• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

The Official Headphone Thread 2.5: We're Making WAVs and Catching FLAC

E

Erv

Member
Any good wireless ear buds where they are either not connected to each other by a wire or where if I only wear one the other doesn't dangle too much at all. I am often in a situation where I can only wear one because I have to be able to hear things around me.
 
M

matmanx1

Member
So, my credit card company flagged my card for fraudulent activity and in the process of getting it straightened out I missed out on the Massdrop for the E-Mu Teaks.

I'd like to email Chan directly and purchase the E-Mu teaks. What was his email again?

Edit- I tried inquiry@e-mu.com and am getting an error. I wonder if it is a problem on their end or on mine?
 
A

Antiwhippy

the holder of the trombone
Erv said:
Any good wireless ear buds where they are either not connected to each other by a wire or where if I only wear one the other doesn't dangle too much at all. I am often in a situation where I can only wear one because I have to be able to hear things around me.
Click to expand...

Probably the airpods honestly.
 
K

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
matmanx1 said:
So, my credit card company flagged my card for fraudulent activity and in the process of getting it straightened out I missed out on the Massdrop for the E-Mu Teaks.

I'd like to email Chan directly and purchase the E-Mu teaks. What was his email again?

Edit- I tried inquiry@e-mu.com and am getting an error. I wonder if it is a problem on their end or on mine?
Click to expand...

Chan speaks the Queen's English, because it's enquiry@emu.com.

Chan sent me my tracking number today. Am I tripping, or does this seem impossibly fast?

ship.png~original


Does $30 USD pay overnight shipping from Singapore? I'm gonna roll with it, I guess.
 
LQX

LQX

Member
Creative has a new sound card. Sound BlasterX AE-5. Specs seem great and it has....RGB.

Creative_Sound_Blaster_EAX.jpg
Click to expand...

Specifications.
• Audio/DSP processor : Sound Core3D
• Channels : 5.1 discrete speaker out
7.1 virtual headphone surround
• Interface : PCIe
• DAC : ESS ES9016K2M SABRE32 Ultra DAC
o Max playback resolution : 32-bit/384kHz
o DNR : 122 dB
o THD + N : 0.00032%
• ADC : Sound Core3D
o Max recording resolution : 24-bit/96kHz
• Headphone amp (600 Ω) : Custom-designed discrete headphone amp (Xamp)
o SNR : 116 dB
o THD + N : 0.0009%
o Output impedance : 1 Ω
o Headphone impedance range : 16 - 600 Ω
• Connectivity : 3 x 3.5mm line out (front, rear, center/sub)
1 x TOSLINK optical out
1 x 3.5mm headphone out
1 x 3.5mm microphone/line in
1 x Intel HD audio front panel.
Click to expand...


https://us.creative.com/p/sound-cards/sound-blasterx-ae-5

Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaRyNaY7Nl4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEL6RQBl3Zs
 
M

matmanx1

Member
K.Jack said:
Chan speaks the Queen's English, because it's enquiry@emu.com.

Chan sent me my tracking number today. Am I tripping, or does this seem impossibly fast?

ship.png~original


Does $30 USD pay overnight shipping from Singapore? I'm gonna roll with it, I guess.
Click to expand...

Gotcha and thanks for that. I tried enquiry and inquiry but for some reason had it down as e-mu.com and not emu.com. I got through last night so hopefully he will be able to help me out.

$30 is a good rate but I have found that FedEx from Asia is usually reasonable. I used to have games and model kits shipped from Play-Asia in Hong Kong or AmiAmi in Japan and they would often cost less than $15 to ship and arrive in 2 or 3 days.
 
A

andylsun

Member
K.Jack said:
Chan speaks the Queen's English, because it's enquiry@emu.com.

Chan sent me my tracking number today. Am I tripping, or does this seem impossibly fast?

ship.png~original


Does $30 USD pay overnight shipping from Singapore? I'm gonna roll with it, I guess.
Click to expand...

