Goldring DR50 or DR150 for some gaming/light film use?

d_brennen

d_brennen

d_brennen

Soldato
Joined
30 Jan 2009
Posts
17,517
Location
Aquilonem Londinensi
Whats the general opinion of the DR50s? They seem to get good reviews and are only £20 where as the DR150 are aroung £60. Are they worth three times as much? I'd be using the headphones with an onboard sound chip mainly for CSS and BC2

At the moment I'm using some cheapy Creative jobbies which are alright but would like full ear covering phones...
 
I have the DR50s, unfortunately I haven't heard DR150s to compare but I'll say that for the money, the DR50s are incredible headphones. Arguably the best £20 I've ever spent.

I've contemplated upgrading to DR150s or HD555s but I just can't justify the extra as my DR50s are performing so well. Positional audio is great too, but this may be due to using CMSS-3D on an X-Fi.
 
Both are great headphones for their respective prices. I have the DR150's, but haven't tried the DR50's. If I am honest, I'd say go for the DR50's. The DR150's are very much worth the asking price, however I think they are too good a pair of phones to be using with onboard sound.
 
I decided to go for the dr150's over the ns1000 at the last minute.

To start with i thought the bass was lacking a bit, but nothing that an EQ coudlnt fix:D

Also i found the treble just a slightly bit on the strong side, again turning the 8k and 16k equalizer down 1 or 2 notches fixed this completely.

But be warned that you need to be patient when you first get them as i was quite dissapointed with them but now after 3 days of using them im liking them more and more, people say its because they need run in but IMO i think its just peoples ears getting used to the new sound:D
 
tbh get the DR50's and a xonar D1 (PCI Version) or DX (PCI-e version) total £70 (odd).

I used to have ALC889A & ALC888 onboard and the DR50's and the sound was worse than a SB live5.1 sound card I used to have.

The xonar D1 with dolby headphone for positional audio blows the A$$ off onboard. The sound quality of the xonar (in my opinion) is about 60% better than the onboard. The in game detail and sound effects seem to 'come to life' with the D1, more crisp & vibrant. The alc888 always seemed to sound 'flat' & 'muddy'.

I play CS:S, BC2 & MW2 and the positional audio on the dr50s is great & almost as good as the gainward sound explosion headphones ive used for years. The Dr50's sound awesome in movies with dolby headphone too.

Hope this helps.


EDIT:- You do need to 'run in' headphones, I think its meant to be something like 50-200 hours of use before they sound their best. I'm no audiophile but after a few weeks of use i'm sure they sounded better :)

I was watching Xmen origins and Sparticus via sky player last night and they both sounded awesome!
 
Last edited:
As an update, I ordered some DR50s and they arrived today. I only have my iPhone to had to test here at work but I have to say they are quite a bit better than I expected! I'll look into getting a Xonar :)

Edit: I just looked at the D1. It's PCI which is no good for me. My 5850 occupies too much space as it is :(

Is there a PCIe x1 equivelent?
 
Last edited:
d_brennen said:
As an update, I ordered some DR50s and they arrived today. I only have my iPhone to had to test here at work but I have to say they are quite a bit better than I expected! I'll look into getting a Xonar :)

Edit: I just looked at the D1. It's PCI which is no good for me. My 5850 occupies too much space as it is :(

Is there a PCIe x1 equivelent?
Click to expand...


The Xonar D1 is identical to the Xonar DX. The D1 is PCI the DX is pci-e. So as it says above, yes get the DX. OCUK sell these and you should get free delivery (god bless ocuk) :p

DX PCI-E - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SC-002-AS&groupid=701&catid=11&subcat=
 
Last edited:
They have improved a lot since then:D

But please remember to download the drivers off the asus website and not the disc.

I made this mistake using windows 7 64 bit, i installed the xonar driver from the cd and my PC totally ****** up!

Had to boot it up in safe mode and uninstall the drivers as it wouldnt let me load any programs for some reason:confused:

Although i guess it was my mistake as if i had bothered to look at the CD it said xp and vista only
 
scotty5591 said:
They have improved a lot since then

But please remember to download the drivers off the asus website and not the disc.

I made this mistake using windows 7 64 bit, i installed the xonar driver from the cd and my PC totally ****** up!

Had to boot it up in safe mode and uninstall the drivers as it wouldnt let me load any programs for some reason

Although i guess it was my mistake as if i had bothered to look at the CD it said xp and vista only
Click to expand...

At least you had drivers on your CD! When I got a DS, last year sometime, the driver CD, had no drivers on it! Only MP3 files with Americans chatting about something to do with speech. Very Bizarre. Thank goodness for the interweb. Imagine buying a PC product before the days of the net, and having no drivers. :/
 
Marsman said:
At least you had drivers on your CD! When I got a DS, last year sometime, the driver CD, had no drivers on it! Only MP3 files with Americans chatting about something to do with speech. Very Bizarre. Thank goodness for the interweb. Imagine buying a PC product before the days of the net, and having no drivers. :/
Click to expand...

LMAO maybe the guys in charge of the cd production line were stoned:D:D:D
 
d_brennen said:
Thanks. When funds allow I shall purchase one. I havent had a sound card since the bad old days of Creative. The drivers they put out gave me no end of headaches :(
Click to expand...


WELL! You seem to be in luck..... Uriel has just posted a new version of the Xonar (DG) which seems to have a built in amp, dolby headphone and all for £26! Keep an eye out for reviews etc -

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18178647

It does seem to be a PCI version, but as this is a new product they may even make it pci-e too?
 
d_brennen said:
As an update, I ordered some DR50s and they arrived today. I only have my iPhone to had to test here at work but I have to say they are quite a bit better than I expected! I'll look into getting a Xonar :)

Edit: I just looked at the D1. It's PCI which is no good for me. My 5850 occupies too much space as it is :(

Is there a PCIe x1 equivelent?
Click to expand...

By the way, what motherboard do you have? Is there any reason you can't fit in a pci card? Ie, you dont have any pci slots or they are all used? i think even most of the micro-atx board even have 2x pci slots!
 
Will go an check out the DG for home!!

I've got a Fiio E7 on it's way for work (USB into the laptop), but for £26, that looks superb VFM!
 
Last edited:
Angel_Rex said:
By the way, what motherboard do you have? Is there any reason you can't fit in a pci card? Ie, you dont have any pci slots or they are all used? i think even most of the micro-atx board even have 2x pci slots!
Click to expand...

I have a P5Q VM, my only PCI slot is stupidly close to my 5850's shroud and the floor of my Mini P180. I have a PCIE x1 above which would be much more convinient... Though I guess it is only a small ish card. I'll have to have a look later to see if there is enough room
 
I've got the DR100's and for the small amount I paid for them they are fantastic. Just noticed the new xonar DG, might have to get rid of the D1 and give this a shot. I pretty much just use headphones with the PC and occasionally my 2.1 speakers, so this would seem like a better option, make a little bit of cash as well :)
 
I have DR50s, plug them into my Teufel Concept B200 USB amp, and it's the best sounding small cheap setup I've ever heard. Definately worth the £200 it's cost me!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom