Need advice, headphones or 2.1?

A

Adreneline

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 16, 2008
Messages
363
Hey guys. I've recently bought the Logitech Z-5500, and couldn't be more pleased. However, it seems that they aren't the best for music, and I want to get the best out of my music. I was looking at the Sennheiser HD555 headphones for around ~150-200$ CDN, and think that might be a good option.

Should I go with those or a 2.0/2.1 speaker system? I mean, my desk would be quite cluttered then.. but if its worth it.. I guess I can.

Or is it not worth it to get something separate for music? (Z-5500 sound crisp and fine, but I can see where people are coming from for music). I guess its worth mentioning I have a part time job at Best Buy.. so income isn't exactly that big.. lol.

Or.. third option, buying a Xonar DX and sticking with Z-5500 for all audio needs.

Thanks!
 
Since you already got the Logicraps(sorry man, you know me), then go ahead and upgrade your sound card. If you want some decent headphones for music to run out of the new sound card, well, what music do you like? There are much better options than the 555s for music.
 
Lol yeah people seem to hate the 5500's here, but it's got great reviews else where. I enjoy the music on them, the only complaint would be too boomy at higher volumes. I'll still use them for music, just not at night.. hence headphones :).

I listen to mostly rock, alternative, and some metal. The 555's look good.

I can't purchase both a sound card and headphones at once, I can, but I want to delay one a couple months 'cause I'm spending too much on audio equipment :mad:!

Should I buy the sound card first or get the headphones first?
 
Sound card first. You will need it more for the headphones than the 5500s which use a digital input. That means the 5500s will not sound much different without a sound card but the headphones will sound REALLY different with a sound card. Analogue onboard sound is pretty awful.

Turn down the sub a bit if it has a volume knob. The 5500s are fine for 5.1 gaming. There is just better out there is all.

Try for a Prelude instead of the xonar. That will give you eax 5 at least and that alone is worth it. Use the digital output of course.

Come back when you want some headphones or just try for a pair of Koss Sb40s. They are better than the 5500s.
 
prelude is out of my price range for sound card. 179.99 at NCIX.. I live in Canada.

I don't game much, watch movies and play music a lot though. A lot of stuff you've recommended over the z-5500 (i've seen others of your posts, i browse this forum frequent), get bad to mediocre reviews..

I think i'll buy a soundcard and hold off for headphones until a later date.

Thanks!
 
Adreneline said:
A lot of stuff you've recommended over the z-5500 ... get bad to mediocre reviews.
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It's relative...depending on the budget or application, one thing is bad and another good. Also, "Newegg reviews" and such are generally not worth the bandwidth it takes to download them, so consider your sources.
 
lol

You try and help people.

5500s get rave reviews why? Generally b/c they are the "reviewers" FIRST stereo that they bought.

I have had at least 350 different stereos and headphone setups in the last 5 years. When I say something is better than something else, believe it. The logitechs and klipsch, whatever else pc speakers are all gimped by one fact: they use satellites. Speakers too small to (when cheap as pc drivers are) produce realistic midrange frequencies. To do so, at this price range at least, (there are several crazy 4" full range drivers) you need at least a 5 1/4 or 6 1/2 driver.

Funny thing is, I am really a noob in comparison to most audiophiles. I barely even qualify imo.

So please trust me when I say that I have your best interests at heart and want you to hear the good side of sound.

Cheers!
 
spaceman said:
5500s get rave reviews why? Generally b/c they are the "reviewers" FIRST stereo that they bought.
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That, or they finally got rid of these:

A0973885.jpg
 
I don't doubt for a second real speakers hooked up to a receiver (decent ones) sound a lot better than computer speakers.

But I've seen some pretty drastic comments about 5500's on this forum that are to relate them to 10$ no-brand speakers. I have a $2000 speaker system in my living room (klipsch) parents bought. I definitely know these speakers do not compare to them. But they still sound wonderful and are my highlight for turning my computer on. I didn't upgrade from bad speakers, I had the Z-5300e.. they were pretty good.

