Stefky

Have looked through the first few pages and can't find a thread like this, apologies to all if it's a repeat.
 
I've gone micro-sized recently, but this set up sounds great:
 
Media player - Foobar 2k
DAC - Just Audio uDAC-2496
Amp - Just Audio uHA-120
'Phones = Sennheiser IE800
 

 

Or you stop being a zealot and let people believe what they want to?
 
People get bad advice on this forum all the time when it comes to headphone recommendations. I bite my tongue as there is no point getting into a war on every tiny point.
 
If someone goes to the cable forum and asks opinion on which cable to buy - they are a cable believer - they are there to ask other cable believers which cable they should buy. They can also go into sound science and talk about whether or not there is any difference between cables or not if they chose to and discuss it to their hearts content there. 
 
Going into a cable forum with a mandate to force everyone to agree with you is like a democrat going to a republican forum to stir up arguments, or an atheist going into a christian forum. What's the point? It's just trolling, it's just going to start a huge argument. 
 
Besides, we don't know everything so there's no point pretending we do. I don't believe there is any difference between cables based on my own listening tests, but I can never know for sure there isn't a difference that someone with better trained hearing can't. Saying "science is science" ignores what science is - constantly evolving with new things discovered every time. 
 
I find arrogant zealotry every bit as annoying as ignorance.  

Or you stop being a zealot and let people believe what they want to?
 
People get bad advice on this forum all the time when it comes to headphone recommendations. I bite my tongue as there is no point getting into a war on every tiny point.
 
If someone goes to the cable forum and asks opinion on which cable to buy - they are a cable believer - they are there to ask other cable believers which cable they should buy. They can also go into sound science and talk about whether or not there is any difference between cables or not if they chose to and discuss it to their hearts content there. 
 
Going into a cable forum with a mandate to force everyone to agree with you is like a democrat going to a republican forum to stir up arguments, or an atheist going into a christian forum. What's the point? It's just trolling, it's just going to start a huge argument. 
 
Besides, we don't know everything so there's no point pretending we do. I don't believe there is any difference between cables based on my own listening tests, but I can never know for sure there isn't a difference that someone with better trained hearing can't. Saying "science is science" ignores what science is - constantly evolving with new things discovered every time. 
 
I find arrogant zealotry every bit as annoying as ignorance.  

Or you stop being a zealot and let people believe what they want to?
 
People get bad advice on this forum all the time when it comes to headphone recommendations. I bite my tongue as there is no point getting into a war on every tiny point.
 
If someone goes to the cable forum and asks opinion on which cable to buy - they are a cable believer - they are there to ask other cable believers which cable they should buy. They can also go into sound science and talk about whether or not there is any difference between cables or not if they chose to and discuss it to their hearts content there. 
 
Going into a cable forum with a mandate to force everyone to agree with you is like a democrat going to a republican forum to stir up arguments, or an atheist going into a christian forum. What's the point? It's just trolling, it's just going to start a huge argument. 
 
Besides, we don't know everything so there's no point pretending we do. I don't believe there is any difference between cables based on my own listening tests, but I can never know for sure there isn't a difference that someone with better trained hearing can't. Saying "science is science" ignores what science is - constantly evolving with new things discovered every time. 
 
I find arrogant zealotry every bit as annoying as ignorance.  

Provided you use the right forum, there isn't. Going to the cable forum and hanging around there arguing with people for believing in cable differences is trolling. There is no point to it. That forum is there for people who do believe that there is a difference to discuss cables. Live and let live. If you're the type of person who just kind help riling people up, you're best not posting on forums, and the mods are best removing you.
 
This is the sort of thing people get banned for in all sorts of forums - basically looking for a fight and looking to start arguments. 

I've had some flack from Sony die hard evangelists for pointing this out - but it very much is a cheap/clever trick for lowering the resolution while maintaining the same pixel density as true 1920x1080p.
 
I admire it as it is clever - you have all the pixel density of 1920x1080p, just on a smaller area of the screen. Win win. Wish they'd be more honest about it though. 
 
Their publicity is pure bullshit. "Oh yeah we could have had the same graphics without the letter box - it's for cinematics. We could have gone 60fps, but that didn't look as cinematic". 
 
The simple fact is - if they had gone full screen and 60fps the level of graphical fidelity would be lower. Otherwise they are arguing that they are deliberately leaving PS4 resource untapped and not making the game look as good as it could, which no developer would ever do. 
 
