h264
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Posts posted by h264
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You'll find a ton of audiophiles who claim various things, many of which will say that an amp needs to have more power than is needed to produce good sound instead of just loud sound, etc. It's interesting that you brought up Lays' review. Lays was one of the people who brought up the idea that an amp might need extra power to prevent distortion, and that he felt his O2 might not be enough. Reviews are subjective. Math is not. A person will always let expectation bias and placebo affect their perception no matter who the person is. Lays is not magically immune. One might assume that hearing distortion is a black and white affair but it is not. There is no need to bring up the possibility of O2 not being enough if Lays was perfectly objective in his attempts at reviewing the distortion of LCD2 with O2 because he didn't hear any. Yet he pointed out all these possibilities, and later on switched from the O2 onto tube amps and proceeded to list some impossible benefits when doing so.
My point is that reviews have limits. Not everything can be objectively measured. But when they can, I prefer to take that path. There is no 'what if'. There is no 'maybe I just didn't know what I was looking for so I don't know what I'm missing out on by not getting a stronger amp'. This is the type of thinking that looks batshit crazy from a distance when you're not in Headfi, which some people end up falling into themselves, slowly. And then you try a new amp in a sighted test and then you could swear it sounds better. Had somebody else claimed this, you would've brushed them off as being coo-coo. But now you are the one experiencing it, and it feels valid because you hear it. Hey, I was just trying to be open-minded by testing stronger amps! I wasn't expecting a difference but that's what I heard! You ignore the fallacies of human perception. And boom. Now you want more than you actually need.
Also, I find it more interesting and more educational go the math route.
I think the reason Audeze reccomends 1W is simply for less efficient designs like OTL tube amps. In that case distortion and noise can become an issue at higher volumes. Keep in mind most audiophiles are pretty deaf too. I know one with a giant speaker system ... and hearing aids.
If your headphones get loud enough, you're not missing much to begin with. Which is always my response as such.
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twitter is just a giant shoutbox so everything becomes a controversy in 140 characters or less when everyone talks in snippets at once.
Adam Baldwin created the hastag, but 4chan/banned reddit users started the outrage on twitter. They just didn't plan it on an IRC chat channel. Being mad doesn't take that much coordination.
I'm really quite confused, most of all, that nobody noticed just how terrible and useless all the "news" on these sites was up until now. Am I really the only one? I can't be. I stopped reading them years ago.
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But what's the output impedance on your note 3? OP's devices might be struggling because of that.
Yesssssss. My HTC One struggles with my MOE's.
Couldn't be too much worse than my phone's 10ohm output impedance.
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I just tested the only good pair of 32 Ohm headphones I own, my ATH-M50s, they peak at 92db on my note 3. The Beyers have less sensitivity so they are probably around 85-89 db. Both measurements would fall under the "too loud" category. My Beyer DT990 250 Ohm hits 74db btw, and I find that loud enough personally but some people prefer louder.
Have you had your hearing checked recently?
but yes, you should either try listening to your music a bit softer or get an amp.
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Only volume differences. So only if it's not loud enough now for you.
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Any idea if the AV40s are worth the $40 extra compared to the AV30s? As far as I can tell the only difference will be the the AV40s will have slightly more bass...Is there some other difference, would it be a noticeable difference?
My guess (and I @ShearMe's I believe) is that the AV30 is the better choice since the AV40s will only be slightly better.
/guesses or thoughts...whatever you've got is better than anything my intuition will tell me--speakers aren't my forte.
I've never tried out either, but my general experience is that headphones close in model number usually have few actually sound quality differences, so he's probably right.
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Know anyone who lives in the Audio section? Don't know much about audio either so don't really come here often.
Hey, sorry, I live here too, I was just caught up in the nonsense going on at 4chan the last couple of weeks.
I'd do speakers over headphones any day. Why do I do headphones? Nobody else likes my music
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I think you should go for 2 channel monitors because of the cramped environment.M Audio Stereophile is the best you can get for the price it doesn't take much space and produces stellar sound quality that will put similarly priced 2.1s for shame.
I almost broke my monitor trying to get that bug. Good one.
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Bad amps and bad DACs are equally to blame, just in different circumstances, imo.
It's a close priority, mostly because AMPs and DACs are often sold together recently. I have them in the same priority level because I like to sidestep such split hairs, but If you are trying to decide if you need either but aren't sure, the checklist is as such:
Do I need a bigger/better amplifier?:
Is it loud enough?
Does it make noise?
If yes to either, you'd probably receive an improvement from a new amplifier.
Do I need a bigger/better DAC?:
Does it STILL make noise even without the amplifier in the chain?
Is it at least capable of outputting the source bit-depth/frequency of the file/disc you'd like to play (usually that's 16/44.1 or 48 for sane people with CD quality audio or streaming off of Spotify)?
If yes to either, you'd probably want a new DAC.
