Looking for new headphones, need some reccomendations.

[DriedSponge]

Hello everyone,

I am currently in the market for a new pair of headphones. Right now I have a pair of Hyper X Cloud II's, and they are currently falling apart on me. I am looking for recommendations for a new pair of headphones that's $200 or less. I do a lot of FPS gaming on my computer, but I also like to listen to music and stream movies & TV shows, so sound quality is important to me. I'm looking for a pair of headphones that makes it easy to distinguish sounds like footsteps or gunfire (sounds you would find in fps games).

I would prefer wireless headphones, because of I enjoy the convenience of getting up from my desk without having to take them off, but I'm also fine with using wired headphones.

I don't need a headset with a mic, as I have a separate one on my desk, but I don't mind a mic as long as it's removable.

From my research I have found three possible solutions: the Sennheiser HD 560 S, HIFIMAN HE400SE, or the Logitech G PRO X Wireless. I am a bit skeptical of the Logitech one because of its "gaming" marketing, but my experience with other wireless Logitech peripherals tells me that the wireless experience should be good.

If you have experiences with any of these that you would like to share, or have a pair of headphones to suggest yourself, please let me know.

Thanks in advance.

[Tech nerd sab]

Audio technica Ath m50x

[TheAverage0ne]

I have the Logitech G Pro X Wireless headset. It has been really nice. Only things that aren't great is because they do have really fast wireless speeds, they don't have great range, so you can't exactly roam your house with them on. Also, my set broke last week and just stopped connecting, which really sucked, but support was really quick and got me a new set in about 3 days. They may not have the greatest sound quality, but they're pretty nice and the wireless performance is really good. Battery isn't bad either, it lasts a few days of moderate use for me and I just have them charge when I'm not using my pc.

[CTR640]

HD560S sucks in terms of soundstage, it's way too narrow and highly adviced to avoid it.

 

Avoid any "gaming headphones/headsets", they are utterly crap and all looks very hideous too. Image materials to puke.

 

HiFiMan you mentioned is probably the better option. Other options are DT990, DT880 and Fidelio X2HR. But I can recommend the DT880, it's a damn fine headphone too. I use it for anything.

[Brooksie359]

3 minutes ago, CTR640 said:

HD560S sucks in terms of soundstage, it's way too narrow and highly adviced to avoid it.

 

Avoid any "gaming headphones/headsets", they are utterly crap and all looks very hideous too. Image materials to puke.

 

HiFiMan you mentioned is probably the better option. Other options are DT990, DT880 and Fidelio X2HR. But I can recommend the DT880, it's a damn fine headphone too. I use it for anything.

I really hate all the crap people give gaming headsets across the board. Granted there are bad offenders but there are also gaming headset with reasonably good audio quality and much better audio for video games. Sure if you mostly listen to music then yeah audiophile headphones are nice but for me as someone who has multiple audiophile headphones I still prefer my hyperx cloud II as my main headphones simply because I mostly game and it's so much easier to hear footsteps in them and they still have decent audio for listening to music. 

[CTR640]

36 minutes ago, Brooksie359 said:

I really hate all the crap people give gaming headsets across the board. Granted there are bad offenders but there are also gaming headset with reasonably good audio quality and much better audio for video games. Sure if you mostly listen to music then yeah audiophile headphones are nice but for me as someone who has multiple audiophile headphones I still prefer my hyperx cloud II as my main headphones simply because I mostly game and it's so much easier to hear footsteps in them and they still have decent audio for listening to music. 

If you love your HyperX Cloud II, stick to it. No one forces you to switch to "audiophile" graded headphones. All the headphones you see in my sig are not only for music? They are for everything, be it for gaming, movies, series, youtube, netflix. Comfort is very important and designs too tho. I don't want a stupid xmas thing full of RGB lights or alien or battle ship tech on my head. Most of the gaming headsets looks so silly.

[Brooksie359]

5 minutes ago, CTR640 said:

If you love your HyperX Cloud II, stick to it. No one forces you to switch to "audiophile" graded headphones. All the headphones you see in my sig are not only for music? They are for everything, be it for gaming, movies, series, youtube, netflix. Comfort is very important and designs too tho. I don't want a stupid xmas thing full of RGB lights or alien or battle ship tech on my head. Most of the gaming headsets looks so silly.

