Avitus

I sense I have picked up an expensive new hobby....

Update: I got the Schiit Modi/Magni in the mail today and hooked it up. My ears have never heard such greatness before. Significantly better.

Also note that I work from home with a mix of music and conference calls so the headset must be comfortable for all day use. I have a modmic that I plan to attach to headset of choice once it all settles. I do plan on doing some gaming on these. Mainly Star Citizen, I can't help to think of a space ship flying over me and hearing crystal clear sound with the rumble, but also hear those pesky footsteps in the FPS combat.

Tomorrow I'm going to head into town where there are a few HiFi shops. Hopefully they will have some of the stuff you guys mentioned that I can demo, I'll make sure to keep the thread updated. Thanks for all your continued and fast support. Always watched Linus's videos, first time using the forum.

Not that I want to completey focus on bass, I do like mid-high sound stage with the Openbacks. I was just concerned that with the price tag I paid that I would also get a comparable bass.

Which closed back would you recommend?

Listening to the video below, the HD700 and my Bose Quite Comfort EarBuds are completely identical. EDIT: I know youtube is not a good source for audio quality.

I'm not too big of a fan of the On-Ear. I have a pair of the HD25II far from comfortable. I like the idea of open backed. I just figured that with any headphone $500+ that it would at least be better in all ranges than a $100 pair, not just the mid-high with a sacrifice of the low. The low is clear and well defined. Its just heavily missing the punch. Seems odd that it wouldn't have any punch at all.

the 5xx was good but the HyperX seemed more punchy. I also wasn't really a fan on the comfort compared to the 700. I'm not sure what the display was using to power it, there was 6 headphones on one system. Sales guys were clueless. Was still better than the 700 in bass. Which Is why I still think something with my setup is off, most online reports say the HD700 is more throaty than the 5xx and that its inbetween the 650 and 800 overall. I might pick up some 650's to compare as well if I can't find a store that carries the whole lineup. Gotta love return policies. I didn't consider the Valhalla with the price point, but if I end up returning the 700s and going with the 650s I can justify it.

More research online is pointing to pairing the Schiit Magni or Vali and Modi to get the real punch the HG700's need. Supposedly The 700s and 800s are picky when it comes to AMP. Although their efficient to power they need certain amps to bring out the true quality? Temped to order those, at this point I'm more interested in the educational aspect of this. EDIT: Purchased the Magni & Modi for schiits and giggles. I'm just curious at this point. Returning this useless sound card tomorrow.

Okay, I am back from the store. In store supply was limited so my main goal was to get an amp that can support the ohms to see if that was the issue. The options for external AMPs was well... Poor. So I ended up with the ASUS Strix Raid DLX Sound card. No difference in sound quality, just able to get a %30 louder sound and a fleet of effects and profiles that I can tweak. Not worth the $240 price tag though. While I was in store I was able to try the HD5xx series and those most certainly have a stage you can feel. The HD700 have a fairly defined base in sound, but you can feel anything. (As in vibrations coming from the speakers to rattle your head.) It seems like almost every headset I've tried so far does that besides the HD700. As far as mid / High the HD700 do seem slighty more clear. I'd maybe pay an extra $50 for the %10 clarity increase. But for $500 this seems ridiculous. I figured if you took a $100 HyperX and compared it to the $600 HD700 paired with a $250 Soundcard AMP that there would be a night and day difference. But this isn't the case. Is there something wrong or is this really how it is? EDIT: Listening to some strings, HD700 certainty takes the win there.

Astro A40, Turtle Beach Elite Pro, Seinheiser HD25 II, Bose noise cancelling EarPods, Bose Q35 EDIT: The Bose had more bass. So there's something definitely wrong lol

I like bass but I there's definitely a limit of too much. After trying it to 4 different headphones, it compares to apple earpods. I'm on my way to Frys right now to grab an amp and/or a DAC. Will keep posted in the next couple hours. If it doesn't make a difference then I can always return it. And keep searching for a solution.

I tried plugging into another computer with another high end motherboard. Both Straight into it and with the Astro Mixamp. Same Results. I just remembered I have a pair of the Sennheiser HD25 II I plugged those in and those sound better than the HD700. That seems a bit off lol

I have tried the different combos using the HyperX to straight Motherboard, HD700 to dongle/motherboard, pretty much every combo there could be. Sounds the same. I think the doggle is only for the volume adjustments.