Nice, going to see shortly. Got a big noggin so hopefully it will work out. :)
-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
-
We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.
Headphones Era lOTl Even Through The Distortion We Remain Lossless
- Thread starter HiResDes
- Start date
If you have a Mac (or a similar equalizer for PC), I can show you a mild EQ tweak that will elevate them to nearly God-tier.
Got a PC so if you got a good EQ setting, I am all ears!
I have a photo, but I'm not sure how to publish photos on Era.
When I get some time home after work, I'll try to figure out the best way to host it. Maybe I can tweet it on Twitter and post that?
I bought the Edition XS back when it was a Chinese market exclusive headphone. I have the HE-500, so I thought I knew what I'd be getting. Not even close. The XS exceeds every other headphone I've ever had (HD650, HE-500, Focal Elex, and my previous daily driver, the Ollo S4X, which is still the ehadphonenid use if I was a music producer).
Please share your experience when you get it. I'm excited for you.
My new cheap TWS are arriving today! By the way are TWS/chifi discussion allowed in this thread?
Got the headset in today. Man, they weren't kidding when they said its pretty big. On the other side, I feel its quite comfortable. However, ordered a headband sleeve from Amazon which should be arriving shortly.
For ear cups... might go for after market if i like the headphones themselves. Seem a tad too large, but not uncomfortably so. Clamping force is very light and the cans are in general quite light.
I havent tested the sound too much so far, need to mess around with it and EQ for a while, but so far seems quite nice. Not sure if it's $500 nice but bass is certainly much better vs my HD6xx.
Edit: I do like them, need to EQ some of the mids a bit I feel, but very cool headset. Loud as hell on my lowish end Schiit stack and I thought I couldn't drive it. 50% vol on Schiit, 70% on PC and 70% on YouTube music and its super loud.
Also, interestingly enough, Dolby Atmos on Music/Balanced or Detailed setting sounds really good even without EQ adjustments. I think it sounds better vs vanilla no spacial sound. DTS though is very meh with music at least and these headphones.
Edit 2: Playing some AC/DC, Metallica, and other classic Rock and it all sounds really good, better vs HD6xx and I love those headphones. Gaming next.
Last edited:
Oh seeing people talking about the Edition XS
I own the he6sev2 that has the same exact headband and i personally think it's terrible, especially compared to the suspension strap seen on other hifiman headphones like the sundara.
I own the he6sev2 that has the same exact headband and i personally think it's terrible, especially compared to the suspension strap seen on other hifiman headphones like the sundara.
What's the best way to run Dolby Atmos on a system level on Mac? Via Audio Hijack?
Well, my HD6xx have similar setup and I've lived with them for years :). I'll see how things go next week or so especially after I get the cover with cooling gel from Amazon.
I have Philips Fidelio X2HR which do have the suspension strap. I am not sure its that much better though overall. Maybe? It's not a deal breaker certainly, but I'll see how things go.
No idea really. I got Windows which just needs Win Store app. I believe on iOS its natively supported in Apple Music, but that's about the extent of my knowledge. Probably just a google search away though. Got to be a way to do it.
Are we talking tube amps and DACs much? I have been auditioning a few with my Grado GS1000.
- Little Dot Mk. III https://littledotus.com/?product=mk-iii
- Schiit Vali https://www.schiit.com/products/vali-3
- LTA microZOTL MZ2 https://www.lineartubeaudio.com/products/mz2mz2-s
Running most through an old Parasound zDAC although I also picked up a Schiit Modi Multi-bit last year during a restless period as well.
The noise floor on the Mk.III is truly atrocious but it was fun to buy something cheap and have it show up straight from Shenzhen. Warmth is nice on it, although maybe not true, but it gets that roundedness that can be pleasant. The Vali is fine, a bit clinical paired with the Modi, feels accurate but not musical, as the nerds say. The LTA is frankly a bit amazing, I'm pretty skeptical of audiophile claims in general (grew up with a father who read Stereophile) but it is just... weird how clean and distinct and separated everything feels. And of course it is gorgeous as well.
Shipping the Mk.III to my father to play with and moving the Schiit setup to a secondary workstation, running the Parasound and LTA on the main gaming/listening workstation. May try to find another DAC to audition it with since the Parasound is long in the tooth.
- Little Dot Mk. III https://littledotus.com/?product=mk-iii
- Schiit Vali https://www.schiit.com/products/vali-3
- LTA microZOTL MZ2 https://www.lineartubeaudio.com/products/mz2mz2-s
Running most through an old Parasound zDAC although I also picked up a Schiit Modi Multi-bit last year during a restless period as well.