My main point is that it's a huge generalization. Also again while I love my audiophile headphones I will have to say they are much worse at picking up footsteps. I mean it's not like they don't do it but they aren't as good as my hyperx cloud II in my experience. Also I am just making the case that there are some gaming headphones that don't have alot of the issues you talk about. Like for me personally my hyperx cloud II are actually one of the most comfortable headphones I own and some of my audiophile headphones are less comfortable which is kinda annoying when they cost more but what can you do. 

[MingLee420]

1 hour ago, DriedSponge said:

Hello everyone,

I am currently in the market for a new pair of headphones. Right now I have a pair of Hyper X Cloud II's, and they are currently falling apart on me. I am looking for recommendations for a new pair of headphones that's $200 or less. I do a lot of FPS gaming on my computer, but I also like to listen to music and stream movies & TV shows, so sound quality is important to me. I'm looking for a pair of headphones that makes it easy to distinguish sounds like footsteps or gunfire (sounds you would find in fps games).

I would prefer wireless headphones, because of I enjoy the convenience of getting up from my desk without having to take them off, but I'm also fine with using wired headphones.

I don't need a headset with a mic, as I have a separate one on my desk, but I don't mind a mic as long as it's removable.

From my research I have found three possible solutions: the Sennheiser HD 560 S, HIFIMAN HE400SE, or the Logitech G PRO X Wireless. I am a bit skeptical of the Logitech one because of its "gaming" marketing, but my experience with other wireless Logitech peripherals tells me that the wireless experience should be good.

If you have experiences with any of these that you would like to share, or have a pair of headphones to suggest yourself, please let me know.

Thanks in advance.

Logitech g pro x: good wireless not so great sound quality, id get cloud 2 wireless or arctis 7, cloud 2 wireless if you want more of a balanced sound profile

[Psittac]

7 hours ago, Brooksie359 said:

My main point is that it's a huge generalization. Also again while I love my audiophile headphones I will have to say they are much worse at picking up footsteps. I mean it's not like they don't do it but they aren't as good as my hyperx cloud II in my experience. Also I am just making the case that there are some gaming headphones that don't have alot of the issues you talk about. Like for me personally my hyperx cloud II are actually one of the most comfortable headphones I own and some of my audiophile headphones are less comfortable which is kinda annoying when they cost more but what can you do. 

I will agree that "gamer headsets" get a bad wrap. But my experience with a handful of them is they can be really good at one thing, decent at another and garbage at yet another.  The Sennheiser game one that I had for many years was all around decent at everything with gaming being pretty darn good, but once I started my audiophile journey I realized how much was left on the table.  Now I'm not a competitive gamer by any means, and I don't play fps anymore, but I'd think that good soundstage and imaging would make for great footstep tracking.  Another point, while I really don't like wireless solutions I've started to come around on it.  The benefit of having a dac, amp, headphone and mic in one all inclusive piece of technology is VERY appealing to many.  Though I rarely use my wireless headset, I have to appreciate what it offers.

 

8 hours ago, Tech nerd sab said:

Audio technica Ath m50x

Never heard them but have heard many praise them

 

8 hours ago, DriedSponge said:

Hello everyone,

I am currently in the market for a new pair of headphones. Right now I have a pair of Hyper X Cloud II's, and they are currently falling apart on me. I am looking for recommendations for a new pair of headphones that's $200 or less. I do a lot of FPS gaming on my computer, but I also like to listen to music and stream movies & TV shows, so sound quality is important to me. I'm looking for a pair of headphones that makes it easy to distinguish sounds like footsteps or gunfire (sounds you would find in fps games).

I would prefer wireless headphones, because of I enjoy the convenience of getting up from my desk without having to take them off, but I'm also fine with using wired headphones.

I don't need a headset with a mic, as I have a separate one on my desk, but I don't mind a mic as long as it's removable.

From my research I have found three possible solutions: the Sennheiser HD 560 S, HIFIMAN HE400SE, or the Logitech G PRO X Wireless. I am a bit skeptical of the Logitech one because of its "gaming" marketing, but my experience with other wireless Logitech peripherals tells me that the wireless experience should be good.

If you have experiences with any of these that you would like to share, or have a pair of headphones to suggest yourself, please let me know.

Thanks in advance.

