Better headphone experiance needed!

LizardKing

LizardKing

LizardKing

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Joined
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Not really sure how to attack this.
Currently ive got a pair of HD595 that are getting rather long in the tooth, pared up with low end on-board sound, so as you can imagine the sound leaves a lot to be desired, the 595s are ok if a little tatty now.

So the plan is either new sound card / usb dac / new headphones and soundcard, or the wildcard USB headphones?

i could go to £200 at a push so just wondering what would you do :) its predominately for listening to music.

Cheers :)
 
If you don't mind buying second hand, there are a paid of Massdrop HD6xx going on the bay for £165 which is a steal IMO (likely go fast though I imagine), could take a peek as they (HD6xx / 650) are amazing all around headphones IMO.

Pair with entry level, but solid DAC/Amp like the E10K which can be had for £50 in very new from rain-forest warehouse as very good (usually fine they live up to it) and for slightly over the £200 you mention, will be an absolutely formidable combination IMO.
 
Not sure about 2nd hand headphones :) but like you say they are supposed to be amazing!

I'll look into the E10k, maybe the K3 as well, its exactly the kind of thing im looking for, headphones could wait a month or 2. i suspect the 595's will shine again with something decent driving them!
 
LizardKing said:
I'll look into the E10k, maybe the K3 as well, its exactly the kind of thing im looking for, headphones could wait a month or 2. i suspect the 595's will shine again with something decent driving them!
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Why don't you send the 595 off for a complete repair with sennheiser ? I did that with an old pair of hd600 I had lying in a drawer for a few years. They replaced EVERYTHING except the main body at a fixed price.

It was basically a new headphone.
 
Hey man those HD595 are still quality like the Z5500 these are too good for current non lossless content they are NOT OLD at all apart from the headband i bet?


You nees to get off onboard sound asap though and open them up what you need is a top end Asus Xonar. I got the ST which is the first gen PCI version which has lower jitter. But i am stuck with it now and its all in all incredibly high quality this is an Audiophile setup 100%.


You should really buy the Xonar STX II with daughter board for £206. And sure you will have an Audiophile base now until god knows how long that will last maybe ten years? And sure when you get more money patch up the HD 595 mine are bashed a bit too but i could just send it for a refurb or buy parts online. But the internals are much better than many of the phones i see listed on here, Like that Fidelio X1 craze which sounded like tin compared to these and at the time those were $186.
 
get some akg and see if u fancy the big sound stage
amp wise every audiophile forum loves the jds atom.
dac get anything with good inputs or outputs which you want.
 
TALON1973 said:
Why don't you send the 595 off for a complete repair with sennheiser ? I did that with an old pair of hd600 I had lying in a drawer for a few years. They replaced EVERYTHING except the main body at a fixed price.

It was basically a new headphone.
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Thats not a bad shout actually, i do like the 595's. Not the heaviest in the bass dept but that works in its favour for me. imo - though looks like they no longer refurb the 595's!...


Rofflay said:
Hey man those HD595 are still quality like the Z5500 these are too good for current non lossless content they are NOT OLD at all apart from the headband i bet?


You nees to get off onboard sound asap though and open them up what you need is a top end Asus Xonar. I got the ST which is the first gen PCI version which has lower jitter. But i am stuck with it now and its all in all incredibly high quality this is an Audiophile setup 100%.
.
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There awesome headphones and i used to use them with a x-fi Elite pro but a motherboard upgrade put that out of support! But they are falling to bits now, id happily get them again but do fancy a change. im now pondering on the HD600 / 650!...'s


aoaaron said:
get some akg and see if u fancy the big sound stage
amp wise every audiophile forum loves the jds atom.
dac get anything with good inputs or outputs which you want.
Click to expand...

Im now leaning more towards the topping D10 then pairing that with a suitable amp.


Cheers all, it used to be so easy!
 
I have the D10 paired with a JDS Atom. D10 lacks optical input if that's something you think you'll need but apart from that I can't fault it. Your budget will be taken up by the dac and amp so I'd stick with the 595 for a bit longer till you have the funds for new cans but at least you'll have proper audio listening equipment in place ready and you should notice an immediate difference from onboard sound even with the 595.
 
LizardKing said:
Thats not a bad shout actually, i do like the 595's. Not the heaviest in the bass dept but that works in its favour for me. imo - though looks like they no longer refurb the 595's!...




There awesome headphones and i used to use them with a x-fi Elite pro but a motherboard upgrade put that out of support! But they are falling to bits now, id happily get them again but do fancy a change. im now pondering on the HD600 / 650!...'s




Im now leaning more towards the topping D10 then pairing that with a suitable amp.


Cheers all, it used to be so easy!
Click to expand...


I got the D30 because the D10 looks tacky with the LCD Screen. Also black on silver looks sexy AF.

Decide if you will need multiple inputs into ur DAC or multiple outputs. thats the main differentiation. D10 has more outputs, D30 has the better input games so can process more devices. If you're only using one device. I'd go for the D10.


Don't let ur budget get dominated by a DAC or amp tho... just buy cheap/second hand. your headphones are always going to be the talking at this price point. I'd be surprised if anyone can really tell the difference between DACs and Amps at this price range.
 
