Razyre

Nah not running any OCs anymore. It can still happen when not overclocked. Even when I was overclocked, it was only to 1100 which is a meager 100MHz increase over stock. This seems to see instability above that but as I said, I downclocked back to 1GHz. I may try another PCI-E slot, or simply reseating the GPU but I'm feeling this isn't going to help at all.

Hi there. I bought a second hand Sapphire reference 290X about 4 months back now. Since it had the leaf blower on there, I pretty much immediately replaced it with a Kraken G10 and H75. In the last 2 months or so however, I've been having an infuriating problem with system freezes. Essentially, at startup, sometimes, the system will hang in one of two ways. Either: 1. A hard lockup where the screen freezes where it was 2. A semi-hard lockup where the cursor can be moved but certain elements of Windows freeze up. This SCREAMS drivers. I have managed to catch the AMD driver falling over in the past when it has freezed up little enough that I managed to either log off or shut down. Interestingly, if it stays stable enough to not freeze and the prompt comes up on the screen which says "these programs are preventing Windows from shutting down" or whatever and I cancel this, the freeze is usually alleviated. The strange thing is, the freezes seem fairly random. I can go days without having the problem, then it will occur again and it will occur repeatedly at startup. Changes to the system will appear to stop it happening, then it'll happen again. This only ever occurs on the desktop and it'll only happen within the first 30 seconds to a minute of turning on. After that the system can be stable for as long as it is left on for, I've had it left on for around 4 days in a row and it won't even falter. Again, this says drivers/startup programs. When using Linux, the system is stable. When in Safe Mode, the system appears to be stable. I think the system is fine if I use Intel Graphics with no GPU too. Here are some things I've tried: - Reinstalling Windows - Downgrading Catalyst - Reinstalling Catalyst - Disabling a plethora of startup programs (It still could be this, I don't think I tried every program imaginable) - Disabling all overclocks in both Catalyst and Afterburner/Trixx depending on which I tried And here's my system spec: - 4770K (now stock) - Z87 Pro (now mobo defaults) - 290X reference with H75/G10 - 8GB Team Xtreem DDR3 2400 (running at 1600 right now) - Samsung 840 Evo 500GB Any suggestions would be great.

Fair enough, it's difficult to have a clue when there is SO much misinformation out there and one doesn't understand the characteristics of driving audio.

Mmh, I thought it could have been the case but wasn't sure. There's a definite difference between the way my phone for instance drives my X2s compared to the ALC1150 on my Z87. Mainly in the harshness of the sound and the noticeable distortion background sound from the phone. It feels like there is a bit less bass on the phone than the PC, I guess that's expected because the phone isn't going to have the same beans as the amp on the onboard solution. This is the thing though, one of the only reasons to get a DAC is if you have distortion... and I have none. It's a very clean signal as far as I can tell in my use case. I tried some Vinyl FLACs versus 320k MP3 too and they sound super nice with the crackle in the background, though again, I don't think there is a particularly perceptible difference between 320k and FLAC, probably just 128/256 and FLAC. 256k AAC sounded pretty good too in the past when I tried it. It's surprising the subtlety of the difference between my £10 Sony earbuds and the £200+ X2s. The earbuds don't sound quite as wide, much of the sound is more recessed and they're a bit colder but it's surprising how good they sound at least to me when compared with the X2s. I had to drive the earbuds from the phone and the X2s from the PC so driving both from the ALC1150 would have closed the gap a little more I'd think. I do remember that the earbuds were TERRIBLE in games though, where the X2s are very good. The earbuds sounded like tin cans and I couldn't tell where anything was coming from. The songs I used were "Touch" and "Giorgio by Moroder" from Daft Punk's RAM in my very quick unscientific test. I actually had one earbud in and one ear cup over to switch between the two. To make it better I guess I'd try a variety of different songs, use a splitter from the same source, match the volume levels as much as possible and try different files of the same music, so 320k MP3, FLAC and Vinyl Rip FLAC.

Just looked, I had done so before, and they are extremely hard to find in the UK. They've gone on sale cheaper than the X2 in the past but for the most part they are more expensive here. Good ole US vs UK pricing. Also, the build quality of the X2 is so, so good. It's almost entirely made from metal and leather/faux leather with some of the comfiest ear cushions imaginable. Comfort was also a really big deal to me, so on top of the price of the Hifimans I'd have to swap out for velour. EDIT: http://www.head-fi.org/t/729413/philips-fidelio-x2-a-review-by-baycode In this review the guy talks about the headphone scaling well with tube amps... Don't know whether or not to look into a cheap tube amp to try with it. Again, no idea if I could tell the difference since I'm no audio connoisseur /yet/.

I'm gonna stick with these now. I'm happy enough with them, I just don't think there is much more scope to improve that my ears are going to pick up. Maybe I need to do some lengthy comparisons with /bad/ headphones so that I can tell the difference between the two and appreciate the qualities of the ones I have now. I talked to some audiophiles in some elitist chat a while ago and someone raved about these. Of course they were all going on about how good Hifiman were but I wasn't going to spend anywhere near that much.