I just like to go by reviews. I haven't used new egg or anything. I simply searched the headphones you suggested on Amazon.com and didn't come up with the best reviews. I didn't say they were bad, just mediocre. You are giving really good advice and being helpful, it's just I'd rather get the Sennheiser :p.. Found them for $145 (after int. shipping) from Amazon.com.

For me, and a lot of people who own them, Z-5500 is mooore than enough. I just want headphones because music is one area 5500 lacks. I just graduated high school myself, not very rich here.

Thanks
 
The Xonar DX is a great card, but I don't run my Z5500's on Digital from it. The Xonar has loud "pop!"s when running through digital. This happens almost randomly on window swapping, application swaps, song changes.....all the damn time basically. Very annoying. There are other users on Asus's forums complaining about the same issue, but I doubt it's fixable.

Right now I split the front channel signal from the Xonar to my Z5500's and my headphone amp. I just have to remember to turn off the device thats not in use.

Anyways, I enjoy the 5500's for single player games and sometimes movies. For mutiplayer games (where enemy location/footsteps matter) and music I always use headphones.
 
Adreneline said:
But I've seen some pretty drastic comments about 5500's on this forum that are to relate them to 10$ no-brand speakers.
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They would be nice if they didn't cost north of $200. They're okay if your first priority is getting a 5.1 config limited to that budget.


strend said:
The Xonar DX is a great card, but I don't run my Z5500's on Digital from it.
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There's not much point to the Xonar if you're going to use it for digital output...


Adreneline said:
wouldn't digital sound better for movies?
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Digital doesn't "sound"...it just transports the audio signal somewhere else without modifying it. If that gets it from somewhere that can't do a very good job processing it to somewhere that can without introducing noise and distortion - great, that's what it's for. But it doesn't "sound better."
 
Oh, alright.

So what about all the Dolby Digital stuff? Like the features on my speakers, how do I go about using them? I thought you could only on digital. I know I can't use DTS 96/24 because the card doesn't support it (btw is this a big disadvantage?), but the others work just fine without being on digital?

Like if a movie supports dolby digital 5.1, how do I go about getting that all setup?
 
Logitechs are great for movie/gaming "boom sound", but good headphones will match up with much more expensive speaker sound quality. Also, you already have enough speakers.

However, the source is most important. Get the soundcard first if you use onboard, grab headphones after. A good pair of headphones will only expose the bad qualities of a low-end source.
 
defy said:
Logitechs are great for movie/gaming "boom sound", but good headphones will match up with much more expensive speaker sound quality. Also, you already have enough speakers.

However, the source is most important. Get the soundcard first if you use onboard, grab headphones after. A good pair of headphones will only expose the bad qualities of a low-end source.
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Like I said. Good point it be.

Ok, comparing the 5500s to a $2000 klipsch stereo is, unfortunately, not really a good point of reference. Assuming that your parents bought the klipsch from bb, the system there largely suffer from the overbright boominess that the 5500s do. A good pair of headphones with a decent sound card or other external dac/amp like the zero would OWN said system in terms of sound quality.

Good sound is realistic. Klipsch, logitech, creative, bose are all too bright and boomy to sound real. With the exception of Klipsch's heritage speakers that is.

The best way to get real sound cheap is to get a good sound card or dac and a decent pair of real headphones. This takes patience and trying several different setups but the easiest thing to do for you is to get a pair of A900s and a Prelude.

ONE LOVE!
 
Yeah, if I want something to be heard by everyone around me or just out of the room doing things, I can crank up my Z-5500, otherwise use the A700 for music! I do watch movies/will be gaming a lot, so the Z-5500 are definitely very useful even if I don't use em for music. But, like I said, they still sound pretty good to me for music (just adjust sub to maybe 1 1/2 or 2 bars).

They're just fragile, and I listen to music everyday, so I'd like to use headphones instead of keeping them on all the time! So that sounds good. A700 are good yeah? Read great things about em and someone on the forum told me to get them.

Thanks for your help.
 
