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Need advice

S

SmillingMan

Weaksauce
Joined
Feb 18, 2003
Messages
77
Here is the deal, currently I use two sets of headphones, the logitech internet headset(for voice comms) and the Zalman 5.1 headset(Wife got them for me so I would not keep her up at night). For my birthday(30th, sad time indeed) I got a gift card to amazon.com for $35 and need some advice on a new set of headphones to replace the zalman's.

I mainly game(CSS, BF2, you get the picture) and sometimes listen to rock and techno. So I am manly worried about gaming. With the Zalman 5.1's, I can barly hear a difference from front and back IF I have them placed just right on my head. At times, it seems like I get a better surround sound from the logitch headset now that I have an X-Fi card and using the CMSS3d.

I have read many things on this forum...but I am unable to make much sense of it all. So I need some advice from you all :) Just to help you out, let me say that the Zalman 5.1's have been the best sounding of any headphones I have owned...but they do seem to be lacking in fullness of the sound. Also, I am limited to the 35 dollars...have a little one that is taking all of our extra cash.

Thanks for any help!
 
I noticed on amazon.com that the HD201's and the HD202's are only a few dollars different. Would it be better to go with the HD202's(specs seem to be better but specs mean nothing really :) )?

So for the price range that I am looking at, Sennheiser is best?
 
Thanks for the reply, but from the spec sheet from Sennheiser, it would seem the other way around :confused:

HD201


Transducer Principle: Dynamic
Frequency Response: 21–18,000 Hz
Nominal Impedance: 24 Ohm
Weight Wo Cable: 165g
Ear Coupling: Circumaural
Max Spl External Noise: (1 kHz, 1 Vrms) 108 dB
Distortion: < 0.7 %
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HD202


Transducer Principle: Dynamic, Closed-Aire
Frequency Response: 18 – 18,000 Hz
Nominal Impedance: 32 Ohms
Weight Wo Cable: approx. 130 g
Characteristic Spl: 115 dB
Ear Coupling: Semi-circumaural, leatherette
Distortion: < 0.5 %


Either I do not understand the specs, or like I said before, specs mean nothing to what they actually produce. Am I missing something? Man, I never thought I would be putting this much thought into headphones :p
 
The 201's are open phones so they won't isolate you as well as the 202's. If you don't want to disturb your wife, go for the 202's.

I can't comment on the sound quality difference because I haven't listened to either one. In general, though, you get better quality from open phones and more "boomy" bass from closed ones. Its up to you whether the tradeoff for isolation is worth it; in my case is was because I use my 280Pro's at work.
 
Mister X said:
The HD201s are closed as well. ;)
Click to expand...

lol :eek:,

Well then ignore what I just said and try to find a place that has both in stock so you can hear/feel the difference for yourself, or listen to someone who has used both.
 
The 202s are nice, but my ears need a break after an hour or so with them. My bro's hd280s are much nicer in this regard. I think you'll hear a positive difference from the Zalmans; they make good heatsinks but they should stick to that. :p

 
So, let me get this straight, the HD201 is the better choice for the price range?

Also, can the X-Fi drive them well enough that I will hear a difference from the Zalman's(at least till I can afford an amp of course :) )?
 
Headphone specs are almost never good ways to figure out sound quality. The HD201's sound better than the HD202's. :)
 
Also, can the X-Fi drive them well enough that I will hear a difference from the Zalman's
Click to expand...

I can't say that I have ever used my HD201s without an amp so.....
 
Just wanted to say a big THANK YOU for the advice. Just got my new HD201's and all I can say is WOW! I will not bore you with the normal non-audiophile starting to turn audiophile speech about the details I am now hearing.

I also took some other advice and made a cmoy amp(I will post pics and details in its own thread later once it is fully finished, testing them out now though) and it too is night and day even with my elcheapo logitech headset.

Although I do have a quick question about the amp. Everything is fine at low to middle volume but past about 70% volume I get distortion(with the logitech ones, it happens about 50% volume). Is that normal or should I start troubleshooting...ie will an amp put to much power out?
 
that is normal depending on where the gain is set and on how much voltage you are powering the amp with.
Ask yourself one question....
Will I ever use this amp with the volume this high?
If the answer is no then you need not worry about it. ;)
 
Thanks MisterX. Thats what I was thinking. Just in case, the gain is set to 6 with 9v battary powering it(opamp 2132PA).

Oh and MisterX...you are a bad man, because of you and others, I started to read over at head-fi.....my wallet is already starting to feel the pain :D
 
Yea... I would say it is normal for your config to run out of headroom at around 70% on the volume. :)

Thnk 6 is a little high for the gain? ;)
 
Well, I was the plans I was following originally wanted it set to 11, thought 6 was better. What would you suggest then??
 
I asked the question so you could tell me not the other way around. :p


A gain of 2 is more then enough for me with with my Ipod Shuffle as the source.
 
Ahh I see...well, since this is my first amp, I think its fine since it works and that the distortion is normal(it really is to loud for listening anyway) plus I do not want to have to desolder and swap the resistores :)

My wife thought I was insane to get new headphones and she was about ready to call the men with the white coats to come pick me up after I started to build the cmoy :p But even to her untrained ears she can hear a difference(still thinks I am nuts but thats ok).

Again, thanks for the help(both in choosing the headphones and the question about the cmoy).
 
No problem... look forward to seeing you again next month when you are ready for an upgrade. :p

BTW depending on well your pot tracks you may not even need to worry about the gain on the CMoy.
 
Well, I guess I should have mentioned that but I do not use a pot(got 99% of the parts from Radio Shack) and they did not have any. Plus since I will be using this 99% of the time with the computer I will control the volume with the X-Fi(got volume control on the keyboard).

Should I order one and install it or am I ok with it as is?
 
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