Back to the OP, there are many ways to cut this cookie but out of everything I have first hand (or close to firsthand) experience with, and I was on an actual budget I would hands down get the Phillips Fidelio X2HR or the X3 if it's on sale.  And that could either be an end game or it offers an upgrade path.  You can add the schiit fulla and a mod mic and have a setup that I would personally be very happy with.

 

One more way you could do it is the Philips shp9500 or shp9600 and a schiit fulla.  I got the 9500 to see if I could recommend it and I was super disappointed because it was shrill bright and fatiguing with onboard audio, when I put it on my $500 dac/amp it sounded great, still bright but tame.  The schiit fulla will tame these as well but I would go for the 9600 because it's claimed that it solves the brightness issue.  Then more savings is to be had by adding a neego boom mic.  Just be aware that tieing audio output and input into the same wire and running them onboard can result in cross talk, IE what you're hearing going into the mic.

 

8 hours ago, CTR640 said:

HD560S sucks in terms of soundstage, it's way too narrow and highly adviced to avoid it.

 

Avoid any "gaming headphones/headsets", they are utterly crap and all looks very hideous too. Image materials to puke.

 

HiFiMan you mentioned is probably the better option. Other options are DT990, DT880 and Fidelio X2HR. But I can recommend the DT880, it's a damn fine headphone too. I use it for anything.

hifiman is a great company though I only have the older 400 which were out dated and "reference" in a bad way.  But everything I hear is that the newer ones are excellent.

 

 

 

*edit: Side note, sennheiser is/was a great company, I just don't recommend them often because I have the 6xx which really really wants a great chain behind it, and at the same time it leaves me with no desire to try out other products from the company because it's arguably the best sound experience I have.

[DriedSponge]

10 hours ago, Tech nerd sab said:

Audio technica Ath m50x

Is there perhaps a reason why this may stand out above other options?

[DriedSponge]

2 hours ago, Psittac said:

I will agree that "gamer headsets" get a bad wrap. But my experience with a handful of them is they can be really good at one thing, decent at another and garbage at yet another.  The Sennheiser game one that I had for many years was all around decent at everything with gaming being pretty darn good, but once I started my audiophile journey I realized how much was left on the table.  Now I'm not a competitive gamer by any means, and I don't play fps anymore, but I'd think that good soundstage and imaging would make for great footstep tracking.  Another point, while I really don't like wireless solutions I've started to come around on it.  The benefit of having a dac, amp, headphone and mic in one all inclusive piece of technology is VERY appealing to many.  Though I rarely use my wireless headset, I have to appreciate what it offers.

 

Never heard them but have heard many praise them

 

Back to the OP, there are many ways to cut this cookie but out of everything I have first hand (or close to firsthand) experience with, and I was on an actual budget I would hands down get the Phillips Fidelio X2HR or the X3 if it's on sale.  And that could either be an end game or it offers an upgrade path.  You can add the schiit fulla and a mod mic and have a setup that I would personally be very happy with.

 

One more way you could do it is the Philips shp9500 or shp9600 and a schiit fulla.  I got the 9500 to see if I could recommend it and I was super disappointed because it was shrill bright and fatiguing with onboard audio, when I put it on my $500 dac/amp it sounded great, still bright but tame.  The schiit fulla will tame these as well but I would go for the 9600 because it's claimed that it solves the brightness issue.  Then more savings is to be had by adding a neego boom mic.  Just be aware that tieing audio output and input into the same wire and running them onboard can result in cross talk, IE what you're hearing going into the mic.

 

hifiman is a great company though I only have the older 400 which were out dated and "reference" in a bad way.  But everything I hear is that the newer ones are excellent.

 

 

 

*edit: Side note, sennheiser is/was a great company, I just don't recommend them often because I have the 6xx which really really wants a great chain behind it, and at the same time it leaves me with no desire to try out other products from the company because it's arguably the best sound experience I have.

Wow! I appreciate this detailed response! I'm currently using a Blue Yeti for a mic, and it works great for my usage so I think I'll stick with it. I have not made any final decisions yet, but I'm definitely leaning towards the Philips Audio Fidelio X2HR. The X3 looks nice but personally I'm not a fan of headphones that have cables coming out of both ears, I prefer it on one side only. The DT880 also looks appealing so I may consider that one as well.

Thanks everyone for your responses, it has made making this decision much easier!