As with all things audio, good is very relative...but the ATH-A700 series is very exceptional for the price. The worst things I've heard about them are (a) people think the wings take getting used to, (b) people end up becoming audio geeks and spend too much money. :D
 
Ugh I already spent too much money, spent my first paycheck and 2nd on this stuff! ($600 altogether). $240 for Z-5500 ($337 after shipping and taxes.. shipping's a pain), and now Xonar DX ($110) and the ATH-a700 for ($147).

Do you recommend hooking up my Z-5500 through digital for movie watching? Or is analog better? Isn't dolby digital only available through a digital connection?

I ask because I can get a super cheap optical cable off of Amazon along with my A700.. they're so dirt cheap but a lot of them except a 3 foot one is restricted from shipping to Canada.
 
Dolby Digital doesn't have much to do with the interconnect you use, the coincidence of naming is somewhat unfortunate. You just need a DAC stage that supports it...I'm pretty sure both the Z-5500 and the Xonar DX do; if so, either should be able to handle it.

If the optical "cable" is dirt cheap, I'd get one just so you can test both ways and pick the one you like better.
 
It's 0.47$ lol. 2.99 shipping though, go figure.

yeah.. that's weird. I didn't know I could've got dolby digital and all that good stuff out of the Z-5300 hooked up to a sound card. Oh well. The 5500's will probably go on my first HDTV that I plan to get soon... and PS3. So that works..

I personally can't wait for the headphones though. I don't like having my Z-5500 on 24/7 because I want it to last a long time. So the ATH-A700 will work out great.

Do you know if I'll have to choose either/or for analog output? Like, either have the 5500 or the headphones in, can't have at both analog for the Xonar DX?

Also, since the Xonar DX doesn't have DTS, and z-5500 internal dac does, will the z-5500 plugged in by digital have any improvement in any fields? Cause of DTS.

Sorry. don't know about this stuff. lol
 
Everyone's got to learn it some time. Or not...but I like it better when I know how to do stuff. :D

Sound cards aren't really made to switch output devices...if you have a front audio break-out, sometimes that will give you a headphone jack that overrides the speakers. The Z-5500s might have their own headphone jack, although speaker passthroughs are notoriously flaky...there, you'll mostly have to try it and see. I think it will at least be better than on the $20 crap speakers Dell ships with new computers.

DTS is mostly just a way of packaging an audio signal. There is usually an alternative to using it.
 
Please just don't play the 700s out of the 5500 headphone jack.

That is all.

Carry on.
 
Really, most front audio jacks are crap too...o_O

Using speakers and headphones on the same source is a major pain until you have something like a receiver, or a device that does it correctly like the Zero.
 
Ahah. Yeah, definitely not going to use the Z-5500 headphone jack. Sounded muffled on my 5300s when I used their headphone jack. I'd still enjoy loud music around the house with the 5500's, the bass on the headphones won't be as much :p. I was pretty impressed the 5500, so I can't wait for the audio quality on the headphones. I wonder how better the quality will be on the 5500's when i get the Xonar DX.

Anyways, quick question. This Xonar DX card requires a floppy power connector.. I have this PSU: OCZ StealthXStream

Connectors:
1 x 20+4-pin ATX
1 x 4+4-pin CPU (supports double CPUs/supplies stable voltage)
1 x 6-pin PCI-E
1 x 6+2-pin PCI-E
3 x SATA
5 x Peripheral
1 x Floppy

It says 1x floppy, but might that be in use? I just got a graphic card (9600gt) and that's about it. Card reader inside my pc as well.
 
Some motherboards use the floppy power connector for supplemental memory power, but it's rare. Unless you actually have a floppy drive installed, it's probably free.
 
Yeah, I don't have a floppy drive in this PC. It was bought from Futureshop though.. upgraded PSU + GPU.

I thought the floppy power connector came from the PSu.
 
Omg.. this is awful. I just tried to go buy the A700 today, and it became restricted.. overnight it seems.. Omg.. hate amazon.

I don't know where else I can buy these headphones for a similar price..(canada)

I did find the ATH-AD700 for a reasonable price. I don't think I'll buy a sound card right away with it though. Is there any significant difference between the A700 and AD700? Besides the open vs closed cans of course
 
OK.. after lots of researching and reading up, looks like I'd probably be hammered with brokerage fees from the states going to Canada border. At the very least, GST + PST, which is 13% of the price. So with that in mind,

Please tell me which option you think are best!

