/hpg/ - Headphone General

I don't know what any of that stuff means.

Guess it's time to get a mayflower arc. What kind of onboard audio do you have?

>What audiopedophile memes have you fallen for this week, Jow Forums?
Fell for shp9500's. Returned that garbage within a week. I cringe everytime someone says these are good

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Right, sounds like you need to put some thought into the amp then indeed. Might be that cheaper models don't crank out enough power so it'd be safer to get the one you already tried.

they are indeed exceptionally shit. can't understand how they became a meme.

Uh, I'm not sure sorry. Mine uses realtek shit.

First for END GAME

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Based floor user

Probably because of muh gaming and Zeos. Even then it sounds grainy as fuck. So I can imagine that would be distracting.

yeah they're worse than some 30$ headphones I've tried, and shills are selling them as comparable to the likes of hd600. they must be completely deaf since this isn't some golden ears kinda thing, they just sound like shit and the grainy treble is the worst.

Is realtek actually good? I didn't realize it's not installed by default.

Do the wood pedistals and cork-and-rubber spacers honestly do anything that a basic shelf wouldn't?

It's weird how retards even started comparing them to the 600. Both have different sound signatures. shp9500 is bright as fuck while hd 600 is warm.

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It's hardware soldered to your PC motherboard, the chips and whatnot connected to the audio jack(s) on the motherboard or the side of your laptop. Even within Realtek I've had varying experiences. Some Realtek laptop and desktop audio sounds almost as good as with a USB DAC, some has a faint hiss, some makes obnoxious quiet chirping noises as you move the mouse or scroll a webpage. It all depends how your board or laptop manufacturer has wired things up.

If you use Realtek audio on Windows, it might have generic drivers by default after a fresh install. If so, you should install the Realtek drivers either from your OEM website or Realtek themselves. If you install the full driver package, you get a Realtek HD Audio Manager application. It's mostly pointless, but you can use it to put the device in multi-stream mode by clicking "Device advanced settings" so you can have separate volumes for speaker and headphone, and potentially even play some programs through one and the rest through the other. It also gives you a normal balance slider, a plus since Windows replaced that with an idiotic "levels" sub-window after XP. And if you're on a laptop that has a "microphone array" type mic, you might get some microphone enhancements for beam forming or far-field pickup -- basically it uses 2 microphones in your laptop lid and processes the 2 streams to effectively make a single unidirectional or omnidirectional mic.

well, I didn’t feel like building another rack at this point in time so I went with butcher blocks as I use those under my monoblocks in my two channel setup, plus I like the look. those cork “footers” I use because I needed to elevate the diy tube amps I built for clearance because I used some pretty large capacitors and the “regular” footers I could find were not high enough. I found a good deal on a box of like 30 or 40 of them and to keep all of the gear at a similar height I also put them under the other amps. Ok?

pic related was an met board I was using, didn’t care for the look,

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*mdf

plus these butcher blocks are perfect sized :)

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Would the Topping DX3 pro be a good all in one solution for desktop audio?

just to power some desktop speakers and high power headphones as well as being a DAC for both.

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Oh okay, that sounds very reasonable. I was afraid I was looking at one of those ridiculous audiophile setups where the wood blocks are hand-crafted from some rare tree that they have to brave saber-tooth tigers to find and chop down, the spacers are scientifically engineered to reduce noise somehow and cost a thousand bucks a pop, and everything was on its own block to prevent some sort of vibration interference.

>What audiopedophile memes have you fallen for this week, Jow Forums?
Not really headphones but it's audio related - I received cheap chinese amplifier last week alongside with couple of budget bookshelf speakers. Swapped couple resistors in the amplifier to have lower gain (since this Breeze Audio amp has ridiculously high output gain, lowered it down to 20 dB). Feeding the line level signal from my SMSL M3 and these are pretty comfy too when I don't want to use headphones for one reason or another.

still cutting close with two of the footers stacked and I would not go three high, so I got lucky....here’s a pic under the Bottlehead crack you can see how close the components are to the block

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>multi-stream mode
I tried that out and for some reason everything sounds better but it introduces some clipping in audio for some songs. And then songs end up sounding distorted at times. I use it because having it off makes the 600's sound too soft and I'd need the volume to be at 80-100 most of the time. Assuming that's because I don't have an amp

What do you think of the Stax mk.2's?
I have a friend who owns the L700 and tried out the mk. 2 L700 at a store but wasn't impressed

Your solution is good, but I question why it should be needed in the first place. This tube amp seems well enough made, why does it not come with legs that reach the ground?