[Psittac]

45 minutes ago, DriedSponge said:

Wow! I appreciate this detailed response! I'm currently using a Blue Yeti for a mic, and it works great for my usage so I think I'll stick with it. I have not made any final decisions yet, but I'm definitely leaning towards the Philips Audio Fidelio X2HR. The X3 looks nice but personally I'm not a fan of headphones that have cables coming out of both ears, I prefer it on one side only. The DT880 also looks appealing so I may consider that one as well.

Thanks everyone for your responses, it has made making this decision much easier!

The biggest benefit of cables coming off both sides is incase you need to run it balanced which would require a custom cable (hart audio or periapt cables for reference).  But balanced is typically for when you get higher in the budget side of things because while it does offer improvement, it's price to performance ratio isn't the greatest.  My understanding is that the X2HR is very similar to the X3.  Oh and another potential upgrade path for the X2HR would be an xDuoo MT-602 and tube roll.  I bought 3 or 4 sets of inexpensive tubes and the first one I put in was pure gold on the X3, I listened to that setup for Days kicking back on the couch with a smile.  My Zeus hated those tubes, but I haven't tried the other sets.  *I used the RCA 6AK5 EF-95.  last thought on the X3, it has no adjustments to it, just put it on and it auto fits!  Also the build quality is superb.

 

The DT880 250ohm is going to be more difficult to drive and will probably need an external amplifier, so keep that in mind.  But I love my 600 ohm (wearing them now)

[DriedSponge]

1 hour ago, Psittac said:

The biggest benefit of cables coming off both sides is incase you need to run it balanced which would require a custom cable (hart audio or periapt cables for reference).  But balanced is typically for when you get higher in the budget side of things because while it does offer improvement, it's price to performance ratio isn't the greatest.  My understanding is that the X2HR is very similar to the X3.  Oh and another potential upgrade path for the X2HR would be an xDuoo MT-602 and tube roll.  I bought 3 or 4 sets of inexpensive tubes and the first one I put in was pure gold on the X3, I listened to that setup for Days kicking back on the couch with a smile.  My Zeus hated those tubes, but I haven't tried the other sets.  *I used the RCA 6AK5 EF-95.  last thought on the X3, it has no adjustments to it, just put it on and it auto fits!  Also the build quality is superb.

 

The DT880 250ohm is going to be more difficult to drive and will probably need an external amplifier, so keep that in mind.  But I love my 600 ohm (wearing them now)

This information will certainly come in handy. There is a lot more to this audiophile stuff than I expected, and it's all very fascinating. Thanks a bunch for all the insight!

After doing a bit more research about the differences between the X2HR and X3, I think I'm going to pull the trigger on the X2HR. I'm sure it'll be a significant upgrade from my current Hyper X Cloud II's.

Thanks again!

[CTR640]

@PsittacI agree on the HiFiMan. However, @Tigerleonreviewed a HifiMan, I think the 400 or 400se and he likes it better than the DT990 if I remember it correctly. And @OfficialTechSpace recommends it too. It's still on my list but atm I'm waiting for another one this September.

 

@DriedSpongeThat's why I wrote "audiophile" instead of audiophile. It's bullshit most of the times. Audio is and should be something to enjoy. And the world of audio is an endless rabbithole and it will drain your wallet like a bloodsucker. Okay, maybe it's a bit too far lol but it comes all down to your budget, requirements and preferences and what do you seek in them. I'm for example that one guy next door that collects stuff that looks very unique like the Klipsch you see in my sig. And other headphones are for enjoying too.

 

Gaming headsets do have a bad reputation for a reason. Manufacturers making the gaming headsets/headphones don't take the materials seriously and another reason: there are usually no spare parts to replace the earpads for example.

[DriedSponge]

11 hours ago, CTR640 said:

@PsittacI agree on the HiFiMan. However, @Tigerleonreviewed a HifiMan, I think the 400 or 400se and he likes it better than the DT990 if I remember it correctly. And @OfficialTechSpace recommends it too. It's still on my list but atm I'm waiting for another one this September.

 

@DriedSpongeThat's why I wrote "audiophile" instead of audiophile. It's bullshit most of the times. Audio is and should be something to enjoy. And the world of audio is an endless rabbithole and it will drain your wallet like a bloodsucker. Okay, maybe it's a bit too far lol but it comes all down to your budget, requirements and preferences and what do you seek in them. I'm for example that one guy next door that collects stuff that looks very unique like the Klipsch you see in my sig. And other headphones are for enjoying too.

