A little over look on equipment choices for newbie

[RaZeXzZz]

Looking at updating my music experience while working at home. My speakers are great but want to have a great time with headphones as well.

Currently have two computers, PC for gaming, then a dock for my personal/work macbooks. I plan to hook the two (maybe more in the future) sources to this mixer. Then the main out L/R will go to my speakers which have that connection. The main out headphones will go to the Schiit Magni+ by a 1/4" to RCA. From the amp, to the Sennheiser HD 650. (Helps that they are on sale right now)

Total for it all is: ~$600

$400 of it is just the headphones, crutchfield recommends spending about 25%-50% the price of the headphones on an amp.

 

Does anyone see any downfalls with the equipment I picked or anything I should do differently?

Thanks

Edited November 8, 2023 by RaZeXzZz
added link to what speakers I have

[Cocococo]

These are all pretty much exactly what i would go for with this kind of budget, top picks all around (really rare on these forums) only question mark i have is the speakers, do you already have them or are you planning to purchase and run them off the Schiit equipment?

[RaZeXzZz]

Just now, Cocococo said:

These are all pretty much exactly what i would go for with this kind of budget, top picks all around (really rare on these forums) only question mark i have is the speakers, do you already have them or are you planning to purchase and run them off the Schiit equipment?

Awesome, thanks for the thumbs up on my picks. For the speakers, I do already have them. They are externally powered so I shouldnt need an amp for them. If I did my reading right, I would only need to run off the Schiit if the speakers were passive.

[Cocococo]

I can't say too much on interfaces (i just use a usb mic for discord) they should run off the Magni just fine, i run my JBL 305's off my Schiit Magni and they sound great. Do you like the kind of sound signature the HD650's give? cause my big gripe with 6x0 line of Sennheiser is how quickly earpads wear out and how expensive/ difficult finding replacements is, there's been some new competition to the 6x0 line lately that you may not have seen

[RaZeXzZz]

I have not heard about the earpad replacement and wear issue. I have not been able to try in person the headsets but from reading a comparison on this site between the HD600 and HD650. The HD650 seem to be what I prefer. If you know of some others that sound the same but are cheaper then I would love to take a look.

[Psittac]

I agree with everything you have chosen, as @RaZeXzZz said it's probably what I would do with that budget, EXCEPT the headphones.  I see no logical reason to purchase the 650 when the 6xx exists seeing as they're basically the same headphones.  I LOVE my 6xx but if I had to buy them again I don't think I'd pay $400 for them.  I know that people not in north america don't have that option, but drop has done something amazing by bringing an all time classic of a headphone to the masses.  There really is nothing like them and my god, once you put them on tubes.....  Well hell I'd reconsider that $400 price tag at that point but my current setup doesn't allow for tube useage often enough.

 

Also that mixer looks epic, I think I'll have to get one.

[Cocococo]

Audio Technica R70X, FiiO FT3 and Moondrop Para are all great competition in this kind of budget, R70X has no problems with replacement pads and has a wider more detailed soundstage than the 6x0 line, but i do very much prefer 600 and 650 tuning. The FT3 are probably the strongest competition i've tried so far, warm bass like the 650, best soundstage of any headphone you can get at this budget and the best boxed in features, but the earcups are a bit small and they look goofy (like hotwheels rim shell) finally the Moondrop Para, i will come out and say that i haven't gotten to try them in person, but based on the reviews i've seen (especially Crinacles) the graphs and the brief experience i've had with the Venus (more expensive model but same chassis and headband, Venus were too heavy for me) gives me a lot of confidence in recommending them. Like @Psittac said the 650 only makes sense if you aren't in US, otherwise i'd say to buy the HD6xx (literally the same as HD650, just blue) 

[RaZeXzZz]

Thanks @Cocococo and @Psittac for the HD6XX recommendation. Going with those would bring the total cost down $200 which would be a bonus. I think those are also the headphones that @LinusTech uses at his house if I remember the last WAN show correctly.

 

@Cocococo I will have a look at the others you suggested.

 

Thanks for your help!

[LinusTech]

I use HD600s. They are similar, but not quite the same headphones

[Ahoy Hoy]

On 11/8/2023 at 4:24 AM, RaZeXzZz said:

Looking at updating my music experience while working at home. My speakers are great but want to have a great time with headphones as well.

Currently have two computers, PC for gaming, then a dock for my personal/work macbooks. I plan to hook the two (maybe more in the future) sources to this mixer. Then the main out L/R will go to my speakers which have that connection. The main out headphones will go to the Schiit Magni+ by a 1/4" to RCA. From the amp, to the Sennheiser HD 650. (Helps that they are on sale right now)

Total for it all is: ~$600

$400 of it is just the headphones, crutchfield recommends spending about 25%-50% the price of the headphones on an amp.

 

Does anyone see any downfalls with the equipment I picked or anything I should do differently?

Thanks

In the politest way possible. That's stupid and a waste of money.

getting a mixer to mix multiple sources to different outputs. Perfectly acceptable.

Spending a chunk of money on a headphone amp even though MacBooks have great built in audio and if your computer is not the cheapest rubbish you can find probably also has a perfectly acceptable and capable audio system. Both will probably run the HD650 with no problems because they are not one of these one off specialist headphones with stupid impedance and low sensitivity.

Obviously, a shop advises you to spend money on things they sell. My recommendation on headphone amplification for 99.99% of headphones is to test it first on the device you want to use and if it's loud enough without interference/background noise etc. Then it's good enough and an extra piece of equipment will change nothing.

The obvious downfall is you have a decent audio sauce in the MacBook and computer going through what is a cheap crappy mixer and most likely the cheapest cables you found on Amazon (before you say cables don't matter, they do, cheap crap is cheap crap, expensive snake oil is expensive bollcocks, but decent quality at the correct price is what you should buy) going to an expensive amp. 


Since I'm two weeks late to the party and you've probably bought this. Test it. Listen to the headphones in your system as said, then plug them directly into the MacBook and computer (adjust the volume to about the same). Can you tell a difference?