The noise floor on the Mk.III is truly atrocious but it was fun to buy something cheap and have it show up straight from Shenzhen. Warmth is nice on it, although maybe not true, but it gets that roundedness that can be pleasant. The Vali is fine, a bit clinical paired with the Modi, feels accurate but not musical, as the nerds say. The LTA is frankly a bit amazing, I'm pretty skeptical of audiophile claims in general (grew up with a father who read Stereophile) but it is just... weird how clean and distinct and separated everything feels. And of course it is gorgeous as well.
Shipping the Mk.III to my father to play with and moving the Schiit setup to a secondary workstation, running the Parasound and LTA on the main gaming/listening workstation. May try to find another DAC to audition it with since the Parasound is long in the tooth.
Goddamn my heart jumped to my throat, my Aeolus' cable got caught on my foot when I got up from my desk and the thing absolutely flew on the floor when I walked away. No scratches and still working perfectly fine, thankfully. I really need to rethink my setup lol.
I have vanilla Schiit Modi/Magni stack that I bought a year and a half ago and I am pretty happy with that for now. Going to look into a bit more options though as the stack is by my PC and I want something for listening in a comfy couch near the TV and consoles.
That LTA looks super interesting but very expensive :).
Anyone have any mid-fi / high-fi suggestions for IEM's that are suitable for metal and electronic under $1,000?
So far my current setup are LCD-2C's and iSine20's so planars for me seem ideal, with EQ. Would love not needing EQ.
I assume I'm looking for good bass extension, decent mid bass and soundstage but not treble as that can be fatiguing with metal (and poor metal recordings).
So far my current setup are LCD-2C's and iSine20's so planars for me seem ideal, with EQ. Would love not needing EQ.
I assume I'm looking for good bass extension, decent mid bass and soundstage but not treble as that can be fatiguing with metal (and poor metal recordings).
I like Schiit's hardware. Got fairly basic Modi/Magni setup and it's been doing pretty good.
I'm a fan of the schiit stuff. I've heard great things about the ifi zen dac v2.
I wouldn't fret too much about the decision you can't go wrong with either.
It's one of my favorites planar magnetic headphones for the price. When I bought them they were $500 and I was very happy with that price.
This is the one thing bumming me out with tube amps--they're almost invariably expensive. I really want one because I like distortion and I've particularly realized I really like a lot of warmth (I've EQ'd up the low mids even with my already warm Aeolus and I LOVE IT) and some tubes seem like they'd definitely give that, but haven't got around to it.
(I know there are affordable options like the Bottlehead Crack that'd probably give me exactly what I want, but unfortunately they're not easily available in Europe)
I was tempted to get that inexpensive Schiit Vali or maybe even Valhalla... but that's as much as I am willing to go :).
Yeah, those seem like interesting choices. Using a cheap tube amp as a preamp to color the sound seems like an interesting way to do it too, but I can't try it with my current setup since I've only got a single DAC-amp unit.
Somewhat related to this, I've kind of been wondering if I should sell my Aeolus and get a pair of HD650s and a tube amp (maybe the Tor Roger) with the money. The Aeolus sounds fantastic, but I've been consistently having comfort issues with them (not all the time, sometimes they feel wonderful on the head, but often enough to be an issue) and every time they start to get annoying, I switch to a pair of cheap Chinese earbuds and remember, again, how little the so-called technicalities of a headphone matter to me and how it's ultimately all about the smooth and warm timbre for me, especially when it comes to the mids where the 650s supposedly really shine (and doubly so when paired with an OTL tube amp). They're also quite a bit lighter than the Aeolus, so I would imagine comfort would be better, too.
I thought I'd reach out on here because it could still apply.
I'm thinking about getting more legit, higher ohm headphones in the form of the Beyer DT990 Edition 600ohm headphones for gaming and then pairing it with the Sound Blaster X4 external sound card, which can support up to 600 ohm. I guess my question is, do I even need or really benefit from 600 ohm with an external sound card like this or should I just go for the 250 ohm?
I'm thinking about getting more legit, higher ohm headphones in the form of the Beyer DT990 Edition 600ohm headphones for gaming and then pairing it with the Sound Blaster X4 external sound card, which can support up to 600 ohm. I guess my question is, do I even need or really benefit from 600 ohm with an external sound card like this or should I just go for the 250 ohm?
IMO, 600 ohm is overkill. Especially on that Beyer they will sound a bit harsh, IMO. I would try 250 and see if you like it or vice versa. Well, get it from a place with good returns :).