 

Gaming headsets do have a bad reputation for a reason. Manufacturers making the gaming headsets/headphones don't take the materials seriously and another reason: there are usually no spare parts to replace the earpads for example.

 Thanks for the insight, I really appreciate it! I don't think I would consider myself an "audiophile", but I do enjoy good sound.

@PsittacI have a quick follow up question. So I got the headphones (thanks to amazon giving free same day delivery), and they sounded fantastic when I plugged them into my PC and listened to them. I then decided to try to plug them into the USB sound card that game with my old Hyper X headset and it sounded even better. Do you think there may be a reason for this, and is it a bad idea to drive my headphones this way?

[CTR640]

34 minutes ago, DriedSponge said:

 Thanks for the insight, I really appreciate it! I don't think I would consider myself an "audiophile", but I do enjoy good sound.

@PsittacI have a quick follow up question. So I got the headphones (thanks to amazon giving free same day delivery), and they sounded fantastic when I plugged them into my PC and listened to them. I then decided to try to plug them into the USB sound card that game with my old Hyper X headset and it sounded even better. Do you think there may be a reason for this, and is it a bad idea to drive my headphones this way?

Then you're audio-enthusiast, just like me

 

Motherboard audio usually suck and they also usually don't provide enough power. Which headphone have you got?

My Amiron Home is not really loud despites the volume in Windows is at max, but since my motherboard audio is so damn weak, you lose all the (hidden) details in audio. But yeah, it's no secret external audio solution is much better (and convenient) than internal audio like from PC.

[Psittac]

59 minutes ago, DriedSponge said:

 Thanks for the insight, I really appreciate it! I don't think I would consider myself an "audiophile", but I do enjoy good sound.

@PsittacI have a quick follow up question. So I got the headphones (thanks to amazon giving free same day delivery), and they sounded fantastic when I plugged them into my PC and listened to them. I then decided to try to plug them into the USB sound card that game with my old Hyper X headset and it sounded even better. Do you think there may be a reason for this, and is it a bad idea to drive my headphones this way?

It makes perfect sense and it's perfectly safe.  That's kind of the fun of making this a hobby, different things sound different ways.  I don't know the science behind what makes onboard audio sound worse on low impedance headphones, someone was talking about it has a high output impedance so it makes low impedance headphones sound worse than high with onboard (wish I could remember the name, I'm horrible with names could be @H713 he knows a lot of the technical stuff among others).  Built in audio has come light years since the old days but there is still tons of room for improvement.  It will sound good for people on a budget and if someone wants more it's there to be had.

 

You could look into budget amplification but dac's tend to be way easier to screw up.  You could try dongle dac's, I'll look into other thing's you could try out.  It's a blast getting first hand experience with different equipment so you learn what people are talking about when they describe a setup.

 

I'm really glad you like them!!  They're excellent headphones, all of mine are honestly my favorites but I can listen to these for more days than others.  Cheers man!

 

*edit: I just realized you're in the states so that typically makes budget and recommendations easier.  The Schiit Fulla is a great affordable solution, I'll hook mine up and see what I think about them on the X3.  Oh which one did you get X2HR or X3?  Either of them would sound great on the xDuoo MT-602 or the fulla.  If you might make this a hobby the rabbit hole runs deep.  If you want more I'd come up with a budget and make another post.  You can get a stack, a dac/amp and after that add tubes.

 

12 hours ago, CTR640 said:

@PsittacI agree on the HiFiMan. However, @Tigerleonreviewed a HifiMan, I think the 400 or 400se and he likes it better than the DT990 if I remember it correctly. And @OfficialTechSpace recommends it too. It's still on my list but atm I'm waiting for another one this September.

Why can't we at tech space?

[DriedSponge]

16 minutes ago, CTR640 said:

Then you're audio-enthusiast, just like me

 

Motherboard audio usually suck and they also usually don't provide enough power. Which headphone have you got?

My Amiron Home is not really loud despites the volume in Windows is at max, but since my motherboard audio is so damn weak, you lose all the (hidden) details in audio. But yeah, it's no secret external audio solution is much better (and convenient) than internal audio like from PC.

