonia (STC) and another one that just opened in MKG ?

 

Didn't see Jaben having audeze although they do have HD800 and high end grados

[creatip123]

I think 3 big stores in jakarta is Jaben (Mall Artha Gading), Headfonia (STC) and another one that just opened in MKG ?

 

Didn't see Jaben having audeze although they do have HD800 and high end grados

 

Hmmm, Jaben got one in Surabaya, and one in STC. I think Jaben in STC is the authorized dealer for Beyers. The one opened in MKG is Soundwave, the one organized USF in Jakarta a while ago. There's another one, small, but got quite a selection, dBe, or don't blame your ears, in Plaza Semanggi, the authorized dealer for Fiio and Hifiman. I got my HE400 there.

 

Audeze's authorized dealer is Headfonia. In the USF, it's Headfonia that placed a booth, and Rosson appeared as 'guest star'

[xtroria]

Hmmm, Jaben got one in Surabaya, and one in STC. I think Jaben in STC is the authorized dealer for Beyers. The one opened in MKG is Soundwave, the one organized USF in Jakarta a while ago. There's another one, small, but got quite a selection, dBe, or don't blame your ears, in Plaza Semanggi, the authorized dealer for Fiio and Hifiman. I got my HE400 there.

 

Audeze's authorized dealer is Headfonia. In the USF, it's Headfonia that placed a booth, and Rosson appeared as 'guest star'

 

Cool, now my old man has more places to test headphones

[creatip123]

Cool, now my old man has more places to test headphones

 

Never been to soundwave, but from what I've heard, the sales guys there don't have much knowledge in audio/headphone world. I'm sure there's at least 1 guy who's knowledgeable there though.

 

Well, it may be just a rumor, I'll confirm it when I got the chance to go there.

 

soundwave.co.id => the store looks incredible

[SurvivorNVL]

From what I know the Fidelio x1/x2 is considered to be a -very- good all around headphone for nearly all genre's of music and for positional detailing in gaming.  Many reviewers praised it as an end-game choice at a mid-fi price($299 for the x2 and $249 for the x1).  So, that is perhaps an option to consider.  Definitely do your own research on it, but I know I am going to be picking up some X2's in the near future to compliment my slowly growing collection ^^  Also as another note the X2's are supposedly an easy to drive headphone ^^

[ShearMe]

So...essentially the Beyer's might be more ideal for me I guess? I don't know of any place I could try ANY of these headphones. I live in the Dallas area as well so maybe you know of a few local places that I don't. But with people saying I need an amp for the HD 600's that makes me want them even less because I don't want to pay for an extra device just to get the full potential of the headphone. 

 

I live in the Dallas area also. Check out Audio Concepts - South West corner of Preston and Forest, far back corner of the strip mall facing South.

 

I've owned a $700+ DAC/Amp setup to use with my 650's, but recently "downgraded" to a Syba DAC because there was no significant sound difference. The role expensive DACs and Amps play on a headphone's sound is greatly exaggerated. 

 

 

 

From what I know the Fidelio x1/x2 is considered to be a -very- good all around headphone for nearly all genre's of music and for positional detailing in gaming.  Many reviewers praised it as an end-game choice at a mid-fi price($299 for the x2 and $249 for the x1).  So, that is perhaps an option to consider.  Definitely do your own research on it, but I know I am going to be picking up some X2's in the near future to compliment my slowly growing collection ^^  Also as another note the X2's are supposedly an easy to drive headphone ^^

 

I keep forgetting about them, but they would be a great option as well. 

 

 

Doubling in impedance can be countered by doubling power (voltage) or having 3db more efficiency.

 

Lol, Power is not Voltage. You know that mang.

[Lutkeveld]

Lol, Power is not Voltage. You know that mang.

 

Increasing power can be done by increasing current flow or applied voltage.

You can't increase current with fixed impedance, so you increase voltage.

So increasing power with headphones is equal to increasing voltage.

 

I was wrong tho. Doubling voltage results in a quadrupling of output (+6db), since P=U^2/2R.

[creatip123]

Increasing power can be done by increasing current flow or applied voltage.

You can't increase current with fixed impedance, so you increase voltage.

So increasing power with headphones is equal to increasing voltage.

 

I was wrong tho. Doubling voltage results in a quadrupling of output (+6db), since P=U^2/2R.

 

Kinda lost in the formula though. 

 

Say:

P=Power

V=Voltage

I=Current

R/Z=Resistance/Impedance

 

P = V * I

 

While 

 

I = V/R (because we want to keep the V in the formula, so it's the 'I' that got substituted)

 

Plug it in

 

P = V * (V/R) = V²/R

 

How did you get the 2R?

