Possible Audio Setup

[Guest]

Hi everyone

 

I am about to put a PCI-E LAN card in my PC as my onboard one is just rubbish and as a result I will need to lose my soundcard (A Sound Blaster Z) with this in mind I wanted to buy a external USB one however upon looking I found the ASUS Xonar Essence One which I like the look off, but looking at that my Bose Companion 3 speakers and my Sound Blaster Tactic3D Sigma headset really will not cut it unless I am greatly mistaken, so here is what I want to buy as a overall package.

 

Soundcard: ASUS Xonar Essence One - http://www.asus.com/Sound_Cards_and_DigitaltoAnalog_Converters/Xonar_Essence_One/

Monitors: M-Audio BX5 D2 - http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/MAudioBX5D2New.html

Headphones: Audio-Technica ATH-M50 - http://www.audio-technica.com/cms/headphones/0edf909675b1be4d/

 

So those three together I am hoping deliver a pretty decent audio experiance, I mostly game with my game level turned down and music turned up quite load and am basically looking for products that will deliver a listening experiance second to none in terms of quality yet wont break the bank a massive amount, will this lot do the trick or is there any alternatives that may be better for the same price of less?

 

In terms of Budget I have decided to raise my original budget a bit to £1000 overall ($1565.88)

I expect most will go on headphones and something to drive them, I am not massivly fussed about spending a tonne of money on studio monitors as I want reletively small ones, as long as they are magnetically shielded and deliver a pretty decent sound I will be happy. 

[Hyydrah]

Hi everyone

 

I am about to put a PCI-E LAN card in my PC as my onboard one is just rubbish and as a result I will need to lose my soundcard (A Sound Blaster Z) with this in mind I wanted to buy a external USB one however upon looking I found the ASUS Xonar Essence One which I like the look off, but looking at that my Bose Companion 3 speakers and my Sound Blaster Tactic3D Sigma headset really will not cut it unless I am greatly mistaken, so here is what I want to buy as a overall package.

 

Soundcard: ASUS Xonar Essence One - http://www.asus.com/Sound_Cards_and_DigitaltoAnalog_Converters/Xonar_Essence_One/

Monitors: M-Audio BX5 D2 - http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/MAudioBX5D2New.html

Headphones: Audio-Technica ATH-M50 - http://www.audio-technica.com/cms/headphones/0edf909675b1be4d/

 

So those three together I am hoping deliver a pretty decent audio experiance, I mostly game with my game level turned down and music turned up quite load and am basically looking for products that will deliver a listening experiance second to none in terms of quality yet wont break the bank a massive amount, will this lot do the trick or is there any alternatives that may be better for the same price of less?

Those headphones still won't cut it. I'd recommend at least some Westone 4Rs ($400), preferably something better though.

[needmorewood]

i think you will get much more than a decent experience esssence one
take a look at the custom one pros from beyerdynamic
here is a review that i saw so i picked them up:

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDBWrSENTps

 

 

as far as the speakers i dont know much about them so i wont say anything :P

[Guest]

Thank you for taking the time to respond, I appreciate it.

Ok so the headphones I picked are a bit low end but really I am on a bit of a budget and thats what I am dealing with here and if worse comes to worse I do have a pair of old Sennheiser HD202's at my workplace that I can probably swap out with my Creative SoundBlaster headset and just use them as a placeholder while I put together the funds for something better which may just be the better option, I quite like them Beyer ones but as that review seams to state they are about level with the Audio Technica ones I had lined up which don't seam to be able to cut it, as for the Westone maybe its because I'm in the UK but when I search for them I find some earphones, is that right?

 

Overall though what I basically want is really high quality audio setup that will last me a good few years with an external soundcard for a maximum of £600, I know its a low budget for what I want and I wont be able to get amazing quality, but at least if I cannot stretch to decent headphones just yet will the ASUS Xonar Essence One and those M-Audio BX5's sound really good? or should I be looking at other products all together.

