Headphone/Amp/Soundcard recommendation

A

Alanstein

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 26, 2009
Messages
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I'm going off to college after 2 years of community college, and after some graduation presents, I have about 300 bucks to spend on a sizable audio upgrade. I'm looking for some new cans to complete my life. Not really sure on how much to spend on each part of the setup, so i figured i'd ask you guys for some advice.

I do a lot of gaming and listen to hip hop, rock, alternative, punk, solo artist stuff, some techno, and metal. I'll probably use these with a zune, so either a portable amp or some low impedance headphones would be almost essential. These won't be sitting on a stand 24/7, and may be moved from home to home frequently, so build quality is of high importance too.

Basically I've been looking at the ultra low impedance DT770s with a low end Xonar with no amp, the senn 580s used with an amp and soundcard, the AKG 702s and a low end soundcard and amp, or the 225is with an undecided amount of accessories.

Thanks, I appreciate all suggestions.
 
Sorry to triple post, but it's looking like that sound card paired with some DT990s are in the lead. any objections before I pull the trigger, [h]?
 
No, DT990s are good phones. Personally I'd look at Audio Technica ATH phones instead, but mostly for comfort reasons. They are the most comfortable phones I've ever owned.
 
What are you planning on using these headphones for and music preferences?
 
I've heard that the ATH 701s were lacking in bass, something that is relatively unacceptable for music that I listen to. However, comfort is a huge consideration. How is the build quality?

Tisb0b, I do a lot of gaming and listen to hip hop, rock, alternative, punk, solo artist stuff, some techno, and metal.
 
Well the closed back ATH headphones have a lot of bass. The ATH-A700s (there's no such thing as 701s) are very bassy.

Build quality seems good. I mean they are plastic cups at that price point (the more expensive ones are metal) so don't step on them, but they hold up well.

I also have ATH-AD900s at home which do have better, cleaner, sound in part because they are open and in part because they are the next model up. They do have less bass though, as open phones are wont to do. Closed gives more bass, open gives cleaner sound.

With Audio Technica ATH phones you have a large range of choices, so make sure to get what you want. They have 500, 700, 900, 1000, 2000, and 5000 series phones. As the numbers go up so does the build quality and of course price.

In most of the lines there are also open and closed options. The open ones are called AD and Air, the closed are called A and Art. So ATH-AD700 Air are 700 series, open back. ATH-A700 Art are 700 series, closed back.

So for my tastes, the open back Air series, at least the 900s that I own, have too little bass. They don't compare well with my speakers. Of course my speakers feature a sub that looks like a hot water heater and goes down flat to 13Hz in room. I own them for the clarity, since I use them to check mixes I do, make sure I didn't miss something on speakers.

The closed back 700s satisfy me plenty, the bass is good. Still not as good as a sub since you can't feel it, but as good as you get with phones. They are also pretty mellow, forgiving phones over all which probably means slightly rolled off highs and so on. I wouldn't say they are good for critical studio listening, but they sound good on everything. I listen on a cheap Audigy 2 at work, often to rather compressed music and I never get bothered by the sound.

I'd love to try their more expensive phones, the ATH-A1000X look cool but cost too much given that I listen on speakers mostly at home, and at work it is just a cheap setup.

Supposing Headroom's FR measurements are accurate (I don't know how they do them and they don't say anything about it) the DT770s should have more low end in theory. They also might need more of an amp section. They are low impedance, so higher current demands, and the lower the FR, the more power required to drive. So they might need a more beefy current section than the ATH-A700s.

At any rate there are just all sorts of choices in headphones and even at the high end, it is hard to find something "perfect". It is just difficult to get full range flat response out of a single driver.

In my book, the closed back ATH series phones are a good choice. They sound good for the money, and comfort is important to me. The just kinda float on your head. Their silly looking wing system really works and just auto fits. That means a lot to me, as I wear glasses and can't have something pushing against my skull.
 
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Here is the K701 going for $259.99 on Amazon, I've heard that they are basically the same as the K702, aside from the color of course.

It is a LOT cheaper than the K702 for some reason, and that price gap allows you to invest on a nice amp.