The date line makes it possible that it could get to you Tuesday but doesn't take into account customs clearance. Could happen.

I've had stuff leave Japan on a Monday and be at my house on Wednesday. Blew my mind.
 
K

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
Yeah they ended up coming today. The wood really is beautiful. They're a lot lighter than I expected, though the other woods are much heavier.

I'm putting them through their paces, kinda just listening to random music, plugged into my GO1000.

I really need to come up with a go-to playlist for new headphones.

It usually takes me a few days of brain burn-in, before I can give impressions. Off the bat I can tell they sound really good.

I'm also glad that they are only shipping with a 1.5 meter cable now.

I think I'm just going to lounge out while listening to some Air.
 
K

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
Antiwhippy said:
Which wood did you go for?
Click to expand...

Got the Teak. There are so many thin arguments about the other cups making significant differences, but one common thread was people saying that the Teak had to be heard to be believed.

I would really like to hear the Rosewood cups though, as peoplee say the bass is even better. I just didn't want to pay another $120 to audition them along side the Teak. I almost just ordered it with those cups attached for the extra $20, but I wanted to hear the Teak first.
 
K

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
Yeah, I guess that's what E-Mu's frequency graph shows.

emu_1.png~original


Black = Teak, Red = Rose, Blue = Ebony
 
R

Ryne

Member
This thread helped me out before, so looking for some help again.

Want to get some workout earbuds. Was hoping for truly wireless but heard the bass is weak (I'm looking for strong bass, not Beats tier, but not too mellow).

My choices:
Jabra elite Sport (truly wireless ones is what I'm looking for)
Bose SoundSport
Jaybird X3

What would you choose?
 
H

HiResDes

Member
Fiio is a about to drop this lanyard that turns any detachable IEM with a MMCX connector into a wireless Bluetooth earphone or headphone!
 
W

WolfeTone

Member
Not sure if this is the place for this kind of question, I'm happy to be redirected to some kind of GAF Home Audio OT if it exists. Did a search and couldn't find such an OT, but you folks seem like knowledgeable people so hopefully you can point me in the right direction.

I'm using a set of Sony MDR7506 headphones to listen to audio from my TV. I used to plug the headphones directly into the TV's 3.5mm output, I would get a mild static buzzing noise which was a tad annoying. Research has led me to believe this is the result of a ground loop. I'll get back to this.

I recently bought a new TV which doesn't have a 3.5mm output. It has digital audio out and RCA. I bought a cheap digital to audio converter which connects to the digital audio out and I plug my headphones into it. Problem with this is that it doesn't let me adjust volume. No ground loop issues though.

I then bought a 3.5mm Female to RCA Male cable which solves the volume problem, but reintroduces the ground loop buzzing sound which seems a bit worse on this TV.

I'm looking for a solution that will satisfy the following:

1. Allow me to use my current wired headphones with my TV.
2. Allow me to adjust the volume.
3. Eliminate ground loop static.

Am I looking at buying an amp with its own volume control? If so any recommendations?

Again apologies if this is the wrong thread for this. Appreciate the help.
 
P

Pterion

Member
Looking to upgrade my current headphones (HE-400i with schiit modi2/magni2). Budget not too much of an issue. Just want to take my music listening experience to the next level. Looking at HD800S, HE-1000 v2, LCD4, Utopia, Abyss, etc. Any suggestions?
 
K

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
Ryne said:
This thread helped me out before, so looking for some help again.

Want to get some workout earbuds. Was hoping for truly wireless but heard the bass is weak (I'm looking for strong bass, not Beats tier, but not too mellow).

My choices:
Jabra elite Sport (truly wireless ones is what I'm looking for)
Bose SoundSport
Jaybird X3

What would you choose?
Click to expand...

The Jaybird is the superior of the three.

Pterion said:
Looking to upgrade my current headphones (HE-400i with schiit modi2/magni2). Budget not too much of an issue. Just want to take my music listening experience to the next level. Looking at HD800S, HE-1000 v2, LCD4, Utopia, Abyss, etc. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

That is a field of diminishing returns, into which I dare not venture.