[needmorewood]

if ur on a budget forget the essence one and spend it on headphones. get another dac like an fiio e10 or something more expensive if u have a larger budget

[zenodio]

Isn't the Essence One JUST a headphone amplifier?

Also why would you go with studio monitors for a gaming/home entertainment setup?

Besides, you should stay away from M-Audio monitors, they're pretty low end, the only thing M-Audio is good at is manufacturing MIDI controllers, Keyboards and soundcards (for music production).

 

As with headphones, Beyerdynamic is a really really good brand, I have the Custom One Pros and they're very nice headphones, they're awesome for pretty much anything from stereo-gaming to music production/mixing and just listening to music.

 

You'll likely never go wrong with Beyerdynamic.

 

I'd honestly just go with a DAC just to convert the difital signal from USB to an analog signal to go into a decent tube headphone amplifier.

[Guest]

I know its a bit excessive for gaming, reason being I just want something really good that covers all bases and most possible bases for future, so in (for example) 5 years time I can still be using it and it may still be relevant.

 

 

As for the M-Audio ones aside from questionable bass online reviews said they seamed ok for price, but ok if they are bad are Akai RPMs good alternative? on the question of gaming I don't really listen to game audio (although I would from time to time) I mostly listen to music and want something that can blast it out very accurately and clearly.

[t0wer]

http://ibasso.com/en/products/show.asp?ID=73

http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=16_1110&item_id=052387

http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=16_1110&item_id=053442

 

 

can't really make a bad decision out of these 3 for the price.

all 3 will be more suited to your equipment than the $500 essence one

[josh_05]

Personally I think the Essence one is not worth what they charge for it. It's nice but over priced IMO and its quite picky with headphones, get the wrong set and it won't be a good combination.

[h264]

I know its a bit excessive for gaming, reason being I just want something really good that covers all bases and most possible bases for future, so in (for example) 5 years time I can still be using it and it may still be relevant.

 

Your priorities are exactly backwards.  Your priorities should be:

 

1: Lossless Audio

2. GOOD headphones and speakers

3. A nice DAC and AMP (or a sound card, whatever you fancy)

4. A mic if you like talking to people on the internet

5. Wires and Cables and other nonsense that makes no audible difference

 

If you like the audio-technicas, a FiiO E10 is more than enough.   Buying an Essense One with sub $500, low impedance headphones, is like putting a celeron into a $500 motherboard.  Logical increments apply to audio too!

 

If your worried about your sound card or external AMP/DAC going out of style, consider whether that old sound card you have now would still work if it wasn't for the lack of a PCI slot for it.  Will audio be AUDIBLY BETTER in 10 years?  Was it AUDIBLY WORSE 10 years ago?  Are you buying this because you NEED it, or because you really WANT it?

 

I'm not saying that an Essence One is a bad sound interface, but you should really buy what you feel comfortable with, and not feel pressured into "keeping up with the Jones".  Especially in audio.

[Guest]

Ok thanks for the responses although I will be honest I am still at a loss as to what I really want, the basic issue is I am about to lose my reletively cheap soundcard and as a result will eaither need to use the onboard (which I know is awful, Ive tried it) or buy something else, I am not massivly happy with my speakers that I have at the moment, sure they are decent for desktop speakers but I think there a little torn as they've been turned up quite loud and really don't sound too good nowadays.

 

So what I really need is for less than £1000 (apparently adds up to around $1565 according to Google) a decent set of speakers (preferably small monitors) a decent set of earphones and some decent audio hardware to drive the whole lot, It is more a case of wanting it rather than needing it but I'm not trying to Keep up with the jones, I just want to ensure I have something that is really decent and sounds decent, problem is I don't really know exactly what will work out for me.

 

I do like the ASUS Xonar One but so far Ive seen a pretty big no to that in terms of suitability for my budget, since I have upped the price range to £1000 is it more viable now? If not whats the best option.