The budgets not set in stone, so if theres something worth getting im happy to get it, i just dont want let the spending get out of hand for what is essentially the odd bit of music :D

I did look into the D30 but then its getting close to the Schiit range which just rocked the boat more! :o

Its only for my PC so not to fussed on inputs.
 
LizardKing said:
The budgets not set in stone, so if theres something worth getting im happy to get it, i just dont want let the spending get out of hand for what is essentially the odd bit of music :D

I did look into the D30 but then its getting close to the Schiit range which just rocked the boat more! :o

Its only for my PC so not to fussed on inputs.
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tbh the D10 is great, i just dont like the look of it.

Get a D10 + an atom and thats you set for nearly any headphone for life.

if you want the same but better, get the whatever 6xx version of your seeny you can.
if you want a change and an epic soundstage, get akg 702.
if you want a change and epic soundstage and good bass, get akg 712.
if you want a change and a fun sound signature with a good sound stage, get some beyerdynamics 250ohm dt 990
if you want to forget about the amp, get a fidelio x2 and just run it through a dac as its very low impedence.

i have the 712s after demo-ing a lot of headphones and they are incredible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XU4PCrXzhc&t=576s

beware dont listen to that guy for too long as he will make you want to spend way more than you should on audio.
 
The D10 screen is like marmite. Some will love it, some will hate it. I like the fact you can see that it is actively changing the bit rate to match the source. The screen goes dim when it goes into sleep mode and whole device powers off automatically when pc is turned off (something Schiit never did!).
 
aoaaron said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XU4PCrXzhc&t=576s

beware dont listen to that guy for too long as he will make you want to spend way more than you should on audio.
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It was his review of the D10 that made me learn towards that! i like the fact its just a dac and nothing else. so that's now ordered :D

Now headphone amp, tubes, yay or ney? :D (this could take weeks!) - i gather the likes of the Nobsound whilst not exactly just decoration they dont really do a lot in the way of processing the sound. (i should probably just get the atom and save myself a lot of agro!)

Headphones can go on the back burner for now. the 712's are high on the list!
 
LizardKing said:
It was his review of the D10 that made me learn towards that! i like the fact its just a dac and nothing else. so that's now ordered :D

Now headphone amp, tubes, yay or ney? :D (this could take weeks!) - i gather the likes of the Nobsound whilst not exactly just decoration they dont really do a lot in the way of processing the sound. (i should probably just get the atom and save myself a lot of agro!)

Headphones can go on the back burner for now. the 712's are high on the list!
Click to expand...

headphone amp = jds atom. clean AF and allows ur headphones to shine.


headphones impact over sound >> amp
i think anyone that trys to paint an amp as impacting the end product of sound more than the actual headphone is maybe being a tad overzealous.

also the extra ££ you drop into a tube amp would most definitley be better put into your next headphone purchase.

the difference between an atom and a budget tube amp is about £65. Thats £30 away from a pair of DT990s. That £65 is nearly the difference between AKG 701s and 712s and I'm sure that amp won't add bass to your headphones like an actual headphone will.

Heck £65 will get you a second pair of headphones on the second hand market.
 
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LizardKing said:
It was his review of the D10 that made me learn towards that! i like the fact its just a dac and nothing else. so that's now ordered :D

Now headphone amp, tubes, yay or ney? :D (this could take weeks!) - i gather the likes of the Nobsound whilst not exactly just decoration they dont really do a lot in the way of processing the sound. (i should probably just get the atom and save myself a lot of agro!)

Headphones can go on the back burner for now. the 712's are high on the list!
Click to expand...


https://www.headfonia.com/review-jds-labs-atom/
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ents-of-new-jds-labs-atom-headphone-amp.5262/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21twazrGX5Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpqoZKp_PLw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e566rUoYeDM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EgFqYdMKXM

if you can get a deal on any decent amp second hand, i'd just grab that though.. even the magni with zeos doesn't rate highly in that video because it has its own pros (power)
 
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If you want to try tubes, the Schiit Vali 2 is incredibly good - I used a Magni 3 for ages and tried the Atom but when it came to soundstage and imaging the Vali 2 made them sound very narrow and one dimensional by comparison. I like the clarity of the atom but apart from that I found it quite sterile, it didn't get my feet tapping, while the Vali 2 just makes me grin like an idiot.
This is of course merely my opinion.

Audio chain: JRiver Media Center > Schiit Modi Multibit > Schiit Vali 2 > Sennheiser HD650 / Beyerdynamic DT1990
 
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I really am tempted by the Schiit range (but not sure how much of that is marketing), there in a good place cost wise, not crazy expensive but not Chinese cheap either.

Got the D10 and a cheap :D sabaj pha3 valve amp and boy do they sound good, however its exaggerated the lack of bass from the 595's and gave a lot more on the high end scale so i got fatigued very quickly. I suspect analysing the audio rather than just listening may have had some impact on the as well. Playing with the EQ helped a bit but that's not always possible.

The K712's now ordered to try out, it was either these or i would have just ended up splashing out on the HD660s putting any plans to sticking to a budget way out the window.
 
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