Strange. I didn't try much in """normal""" mode after seeing that I could have separate volumes for something plugged in and nothing plugged in. But I did notice that if I made an EQ in Foobar that clips, set app volume to the same as master volume, and have master volume at like 30%, I get horrible clipping (expected). But I saw that the level monitor bar for the master slider was bouncing above 100% and overflowing the area it lives in, wtf. So I tried setting master at 100% and Foobar's app volume to 30% -- then I got the same volume but not clipping. As far as I can tell, an app can pass samples over 100% somehow, and Windows will then scale it by the app volume, convert to 16 bits, and then scale by the master volume??? Or at least that's the best sense I can make of it. Either way, playing something that clips at master volume 30%, with master 100% but app 30%, won't clip.

Haven’t heard the mk2, little I’ve read the only difference is the metal parts and removeable cable. Neither is really a concern of mine but if I were faced with buying the 700 for the first time right now I would try to find some shop selling the mk1 at a discount...not likely but worth a shot.

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I would probably do the same.
What are your most favorite headphones summitfi user?

I have active speakers connected to my PC over USB, and I'm planning to add a headphone DAC/Amp to another amp. How will the interaction between these be? Is Windows able to have a preference for the headphone amp and shut off sound from the speakers when I plug in headphones to the amp or will I have to do it manually?

>headphone DAC/Amp to another USB

It treats it the same as any time you have multiple audio devices. You can select a default in Settings, and apps will play out that one. When you remove that one it will revert to whatever was default before that. Adding a new one usually sets it as default automatically, because why would you plug it in if you didn't want to use it? Some apps like Audacity let you choose which output to play through so programs like that can use a non-default output.

If you use all apps that only play to the default output, and want to have them on different outputs, you can do that but it's a bit hacky. Set one as the default, start one app playing something, change the default, and then start the other app playing. Once an app is playing and attached to an output, it can't be moved to another unless you stop playback.

They did come with footers, perfectly fine short ittle rubber ones. Thing is there is only so much room under the top plate inside the stock case the kit comes with. I didn’t want to build my own case, so had to improvise which led to finding those footers. See, I beefed up the power supply with the usual mods which puts additional components under there, along with the film output caps I went with are considerably larger than the electrolytic caps the kit comes with. At the value the amp uses, film caps are physically VERY LARGE. Ok?

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Modded feets make perfect sense if the device is modded. That looks like a fine tube amp then.

here’s a visual aid, the black cap is about he size of the stock caps and the white cap is what I put in there at one point

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it’s HUGE lol

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Thanks, so the speaker sound will stop once I plug in headphones to the headphone amp just like any other setup. Was a bit confused cause I've never had two audio sources over USB before.

Unless the headphone amp disappears from the computer when no headphones are plugged in, it won't do that. You'll have to either unplug the USB cable for it or switch defaults.

How much does this stuff improve sound? Are you trying to drive speakers that are more power-hungry than the amp was originally designed for?

Pls help I am retard, want simple solution.

I reckon only you could determine how much this stuff improves sound by doing the mods yourself and listening for yourself. Luckily it’s cheap and easy to try. There are some things like swapping a cheap pot for a nice stepped one where that channel imbalance at low settings goes away and these are easy to notice. How much does that improve the sound? A lot if you are always listening with the volume in that range and one channel is louder than the other.

No, the design uses 100uf capacitors in the output stage. Electrolytic caps are that value are MUCH smaller than film equivalent as that picture points out.

