Headphones

Are the NS1000 passive headphones or is there another mode? My amp has a headphone port that I used to drive some Sony MDRV700s

I could connect them to my Xonar Essence ST headphone port instead but I would need to get an extension
 
Your ST is much more likely to drive them properly than your Marantz amp. It's certainly worth a try.

The NS1000s are both passive and active. With noise cancelling on they're active, self amplified. With NC off they're passive.
 
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I think the noise cancelling makes less of a difference running from soundcard. Less 'muffled' when NC is switched off. Surely they shouldnt be muffled at all, my Sonys weren't
 
Your Sonys are just easier to drive, that's all.

Lots of hard-to-drive headphones don't reach their full potential without an amp. Noise Cancelling mode is basically what they sound like when properly amped in passive mode - but there's no hiss.
 
Uriel said:
Noise Cancelling mode is basically what they sound like when properly amped in passive mode - but there's no hiss.
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So are they in passive mode until you switch on Noise Cancelling, then they go to un/in passive?

Would an extension cable degrade quality?

Using my soundcard instead of my amp is going to be a bit of a ball bag because it would mean using volume control in windows on the Xonar settings
 
Uriel said:
Your Sonys are just easier to drive, that's all.

Lots of hard-to-drive headphones don't reach their full potential without an amp. Noise Cancelling mode is basically what they sound like when properly amped in passive mode - but there's no hiss.
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not sure about that, it shouldnt make a hole lot of difference to the top end apart from being quieter.
 
Oh well - I can only speak from experience. Without proper amplification the NS1000s (in passive mode) are slow in response and badly controlled. One way to describe it is the bass decreases in quality and overwhelms the other frequencies.

And different amps really do make a lot of difference to them.
 
Uriel said:
Oh well - I can only speak from experience. Without proper amplification the NS1000s (in passive mode) are slow in response and badly controlled. One way to describe it is the bass decreases in quality and overwhelms the other frequencies.

And different amps really do make a lot of difference to them.
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of course they do, but he isnt talking about the bass. poorly amped or not, they shouldnt really be any worse than the sony's they are supposed to replace. My hd650's top end isnt suddenly worse than a pair of hd555's when they arent amped correctly - they just arent as good as when they are, but it's everything else that's really affected: seperation, control of the bass, loudness being a massive difference. the only way i can see them totally changing characteristics at the top end is if they have a volatile load and by that i dont mean a high impedance, i mean one that changes drastically over the course of the frequency range. then a better amp might deal with them better, but this isnt a grands worth of electrostat headphones we are talking about here, i cant see that being the case with the ns1000's at all. What i can see is the ns1000's just being not as good period.
 
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Sorry being busy.

Quick comparison.

DR150 - superb cans, sorry to have to sell them but being open and sharing a room with gf, she couldn;t take the sound leakage. Actually better without the FiiO.

NS1000 - I find the sound is more muffled and muddy with NR on when using the FiiO so works better in passive. Plenty of nice clean bass.

As for comparing them, it's a bit hard since the NS1000 are just being broken in and the Dr150 had hundreds of hours.

Only two downsides for the NS1000 are the short lead (I know they are meant for on the move but they could have given you two;)) and the headphone surrounds are much smaller than my Zalman or my DR150 so my big ears feel a little cramped.

Nice package overall and I am not disappointed especially since they are £20 cheaper than DR150's atm. Sound quality on par with the DR150's. Not had time to do a proper comparison yet but I intend to. Not even had chance to try them without the amp as just too busy.

Not had chance to try on my mp3 player yet either but will do at the weekend.
 
Greebo said:
NS1000 - I find the sound is more muffled and muddy with NR on when using the FiiO so works better in passive. Plenty of nice clean bass.

As for comparing them, it's a bit hard since the NS1000 are just being broken in and the Dr150 had hundreds of hours.
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What is NR? Do you mean there is plenty of clean bass with the noise cancelling on or off?

I thought you have only had the DR150 for a few weeks?
 
Guest2 said:
What is NR? Do you mean there is plenty of clean bass with the noise cancelling on or off?

I thought you have only had the DR150 for a few weeks?
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I did. I didn't realise how much they leaked sound being my first open headphones and the gf complained too much hence the need to buy the NS1000.:(

I find the sound cleaner and the bass better with noise cancelling off but I have only tried so far using my amp. Perhaps without the amp things would be different?
 