 

I also like the BeyerDynamic DT770 PRO (250Ohm) heatset, Ive seen many studios use them and in general they sound pretty decent to me, would this do the Xonar One somewhat degree of justice? Alternatively on UK amazon they can be bundled with a Filo EO5 amp, but as a total noob question here would I still need some form of sound card between the PC and that amp?

 

Finally I am still at a complete loss for monitors, I like the Akai RPM3's and also the M-Audio BX5s but again not sure if they are any good or if they'll be worthy of whatever soundhardware would drive them (I realize the RPM3's can drive themselves through USB too)

 

I realize £1000 ($1565.88) is not a great deal of money for a top notch audio setup but I just want to get the best possible listening experiance within the budget.

[Cheesebaron]

Instead of getting the DT770 PRO's take a look at the DT770 PRO LE. They have better sound-stage and lacks the grainy sound of the non-LE's.

 

Actually what would be best for you would be if you could find some stores, where you could get a demo of some products. You ought to have a instrument store nearby where they sell active speakers and headphones. I listened to the M-Audio speakers you mentioned and they are pretty decent, I almost bought them! However I found a pair of cheap AudioEngine A5 speakers which I went with instead, and I am still very satisfied with my purchase.

 

As for the sound card, maybe you should consider a combined DAC/AMP instead with a pre-out for the speakers and a headphone amplifier for your headphones. There are some good ones for a quite reasonable. Such as the Aune T1 or X1 and the Audisnt Hud-mx1 (mx2 is coming soon). Or the O2/ODAC combo, however it does not have a pre-out.

[h264]

Ok thanks for the responses although I will be honest I am still at a loss as to what I really want, the basic issue is I am about to lose my reletively cheap soundcard and as a result will eaither need to use the onboard (which I know is awful, Ive tried it) or buy something else, I am not massivly happy with my speakers that I have at the moment, sure they are decent for desktop speakers but I think there a little torn as they've been turned up quite loud and really don't sound too good nowadays.

 

So what I really need is for less than £1000 (apparently adds up to around $1565 according to Google) a decent set of speakers (preferably small monitors) a decent set of earphones and some decent audio hardware to drive the whole lot.

 

I do like the ASUS Xonar One but so far Ive seen a pretty big no to that in terms of suitability for my budget, since I have upped the price range to £1000 is it more viable now? If not whats the best option.

 

I also like the BeyerDynamic DT770 PRO (250Ohm) heatset, Ive seen many studios use them and in general they sound pretty decent to me, would this do the Xonar One somewhat degree of justice? [...]

I realize £1000 ($1565.88) is not a great deal of money for a top notch audio setup but I just want to get the best possible listening experiance within the budget.

 

-Get a Desktop 02+ODAC with the ODAC preamp outs, like the one I reviewed: $352

-Get a set of $300 monitors and a receiver. Not a HT set but a collection that adds up to that.  Plug the receiver into the line out on the ODAC.  If you don't feel comfortable using one card, you could get a Behinger as well for this purpose, and then a normal O2+ODAC: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000KW2YEI/ref=s9_dcbhrz_bw_g267_ir02_bs Just use the line outs on the card and plug them into the receiver.

-Get the DT770/880 headphones or w/e you'd like under $300.  Even the AKGs are a good choice now.

 

That sure is a great deal of money though.

[OddballMV]

I see you are looking at the DT770, are you sure you want closed headphones? Do you need the isolation from outside noises etc. Open headphones can often be better sound quality.

 

Also i do think you need to give a bit more information on your tastes / preferences to make a more informed decision as there are so many completely different choices in your price range.

[Guest]

I see you are looking at the DT770, are you sure you want closed headphones? Do you need the isolation from outside noises etc. Open headphones can often be better sound quality.

 

Also i do think you need to give a bit more information on your tastes / preferences to make a more informed decision as there are so many completely different choices in your price range.