Alright awesome, thanks for the clarification.

10 minutes ago, Psittac said:

It makes perfect sense and it's perfectly safe.  That's kind of the fun of making this a hobby, different things sound different ways.  I don't know the science behind what makes onboard audio sound worse on low impedance headphones, someone was talking about it has a high output impedance so it makes low impedance headphones sound worse than high with onboard (wish I could remember the name, I'm horrible with names could be @H713 he knows a lot of the technical stuff among others).  Built in audio has come light years since the old days but there is still tons of room for improvement.  It will sound good for people on a budget and if someone wants more it's there to be had.

 

You could look into budget amplification but dac's tend to be way easier to screw up.  You could try dongle dac's, I'll look into other thing's you could try out.  It's a blast getting first hand experience with different equipment so you learn what people are talking about when they describe a setup.

 

I'm really glad you like them!!  They're excellent headphones, all of mine are honestly my favorites but I can listen to these for more days than others.  Cheers man!

 

*edit: I just realized you're in the states so that typically makes budget and recommendations easier.  The Schiit Fulla is a great affordable solution, I'll hook mine up and see what I think about them on the X3.  Oh which one did you get X2HR or X3?  Either of them would sound great on the xDuoo MT-602 or the fulla.

 

Why can't we at tech space?

The headphones I got are the X2HR. I'm definitely interested in the possibility of getting a budget amp, so any insight you can provide is much appreciated!

[Psittac]

Just now, DriedSponge said:

Alright awesome, thanks for the clarification.

The headphones I got are the X2HR. I'm definitely interested in the possibility of getting a budget amp, so any insight you can provide is much appreciated!

I wouldn't go under the $100 mark for a dac/amp, I got the fosi Q4 with high hopes of a budget crusher and it was the worst thing I've ever heard, it produces sound and yep, if you just need sound it'll do that.  The Schiit Fulla would be entry level with the Fiio K3 being the other good option.  You could get a stand alone dac like the modi and pair it with this Douk Audio U3 to hit that $150 category but would only recommend it if you plan on getting more than one amp, I got it for my grandma and it sounds acceptable, I didn't put any time on it at all but it didn't make me vomit like the Q4.  Also the ifi zen dac v2 is liked by many.  From there you can go to $200 with the Fiio K5 pro. Then you get into the schiit stack of magni modi. at around the $200 mark.  Schiit has options all up and down the range and they're American made, good stuff.  You could make a Topping stack too with the D10s or D10 and an L30 amp

 

Like I said the rabbit hole goes deep.  I would get an idea of how far you want to go with this and decide from there.  I would start with a $100 dac/amp or a $200 stack then keep in the back of your mind it's fun to add a tube amp or maybe even a class A amp if you really want to keep going with it.

[H713]

Yes, the onboard audio on a good number of motherboards has a fairly high output impedance (often up to 75 $\Omega$). Dynamic drivers (more or less a mini version of the drivers in a normal loudspeaker) do not have a constant impedance with respect to frequency. It varies from headphone to headphone, but usually there will be a large increase in impedance at the driver's resonant frequency.

 

There does seem to be some confusion about what the output impedance of a headphone amp should be, because there are old standards suggesting it should be something like 120 $\Omega$. Modern-day headphones and speakers are generally designed with the idea that they will be driven from an amplifier with negligible source impedance.

 

The source impedance and the headphone impedance form a voltage divider. Since the impedance of the headphone isn't constant with respect to frequency, the output voltage across the transducer won't be constant with respect to frequency, and modern headphones expect that it will be constant. 

 

This matters more with low-impedance headphones, as the source impedance of a motherboard headphone amp is more significant. If the output impedance of the headphone amplifier is 75 $\Omega$, then the worst case scenario tends to be with headphones with a nominal (as discussed earlier, it isn't constant) impedance the 75 $\Omega$ range, since that will maximize the effect on the frequency response. 

 

 

Any decent modern headphone amp should have an output impedance < 1 $\Omega$. I use a rather goofy amplifier that I designed and built (it suits my use case... and probably only my use case), but the Schiit Magni is a very good amplifier for very little money. I had one for a while, and I think I paid about $75 for it on eBay. Only thing I didn't like about it was that it's inconveniently (slides around on my desk too much) and doesn't have balanced inputs. 

