Getting my Audio Technica ath-ad700 tomorrow, yay!

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biggles

2[H]4U
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Jul 25, 2005
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Questions:
I know they will work with Dolby headphone to give surround on the pc (have asus xonar dg, see sig). What about Xbox 360? Do I need some sort of converter to get virtual surround, or can the Xbox 360 do this on its own?

Also, does it make any difference if I plug the headphone into the front panel, sound card, or the control center of the logitech z-680 speakers?

Upgrading from Turtle Beach x11, so I will post impressions for anyone interested. I am sure this will be a nice jump in sound quality.
 
The Astro MixAmp will give you surround on the XBox 360 using your own headphones. It is a highly underrated audio accessory.
 
If the xbox 360 is already connected to a 5.1 receiver, do you still need the Astro MixAmp to get headphone surround sound? That is, Xbox 360 to sends 5.1 signal to receiver with hdmi cable, then connect headphones to receiver.
 
Let us know how you like them. I just got a ATH-AD700 today. I wiill post my thoughts after I get some moments with them.

I just returned a pair of SAMSON SR850s. I really wanted to keep them because of the great reviews and decent pricing that they have but my ears didn't enjoy them. It was like trying to listen to a great musical performance from behind a closed door with a large glass cup to the door. With my Samsung G2 I came close to getting a great audio experience but it just wasn't enough. With my Denon 5.1 home receiver and MTV on the headphone output sounded decent but just not good enough. For gaming they just didn't have enough sound stage... close but just not quite there. They were decent but for me the SAMSON SR850s didn't meet my expectations and when certain musical frequencies collided it was didn't sound good and was slightly painful. I also went through a similar experience with some VMODA V80s which sounded better than the SR850s but just not good enough and the price was just too much for the audio experience.

I really hope my ears can find some enjoyment with the ATH-AD700. I got mine from Amazon and they have great pricing on them.
 
Plugging into the Logitech's control pod would bypass your sound card's amp (the pod's amp takes over rather), so I'd plug them onto your case instead. The front panel input can have static if not properly shielded but should be fine otherwise.
 
Impulse said:
Plugging into the Logitech's control pod would bypass your sound card's amp (the pod's amp takes over rather), so I'd plug them onto your case instead. The front panel input can have static if not properly shielded but should be fine otherwise.
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Yes, I noticed sound was much louder using the headphone port on the case. How do you adjust volume during games though? Do you go into options menus of a game to change volume?
 
biggles said:
Yes, I noticed sound was much louder using the headphone port on the case. How do you adjust volume during games though? Do you go into options menus of a game to change volume?
Click to expand...

You use Window's sound level/mixer. If your keyboard doesn't have volume or macro keys you can just use something like AutoHotkey to bind a pair of key combinations (F key + something, or whatever you want) to lower/raise volume.
 
Impulse said:
You use Window's sound level/mixer. If your keyboard doesn't have volume or macro keys you can just use something like AutoHotkey to bind a pair of key combinations (F key + something, or whatever you want) to lower/raise volume.
Click to expand...

Bingo! Have a Saitek Eclipse II keyboard, and it has volume adjustment buttons in upper left (correction: right) corner that I never noticed before. Thanks a bunch!
 
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SonDa5 said:
Let us know how you like them. I just got a ATH-AD700 today. I wiill post my thoughts after I get some moments with them.

I just returned a pair of SAMSON SR850s. I really wanted to keep them because of the great reviews and decent pricing that they have but my ears didn't enjoy them. It was like trying to listen to a great musical performance from behind a closed door with a large glass cup to the door. With my Samsung G2 I came close to getting a great audio experience but it just wasn't enough. With my Denon 5.1 home receiver and MTV on the headphone output sounded decent but just not good enough. For gaming they just didn't have enough sound stage... close but just not quite there. They were decent but for me the SAMSON SR850s didn't meet my expectations and when certain musical frequencies collided it was didn't sound good and was slightly painful. I also went through a similar experience with some VMODA V80s which sounded better than the SR850s but just not good enough and the price was just too much for the audio experience.

I really hope my ears can find some enjoyment with the ATH-AD700. I got mine from Amazon and they have great pricing on them.
Click to expand...

Please let me know how you like the AD700's. I recently started FPSing first time since CS in 2002, and since all my buddies are hopping on CS: GO, I wanted to play with a nice surround setup. So how do they perform for you in games, and what about pairing it with a Xonar DGX, will this be suitable.
 
