The Soundblaster Z doesn't have enough power to drive 600 ohm Beyers. I upgraded from the Z to an STX because the Z wasn't getting the most out of my AKG K702's and 250 ohm DT990's, it's actually a pretty weak head amp.
If you like the headphones just get an extensionMy Logitech G Pro X headset came today and while it looks beautiful and is very comfy I'm extremely dissapointed with it because the cable is too flamin' short. I'm sitting here now thinking why I didn't check the cord length before buying it, it seems obvious now, but before I didn't really think something so simple could be cocked up, not by a company like Logitech. Now I'm wondering if my HyperX Cloud Revolver is an outlier with an unordinary long cable at 3 meters, this Logitech cord is 2 meters and I can't cable manage it to keep the cable on my left. I had it routed so it came around the left base of my left monitor so compltely out of the way, now it's coming up between my monitors center of my desk and over the keyboard, I can't take it left of the keyboad cuz still not enough cable so I keep knocking it, I can't take the cable to the right because now it's messing with my mouse.
AAAAAAARRRRRGHHHHHHHHH LOGITECH!!!! WHY!
Gunna email them and see if they can offer up a solution like maybe send me a 3m cable because I may end up sending them back.
So sad
Just listening to these HD599s that have just been delivered today (all-black edition, probably doesn't make any difference, but they were £50 cheaper than the brown edition ).
They sound more precise than my eternal favourites - KSC75s. This is in fact my first foray into headphones costing more than £50 (because I like the KSC75s so much).
The bass is described as a bit "loose" on these by reviewers. Honestly, I'm having a little bit of trouble adjusting to the extra bass. It just seems to be "louder" and "boomier" and higher impact, but without adding detail (not sure if this makes sense). My ears keep straining to hear the detail in the bass regions, but it seems blurred together down there.
So, for example, bass violins now sound like somebody is physically smashing the instrument against my ears (instead of hearing it from across the room), but it does seem fairly "muddy" in its sound.
Everything else sounds great and they are very comfortable.
e: A lot of the bass sounds like a thunderstorm rather than an instrument. I'm really not sure if it's supposed to sound like this...
Added the Focal Arche dac/amp to my Focal Utopia and Focal Stellia collection. Think I'm done now
Amazing!
I've just picked up a much more modest pair of Focal Elegia, these are on offer from their £900 RRP at £600 in a few places, but managed to get a hardly used second hand set that are 2 months old for much less.
I've paired them with a simple iFI hip-dac
I only went for this combo on seeing the Focal's being on offer and seeing headphone.com's video about his long term setup he uses for his own office work (Elegia's + Hip-Dac).
Coming from my last upgrade (B&O H9 3rd Gen Wireless ANC) these obviously sound that bit better in all regards, although I will say without the Hip-Dac's X-Bass + EQ they would sound a bit bass light and less dynamic, however they are worth EQ'ing because the detail, imaging and soundstage are just at the level that everything you throw at them sounds pretty much OK, this is the first set of headphones where I haven't come across anything but the poorest of recordings that isn't enjoyable to listen to.
Saying all that, those Stellia's with the Arche looks amazing, if that's not end-game I don't know what is, although knowing how my brain works, I'll get used to these and start wondering 'what if I spent a little more..'.
Thanks, I keep drooling at the Stellia’s though!Looks like an awesome combo!
Thanks, I keep drooling at the Stellia’s though!
interestingly if you look at my photo you’ll notice their is a lot of black lettering missing from the ear cup of my Elegias, initially it was just the odd part of a letter worn away (or so I thought), turns out just lightly brushing your finger over the ear cups is enough to remove it entirely.. The owner is kindly helping with warranty and the RMA has already been accepted although at first it sounded so incredulous, until I made a video showing a light wipe with the thumb made the lettering disappear entirely.. Not sure how this one slipped through the net, but seemingly no quibbles yet from Focal.. not sure if I’ll get a new pair, get these repaired, or a set of refurb’s.
I’ve been a bit stupid and messing around with equaliser apo and using oratory1990’s preset info as a starting point.. However found that I kept adjusting things to suit every track then realised I was just effectively remastering the track, I.e. the track may well be bass light, so EQing to give it more bass just makes bass heavy tracks rumble your ears off.. boy can these things punch hard if set that way...
So I think after all I might get a headphone dac/amp to drive my 599s. Just to know if it makes any difference at all (which it should do vs this el cheapo usb adapter).
I now have my eye on the Schiit Fulla 3, which seems to review really well. It also has a mic input so I can use it in my work laptop for music + Teams, without extra cable clutter.
Is incredibly hard to get hold of tho, with all EU distributors out of stock (oh, 2020).
Ruling out all Creative prodcuts (hate them), is there a recommended alternative to the Fulla 3? It's supposed to be best in class at that price range, but everybody has their own opinion what that means
I like the Fulla 3 as it does not need mains power, has very low output impedance (this is good tho I'm not sure why, total newb ), decent output power for <200ohm phones. Sound quality supposed to be excellent, mic input quite compressed tho (no mic gain control).