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Damn that sucks, I was hoping there was a more intelligent design that detects a 3.5 mm connected and automatically prioritizes it system wide.

ugh feet

whats the best earphones in the $100 to $200 price range?
I have a pair of shure SE215s

and again, bigger than a stock pot so you have to make it fit somehow lol

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That all depends on the device and driver if it has one.

OK ignore me I am retarded, figured it out.

Yes it's solid, though I'm not sure if you were using power in a different manner, but the DX3 can only function as a pre-amp for active speakers, it cannot power speakers.

tfw headphones did pic related and you are too poor to buy actually good ones. Also this happens just a month after I soldered on a new 3.5 mm plug because the old one broke.

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Yeah, that's what i was confused about, thought for a second the dx3 pro could power speakers haha.

Might have to buy a separate amp for passive speakers then, anyone know any good sub $150 desktop speaker amps?

>massdrop btfo by monoprice
Hilarious. Now maybe the THX 789 won't somehow have months long wait.

epic news man

>*solves headphones*

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I don't know much about earphones, but I just got pic related and they sound great. ER3SE/ER3XR. The XR are supposed to have greater bass response, which the SE is a bit light on but it sounds crisp and detailed.
Never had a pair of earphones over 50 bucks before, but these are real nice, as long as you can handle the deep insertion. They're like earplugs, in fact I'm fairly positive you could use these as firearm ear protection. Can't hear a fucking thing once you've inserted them into your canal.

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Some say ER2 are better. I haven't tried them, but it seems they're pretty much replacing ER3, being the same price.

Halp, I think I may have fallen for the MOONDROP meme.

Tried the KXXS, Blessing and A8. In terms of overall package, I think Blessing is the most impressive (and also offers the best value). They especially excel with human vocals.

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>woops wrong pic

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why not 007mk2?

Too warm sounding, their upper-mid to low treble is very recessed.

youtu.be/EzKy8Zq1fFU

Oh man the 007mk2 is sooooo god damned good it’s absolutely unfair.

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ive heard that they are super warm and they are probably the only STAX that i would want to have with my Fostex or Denons but unfortunately cant justify the expense... also not having enough money helps

holy shit what kind of retards are they trying to sell to?? including clips of music playing through both headphones on YouTube holy KEK

They're warm. Also very difficult to drive properly. I know because I have the older MK1 version.

I think these days if you're after the same kind of sound, there are other better options that don't sound as dead in the upper-mid/low-treble area, the ZMF Verité comes to mind. I really like these, I'll probably replace my Omega with them once I get the green light from my wife.

holy fuck
i never noticed this. i feel dumb for looking at their ratings for headphones lol

What are you listening to right now, /hpg/?
For me, it's Iron Maiden's The Red and Black on my ATH-M50xBT.

When I read that i assume these people who are calling them super warm are talking in relation to some other Stax models? while they certainly don’t sound like any of the lambda’s I own “super warm” is still not how I would describe them.

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What is that stand?

woo audio, bit expensive

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Get the atom.

wooaudio.com/accessories/hps

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I want to buy these so bad but HiFiMan build quality worries me.

>chink shit

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I bet her feet smell like roses.

Stax is the ultimate audiophile meme.

Literally sounds completely unnatural and nothing like the actual instruments it's trying to reproduce.

>inb4 muh decay speed

well then user, tell me what your listening with this /hpg/

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aaaaaaaaaaa Jow Forums
please halp
I just bought the vmoda m100 and the xl pads. Tried to replace the pads but the originals wouldn't come off... in the end one of the originals broke but THERE'S A PART STILL THERE (pic related) and I cant replace with the xl pad and basically cant use the headphone.The same will happen to the other one if I try. I did what I was supposed to do wtf... I will never replace any pads again in my life.

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Their top-of-the-line still has something unique to offer but the Lambdas are hilariously outdated.

Take a screwdriver or knife to the pad ring and pry it off. Odd, according to V-Moda's tutorial video the pads should come off without excessive violence.
youtube.com/watch?v=VjhiMq9GPx4

He4xx or hd6xx?