Other than that, given most modern non-audiophile designs, unless you want to play DSD for whatever ridiculous reason, most of the time your onboard passes all of those steps with flying colors.
Sure some laptops have crummy audio ports. That's why USB powered headphone amp/dac combos like the E10 and such exist.
Do keep in mind, get better headphones before considering ANY of this stuff. So, yes, @ChunksOfLemon I'd suggest you just stick to good old onboard unless it's unbearable to be the only kid on the sub-forum without a fancy Amplfier/DAC combo.
I didn't even mention output impedance, and it probably doesn't even matter, especially if after you buy all this new gear (save perhaps an output transformer-less Class A tube amp *cough*) and you can't discern an obvious difference to begin with, getting an amp with a better output impedance won't matter much either. If you start to worry about jitter, THD, and heaven forbid SNR, you'll just end up doing something like one of those pictures on page 1 and thats...
That is wrong on so many levels.
that's my line.
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-snip-
http://www.theaudiocritic.com/back_issues/The_Audio_Critic_16_r.pdf (page 39)
you wanted some data? Here's some.
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Is "OK, fine, but can't you just tell me what to get already and be done with it? This is all very confusing!" still "correct"? Thinking about the ATH-M50 and E10K.
I still think so, but it's my opinion alone (as stated at the top) so take it with a grain of salt.
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They best way to improve your listening experience is captured in this picture:
So the recipe is:
1. Find your favorite alcoholic beverage and pour it into a glass
2. Drink it
3. Feel the effect
4. ???
5. Pure sonic bliss
6. Repeat
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whoops, thanks
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That still has nothing to do with the actual Digital to Analog conversion. Most likely case is something like EMI or shitty filters causing hiss/humming. That said, the STX sound card has average SNR but a 10.31ohm output impedance and likely not enough to drive the HD800 in terms of amp-performance (think it was only something like 120/140mw (about half of what is required) @ 300ohm).
The STX was specifically designed and often marketed as a compatible headphone with the Essence STX and Essence One. Look at Linus's old videos from the NCIX days. If it's got anything, it's got way more than enough power for a pair of HD800s. Remember that power requirements are a function of resistance AND sensitivity, and resistance varies with frequency (impedance).
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Wow! Cool you responded! You build the JDS Labs ones too, right? Is there any noticable difference? And is the "dedicated rear 3.5mm line-output" on the JDS Labs one the same as the feature you're talking about?
He's pretty chill most of the time. He and JDS don't really work together though. Although they both seem to be using the same parts and building off the same design, It's always seemed JDS was more focused on his own amps and Mayflower always had more interesting options with the exception of engravings.
If you REALLY want open headphones, the most open thing you can get that I've tried so far is either the HE-500 or the LCD-2. Their a bit pricey (and you probably really don't want to spend that much), so out of the stuff you picked out I'd say the HD558/598 or maybe an ebay pair of HD650s cheap.
Would you need a more powerful amp for any of those? No, with the exception of the HD650 *maybe* (the resistance is up to 550 Ohms in the lower frequencies if you look at a graph). Definitely would get an amp for either the HE-500 or the LCD-2 though.
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Rockbox all da way baby. I didn't try it with stock firmware.... d'oh
hmmm, just making sure. Some of the refurb units have been noted to have random issues. The Clip Zip refurbs are really nice, or at least the one I got.
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http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/time-rethink-beats-solo2-excellent
Video
He says they're better than the Sennheiser Momentum on-ears.
Maybe time for @LinusTech to take a look and see what he thinks about them?, I kinda wanna try them out now.
It wouldn't surprise me they totally redid them after all the negative reviews. Let's hope we get a market-wide improvement in fashion headphones by next year. If they can make them sound like the new studios without the noise canceling feature, then what Tyll is saying would make sense based on my own experience with the Studios.
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Denon's new headphones are supposed to be cheap fashion headphones. All that really matters though is if you like them or not.
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The sound is noticeably better than my HTC One. Just wish Spotify wasn't so darn convenient.
My new clip+ does, however, make some soft electrical noises when I perform certain actions. My previous unit never did this, and it isn't a nuisance. Only hear it with IEMs when choosing what I'll fall asleep to at night.
Is this with the stock firmware?
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I wrote this long winded thing a while back...
- FatalityDiablo and Askew
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Why'd Lachlan gotta do this to us?
http://www.lachlanlikesathing.com/2014/06/review-units-hurt-audio-community-how.html
and
http://www.lachlanlikesathing.com/2014/06/a-conversation.html
EDIT: http://www.lachlanlikesathing.com/2014/06/some-solutions.html oh, another one too.
Seems his incredibly long winded blog post is still there to read at least.
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and now the video is private and I'll never see it. darn. I miss the days when you downloaded everything and everyone had a copy.
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Sennheiser HD700
in Audio
Posted
really? everyone was always so disappointed with the HD700. And by everyone I mean everyone at Head-Fi.