Greebo said:
I find the sound cleaner and the bass better with noise cancelling off but I have only tried so far using my amp. Perhaps without the amp things would be different?
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Interesting, I find with noise cancelling off the sound is muddy and bass is a bit sloppy. Turn on the noise cancelling and they sound great. This is going through a marantz integrated 100w amp.

Plugged straight into my soundcard headphone port (xonar essence) they are much quieter and the noise cancelling doesnt seem to make much difference

Has anyone used the DR150, NS1000 and Sennheiser HD555/595 who can give comparisons?
 
Got them!

Listening to music with them now. I'm happy with my purchase!

Compared to my Speedlink Medusas... well... how to describe it? Sound just has more "depth" to it, more body, more feel and warmth. It sounds deeper, could that be the bass?

I'm using the FiiO E5 amp, and I only notice a sliiiight difference in sound between active / passive mode.

I havn't noticed any hissing sound yet.

As for the noise-cancelling- it works. I now realise just how 'open' my Speedlink Medusas are. I can hear everything through them. With the NS1000's I can no longer hear the fans of my computer which is right next to me.

If one thing has surprised me though, it's the sound leakage. Maybe I just have my music too high, but it can be quite audible. But open headphoens would be much much more audible I suppose, anyway it's not an issue for me. If I'm ever in a library with them, I'll just turn the volume down! (Volume is at 100% right now)

As for comfiness, I'm not sure what I prefer. I like the Medusas big and robust look, and the way the headphones sit fully around your ears instead of ontop. But the padding on the NS1000's feels nice and you can't notice them really. They're not uncomfortable. They are much lighter though, which is nice.

I'm trying to find other ways to increase sound quality in my sound card menu...

Audio Channels: 2 or 8? 8 sounds more 3D.
Sample Rate? I just have it on 48KHz.
Dolby Headphone is always turned on.

I'm using an Asus Xonar D1.
 
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Volume 100%? :eek:

I have only had mine up to 60% and that is defeaning! I tend to game and listen to music on 25%.

I find dolby headphone - small room, 8 channels and 7.1 shifter gives me the nicest sound that I prefer but personal taste.

For just music I prefer 2 channels and no dolby headphone though.
 
Greebo said:
Volume 100%? :eek:

I have only had mine up to 60% and that is defeaning! I tend to game and listen to music on 25%.

I find dolby headphone - small room, 8 channels and 7.1 shifter gives me the nicest sound that I prefer but personal taste.

For just music I prefer 2 channels and no dolby headphone though.
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You probably have your amp turned all the way up though? I have mine turned down a bit.

I don't notice any difference with Dolby Headphones turned on or off when listening to music, so I just leave it on.
 
Indeed. The FiiO E5 amp must be crap or your are partially deaf. On 3/4 volume on my amp they blow your head off. I just use Hi-fi mode 192Khz all the time on my soundcard settings.

Music or dolby mode adds fake stuff that shouldnt be there (e.g. similar to creative 'crystalizer')
 
I reckon he's deaf cause mine is the FiiO E5 amp as well and I only went to 60% to see how loud the cans went. I certainly couldn't leave them at 60%, never mind 100%.

And with music the difference between dolby headphone and plain stereo is like chalk and cheese!
 
Tried them in again in the essence headphone port then my amp. In the headphone port on the soundcard on max volume they sound the same as my stereo amp on 8o clock with noise cancelling turned on.

Amp starts at 6o clock so the obviously puts the soundcard amp to shame
 
Well, i got £57 inc for the Sonys i had, this has covered the cost of the NS1000. The NS1000 i dont think are as good quality and distort when playing bass loud but are definately more comfy and make my ears a lot less hot. What driver usits do they use?

One thing that is annoying is using the noise cancelling all the time. Last night i forgot to turn it off after using them then saw the light about 3 hours later
 
Guest2 said:
Tried them in again in the essence headphone port then my amp. In the headphone port on the soundcard on max volume they sound the same as my stereo amp on 8o clock with noise cancelling turned on.

Amp starts at 6o clock so the obviously puts the soundcard amp to shame
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have you got the correct gain set for the headphone output on the stx?
 
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