I have HD6xx which should be fairly close to HD650s I think and the mids are certainly very good on them.
I have never tried Aeolus, so can't comment there but even an inexpensive tube amp plus HD650s should deliver very good and warm mids, IMO at least.
Then again I am far from audiophile and that $500 Hifiman I just got seems crazy enough for me. 😀
Amazon Prime for both is my friend haha. I was looking at the 6XX, but fuck me I don't want to deal with Drop's returns. I will do the 250 ohm one. Thanks!
Drop is super easy actually. I recently returned a headphone I tried and didn't like there. Was easy. Now it took a bit of time to get money back (like 3 weeks) but it was straightforward.
Ahh, for the 6XX, it basically says new and unused, so that tells me to not open it.
Not only close, I'm pretty sure the 6XXs are practically a repackaged 650. And I'm not much of an audiophile either, which is why I'm thinking of downgrading in the first place, haha.
Oh, it's interesting that they are doing that for the specific headphone.
Yeah, this is why I pretty much got it originally a few years back. Great headphones for the price.
Yep, amazing headphones for the price. The weakness for HD6xx are the lows though. Bass is somewhat lacking. Which is why I got Hifiman Edition XS. I like these, but I would say in the mids HD6xx is still as good if not better vs Edition XS which is crazy. Edition does have much better lows and probably better highs I'd say.
I've never been much of a bass head and I'm pretty happy with the lows on the 6XX. I appreciate bassy stuff a bit more with my DT770, which are my second favorite headphones, but that's more of an apples to oranges comparison. Honestly those two make an amazing pair, because whenever I question why I own both of them, I'll start using the other one and learn to appreciate them all over again.
Right now my Grado SR125X are the odd one out. I don't mind the earpads but I'm considering a cable mod because I can't stand how stiff and heavy the stock braided one is.
The funny thing is, I do have a Sound Blaster AE-5 Plus, which supports up to 600 ohm, however, with how it does not auto switch between headphones and my speakers (I need to use the software, which sucks) with just plugging in the headphones or not, it's not really viable. I love this card, but yeah, stupid things.
Yep, even applied it and it's good. However... IMO HD6xx are still a bit better on mids. Diff is not large though and Hifiman is much better at lows and better at highs. Great pair of headphones but not sure if it's $500 just yet.
Another issue is right now my listening have been through YouTube Music or various steaming services for video. I need to try out high quality streams. Is Tidal the main option for that? Spotify was not much better vs YouTube, IMO.
I have an older internal Soundblaster with external hook up, and while that wasnt bad for HD6xx (300 omhs) I went with cheaper Schiit stack to try and liked it. Might have been Placebo though 😀.
I am not much of a bass head either but felt that even with EQ HD6xx was lacking somewhat in the lows listening to some classic rock/metal or even EDM tunes. But its still amazing headphones and I just got Philips Fidelio XR2 for bass couple years back.
Got to say though that overall though Edition XS does bring a lot to the table now that I got it. Not sure on that price performance return though. Don't think you can beat HD6xx there.
Edit: I do have like 100+ GB of music I ripped from my old CDs and iTunes long time ago (nothing newer then like 2006 probably 😅), need to figure out what folks use now days for normal music playback.
I think for me, I need the auto-switch between headphones and speakers. I have 2.1 Logitech THX speakers when I'm not on a call or when I'm not playing a first person shooter. I generally uses headphones for calls and games where I need to hear everything. And I wish the front 3.5mm ports would auto switch when they recognize headphones, but they don't for some fucking reason. This is why I'm going to the external X4 sound card to get around this issue. Hopefully anyways.
Buying more expensive amps and DACs instead of more technically proficient headphones is almost never good advice.
Yeah, I would agree. Unless your dac is truly terrible and completely underpowered but that's going to be rare.
Good for you. I have thought about getting a "stack", but my lifestyle/space setup is just completely tuned toward having an all-in-one amp/DAC.
Isn't X4 all-in-one USB dac/amp basically? At least that's what I was thinking before.
I do need to get a bluetooth / 3.5mm battery powered amp at some point as well I figured, but nothing particularly fancy. Also, I will never be not bitter about flagship phones dumping 3.5 mm jack.
Edit: I guess actually a USB-C headphone amp with battery would work fine, just would be more annoying.
It is both a DAC and an amp. Supports up to 600 ohm for the amp, which is why I'm going for it. I do have one that supports both as a PCI-e card (AE-5 Plus), but I think the desk X4 will be a lot easier for me and nicer. I have a spare USB-C port in the back, so it works out.