 

 

Well I would like closed headphones as I have used them a lot in the past and seam to get on with them, then again that was in enviroments where they are more relevant (was mostly DT100s and another Beyer one I can't remember the name of)

 

However if they are not suitable then I am willing to look at alternatives, I just want a really good sound setup that will stand the test of time, and still be pretty decent and sound awesome in a good few years time, in a way I'm thinking of this as an investment, if I buy some real good kit now I will keep it for a long time, which is why I want to get the best I possibly can, I will mostly use it just to listen to multimedia but also the odd bit of editing here and there, the only real requirements I have is as good as studio quality sound for the price (I will be putting some thought into room acoustics for this too) and then magnetic shielding and in terms of the monitors something thats not too big, I know you can get a lot of smaller size monitors now and sure they wont kick up a great sound compaired to their bigger counterparts but I would hope they can be pretty decent.

 

 

-Get a Desktop 02+ODAC with the ODAC preamp outs, like the one I reviewed: $352

-Get a set of $300 monitors and a receiver. Not a HT set but a collection that adds up to that.  Plug the receiver into the line out on the ODAC.  If you don't feel comfortable using one card, you could get a Behinger as well for this purpose, and then a normal O2+ODAC: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000KW2YEI/ref=s9_dcbhrz_bw_g267_ir02_bs Just use the line outs on the card and plug them into the receiver.

-Get the DT770/880 headphones or w/e you'd like under $300.  Even the AKGs are a good choice now.

 

That sure is a great deal of money though.

Can't seam to find that DAC in the UK, I'm not really interested in buying abroad eaither to be honest, had bad experiances with it in the past, as for the monitors I was looking at spending a maximum of about $300 but as said before I really want to make sure they are reletively small in terms of overall footprint as my desk is pretty packed already, as for the headphones I really am at a loss on that one, I will check out AKG.

 

 

Instead of getting the DT770 PRO's take a look at the DT770 PRO LE. They have better sound-stage and lacks the grainy sound of the non-LE's.

 

Actually what would be best for you would be if you could find some stores, where you could get a demo of some products. You ought to have a instrument store nearby where they sell active speakers and headphones. I listened to the M-Audio speakers you mentioned and they are pretty decent, I almost bought them! However I found a pair of cheap AudioEngine A5 speakers which I went with instead, and I am still very satisfied with my purchase.

 

As for the sound card, maybe you should consider a combined DAC/AMP instead with a pre-out for the speakers and a headphone amplifier for your headphones. There are some good ones for a quite reasonable. Such as the Aune T1 or X1 and the Audisnt Hud-mx1 (mx2 is coming soon). Or the O2/ODAC combo, however it does not have a pre-out.

To be honest my main attraction to the Xonar is simply the fact I don't know a great deal about what I am doing here yet its by a company I know and looks reletively simple compaired to a lot of other alternatives, from what I understand (which is why I also mentioned the M-Audio BX5's) I can hook monitors up via balenced XLR cables and then headphones straight in the front whenver I want headphones, I notice the three DACs you mentioned don't support XLR but still I guess they can connect via RCA which is not a problem, but my question there would be (especially since I don't know these companies or what I am looking for with them exactly) will they do what the Xonar will do and so on?

 

I checked out the AudioEngine speakers, they might be a bit over what I intended to pay for monitors depending on how much the other equipment costs, I think overall the monitors will be the part that takes a hit if the rest goes over budget, but I will keep them in mind.

[OddballMV]

Well I would like closed headphones as I have used them a lot in the past and seam to get on with them, then again that was in enviroments where they are more relevant (was mostly DT100s and another Beyer one I can't remember the name of)

 

However if they are not suitable then I am willing to look at alternatives, I just want a really good sound setup that will stand the test of time, and still be pretty decent and sound awesome in a good few years time, in a way I'm thinking of this as an investment, if I buy some real good kit now I will keep it for a long time, which is why I want to get the best I possibly can, I will mostly use it just to listen to multimedia but also the odd bit of editing here and there, the only real requirements I have is as good as studio quality sound for the price

 

Nothing wrong with closed, i own both open and closed. For purely home use though open headphones will often give you a better overall sound pound for pound. Closed headphones are mostly made for people who need the isolation from outside noises or do not want other people to hear what they are listening to. If this isn't an issue then you should be fine.

