Sennheiser pc350 se help

[zee2200]

Hey guys. So recently I bought the pc350 se and when it got in and i started using it it felt somewhat odd. I cant tell what it was but the sound felt a little bit off. right now they sound fine to me(did i get used to the sound?), however i was wondering if they needed an amp. Right now they're plugged into my mobo which is an asus z170-e. I'm a completely audio nooby so i have no idea how to check if my onboard audio is good enough. So do my headphones need an amp? If they do, do you have any recommendations? I'd prefer it to be around the $100 range as im on a budget but feel free to suggest anything (I'd even be ok with sound cards). Thanks in advance

[tomoki]

Does it sound like ...the vocals are too quiet and the music is too loud when you watch videos? 

Does it sound like when you listen to music files it produces the same as the above question? 

[ItsTheDuckAgain]

Well we are talking about a 130$-ish Headset here, so you really can't expect them to sound like some 2000$ Fostex Headphones :-)

The 350se Sennheisers are quiet all right in that price range (if you bought an original, there is lots of Sennheiser fake stuff out there).

If you want to amp it up a bit have a look at SMSL M3, that one is really good for around 70$ as a little power booster (connect via optical cable only, anything else is garbage on that box), keep in mind that you will need an expansion for the mic cord though.

[zee2200]

1 hour ago, tomoki said:

Does it sound like ...the vocals are too quiet and the music is too loud when you watch videos? 

Does it sound like when you listen to music files it produces the same as the above question? 

to me it sounded distorted and sometimes a bit muffled of that makes sense

55 minutes ago, ItsTheDuckAgain said:

Well we are talking about a 130$-ish Headset here, so you really can't expect them to sound like some 2000$ Fostex Headphones :-)

The 350se Sennheisers are quiet all right in that price range (if you bought an original, there is lots of Sennheiser fake stuff out there).

If you want to amp it up a bit have a look at SMSL M3, that one is really good for around 70$ as a little power booster (connect via optical cable only, anything else is garbage on that box), keep in mind that you will need an expansion for the mic cord though.

I bought it from Newegg and i cant tell if anything about it is fishy so im hoping its the original and not a cheap copy. Thank youbfor the recommendation as well. Though ive been looking around and i found people running this headset with things such as an asus xonar u3 and an astro mixamp. Would those also be viable options? are they better or worse? again thanks for all the help i really appreciate it guys.

 

edit: found the asus xonar DX sound card. reviews seem very good. Any thought or experiences?

[ItsTheDuckAgain]

24 minutes ago, zee2200 said:

to me it sounded distorted and sometimes a bit muffled of that makes sense

I bought it from Newegg and i cant tell if anything about it is fishy so im hoping its the original and not a cheap copy. Thank youbfor the recommendation as well. Though ive been looking around and i found people running this headset with things such as an asus xonar u3 and an astro mixamp. Would those also be viable options? are they better or worse? again thanks for all the help i really appreciate it guys.

SMSL M3 will do a better job in amping up than any dedicated soundcard would. The astro mixamp is fine, the M3 is better though (had an astro once on my work computer and could compare it directly with the M3, to keep it simple: the former is more like a Fiat 500 while the later is more like a Mercedes SL)

 

An AMP only comes into play when you are satisfied with the sound in general, if the output signal is fishy from the start the AMP will make it more powerfull but it will still sound fishy. There is lots that can be done to get decent sound out of a computer, thats why many people go with dedicated soundcards because their cheap Asrock boards sound like bullcrap. Your board got a half decent soundchip.

 

So if you want to make louder get an amp. If you want to make the quality better, get a better soundcard (xonar is fine). If you want to go all out:

Get a Soundcart

Get a Jitterbug

Get an AMP/DAC

but then you will need something better then the PC350se you got to get the potential out of it. :-)

 

Since your original post referred to this

1 hour ago, zee2200 said:

(...) felt somewhat odd (...) felt a little bit off (...) right now they sound fine to me(did i get used to the sound?) (...)was wondering if they needed an amp (...) so do my headphones need an amp? If they do, do you have any recommendations?

I went with an AMP. The choice is yours and you can't tell till you actually tested it.

 

My recommendation would be to start of with the M3 and nothing else, from what you said I think that might already cover it.

[FoxyOrange]

Was there any audio "enhancement" software included with your mobo drivers? Does your headset have a volume knob on the right side? I find mine (Game Ones) sound better when you turn that knob to its lowest setting and just use the OS alone to adjust volume. On-board should be enough to push them, I think.

[zee2200]

sorry for the late response but thank you duck, i think ill try foxy's suggestion and then see if that helps if not i guess im getting that amp!

3 hours ago, FoxyOrange said:

Was there any audio "enhancement" software included with your mobo drivers? Does your headset have a volume knob on the right side? I find mine (Game Ones) sound better when you turn that knob to its lowest setting and just use the OS alone to adjust volume. On-board should be enough to push them, I think.

i think it does yeah there's a couple options but i have all of them unchecked except one but i cant remember what its called for the life of me. Tho it did make them sound better. as for the volume knob yes it does have one. Ill try that as soon as i get home. Thank you.

[FoxyOrange]

12 hours ago, zee2200 said:

i think it does yeah there's a couple options but i have all of them unchecked except one but i cant remember what its called for the life of me. Tho it did make them sound better. as for the volume knob yes it does have one. Ill try that as soon as i get home. Thank you.

I'm not too familiar with what kind of stuff this software does. Might be best just to close it and at the same time make sure it doesn't open automatically on start up. I wouldn't be surprised if when open it'd alter the sound even with all things disabled, just to make the stock sound appear 'worse' than it really is so their software enhancements can look good. 

Also if you can, test the headphones in other devices too and see if you get similar results. You could have gotten a defective unit and might need to refund it for a new one. I've used Senn Game headsets before, open ones only but still never heard anything like that.