 

Oh and say a device don't have enough current to keep up with the speaker's demand (under-current), shouldn't the voltage dropped automatically, because of the lack of current at that particular moment? Is that what distortion is about?

[ShearMe]

Oh and say a device don't have enough current to keep up with the speaker's demand (under-current), shouldn't the voltage dropped automatically, because of the lack of current at that particular moment? Is that what distortion is about?

 

That's what clipping is about. The amp doesn't have the power to produce the peaks of the sine wave.

[Lutkeveld]

How did you get the 2R?

 

Oh and say a device don't have enough current to keep up with the speaker's demand (under-current), shouldn't the voltage dropped automatically, because of the lack of current at that particular moment? Is that what distortion is about?

 

For DC it's P=U^2/R

For AC (audio) it's P=U^2/2R

 

As you can see: the RMS voltage value of a sine wave is 0.707 (1/sqrt(2)) 

So for AC: P=(U*1/sqrt(2))^2/R, which is the same as P=(U^2*1/2)/R, which is the same as P=U^2/2R

Do you understand that? 

 

Clipping is running out of voltage to complete the wave. I don't know what it's called when you run out of current.

I've had it once when I used a crappy battery which didn't have enough power to run the amp. It gave horrible distortion.

[creatip123]

That's what clipping is about. The amp doesn't have the power to produce the peaks of the sine wave.

 

Ah ok, makes sense now. 

 

 

For DC it's P=U^2/R

For AC (audio) it's P=U^2/2R

 

 

As you can see: the RMS voltage value of a sine wave is 0.707 (1/sqrt(2)) 

So for AC: P=(U*1/sqrt(2))^2/R, which is the same as P=(U^2*1/2)/R, which is the same as P=U^2/2R

Do you understand that? 

 

Clipping is running out of voltage to complete the wave. I don't know what it's called when you run out of current.

I've had it once when I used a crappy battery which didn't have enough power to run the amp. It gave horrible distortion.

 

Don't quite understand it, because I made a mental block and vowed to myself that I'd never touch anything with sine, cosine, and tangent anymore. Traumatized since high school...

 

Well, I don't know if it's out of current or not, but I experienced it with Xonar DG with HE400. No audible clippings, at least to me, but the loudness would sway a lot. Normal-quiet-normal-quiet, especially with fast songs like EDM. 

 

This might be stereotyping, but for me, the amps that are guaranteed to run inefficient headphones like HE400 are the ones with their own external power supplies. Bus powered got enough voltage, but questionable currents. 

[ThatFatMan1911]

I live in the Dallas area also. Check out Audio Concepts - South West corner of Preston and Forest, far back corner of the strip mall facing South.

Oh wow...that's exactly what I'm looking for. But I didn't see the Beyer T 70 on their headphone list...but I do see the HD 600's. Have you been there recently? 

[Jack H]

Don't do Bowers and Wilkins. They're SUPER uncomfortable. I haven't heard much about the beyers, but the HD600 would be an amazing choice, it's one of the best regarded headphones. Audio-Technica 900x has really good positional audio and a huge soundstage, but nearly no sound isolation.

[ShearMe]

Oh wow...that's exactly what I'm looking for. But I didn't see the Beyer T 70 on their headphone list...but I do see the HD 600's. Have you been there recently?

I've been twice, second time recent ish after they got the LCD lineup.

They don't have the widest selection, but you can at least figure out what you think you like.

[ThatFatMan1911]

I've been twice, second time recent ish after they got the LCD lineup.

They don't have the widest selection, but you can at least figure out what you think you like.

Yeah I may go over the school break and try out the HD 600's since everyone says great things about them. But I can't understand why people say I need an amp to get the full experience of them...

[xtroria]

Yeah I may go over the school break and try out the HD 600's since everyone says great things about them. But I can't understand why people say I need an amp to get the full experience of them...

 

Simply because some headphones scale up well with amplifiers, mixing amp sound signature + headphone sound signature. Since HD600 can be called natural sounding headphone, the sound signature can be changed easily with amps. 

 

Bottle head crack for example is massively popular for HD600 and DT880, the tube amp makes the sound richer and more yummy (what i read, not my experience)

[creatip123]

Yeah I may go over the school break and try out the HD 600's since everyone says great things about them. But I can't understand why people say I need an amp to get the full experience of them...

 

Best way (for almost any kind of stuffs in audio) is to try them for yourself before buying. Some people perceived different sounds from different amps, others don't.

 

Try this: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/271346-midweek-crisis-different-amps-different-sounds/ It's not 'how headphone A sounds with different amps', but just to give an idea of what differences in sound you'd get from various amps, or no amps (just device's internal amp) vs amps.