Headphones & Audio Devices

Brahma_sl said:

Get this

Amazon.com: FiiO E10K USB DAC and Headphone Amplifier (Black): Electronics

Get these.

Amazon.com: Sennheiser HD 558 Headphones: Electronics

Less than 200 bucks.

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Alrighty, that's one of the pairs I was looking in to. Would it be worth it getting the amp straight off vs getting the headphones first and seeing if it's necessary? Lot of reviews etc. of these and other headphones I was looking at say the amp isn't necessary or won't do much.

100 bucks for those Sennheiser is a super hot deal.

Just get the E10K with it. You're going to hear ground loop if you plug it directly into your computer (and possible noise as well)

Has anyone ever tried any of those aviation headset to USB adapters? I have a pair of David Clark H10-13.4s and they are about 300x more comfortable than any of these shitty PC headsets I've tried over the years. I know they sell them for sim cockpit BS but I've only ever used them on VHF so not really sure on audio quality comparison.

The Sennheiser 558s are pretty much always around $100. Now, Mist posted a link a couple weeks back where the 598s were on sale for $95, that was a hell of a deal as they are usually ~$150 or so.

Amazon.com: Sennheiser HD 598 Special Edition Over-Ear Headphones - Black: Electronics

I think several of us here jumped on that deal for $95 598s. I've been using them a ton for the past few weeks and they're amazing.

I also picked up the Asus Xonar sound card/amp that was linked here (around $30 on Amazon). It definitely made a noticeable difference with the 598s, but I honestly couldn't tell you if it was because of the amp or more the fact that I went from using onboard shitty Realtek audio to an actual soundcard. Maybe a little of both...not sure though. If you already have a dedicated sound card, the amp may not do a whole lot for you with a pair of 558s or 598s, I didn't ever have the ability to test a dedicated sound card with and without and amp, it was all or nothing for me.

I would have to +1 on the sennheiser 558s

Just set up the headphones/amp, they're awesome. The sound leak isn't anywhere near as bad as some of the reviews I saw made it out to be.

ZombieWizardhawk_sl said:

Just set up the headphones/amp, they're awesome. The sound leak isn't anywhere near as bad as some of the reviews I saw made it out to be.

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What did you get bro? Pics? I like pics.

Not sure if this is the best place to ask this question, but here goes.

Is there a way to have windows media player output through computer speakers, but everything else output through headphones? My baby daughter needs her sleeping music, that plays through the computer speakers, but I want to be able to listen to other things, without her hearing it all.

Thanks.

switch from windows media player to media player classic or something else. set as default audio output device to headphones and change manually in the mpc options the sound output to speakers.

i think my lifelong hunt for a decent pair of portable bluetooth headphones is finally over. been using these for a week with great results.

Liberate XLBT Bluetooth Over-Ear Headphones | House of Marley USA

jeffvader_sl said:

i think my lifelong hunt for a decent pair of portable bluetooth headphones is finally over. been using these for a week with great results.

Liberate XLBT Bluetooth Over-Ear Headphones | House of Marley USA

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Those are portable?

well depends on your definition i guess but they fold up nicely and fit in my northface pocket.

gogusrl_sl said:

switch from windows media player to media player classic or something else. set as default audio output device to headphones and change manually in the mpc options the sound output to speakers.

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Gave this a shot this afternoon, and I couldn't get the sound to output through speakers. I was choosing different playback options Under Options -> Output -> Audio Renderer. Changed it to All of them, and would hit Apply, and it never came out through the computer speakers I have plugged in, only through the BT earbuds I just plugged in and are set as Default.

Edit: Got it. Had to reload (Control-E), and it's working fine now. I didn't know that it didn't change those things on the fly. Thanks!

Brahma_sl said:

What did you get bro? Pics? I like pics.

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The ones you linked. I'd post pics but I broke my phone about 2 weeks ago =/. Touch-screen had been acting up for a while and it crapped out while I was at work, spent like 2 hours gradually getting angrier trying to fix it and ended up smashing a few parts of it when I got sick of it. That gets to be my next purchase!

I think that I've mentioned it here before, but wanted to mention it again. I'm now on my 2nd pair of these BT earbuds, and I love them! First pair I accidentally stepped on, and smashed.

Amazon.com: Soundpeats Qy7 V4.1 Bluetooth Mini Lightweight Wireless Stereo Sports/running Accessories

I have the Astro A40's + Mixamp, would the Mixamp work as well as the E10k with those 598's?

Go into device manager and delete all the unused/excess drivers. I had that problem with my O2 DAC before and found out that some of the unused driver was interfering with the O2 DAC driver.

Brahma, I've decided on what I'm spending dumb gift cards and points on, can you please window shop <~$350 on a new headset setup for me?

Right now I have onboard sound (RealTek) and I am going to return my 4th pair of G930s because I just can't stand the stupid things disconnecting anymore. Looks like options on the wishlist are sort of circling around 558s ($100), 598s ($150), modmic 4.0 ($55), SB Z series($70/$100), FiiO DAC ($100), GameZero ($250), etc.? Seems like saying 'screw it' and buying the GameZero would be the easiest... but least open to later upgrade/changes. I still have my Audio Technica reference set as monitors so I don't mind having a biased EQ for listening on this set.

Do you have the SB Zx or just the Z by the way? I'm not sure if that little audio control module does anything useful and some reviews mention that it actually hurts sound quality from the on-board amp.

Thanks