Personal recommendations (headphones)

ben90

ben90

ben90

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Joined
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Wiltshire
Hi guys, just looking for some personal recommendations on headphones that you have actually brought and thought were worth your money.

I'm mainly looking for something that will play music well, good bass and clarity etc. I also play games where sound is important so any recommendations for that would be sweet.

Last quick question, bar the quality of the file, is it the headphones or sound card (or something else) that determines how loud your music plays? I'm fairly sure my headset used to play it louder than it does now and if a half decent soundcard could improve things what would be recommended?

I will probably spend £60 on the headset itself, maybe 20quid or so more if its really worth the extra money.

Thanks for any responses!
 
Depends on both really. Some headphones will go louder than others. On-board is fairly poor for loud volume with headphones. On-board audio is poor full stop IMO, but it's certainly more noticeable how poor it is, with good headphones and speakers. With cheap PC speakers, or low quality headphones/headset, it's not so important to have a better quality sound card.

A good sound card to get would be the Xonar DG. It has a headphone amp, which will make anything that is easy to drive, go stupidly loud. There is more to a headphone amp though, than just increasd volume, like bringing out more detail in certain headphones/headsets.

Connecting a separate amplifier between on-board audio and headphones/headset, just to get more volume, is rather pointless. Low quality on-board sound is just being amplified, not good. To get a decent budget sound card, with a headphone amplifier, such as the Xonar DG, for £20, is an absolute bargain.
 
For ~£60 get the DR150s and the Xonar DG soundcard. While I don't like my music loud I can't have the volume over about 20 on my 150s with the amp on because it's too loud. Takes a fair bit more juice to do that with higher impedance cans (such as my Beyer 250ohms) but still enough volume to hurt my ears.
 
Auraomega said:
For ~£60 get the DR150s and the Xonar DG soundcard. While I don't like my music loud I can't have the volume over about 20 on my 150s with the amp on because it's too loud. Takes a fair bit more juice to do that with higher impedance cans (such as my Beyer 250ohms) but still enough volume to hurt my ears.
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I find that too. I'm not a fan of loud volume either, 20% with amp on exciter mode, is certainly enough for me. With on-board audio, 100% volume is anything but loud.
 
Thanks for the responses!

I have a Creative Fatality (cheap argos one) so if I get a DG will it increase the volume? Thats my main priority as it seems to have died on me over time and the music doesn't really get me going like it did before.

I will ponder over the headset unless I have to invest as there seems to be a lot of differing opinions
 
Valk I a total noob with audio, can you advise what would be best to pair with a cheap sound card- talking the 20 quid asus one, have seen ns1000 by goldring, how would they fair against the caves?
 
Headphones + mic always have better quality than headsets in the same price range and the NS1000s are exceptional quality for their price as well! The DR150s are a good bet at just under £50 where as the NS1000s all in are closer to £80 (headphones, amp and extension cable). If you want directional audio the Kaves are the way forward but for pure sound quality Goldring have the best budget cans.
 
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