 

 

 

 

 

[DriedSponge]

49 minutes ago, Psittac said:

I wouldn't go under the $100 mark for a dac/amp, I got the fosi Q4 with high hopes of a budget crusher and it was the worst thing I've ever heard, it produces sound and yep, if you just need sound it'll do that.  The Schiit Fulla would be entry level with the Fiio K3 being the other good option.  You could get a stand alone dac like the modi and pair it with this Douk Audio U3 to hit that $150 category but would only recommend it if you plan on getting more than one amp, I got it for my grandma and it sounds acceptable, I didn't put any time on it at all but it didn't make me vomit like the Q4.  Also the ifi zen dac v2 is liked by many.  From there you can go to $200 with the Fiio K5 pro. Then you get into the schiit stack of magni modi. at around the $200 mark.  Schiit has options all up and down the range and they're American made, good stuff.  You could make a Topping stack too with the D10s or D10 and an L30 amp

 

Like I said the rabbit hole goes deep.  I would get an idea of how far you want to go with this and decide from there.  I would start with a $100 dac/amp or a $200 stack then keep in the back of your mind it's fun to add a tube amp or maybe even a class A amp if you really want to keep going with it.

Thanks for the suggestions! I'm not quite sure how far deep I'll go into the rabbit hole, but I'll probably start out with the Schitt Fulla or the Filo K3. Both of them are in the range of the amount of money I would like to spend. I will also have to do more research on some of the audiophile lingo and terminology. I have no idea what things like output impedance are lol.
 

I had another question about these headphones while using them at my desk, this could be a general question for any pair of headphones though: How do you handle cable management with them? My main issue is that the cable is so long, it hangs below my desk right by my chair, so it occasionally gets caught in my armrest when I swivel. (it is currently plugged into my Hyperx soundcard on top of my desk). I was just going to try to wrap it up and use zip ties, but I was wondering if you or anyone else had a more creative solution to this problem. Thank you!!!

[Psittac]

10 minutes ago, DriedSponge said:

Thanks for the suggestions! I'm not quite sure how far deep I'll go into the rabbit hole, but I'll probably start out with the Schitt Fulla or the Filo K3. Both of them are in the range of the amount of money I would like to spend. I will also have to do more research on some of the audiophile lingo and terminology. I have no idea what things like output impedance are lol.
 

I had another question about these headphones while using them at my desk, this could be a general question for any pair of headphones though: How do you handle cable management with them? My main issue is that the cable is so long, it hangs below my desk right by my chair, so it occasionally gets caught in my armrest when I swivel. (it is currently plugged into my Hyperx soundcard on top of my desk). I was just going to try to wrap it up and use zip ties, but I was wondering if you or anyone else had a more creative solution to this problem. Thank you!!!

Either of those options would suit you well no matter how deep you go, if anything you can just use it as a dac and get another amplifier.  The audiophile world can be extremely overwhelming, when I started getting into it I just decided to get an expensive balanced dac/amp because...... well balanced is future proof right?  After that I just got a very powerful amp because that way I wouldn't have to worry about whether or not it'll power future headphones.  I still don't know how to tell if an amp and a headphone will work well together so I just recommend either a high power amp for difficult to drive headphones, or go the other way and recommend easy to drive headphones.  I don't get it when people claim they can use hard to drive headphones on a cellphone.

 

As to cable management it can be a pain, I have the same issue as you so I'm not certain there is a great way to go about it other than getting used to it.  I do have some cable management pieces under my desk but so far I've only been able to properly route my mod mic extension... mostly because it's the only thing I use all the time.  I change headphones every couple day's so there's really no way to manage them.  I could mention a custom cable from hart audio cables or periapt cables but they get expensive even though they're actually cheap in the true "audiophile" world where cables can cost hundreds.

 

I would look into something cheap first like these cable clips

[DriedSponge]

10 hours ago, Psittac said:

Either of those options would suit you well no matter how deep you go, if anything you can just use it as a dac and get another amplifier.  The audiophile world can be extremely overwhelming, when I started getting into it I just decided to get an expensive balanced dac/amp because...... well balanced is future proof right?  After that I just got a very powerful amp because that way I wouldn't have to worry about whether or not it'll power future headphones.  I still don't know how to tell if an amp and a headphone will work well together so I just recommend either a high power amp for difficult to drive headphones, or go the other way and recommend easy to drive headphones.  I don't get it when people claim they can use hard to drive headphones on a cellphone.

 

As to cable management it can be a pain, I have the same issue as you so I'm not certain there is a great way to go about it other than getting used to it.  I do have some cable management pieces under my desk but so far I've only been able to properly route my mod mic extension... mostly because it's the only thing I use all the time.  I change headphones every couple day's so there's really no way to manage them.  I could mention a custom cable from hart audio cables or periapt cables but they get expensive even though they're actually cheap in the true "audiophile" world where cables can cost hundreds.

 

I would look into something cheap first like these cable clips

Thanks for the cable management tips, I'll look into those options!

Is there a benefit to having both a DAC and a AMP?

[CTR640]

2 hours ago, DriedSponge said:

Thanks for the cable management tips, I'll look into those options!

Is there a benefit to having both a DAC and a AMP?

There are single units which is a dac and amp in one device. The benefit is having just one device instead of a stack or one device next to other device.

So far, I wouldn't worry about that. I had the Fiio K5 Pro (DAC) and Lake People G103S (AMP), so two devices and they were connected using RCA cables.

Later I moved on to Klipsch Heritage dac/amp and I'm not missing anything really. It's also powerfull enough to drive 600ohm headphones. But this Klipsch dac/amp is no longer in production.

 

Is there any particular dac/amp you want within your budget?

 

@PsittacI tried to tag techspace, I even copied his nickname but no luck. Weird.

[Psittac]

1 hour ago, CTR640 said:

There are single units which is a dac and amp in one device. The benefit is having just one device instead of a stack or one device next to other device.

So far, I wouldn't worry about that. I had the Fiio K5 Pro (DAC) and Lake People G103S (AMP), so two devices and they were connected using RCA cables.

Later I moved on to Klipsch Heritage dac/amp and I'm not missing anything really. It's also powerfull enough to drive 600ohm headphones. But this Klipsch dac/amp is no longer in production.

 

Is there any particular dac/amp you want within your budget?

 

@PsittacI tried to tag techspace, I even copied his nickname but no luck. Weird.

The DAC is what coverts a digital signal, say your mp3 flac file or digital stream into an analogue signal that your headphones understands.  The problem is that it is only a reference or line voltage meaning that it has no power to it, just a signal, so it can't run your headphones.  The amp takes that low power signal and turns it into a high power signal that is capable of pushing the drivers on your headphones.  The differences in sound reproduction can happen at almost any point in the chain from file to ears, pretty much anything other than a cable is going to change the sound.  The biggest change in sound comes from headphones but how that digital signal is interpreted to start with can make a difference as well as how the amplifier responds to your headphones.  Once you have a dac amp and headphones the cheapest and most effective way to get a changed sound short of buying new headphones, is to change the pads.  I don't know about the X2HR but the X3 to me doesn't seam like it want's pads but I should look around and see what people are saying.  Lastly the funnest part to me is going with tube's, once you've got a tube amp you're able to change the tubes and drastically change the sound, for $10 it's like getting a new variation of your headphones.  Problem being that tube rolling is very hit or miss, some headphones make you want to wharf with certain tubes, but when you get the right combo it's excellent.  But you should always have a dac and solid state (non tube) amp first.

 

I hooked up my Fulla E to my X3 today so I can give you thoughts on it.  Coming from my other setup's it sounds a little bright in perhaps the mid treble? if that's a thing and a touch lacking in bass, and that was my recollection from my schiit stack a few years ago.  It's a great sound and pairing but only if that's what you're after.  Maybe @CTR640 can give impressions of Fiio products?  Aslo @Tigerleon has had excellent experiences with creative products, so maybe he can give you a feeling for what those are like.

 

*edit: you are able to use the DAC built into your computer, that would require a 3.5mm to RCA cable running from the line out of your onboard audio.  I don't think I've ever done that so I'm not sure if the onboard DAC is respectable or not.  @H713would probably have insight into this and tech space should be able to comment as well but I can't at him.  One option is to start with an amp and run it off your onboard DAC then get a stand alone DAC down the road.

 

1 hour ago, CTR640 said:

@PsittacI tried to tag techspace, I even copied his nickname but no luck. Weird.

Yeah it's odd, I think I've had that problem in the past.