Can you say exactly what the 400i is not delivering?
 
O

opticalmace

Member
Pterion said:
Looking to upgrade my current headphones (HE-400i with schiit modi2/magni2). Budget not too much of an issue. Just want to take my music listening experience to the next level. Looking at HD800S, HE-1000 v2, LCD4, Utopia, Abyss, etc. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

I can't comment on soundstage but if you want bass the 400i doesn't particularly deliver (IME). I would go to a hifi shop and just try listening to a bunch of headphones. Bring your own DAP if you can and listen to music you know well.

I have a 400i and Denon D2000 and vastly prefer the sound signature of the latter, even though they were a fair bit cheaper new. You might just need a pair that has a different sound to it, rather than going for something "higher up the chain."
 
V

Vhalyar

Member
For the last year I've been using some crappy IEMs after losing/having my stuff stolen. I finally got around to replacing the placeholder garbage with the Beyerdynamic DT880.

I think I'm going to cry, this is so... nice :)
 
M

matmanx1

Member
Chan from Emu got back to me. Good news is I can still buy one from him. Bad news is that my shipping date will be the same as the Massdrop shipping date (probably because he has so many orders). Either way, I'm just happy to have an Emu Teak on the way in a month or so.
 
A

Antiwhippy

the holder of the trombone
The 5 was the most hyped up back then. With some modifications they are king beaters, but even without that people like it for its good bassy signature.

Others are pretty unknown to me.

Break in barely matters.

For review just search for TFZ1, 3, 5.
 
K

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
matmanx1 said:
Chan from Emu got back to me. Good news is I can still buy one from him. Bad news is that my shipping date will be the same as the Massdrop shipping date (probably because he has so many orders). Either way, I'm just happy to have an Emu Teak on the way in a month or so.
Click to expand...

Make sure you specify which cord you want. I just assumed I'd be getting the 1.5m cable which was being shipped with the Massdrop orders, but I ended up getting this cable that has to at 2.5m long.

So now I've emailed Chan to see if I can get the shorter one.
 
A

Antiwhippy

the holder of the trombone
I'm pretty sure it's the same conenctors as the HD700 so you can just buy cables that fit those? Might want to check if it's actually true though.
 
Sanctuary

Sanctuary

Member
Not headphones, but related. Also more than likely out of the scope of most people's budget (close to $2000), but it's worth looking at for academic reasons, or if you really want something unlike anything else out there that's truly the closest thing to a huge home theater setup (it convincingly fools most people that hear it and plays most modern codecs including Atmos and DTS:X). It's also not a random gimmick or new tech. It's the new iteration of an established, working peice of hardware that's almost a decade old and enthusiasts own. It was also co-developed by the guy that created DTS.

This is beyond simple virtualizations such as Dolby Headphone or CMSS. Someone briefly name dropped it last December in a single post, but didn't really go into detail. The old unit was the A8, and the new version is the A16, which is about to start production and shipping close to Sept/Oct.

https://www.kickstarter.com/project...real-3d-audio-headphone-processor/description

Smyth Realiser A16 demo
 
G

Got the Shakes

Member
Sanctuary said:
Not headphones, but related. Also more than likely out of the scope of most people's budget (close to $2000), but it's worth looking at for academic reasons, or if you really want something unlike anything else out there that's truly the closest thing to a huge home theater setup (it convincingly fools most people that hear it and plays most modern codecs including Atmos and DTS:X). It's also not a random gimmick or new tech. It's the new iteration of an established, working peice of hardware that's almost a decade old and enthusiasts own. It was also co-developed by the guy that created DTS.

This is beyond simple virtualizations such as Dolby Headphone or CMSS. Someone briefly name dropped it last December in a single post, but didn't really go into detail. The old unit was the A8, and the new version is the A16, which is about to start production and shipping close to Sept/Oct.

https://www.kickstarter.com/project...real-3d-audio-headphone-processor/description

Smyth Realiser A16 demo
Click to expand...