Expect to see a lot of other developers leveraging the same shenanigans, and insisting just as vehemently that it's all about their "cinematic vision" (which also happens to include a low frame rate - you know - for cinematic reasons).

That first Van Persie goal, could watch that over and over all day long.

The Zelda world is a cartoon in appearance. It was never realistic. Always was in the NES/SNES games, has continued to be in the handheld ones.  
 
That trend has only really had three anomalies - Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess. And if you look at OOT and MM, they are actually quite cartoony as well in their character design. As has been pointed out - those games haven't aged well at all.
 
For me, the art style is exactly what I wanted to see - an HD continuation of the Skyward Sword style. 
 
While the style used in Wind Waker and the DS titles bore the closest relationship to the original NES and SNES titles, it was perhaps a little too child-like and cartoony. The balance they struck with Skyward Sword was a perfect compromise between it's cartoony roots, and the more realistic proportions used in the N64 titles and Twilight Princess.

The Zelda world is a cartoon in appearance. It was never realistic. Always was in the NES/SNES games, has continued to be in the handheld ones.  
 
That trend has only really had three anomalies - Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess. And if you look at OOT and MM, they are actually quite cartoony as well in their character design. As has been pointed out - those games haven't aged well at all.
 
For me, the art style is exactly what I wanted to see - an HD continuation of the Skyward Sword style. 
 
While the style used in Wind Waker and the DS titles bore the closest relationship to the original NES and SNES titles, it was perhaps a little too child-like and cartoony. The balance they struck with Skyward Sword was a perfect compromise between it's cartoony roots, and the more realistic proportions used in the N64 titles and Twilight Princess.

Wii U. 
 
And I say that as an Xbox One owner who doesn't have a Wii U yet.
 
Right now it's the better option - cheaper, a good number of must-play games already out and more on the way. 
 
I would say the end of 2015 is the time it will be really worth it to buy an Xbox One or PS4. Right now they are both still developing.

We established in another thread that you actually couldn't build a PC that would out perform a PS4 for £350, or an X1 for £300 (less £100 for Kinect).
The challenge was a PC with bluray drive, and control pad that would achieve better performance on BF4 for £350 - the closest suggested was over £400 - for a huge ugly tower filled with the cheapest, noisest parts.
If someone just wanted to play games and didn't need a PC, why would they chose that? It's a choice between a great console and a cheap and nasty PC.
The argument that you can build a better PC for the price of a console is a left-over from last gen. It'll be true again in a few years, not now.
The consoles are good value at the moment, and a good option for someone who just wants to play games.

Wii U. 
 
And I say that as an Xbox One owner who doesn't have a Wii U yet.
 
Right now it's the better option - cheaper, a good number of must-play games already out and more on the way. 
 
I would say the end of 2015 is the time it will be really worth it to buy an Xbox One or PS4. Right now they are both still developing.

I have been really impressed by every press conference. Without a doubt, this was the best E3 event I have seen in a very long time! 
 
Microsoft really pulled it back for me this year, to be honest. Forza Horizon 2 looks great, Sunset Overdrive looks like brilliant fun and the Master Chief collection simply blew my mind. Also Ori And The Blind Forest looks really intriguing and beautiful. Sony's conference had some great highlights too - No Man's Sky looks breathtaking, Metal Gear Solid V trailer was brilliant and 'Grand Theft Batman' looked epic. 
 
But, Nintendo stunned me. Whilst Microsoft and Sony surprised me by having a large number of really good looking games, Nintendo stunned me by having nothing but really good looking games. As someone who hasn't traditionally been really big on Nintendo's products or games (with one or two exceptions), I was really not expecting to find anything of interest during their conference... but every single game without fail seriously impressed me. I've gone from dismissing the Wii U as irrelevant to badly wanting one in the space of a single day.
 
Overall, it was a brilliant event. Each platform had a really great selection of games on show and I certainly couldn't say that anyone 'lost' this E3 - but for me, Nintendo won it without a doubt.

TLDR version:
 
- Sony and MS were pretty similar in content, did enough to please current adopters, but not enough to make their consoles “must buys” quite yet.
 
- The Wii U is gaining momentum and looks very appealing right now.
 
- By my personal impressions, Nintendo “won” E3.
 