-Z-5500 + Prelude

-Buy M-audio AV40 or <$200 speakers 2.0 or 2.1 - either replace the two front satellites of the Z-5500 if possible, or use them alongside Z-5500

-Spring for the headphones regardless of brokerage fees, but do not get a sound card.

-Settle for Sennheiser HD515 headphones + xonar DX
 
AV40s are going to sound better than the corresponding Z-5500 sats. But good headphones like the A700s (or a different option of similar quality) will sound better than any speakers you could get for the money.

If you start flirting with higher quality audio...sooner or later it will be helpful to ditch the sound card entirely, at least when you're not doing gaming. So I can't feel entirely good about something like the Xonar when the Zero has roughly the same cost but will sound much better for music, more so if you have quality headphones to bring it out.


Try this option, he'll ship to Canada for ~$13 (USD). I forget if this is a bit over your budget or not, but D2000s for $240 shipped is kinda nice.
 
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Yeah. The only headphones I can get are the HD555, and those will have import fees and taxes too. I can't even think about buying them from Canadian retailers.. $199.99 at NCIX. Audiotechnica is no where to be found in Canada.

So is hooking up the AV40 to the z-5500 sub a good idea? Or standalone?

It says 20.99 USD for those headphones when I went to the bottom and put Canada shipping. I don't exactly have a STRICT budget because I have a job, but I'd like to keep it to minimal.. the z-5500 already took a huge gap out of me. Also, the import/dutie fees are still in effect. USPS is better, but it still could happen.
 
The main problem with hooking it up to the sub is that there's an amplifier inside it that normally drives the Z-5500 sats. Feeding an already amplified signal into powered speakers is a bad idea. Not because it will blow stuff up or anything...it just won't work well and will probably give a bad sound. Better to just detach the front connection from the sound card (you'll need to do analog for this) and plug the alternate sats into it instead.

The D2000s are really good compared to the Z-5500s, but you might want to read up on them a bit on Head-Fi if you're thinking about them. There are probably other options...the international thing just raises the degree of difficulty on shopping. :(
 
Yes it does :(

But the m-audio is available on Apple.ca for free shipping at $179.99 before taxes. It seems like a pretty good deal.

So if I do it the way you suggested, the Z-5500 sub will still work right?

The most important question: Would $200 warrant a nice quality upgrade in music enough over the z-5500 front sats? :p I think thats a good thing to consider.
 
Adreneline said:
So if I do it the way you suggested, the Z-5500 sub will still work right?
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Should, but I'm making certain guesses about the way it's wired. It won't work at the same time in digital mode, although you could swap modes in your audio control software every time...


Adreneline said:
The most important question: Would $200 warrant a nice quality upgrade in music enough over the z-5500 front sats? :p I think thats a good thing to consider.
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They'll do a much better job as sats, but I'm not sure how good the Z-5500 sub will do...and good $200 headphones (even accounting for import/etc) will still trash the whole mess. Heck, even something reasonably cheap like Grado SR80s would probably sound better. Speakers have a whole mess of physics issues to play with that headphones never do - distance, room properties, nonidealities of larger drivers, much larger air mass to affect, so on...you really need to spend much, much more than $100 to have speakers that beat good $100 headphones.
 
Yeah. I just don't want to spend money on a sound card much anymore. I'm going to have to, to get the full features out of my Z-5500 for movies and such, but I can do that way down the road.

My only good-looking option for right now would be the HD555 and it would be over $200. I don't know how good it will be without a soundcard.

P.S. I found old Sony MDR-V300 headphones :D... not the greatest no, but hey!
 
Wouldn't I still be prone to brokerage/duty fees from getting it from another country?

However, I did buy from playasia once.. that's located in hong kong.. didn't get any fees.

Yeah, the cost is 173$ with shipping. They didn't tax me. Wouldn't I get hit with taxes since It's suppose to be 13%? If not... i'm definitely buying these..
 
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