I have one preordered, and bought a pair of HD800 that I'm planning on using with the Realiser. Did shipping get pushed back again, because last I had heard it was supposed to ship in August.
 
Sanctuary

Sanctuary

Member
Got the Shakes said:
I have one preordered, and bought a pair of HD800 that I'm planning on using with the Realiser. Did shipping get pushed back again, because last I had heard it was supposed to ship in August.
Click to expand...

I'm just assuming here. It's been repeatedly pushed back, and they just showed the prototype production design photos in January, and last month what the front of the unit will look like (function and brand logos) still saying that if something needs to be changed it will be. That means it's not quite ready to go yet. They projected "August", but at best it's going to be the last week in August. I'm expecting it to be pushed back another few months too simply because the box unit (the one that is just a rectangle) is "farther along in development" which means the headphone unit isn't ready for production yet either. I ordered one too, and all I honestly care about is that it gets released before the end of the year.

HD800 here too, and using DT880 for casual/guest stuff.

edit: LOL. Just noticed your name.
 
G

Got the Shakes

Member
Sanctuary said:
I'm just assuming here. It's been repeatedly pushed back, and they just showed the prototype production design photos in January, and last month what the front of the unit will look like (function and brand logos) still saying that if something needs to be changed it will be. That means it's not quite ready to go yet. They projected "August", but at best it's going to be the last week in August. I'm expecting it to be pushed back another few months too simply because the box unit (the one that is just a rectangle) is "farther along in development" which means the headphone unit isn't ready for production yet either. I ordered one too, and all I honestly care about is that it gets released before the end of the year.

HD800 here too, and using DT880 for casual/guest stuff.

edit: LOL. Just noticed your name.
Click to expand...

I had assumed that it would probably get pushed back again, just wasn't sure if I had missed an update somewhere. I do know from the thread about it on Head-Fi that someone did talk to Stephen Smyrh via email last week and they had mentioned how the 2U (the box "rack mount" version) was further along than the headphone stand version, but Smyth was still feeling fairly confident in shipping both by the end of August. I figure that really means end of September though. Which version are you getting? I was originally going to go for the headphone stand version, but then I changed around my gaming and movie watching setup a bit and opted for the 2U version. Figured it was more versatile as it can sit on a shelf in an entertainment center or sit on a desk as the box isn't really all that big. Bought a pair of HD800 since that's what they've been using to demo the Realiser for the past year. The A16 might be the most excited I've ever been for an audio product in my life.
 
R

RoninChaos

Member
WolfeTone said:
Not sure if this is the place for this kind of question, I'm happy to be redirected to some kind of GAF Home Audio OT if it exists. Did a search and couldn't find such an OT, but you folks seem like knowledgeable people so hopefully you can point me in the right direction.

I'm using a set of Sony MDR7506 headphones to listen to audio from my TV. I used to plug the headphones directly into the TV's 3.5mm output, I would get a mild static buzzing noise which was a tad annoying. Research has led me to believe this is the result of a ground loop. I'll get back to this.

I recently bought a new TV which doesn't have a 3.5mm output. It has digital audio out and RCA. I bought a cheap digital to audio converter which connects to the digital audio out and I plug my headphones into it. Problem with this is that it doesn't let me adjust volume. No ground loop issues though.

I then bought a 3.5mm Female to RCA Male cable which solves the volume problem, but reintroduces the ground loop buzzing sound which seems a bit worse on this TV.

I'm looking for a solution that will satisfy the following:

1. Allow me to use my current wired headphones with my TV.
2. Allow me to adjust the volume.
3. Eliminate ground loop static.

Am I looking at buying an amp with its own volume control? If so any recommendations?

Again apologies if this is the wrong thread for this. Appreciate the help.
Click to expand...