In finer detail:
 
The Next Gen Twins – Sony and MS
 
In terms of Sony and MS, when you wipe away the fanboy wars and partisan media picking their sides, I thought in reality they had a very similar E3 –
 
Both had couple of new 2014 full-retail titles each:
 
X1 –
Forza Horizon 2
Sunset Overdrive
 
PS4 –
Drive Club
Little Big Planet 3
 
Both also had a “re-master” next-gen release of old games in 2014 each:
 
X1 –
Halo - The Master Chief Collection
 
PS4 –
The Last of Us
 
Both had one of their biggest exclusives (both of them from high-status Japanese developers) only present in CG trailer form that was hard to see what the game would be. Both are exciting though, and I am hoping for big things from:
 
X1 –
ScaleBound – which I would put money on being 2016
 
PS4 –
BloodBorne – which claimed a 2015 release in the trailer, but we’ll see. I’d expect to be seeing gameplay by now if that was the case and Sony don’t have a great track record of arriving on time
 
Both have a modest number of 2015 full retail releases, including a flagship a piece in new Halo and Uncharted titles:
 
X1 –
Halo 5 Guardians, Fable Legends, Quantum Break (they also showed some CG for titles I assume are 2016 – Crackdown and Phantom Dust)
 
PS4 –
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, The Order 1886
 
So both extremely similar on the full retail front.
 
Both also had some interesting small digitals to show. I’m pretty sure all of them will be on PC as well, and most will come to the other platform eventually. Most exciting for me was the new game from the Limbo devs Play Dead Inside, and the Tex Avery inspired Cuphead. A few of the best looking ones were console exclusive (but I believe slated for PC too).
 
X1 –
Ori and the Blind Forest
 
PS4 –
The Witness
No Man’s Sky
 
The thing for me about small digital games being “console exclusive” is that it means so very little. Console exclusivity in AAA games does actually mean something as a higher end PC that most don’t own is required to run them, generally costing at least as much as a next gen console anyway if not a lot more. When it comes to a small digital game, most of them could easily run on any fairly recently purchased standard laptop or desktop PC. The console manufacturers (and their die-hard fans) crowing about their timed or lifetime exclusivity to their platform is meaningless to me when the games will be accessible by anyone so long as they have some kind, any kind of PC, but I digress.
 
Elsewhere on the digital front, we also had the first character of Season 2 for Killer Instinct revealed – TJ Combo – and fans of the series such as myself were relieved so see it is on track for 2014, which was a worry for some fans after the developer hand-over between Double Helix and Iron Galaxy.
 
All in all, despite the media desperate to name a winner, there was not much between them and in fact there were some eerie similarities in their content. I expect Xbox One owners like me will be content enough with their own lot, but not see a reason to buy a PS4 quite yet, and PS4 owners will feel the same in reverse. For neutrals, it’ll come down to personal taste, but I expect most who have been waiting so far will continue to wait a bit longer before jumping on board with next gen.
 
It does come down to personal preference for games, but for me MS edged it, although not by much. The games they have for this year seem more appealing to me.
 
Forza Horizon has a strong pedigree, while Drive Club’s has been questionable from day one and constant delays seldom spell a happy ending. Sunset Overdrive was one of the best things I’ve seen yet at E3 – a balls-out-fun fusion of Tony Hawkes and Dead Rising with a unique art style and a good sense of humour. Little Big Planet 3 will be fun I’m sure, but take the creation side away and it’s never got anywhere close to Mario or Rayman as a platformer. It’s just “OK”.
 
When it comes to the re-releases, the Halo pack represents enormous value and collects a decade’s worth of GOTY contenders, two of them actually fully re-tooled rather than just up-rezzed. It also has every Xbox Halo MP map ever, which is mind blowing. You could probably buy this one game and play it all year. The Last of Us is an amazing game, and for those who moved from 360 to PS4, it’s going to be a welcome gift. But for who have already played it, it’s just too soon for it to have any impact. Much like Tomb Raider’s recent next gen re-master, those who didn’t play it last gen will buy it, those who did will let it pass by. It might be a smart move for Sony to move fast and aim to get an Uncharted 1,2,3 1080p/60fps collection out as soon as possible to counter it - it would certainly be a better value proposition.
 