SR-L300

OK, I fixed it with a knife. Panicked too much, it was actually easy to fix. But still, it was impossible to make them come off in the normal way. Thanks user.

Liquid spark amp is perfect for the Hd600 series, as it imitates a tube in sound and it has a ridiculous amount of power, more than the Atom. The Atom is good if you want to keep the sterile yet honest sound of the 600, while the liquid spark adds a bit of warmth and fun.

Sup bitches. SUP BITCHES. It’s Chad Warden here. Aight, I’m talking bout that, Sendy Aiva. The SENDY AIVA I ain’t talking bout that 58X. That 58X? Shiiiit... Shit, people people be talkin’ bout how it was all, new, and shit. But you know what I’m tryin to say? what I’m tryin to say, is that…c’mon now, 58X? C’mon, that lil’ driver baby that looks like an anus aight, I ain’t trying to listen to my songs with no A-NUS Aight, maybe if the song is like, y’know, "Found your father hidin' in a room, fucked him with a broom" song, yeah I dunno, I dunno if there’s any tracks where you know, you have to shove it up yo ass. But…c’mon now, the 58X?
People trying to say that the, the Takstar copied the Sendy Aivas drivers for le-uh…I don’ give a fuck. Shit, shit the Takstar, you know what they should copy? They should copy how to make good headphones. They should copy how to make good headphones from the Sendys. Heh errybody knows, is that Sendy Audio make the best headphones, knaw I mean nigga? I mean, c’mon, you got lil’ headphones I mean you got 58X what, what you got, HE400i where you walk around like a lil’ bitch, and his lil’ bitch-ass headphones, and lil’ bass, and he’s goin “HEH! HEH! HEH!” C’mon, who wants to hear that shit? I needa blast some Jones.

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Sendy always wins, baby, Sendy always wins. You can’t beat Sendy. Shit, that shit is slick, slick, that sh-have you seen the Aiva? That shit is, nice nice slick, wood, *whistles* That shit is nice, see like my skin over here, bitch? My skin? You like that shit, that sh-, that shit is slick, that shit is BROWN. Shit, my skin was, was white before this shit, aight? Aight, I dyed that shit BROWN, you know why? Cuz WOOD CANS, the WOOD CANS… Argh, that shit is money, MONEY…we got this one little fat bitch, I don’t even know his fuckin’ name, but they got the little fat bitch tryin’ to say that the Aiva costs a lot, what kinda poor, bitch-ass cardboard box is he livin’ out of, baby? $600 ain’t shit to Chad Warden, Chad Warden wipes his ASS with $600. $600 ain’t shit. Shit…I’ll give you $600 just to shut the hell up, nigga. Fuck, y-y’know I can’t take the 58X with me, I can’t have it in my caddy, y’know, y’know s-I needa play some FLAC songs while I’m rollin’ in my caddy, how’m I supposed to get some hunnies with a 58X? It’s like, “Yo baby, look at my 58X!” Y’know what they say to me? They fuckin’ laugh. W-when I show, when I show them my Aiva, huh-hunnies get all over it…shit. Get all the hunnies with the Sendy Aiva.

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Been looking at sennheisers PXC 550's and they fit my budget. Good choice? I was looking for a headphone that can at least have good audio quality and a good mic

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Based and massive planars pilled.

Arya is essentially HE1000 V2 on a chinkshit frame, which is perfectly fine if its a home headphone you don't plan to abuse.

Yes, compared to the other Stax they are warm. But it's the difference between >nobass and >stillnobass

Why yes I do listen to the ZMF Atticus while fucking hoes, how can you tell?

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Yo what set I gotta get for that big modufuckin bass?

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>budget
$200 USD
>location
USA
>open/closed
open or semi open.
>past headphones
superlux hd681
>sound preferences
No idea, I'm just tired of the treble of the hd681. Maybe neutral or a little warm.
>intended use
As general purpose as it can get. Music (rock, pop, classical), movies, gaming (nothing competitive).

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Is a lot of bass meme? When does it become too much?

You need a Subpac m2
youtube.com/watch?v=5hhc_nG4oKg