AD700 impressions: sound quality A, comfort A, build quality A. These things are awesome! I now understand why folks suggest a good pair of headphones rather than 5.1 speakers for a pc.

Even though the ad700 is superior to the Turtle Beach x11, I still think the x11 is a respectable choice. Like the adjustable amp, built in mic, comfort, and sound quality (which I'd rate a solid B).

By the way, headphones do not work well on the front panel due to interference during games. So, I have to plug directly into the sound card on the back of the pc, or use the port on the logitech z680 control pod. The front panel port is fine for music and movies, however.

The downside of having to plug directly into the sound card are moving the pc around and unplugging the z680s anytime I want headphones. The downside of using the control pod port is I lose the asus xonar dg amp.

I do not know how widespread the interference issue is. Just something to keep in mind if you are considering a pair of premium headphones for your rig.
 
imhenrytran said:
Please let me know how you like the AD700's. I recently started FPSing first time since CS in 2002, and since all my buddies are hopping on CS: GO, I wanted to play with a nice surround setup. So how do they perform for you in games, and what about pairing it with a Xonar DGX, will this be suitable.
Click to expand...


So far I have used them for TV through Denon Dolby receiver and they sound great.
Used them with my Samsung G2 and they sound decent but a little weak. (probably because they don't have enough power to be driven).

Lastly I have used them with my PC which uses the stock mb Realtek ALC892 audio IC. They sound good through my PC but are a little under powered.

They have decent sound but the big thing that is going to determine how good these headphones sound is what kind of DAC or amplifier is pushing them.

I'm in the middle of upgrading my audio for my PC and have ordered a Topping D2 DAC with a headphone amp and a Topping T22 T-AMP. My audio upgrades will use optical from the PC to the D2 DAC then out to the T22 to push a pair of old school Fostex speakers I have. Will run another audio out to a Fostex powered amp for a nice 2.1 desktop speaker set up.

My complaints about the ATH AD700 headphones is that they feel like they are going to fall off my head. They are very light weight and have an airy feel to them. I don't like how the top head mount wing system works. The wings feel like they don't have any spring in them at all. It doesn't feel snug at all. Also these headphones are super light weight which is a plus but to me they don't feel very durable. Lastly I don't like their signature colors of tan and purple.

I'm thinking about completely taking these apart and painting the wings and grills flat black.



For PC gaming the sound stage is wide but you have to have a quiet room and PC because there is hardly any ambient noise isolation.

The cable is about 10 feet long which is good and bad. I like it because I can plug it into my TV receiver and watch TV at a comfortable distance and it gives me some room to move around on my desktop chair around desk area. Bad thing about the long cable is its just too much cable to be carrying around for portable usage but I like to use ear buds for out about music listening anyways.

Once I get my Topping D2 I'm sure these headphones are going to really come alive.

Happy with them so far. Xonar DGX should work out well for them. I went with an external DAC/headphone amp to have more options than just listening to audio from PC with my headphones.
 
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biggles said:
By the way, headphones do not work well on the front panel due to interference during games. So, I have to plug directly into the sound card on the back of the pc, or use the port on the logitech z680 control pod. The front panel port is fine for music and movies, however.

The downside of having to plug directly into the sound card are moving the pc around and unplugging the z680s anytime I want headphones. The downside of using the control pod port is I lose the asus xonar dg amp.
Click to expand...

Get a 3.5mm extension cable, plug it into the sound card directly, run it to your desk, then run your speaker's cable to the same spot. Now you don't have to reach back there to switch, you just grab one of two cables and plug in whichever you're using into the extension. You get all the benefits of the Xonar's amp etc with little hassle.

That's what I used to do until I got an STX (which has discrete headphone/speaker outputs on the back).
 
Impulse said:
Get a 3.5mm extension cable, plug it into the sound card directly, run it to your desk, then run your speaker's cable to the same spot. Now you don't have to reach back there to switch, you just grab one of two cables and plug in whichever you're using into the extension. You get all the benefits of the Xonar's amp etc with little hassle.

That's what I used to do until I got an STX (which has discrete headphone/speaker outputs on the back).
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice, that is a good idea.
 
I just had another idea. What if I moved the video card to the second pcie slot? The reason the video and sound cards are so close together is that gpu is in pcie slot 1, 2 slot card, covers up pci slot 1. Sound card is plugged into pci slot 2. But if I moved the gpu down to pcie slot 2, much bigger space between video and sound card

Good idea? Would this reduce/eliminate interference? Improve gpu temps with better ventilation?
 
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