If you want some super-comfy cans, here is also a nice one: Beyer DT990. IMO, they are comfotable as hell.
 
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Sycraft said:
The ATH-A700s (there's no such thing as 701s) are very bassy.

The closed back 700s satisfy me plenty, the bass is good. Still not as good as a sub since you can't feel it, but as good as you get with phones
Click to expand...

I just had to post to dispute this point;

The A700's are good don't get me wrong, i'm listening to dubstep on them right now, but saying they are as good as headphones get basswise is just not true. In fact I was pretty disappointed in the A700 when I first got it due to lackluster bass, and I like my bass. Only after having been burned in for hundreds of hours did they loosen up and improve significantly in bass. After burn in the bass *is* a lot better and I enjoy dubstep and other electronica on them quite a lot, but bass still isn't a "Feature" of this headphone. Their biggest flaw is that low end extension on them is not great, which means on the really low bass hits they really have trouble getting down there to provide that punch. I constantly use the same example to illustrate this point: There is a song called "Arrakis" by Black Sun Empire. If you listen to the drop in that, for instance at 4:47, on a system with a sub it's crazy; The whole room will shake. On the A700? it's like the floor dropped out of the track... The lower it tries to go, the more it just sounds like midbass. It ruins the whole thing. However, you listen to that same drop on the DT770s and they shrug it off like it wasn't even hard to do.

The A700s are still my favorite headphones because among other things they are massively comfortable and are AMAZING for game positional sound, and you likely will not regret your purchase a bit... but even though these have more bass than the open variants, I don't think you can call these "bassy" headphones.

If you want bass response for REAL, as in you'll think the headphones contain a fullsize 10" subwoofer, take a look at something like the Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 80Ohm. There are a number of other headphones out there where bass is actually a strongpoint of the headphone too like the Monster Turbine series and many of the headphones that Ultrasone makes.
 
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Well you have to be careful with the difference between "lots of bass" and "good bass". I've seen too many headphones that just boost bass levels way too much. Supposing the Headroom graphs are right, that's the case with the Monster Turbines. Their low bass is 20dB above their 1kHz level. That just means it is insanely loud, and probably muddy, not good.

My speaker setup has a big 12" SVS sub that looks like a small hot water heater (it's like 3' high). However it doesn't have as much bass as many people expect. Reason is it is calibrated to be flat. My receiver tries to ensure the frequency response is as flat as possible at my seat. The net effect is that the sub goes very low, like I said 13Hz in room, and that it can be very loud. It'll do theater reference (115dB) since it isn't a large room. However it doesn't have the "slam" and so on that some people are used to because it is balanced, not boosted.
 
Alanstein said:
I've heard that the ATH 701s were lacking in bass, something that is relatively unacceptable for music that I listen to. However, comfort is a huge consideration. How is the build quality?

Tisb0b, I do a lot of gaming and listen to hip hop, rock, alternative, punk, solo artist stuff, some techno, and metal.
Click to expand...

Do you mean the AKG K701? They aren't lacking in bass, but they need a very beefy amp to properly drive the headphones.

I say get the Shure SRH-440. They're excellent all arounders, built like a rock, and don't need any special amplification. They cost around $100... so you have extra money to SAVE. :eek: Just because you have a budget doesn't mean you need to max it out!
 
I went with the soundcard and DT990s.

Thanks for all of your suggestions, I learned quite a bit.
 
Hey post in here if you could your impressions of the DT990s when you get them.Been thinking about getting a pair for a while now just need that extra push to get me over the edge.:D
 
DoomD said:
Hey post in here if you could your impressions of the DT990s when you get them.Been thinking about getting a pair for a while now just need that extra push to get me over the edge.:D
Click to expand...

I'm interested too, let us know how you like your new setup in games/music etc. :)
 
I've heard great things about the 990's as well. I personally own both the DT770 and DT880. The 770's are really strong in the low end and really help when the music you're listening to is bass heavy. the 880's are just flat and analytical. I hear that the 990's are a step between... VERY musical with good quality bass and the rest of the sound spectrum for that matter. Beyer cans are also VERY well built and should get you through collage without worry :)
 
I'm very much leaning toward a pair of the 600ohm 990's myself. Looking forward to your impressions!
 
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