I wish I hadn’t have discounted iems, since I now use them much more than my over ears, even when I’m at home. I also wish I had have had a better understanding of the type of sound signature I preferred, would have saved myself a lot of time and money. That being said, I did enjoy the journey itself to finding my end game 🙂
That Grado was sub bass anemic back in 2005 when all I listened to was rap.
I mixed rap beats on them for my car that had a 2 18" wall. Boy it was loud.
Amps & Dacs aren’t as important as headphones
How true is this? I wanted to order a Sonata HD Pro for my Timeless, but I don’t know if they’re really necessary. One of my devices doesn’t have a headphone jack, though.
Used Apple Dongle with Blessing 2. Bought Fiio KA1, used for two weeks, returned Fiio KA1, back to Apple Dongle. No difference :D
I think I might grab one to check as well, it’s so well recommended here xD Cheap too.
for iem most of the time you need a dac is just to remove noise floor, in case if iphone if you want to do system wide eq you will need dacs like btr or qudelix
I see, I was really interested in the Qudelix but I didn’t want to spend much, considering the Timeless was already rather expensive for me. I have an Android, so for EQ I assume Wavelet/Poweramp is enough?
I have the Timeless AE and the Qudelix/BTR5 and I think the Qudelix was worth it. It’s also very freeing not having to be connected to the phone.
yeah, for pc get apo and peace user interface
- Use EQ. Just do it. It’s free and can make a headphone that is tuned bad out of the box, but has great technical abilities and other qualities going for it, into a real powerhouse (e. g. DT 770 80 Ohm). I’ve been looking for a good tuned closed-back that does not need EQ to sound good (I like Harman with a few tweaks), but I have failed to find one for me in the price ranges I was looking and I doubt there is a good one even now (disregarding the DCA Stealth) and with EQ my DT 770, that was way too bright for me in the beginning, is now my go-to closed-back since it’s comfortable, has very good technical ablities and soundstage, and with EQ I could fix the one thing that was bothering me: it’s tuning. without spending a dime.
- Also, don’t listen too loud even if it’s fun and “sounds better”! You don’t want to be deaf when reaching 30 years of age.
- AMPs and DACs don’t have to be expensive to be good. Even some USB-Dongles can drive kilobuck headphones just fine. Maybe you don’t even need and AMP / DAC if your motherboard has good onboard sound.
- Cables are snake oil
Wdym cables are snake oil?
Snake oil is a business term for something that is a fraud. So basically, don’t waste your money on expensive cables expecting better sound (yes, this is actually a thing in the audio community)
Thank you, sorry I’m a pretty casual audiophile, was using Shure SE215s for a while but lost them when on Holiday so just picked up the Sony XM5s.
Can’t see myself every having a full desk set up as the convenience of wireless is a big deal for me.
Thanks again!
Don’t spend a lot of money on a hobby that may not be your thing in the end
Trust your own ears!
What if your own ears are garbage? o.O
It’s a blessing, saves you money
Buy a wireless headset instead cause wired won’t work for your setup
Yeah I’m not an audiophile, just a gamer and the cord offended me a lot and I ended up breaking my headset because of it.
Hmm nothing really. I had a really good audio journey. Though if I had to tell myself back then something, then ATH-M50X is ass. Go straight for planar headphones. 😂
If you have a sufficiently high fidelity speaker set up and you can listen to music at whatever volume you like at any time you like, you do not need a high end headphone setup.
whatever volume
this is definitely not true
What I mean is if disturbing roommates, spouses, neighbors with high volume is not an issue AND your speaker system is good enough, a home headphone rig is not necessary. On the go, I use AirPods. No one can hear the difference between high end and low end while commuting or grocery shopping. I am glad to have owned some of the best headphones and headphone amps ever made and I’ve listened to just about every good headphone you can get up to about 2010 (when I quit serious headphone listening). If I put the headphone money into my 2 channel system it would have been better spent. That’s the advice I would have given myself back in the day. I still own HD800S, HD600 with the marble finish, and a Dennis Had IHA1.
Comfort is king - don’t be afraid to pad roll or headband mod.
I’ve tried too many times to make good sounding headphones fit well even though they’re just a bad match for my head. Always end up returning or selling them. I also learned that I like velour pads on everything. Timbre be damned I’ll fix what I can with EQ.
If I’m not comfortable I’m not enjoying my music.
If headphones aren’t comfortable, no matter how good they sound, you won’t use them.
Don’t worry too much about DACs and AMPs.
There is a point where you can spend vastly more money for very few tangible benefits.
Don’t listen to Zeos. If you do, don’t exclusively liaten to him.
I got into the hobby before the internet was a thing and we only had recommendations from friends and colleagues. For me this was fellow musicians and audio engineers. My regret is not breaking out of my lane and moving to more colored headphones earlier on. I was stuck in neutrality for close to a decade and only using headphones that I could also justify using in the studio.
The irony is, even as someone that’s tracked, and mixed a lot of music over the years, I prefer a much more colored, V-shaped tuning for music enjoyment/personal listening. So while I love the LCD-X, MM-500, Sennheiser HD600 and DT1990s, I rarely listen to them when I’m not working in a daw. For that, I prefer stuff like the FatFreq IEMs, or the Focal Radiance, Apos Caspian, HarmonicDyne Zeus Elites, etc.
Get a DAC. As they say in the coffee world, the grinder is more important that the machine. The DAC here is more important than the IEM’s / Headphones. Obviously don’t buy a DAC more expensive than the headset, but get a good one.
“Try before you buy”