 

As you have a split budget it the price of the headphones could go up or down i guess. Hifiman do two very good value headphones in the HE-300 and HE-400. Exceptional sound for the price so they would be two to consider depending on how much you spend.

 

Couple of other good deals in the UK are the Denon D600 and the Philips Fidelio X1 both at Amazon for under £250. For the first time in history i think we are getting a slightly better deal than the US.

[Rhizo]

In terms of Budget I have decided to raise my original budget a bit to £1000 overall ($1565.88)

I expect most will go on headphones and something to drive them, I am not massivly fussed about spending a tonne of money on studio monitors as I want reletively small ones, as long as they are magnetically shielded and deliver a pretty decent sound I will be happy.

Ok, first off, what kind of music do you like to listen to? I am from the UK and so may be able to suggest places to get suitabl equipment. You have some choices that are good with everything, dt990's for open, and dt770's for closed. However, with your budget, we can get a bit more, so why not?

Ok, dac/amp, can't beat this for the money, no where near: http://epiphany-acoustics.co.uk/products-page/dacs/ehp-o2d-miniature-desktop-headphone-amplifier-with-usb-dac/ - It will obliterate anything from a soundcard.

That is the o2/odac people have been talking about. Once you give me the kinds of music you like I can recommend more specific headphones.

[Guest]

 I listen to a variety although its mostly Indie, Rock and if I'm feeling particularly mad a bit of metal, that being said I do listen to the odd bit of club/dance music here and there.

 

In regards to things like the EHP-O2D you say they will obliterate anything from a soundcard, this may be a n00b question but is it a soundcard? I mean if I was to buy this it would it act as an independent USB soundcard or does it need another bit of equipment to feed it audio?

 

In regards to headphones I am a big fan of Denon products and like the look of those D600's, however the Audio Technica ones I initially mentioned still are in my mind, I know quite a few people who are music producers and own them (but wont let me test them which is understandable for hygine reasons) and they all sing their praises non-stop saying things like they'll never go to anything else, are they really that good? or are they just good for the price and spending £250 would get something a lot better.

 

Sorry for the really stupid questions here, the basic story is I don't know a great deal about the technicalities but I can appreciate good sounding audio therefore I want to try and learn a bit about what makes audio good and get some decent products to improve my own setup.

[h264]

Can't seam to find that DAC in the UK, I'm not really interested in buying abroad eaither to be honest, had bad experiances with it in the past, as for the monitors I was looking at spending a maximum of about $300 but as said before I really want to make sure they are reletively small in terms of overall footprint as my desk is pretty packed already, as for the headphones I really am at a loss on that one, I will check out AKG.

 

 

http://epiphany-acoustics.co.uk/products-page/dacs/ehp-o2d-miniature-desktop-headphone-amplifier-with-usb-dac/

 

UK? You're the home of the original commercial builder!

[Guest]

http://epiphany-acoustics.co.uk/products-page/dacs/ehp-o2d-miniature-desktop-headphone-amplifier-with-usb-dac/

 

UK? You're the home of the original commercial builder!

Oh, my bad, didn't come across that in my initial searching for some reason.

[h264]

Oh, my bad, didn't come across that in my initial searching for some reason.

 

It's cause they call it by a slightly different name.

 

also most hillarious O2 review ever:

 

[OddballMV]

In regards to headphones I am a big fan of Denon products and like the look of those D600's, however the Audio Technica ones I initially mentioned still are in my mind, I know quite a few people who are music producers and own them (but wont let me test them which is understandable for hygine reasons) and they all sing their praises non-stop saying things like they'll never go to anything else, are they really that good? or are they just good for the price and spending £250 would get something a lot better.

 

I had the Audio Technica M50s before, they were good but there not that special, bear in mind they are about 5 years old so the competition and Audio Technica have spent a long time designing new products since.