A final note on the conferences themselves as opposed to the content:
 
Both were generally good, although the Sony one dragged out a bit with non-gaming sections. Sony have always given a hundred or so seats to super-fans to attend, a practice which ensures that everything anyone says gets hysterical whoops and hollers, but this does come across as a bit staged at times. I also have to say that Sony also let themselves down with their incessant sniping at MS – three major shows in a row now they have made classless digs - and they weirdly even seemed to have a snipe at EA this time too. They need to learn to exercise a little class, especially when they are doing so well sales-wise. It’s the corporate equivalent of “tea bagging” to make fun of your competition when you are already winning. It might get a cheer from their fanboys, but its off-putting to grown adults looking to see some new games and features to be drawn into a petty squabble.
 
The Underdog – Nintendo
 
The big surprise for me is that I came out of Nintendo’s streams yesterday desperately wanting a Wii U. I don’t know if it’ll be with the expected Smash Bros SKU that I’ll cave in, or later with a Zelda SKU, but I am pretty sure one of these consoles is in my future.
 
The time has come for that console. Launching first has left them in a position where they have a critical mass of games worth playing already out and on the immediate horizon – NSMB U, Wind Waker HD, Super Mario 3D World, Mario Kart 8, Smash soon and Zelda looking incredible on the horizon.
 
The Star Fox announcement (while it looks a LOOONG way off) was an extra sweetener and to be honest there was nothing I saw yesterday that didn’t bring a smile to my face. The squids game looked like a fresh take on the FPS, and the Zelda Dynasty Warriors game really highlighted the value of eschewing a press release for a stream. I’ve been aware of Dynasty Warriors before but never considered it much, from screen shots it looked complicated, HUD-heavy, very Japanese and inaccessible. Just watching it for five minutes and understanding how the dynamics of territory worked and I was starting to think I could really enjoy a game like that.
 
Yes, it’s graphically a last-gen console, but now it’s HD at least it’s not offensively ugly on HD TVs. Nintendo’s artists have always been able to work magic with limited resources, good at choosing an art style that works well with their limitations. The little bit of Zelda they showed yesterday would look like a great game on any platform.
 
In conclusion after a very difficult couple of years with their home console, it seems to be finding its stride now, if they keep this up, I think a lot of people who had written the Wii U off will find themselves buying one next year.
 
Who Won? For me, Nintendo
 
P.S. Wrote this at work, so sorry if the cut and paste led to odd formatting.

Yeah will get a Wii U first since its cheap (might order it tonight...maybe)
 
But I do intend to get a PS4 and One on pay day. They have a few titles each now that I personally deem must have, plus all the stuff I am missing out with PS+ and Xbox Gold - free stuff 
 
I think I will take the leap

Also out on PC.

Stax.

Bear with them for a couple of weeks.
 
Our mind adjusts to hearing all our well known music with whatever level of bass you are used to. 
 
DT990 has comically boosted upper/mid bass, so your mind is telling you that is right.
 
Your mind will readjust to the HE400 bass within a week or so, and you'll be left with a much better set of headphones.

You get stuff with that you know. Free games and discounts from Sony. Discounts, dedicated servers and now also free games from Microsoft. For about £3 a month its not a bad deal.

All this Head Fi bashing is absurd - it's a forum with massive daily traffic and has no one unified POV. You'll find people with every point of view on every audio issue there. If you are interested at all in headphone audio, it's one of the forums you should be reading.

All this Head Fi bashing is absurd - it's a forum with massive daily traffic and has no one unified POV. You'll find people with every point of view on every audio issue there. If you are interested at all in headphone audio, it's one of the forums you should be reading.

What you probably heard is that not all headphone amp/DAC combinations have line level outputs to attach speakers to.

I brought my E10 to the store that day, for the purpose of comparing it to the amps head to head, so even at the store, I knew my headphone was not damaged by the clippings and breakings. Meaning, most likely not the relief feeling.
 
But okay, I can accept it's most probably just psychological feeling. That's why I asked, because I got nothing solid, theories or facts, to back it up, I even doubted myself. Thanx for clearing that up....

If he has a bit of patience, he can get a Stax rig (Lambda family) off ebay for that. Perfect for his needs.

You cannot "turn up the impedance" nor does any soundcard "output ohms"
 
The setting you are speaking of is the gain setting (ASUS is dumb and labeled it in ohms). The only thing you should worry about is volume -> more gain (higher ohm label in the settings) = more volume. Keep the setting as low as you can, but you probably wont damage anything other than your hearing if you turn it all the way up.