No, no, no. I /like/ the bass from the Fidelio. I hate closed back headphones because I feel a lot more isolated in them and because the bass is too boomy in them. The Z5500 subwoofer is awful, it turns subtle notes into wall reverberating thuds. But yeah it was the only really noticeable improvement going from that system IMO. I know the frequency response is a lot better but otherwise... eh. Maybe it's because outside of some of the characteristics of the subwoofer they both have a relatively flat sound signature and that was what I was going for, trying to listen to music as close as it was made in a studio as possible, without going AKG level analytical where I can hear imperfections which I don't need/want to.

Mmh maybe in the future. Yeah this is right on the border of being "too much". Screens are much more worth the time and investment. My 27EA83 has sexy colour reproduction. I'm a sucker for oversaturation so for me, a wide gamut monitor operating outside of s-RGB even with an 8-bit signal is great.

Yeah I figured as much. Though to my surprise on the go my fucking £10 Sony earbuds are actually still fine. They are definitely pants when compared to these for non music uses and I'd never use them at home but yeah. Don't think audiophileness... audiophilia (lol) is all it's cracked up to be. They're still super nice headphones, great, great build quality and very comfortable. Just after getting my screen I was hoping on a similar wow factor but I guess that's the difference between our eyes and ears.

I purposely bought 32ohm cans because they can be driven by anything with the potential to improve by some degree in the future.

Hi there. I recently got myself some Phillips Fidelio X2 headphones. I've been trying out a whole range of music and I'm struggling to find myself "wowed". When I upgraded to the Z5500 in 2010 from my awful previous 5.1 I was quite pleased with the upgrade in sound quality. Everything was much more crisp. Going from the Z5500 in 2.1 to the Fidelio, the only thing I can say that I find noticeably better is the bass. I don't know if I'd call it tight but it isn't boomy, it's just there and it's a "nice" level to listen to. I've tried relatively decent MP3s, I've tried FLACs and nothing has blown me away despite these being a pretty damned nice pair of cans. My mobo as it says in the sig is a Z87 PRO (ALC1150) and I'm just connecting the headphones straight to the back there. They're only 32 ohm so they're easily driven to loud volumes, no problem whatsoever. I'm reading more and more about how DACs and amps really don't make a massive difference to the listening experience. I mean, was I already sort of at the top of the chain of noticeably good audio? Had I already hit the diminishing returns barrier? I needed headphones anyway due to uni and got some open headphones to receive a better soundstage. I'd say they feel a little less closed feeling than normal headphones, definitely to some degree, but I can't say it's like being in the room since I can only hear the ambience of the room when nothing's playing. I guess the padding isolates that when the drivers are relatively loud. I was interested in tube amps and saw an AMP/DAC combo or two, but I have my doubts as to what difference might actually be made. I don't really feel like spending any money without having some sort of knowledge that I'm going to get a noticeable sound enhancement out of it.

Always wanted to experiment with one of these...

So we have two good vouches for the 558s - so that's a strong contender, at a great price too. What is the bass response like on these? I'm looking for throaty sounding male vocals (most of the music I listen to has powerful male singers in) and drums when listening to Rock music, or indeed any percussion. I don't want it to "punch" like my Z5500s do, it just needs to be there to fill out the sound. I think perhaps low reverberating violin notes might be another good example of somewhere I'd like the low end to exceed. I don't give a shit about bass blowing my ears out, I don't listen to anything like dubstep. 518 is also reasonably priced, what differences am I looking at here? Can't seem to find the K612 directly from Amazon in the UK. Is it discontinued? Still a decent seller but I'd like to use Amazon Prime if I get it - I generally trust Amazon more in general too. Although the 363D looks nice, I think it's a bit expensive for what I want. It's £200 here which is equivalent to and the 360s is a little cheaper at I'd rather stick in my original 150-250 price bracket.

Unfortunately these are a bit out of my price range in the UK. At £222 they're pretty extortionate. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sennheiser-Open-back-Cancelling-Microphone-Integrated/dp/B003DA4D2U/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1409001718&sr=8-2&keywords=sennheiser+pc360 ? These look pretty decent, high end of my price range. Depends how much I value the mic. What do you like about them? These are reasonably priced, look nice and light on the head. What do you like about them? Any opinions on AKG stuff? I really like the aesthetic, pricing is good and they have solid reviews. http://www.amazon.co.uk/AKG-K612-PRO-Headphones-open/dp/B00DCXZY1W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1409001907&sr=8-1&keywords=AKG+K612 K612 http://www.amazon.co.uk/AKG-K702-Open-Back-Reference-Headphones/dp/B001RCD2DW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1409001907&sr=8-2&keywords=AKG+K612 K702

I'm open to all ideas - generally I see myself listening to music although I do game, but both stereo and surround are fine. Oh, I also despise Razer. Link me that shit and I will have to kill you