I primarily listen to EDM (ie Deadmau5, Overwerk) with a mix of bass and nice layered trance-type stuff. Prefer the bass and isolation of closed-back headphones. After some reading I went with the Fostex TH-900mk2 headphones.

I stream off amazon music HD with this for highest bitrate (supposedly).

Current setup:
Headphones: Fostex TH-900mk2
DAC/Amp: Denon AVR-S660H

I think this sounds OK, but before spending any big money curious on thoughts if upgrading to a dedicated DAC/AMP combo would make a difference, or if there are any notable chokepoints in this minimal setup. Thanks!

  • Bonkfestival@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    Looks like they are 25 Ohms. Any decent headphone amp should be able to drive these including the one in your AVR. You might see slight improvement in bass with a better HP amp.

  • Exact3@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    Rule #7.

    But receivers tend to have a high output impedance (or at least they used to) on the headphone-jack that can indeed affect bass, making it more bloated and boosted. Some people like this, some don’t.

    Changing to a dedicated headphone amp would surely clean this up, make the bass tighter but at the cost of less quantity.

    I’d get some basic 100€ amp from a reputable manufacturer (Schiit Magni, JDSLabs Atom etc.) and test to see if you like it more. If not, then I guess a new pair is due.

  • Haydostrk@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    Headphones will be most of the issue. They are the most sensitive to issues. Mostly how it fits oh your head and the comfort + the frequency response. Depends on your amp and DAC but unless it has really bad performance or a buzzing noise it’s probably fine.

  • Fred011235@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    headphone output out of my harmon kardon avr is garbage compared to my headphone setup (bifrost2/64 -> jot2)

  • audioen@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    I just recently bought a pair of Airpod Pro 2’s and I thought they sound really good for what they are. Bluetooth link from phone gives me sound that seems extremely clear and detailed, and the noise cancellation is decent and allows me to hear the audio fairly well even when outside in the city. The only minor issue for me is the background hiss which tends to be an issue with all noise cancel tech I’ve ever tried. The hiss is immediately drowned by any audio at all, and to be frank, you’d hear some level of background noise anyway, even in an otherwise quiet environment such as a home. If you regularly buy headphones and components that cost about 10 times as much as pair of these would cost you, it is almost a rounding error for you to at least try them on somewhere.

    There’s some measurement data at crinacle’s site. For instance, https://crinacle.com/graphs/iems/apple-airpods-pro-2/ has these graphs for the tonality, suggesting decent amount of bass is delivered and the tonality is pretty warm without needing to use an ear-splitting listening level. Crinacle rates these B+ quality at 2-star “value” rating because they are on the cheap side as these things go, so they are not the worst choice out there, and among the cheapest that make it to a high position in the list.

    Another cheap closed-back headphone that is both affordable and should be good for bass enjoyment could be here: https://crinacle.com/graphs/headphones/akg-k371/. Fostex is also high up at least in some rankings for open back headsets, though would be lacking bass which is typical of a dynamic driver headset. There’s nothing good and cheap in closed-back and the Mk2 seems to not have been measured @ crinacle yet, and it is also very expensive. You could buy about 10 of these AKG K371s for the cost, and data suggests they might be the better headphone.

  • ArtIsPlacid@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    If you could somehow work a quality subwoofer into that setup I think you’d be pleased. Anyone else do the headphones subwoofer combo?