300 dollar headphones vs 200 dollar headphones + 100 dollar DAC?

[Surpuppa]

Here is what I am thinking, I could buy the Philips Fidelio x2, and not getting an DAC. Or I can buy the Audio Technica ATH AD500X, because Ive read that they have amazing soundstage, and pair them with a Fiio E10K, which has a bass boost, since it has low bass. I will use them for gaming and movies mostly, but I am thinking of starting to listen to music a lot more.

Edited October 31, 2016 by Surpuppa

[MaxBunny]

1 minute ago, Surpuppa said:

 I will use them for gaming. 

You're probably overpaying for either then.

[Surpuppa]

1 minute ago, MaxBunny said:

You're probably overpaying for either then.

Edited what I wanted, to clarify that I will not only use them for gaming

[astrosheen]

12 minutes ago, Surpuppa said:

Here is what I am thinking, I could buy the Philips Fidelio x2, and not getting an DAC. Or I can buy the Audio Technica ATH AD500X, because Ive read that they have amazing soundstage, and pair them with a Fiio E10K, which has a bass boost, since it has low bass. I will use them for gaming and movies mostly, but I am thinking of starting to listen to music a lot more.

4

I have the Audio-Technica ath ad900x and they are fantastic for everything( though lack a little bass IMO but fixable in eq) and are the most comfortable headphones I've every tried though I had to do the hair tied mod. (you may have to too with the 500x). You could look to go for a higher set of ath ad series without a DAC. What output audio device are you using atm

[Surpuppa]

26 minutes ago, astrosheen said:

I have the Audio-Technica ath ad900x and they are fantastic for everything( though lack a little bass IMO but fixable in eq) and are the most comfortable headphones I've every tried though I had to do the hair tied mod. (you may have to too with the 500x). You could look to go for a higher set of ath ad series without a DAC. What output audio device are you using atm

I do not have any output devices, which is why I asked if I should go with the 300 dollar X2 (with good bass) or the cheaper 500X with the DAC Fiio E10K, which has a bass boost. Will a DAC have any other benefits?

[astrosheen]

Just now, Surpuppa said:

I do not have any output devices, which is why I asked if I should go with the 300 dollar X2 (with good bass) or the cheaper 500X with the DAC Fiio E10K, which has a bass boost. Will a DAC have any other benefits?

 

if you dont have any output devices what will you play you music/movies from... What will you be playing them off? As for bass its down to personal preference. Some people are bassheads and want as much as they can get others want tight and controlled bass and others aren't keen on it. The x2's will have better and cleaner bass while the 500x will be an eq setting through the dac which will be worse (basically synthetic bass). A DAC in with those headphones wont have many other benefits unless you are playing stuff from something with shit inbuilt audio. A DAC is normally used when the headphones require more power to drive ie over60ohms and to get a better sound than what your output device would. Most recent devices have good output quality. When ever it comes to buying headphones its best to try as many as you can in a store. If not you go off what others say and not everyone's ears are the same.

[Surpuppa]

2 minutes ago, astrosheen said:

if you dont have any output devices what will you play you music/movies from... What will you be playing them off? As for bass its down to personal preference. Some people are bassheads and want as much as they can get others want tight and controlled bass and others aren't keen on it. The x2's will have better and cleaner bass while the 500x will be an eq setting through the dac which will be worse (basically synthetic bass). A DAC in with those headphones wont have many other benefits unless you are playing stuff from something with shit inbuilt audio. A DAC is normally used when the headphones require more power to drive ie over60ohms and to get a better sound than what your output device would. Most recent devices have good output quality. When ever it comes to buying headphones its best to try as many as you can in a store. If not you go off what others say and not everyone's ears are the same.

If I dont buy a DAC I will use the headphones directly from my motherboard, and it is old and has quite a bit of static sound (will buy a new soon)

[astrosheen]

Just now, Surpuppa said:

If I dont buy a DAC I will use the headphones directly from my motherboard, and it is old and has quite a bit of static sound (will buy a new soon)

 

Ok cool so it's up to you. You can either get the x2 and deal with subpar sound until you upgrade and have a better bass and overall sound(Recent motherboards have solid soundcards) or get the 500x with the DAC and have a good experience the whole time 

[The Flying Sloth]

I have learned the hard way that headphone price almost never scales to quality/performance,
I have many friends with music studios who refuse to use anything other than the latest 'studio' set from sennheiser or Beats  (although the Beats users are in the minority)
My favourite sounding over ears OF ALL TIME are a cheap set of Areal 7 Choppers I bought on sale  for $17 (closely followed by the TDK MP100's tied with the Beyerdynamic T5p's ) and I don't know whether I got a lucky set but many of my $400+ headphone user friends have been in awe at the sound quality from those two sets.