It may be worth picking up a Mixamp from Astro Gaming. I used that for a similar problem as you mentioned but now that I've moved I have a basement and don't need to use one. It was great while I had it and it would power your cans directly from whatever audio source you're using. You can even plug it directly into a PS4 of Xbox via optical and bypass your tv if needed.
 
J

Jazzy Network

Member
Are the Sennheiser HD 4.50 BTNC any good for ANC wireless? I'm thinking about getting those or the JBL Everest Elite. If those aren't good I might have to consider upping my price for a Bose QC35 which I don't want to.
 
O

opticalmace

Member
I started listening to my HE-400i again... I actually really like the headphone, it's just different from my usual favourite (Denon D2000).

What DAC/amp would you guys recommend for the 400i?

I currently have this setup at work, which I don't want to move:
Denon D2000
Headroom Micro Amp
Headroom Micro DAC

I really love that pairing, so I'm considering now getting an amp/dac just for the 400i for my home setup. Budget is pretty open, maybe <$600 for both dac and amp (whether separate for a combined unit). I'm fine with spending less (e.g. $300ish) if I'm not getting much bang for my buck beyond that.

Thanks!
 
W

wenis

Registered for GAF on September 11, 2001.
Antiwhippy said:
The 5 was the most hyped up back then. With some modifications they are king beaters, but even without that people like it for its good bassy signature.

Others are pretty unknown to me.

Break in barely matters.

For review just search for TFZ1, 3, 5.
Click to expand...

Cool, ended up going with the 5 Exclusive. From this review they sound like something I could get into:

If you're happy with the 5s, then there is really no point of getting the exclusive 5 unless you want better sound stage, more neutral sound sig, better details and clarity.
Click to expand...

I'm down for that.
 
M

matmanx1

Member
K.Jack said:
Make sure you specify which cord you want. I just assumed I'd be getting the 1.5m cable which was being shipped with the Massdrop orders, but I ended up getting this cable that has to at 2.5m long.

So now I've emailed Chan to see if I can get the shorter one.
Click to expand...

2.5m would actually be preferred for me but I will be getting an aftermarket cable anyway. I want an XLR connector so I will probably be getting with the Dyson Audio folks again about a custom cable soon'ish.

opticalmace said:
I started listening to my HE-400i again... I actually really like the headphone, it's just different from my usual favourite (Denon D2000).

What DAC/amp would you guys recommend for the 400i?

I currently have this setup at work, which I don't want to move:
Denon D2000
Headroom Micro Amp
Headroom Micro DAC

I really love that pairing, so I'm considering now getting an amp/dac just for the 400i for my home setup. Budget is pretty open, maybe <$600 for both dac and amp (whether separate for a combined unit). I'm fine with spending less (e.g. $300ish) if I'm not getting much bang for my buck beyond that.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Hard to recommend anything in this space and at that pricepoint that isn't Schiit. Magi 2U and Modi Multibit would be stellar for around $400. For the amp, you might also consider the Vali 2 for a bit of that tube magic. Either way, you can't go wrong.
 
O

opticalmace

Member
matmanx1 said:
2.5m would actually be preferred for me but I will be getting an aftermarket cable anyway. I want an XLR connector so I will probably be getting with the Dyson Audio folks again about a custom cable soon'ish.



Hard to recommend anything in this space and at that pricepoint that isn't Schiit. Magi 2U and Modi Multibit would be stellar for around $400. For the amp, you might also consider the Vali 2 for a bit of that tube magic. Either way, you can't go wrong.
Click to expand...

Thanks!
 
K

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
matmanx1 said:
2.5m would actually be preferred for me but I will be getting an aftermarket cable anyway. I want an XLR connector so I will probably be getting with the Dyson Audio folks again about a custom cable soon'ish.
Click to expand...

Will any cable with dual 2.5mm plugs fit the E-MU?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

$500 cans on, this is how you dream right - Official Headphone Thread
398 399 400 401 402
20K
2M
super-famicom replied
  • Locked
What kind of headphones do you use?
2 3 4
166
9K
hsin replied
Top Bottom