OP, in the end it always comes down to what sound you like best. Don't discount cheap headphones just because they're cheap,  sometimes the cheap ones sound better (again, it is all up to your opinion).

[Dackzy]

6 hours ago, astrosheen said:

. A DAC is normally used when the headphones require more power to drive ie over60ohms and to get a better sound than what your output device would. 

Very very very wrong

A DAC is a Digital to analog convertor, it has no power behind the signal, it is just a block of metal and plastic if you don't have a amp. Ohm has also close nothing to do with how hard headphones are to drive. You have seen that very flawed techquickie luke did haven't you?

The sensitivity of the driver matters 95% while ohm matters 5%.

hence a pair of 32 ohm headphones can be way harder to drive than a pair of 300ohm headphones

I recommend that you give this a read

 

[astrosheen]

1 hour ago, Dackzy said:

Very very very wrong

A DAC is a Digital to analog convertor, it has no power behind the signal, it is just a block of metal and plastic if you don't have a amp. Ohm has also close nothing to do with how hard headphones are to drive. You have seen that very flawed techquickie luke did haven't you?

The sensitivity of the driver matters 95% while ohm matters 5%.

hence a pair of 32 ohm headphones can be way harder to drive than a pair of 300ohm headphones

I recommend that you give this a read

 

 

 

Yea sorry didnt explain that very well at all. I meant the dac he was looking at because it included an amp. Great post though for future use 

[AAJoe]

We live in an amazing age - the answer to this question is:

 

Because audio is 90% personal taste and 10% made up statistics, just buy them both. Test them out. Return the setup you like the least.

 

This has three advantages

 

1) You can be sure your opinion is correct

2) You can post the results here and inform others of your opinion

3) There's a DECENT chance you'll be fine with the cheaper headphones WITHOUT the DAC, saving you $100. Which you can then spend on booze, women, men, pizza, or a ModMic (In case you don't have a good mic already).

 

Just be sure you buy from a place with a good return policy!

 

PS: I work for ModMic

[KaminKevCrew]

Nobody (that I saw while glancing through) has said anything about this, but for the love of everything, don't pay $200 for the ATH AD-500X. It's an $80 headphone...

[Dackzy]

8 hours ago, KaminKevCrew said:

Nobody (that I saw while glancing through) has said anything about this, but for the love of everything, don't pay $200 for the ATH AD-500X. It's an $80 headphone...

I don't think he is paying 200$ for them, I think he just has them as a option, because of soundstage.

[Surpuppa]

On 2016-11-02 at 7:13 AM, Dackzy said:

I don't think he is paying 200$ for them, I think he just has them as a option, because of soundstage.

actually, in sweden they cost a little below 200 while the X2 costs the upper 300'

Edit: Actually, I was looking at the wrong headphone, you were right. The AD500X costs 160 dollars, the 700X costs 190 and the X2 costs 200 dollars.

[Dackzy]

3 minutes ago, Surpuppa said:

actually, in sweden they cost a little below 200 while the X2 costs the upper 300

huh, yeah that is overpriced, never really needed or wanted to look up the nordic price for them, but damn they are expensive here. The X2 has higher audio quality. The AD500x will pretty much always miss bass, so if you want bass get the X2

[Surpuppa]

Just now, Dackzy said:

huh, yeah that is overpriced, never really needed or wanted to look up the nordic price for them, but damn they are expensive here. The X2 has higher audio quality. The AD500x will pretty much always miss bass, so if you want bass get the X2

Yeah, I probably will. The only thing about them is that I suspect they are a bit too heavy, but then again, many have said that they are not

[Dackzy]

2 minutes ago, Surpuppa said:

Yeah, I probably will. The only thing about them is that I suspect they are a bit too heavy, but then again, many have said that they are not

I have not had a problem with them. I tried them for 4-5 hours straight and had no problem, while if I do that with lets say the M50x then it starts to hurt after 1-2 hours