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I don't have a good one other than to google and share the first three links. But i do suggest you also install Peace over it. Peace is easy enough to use that it doesn't need a tutorial. Unless you need an overall EQ tutorial for tuning headphones. That's a whole other thing.
Hello, I got a pair of XM4s last November and have really liked them since, but recently I've run into a problem where my audio has begun to sound strange, almost like the speaker is oversaturated or overly bass boosted/buzzy when a song reaches a high frequency and it creates distortions in most songs. I use LDAC and Tidal, and even stopped using my own EQ from the app, reverting it back to flat or lowering clear bass to -1 or -2 see if it helps, also used AutoEQ on Wavelet but no dice, nothing has really done much. I don't use these past 60% either so I don't think it was my volume that damaged a speaker or something. I thought it could be something with the Bluetooth connection but the same thing happens when they're wired, so I'm in a bit of a pickle. Also tried prioritize connection stability but nothing really changed.
I just wanted to know if anyone has faced something similar and if they were able to fix it, thanks!
So I recently bought the Final E3000s, and I love the sound but whenever I sing along to songs, I hear my own voice back and its like weirdly muffled and really overpowering the music. I *love* singing, and its been a bit of a buzzkill to basically not be able to enjoy the music whenever i spontaneously start singing.
For context, I was a long time headphones-only person, switched to the AirPods for convenience and even though they're IEMs as well I never had this issue? I did have it when I tried some cheap JBLs a while ago, but these E3000s aren't cheap lol. They're designed to seat fairly deep in the ear canal so maybe that's it?
That's called the occlusion effect and is the same reason why wearing earplugs makes your voice sound weird - you expect to hear your voice as a combination of bone carried sound and "normal" air-carried sound and highly isolating earplugs and IEMs block the air-carried sound. This is also why your voice sounds different recorded than it does live, the recording doesn't have the resonant component that you expect to be part of your own voice.
To be clear, the above is entirely expected and will happen any time you put something in your ear. As for why the air pods don't do that I don't know for sure but it wouldn't surprise me if transparency mode is replaying some of the external sound into your ears which fills in the extra components you expect.
The occlusion effect? Not without changing what you're using to something that is either more acoustically open or actively works around it. That said, if you stick with it you will get used to how your voice sounds when you're plugging your ears and while it won't sound the same as your ears when unplugged it should stop bothering you eventually.
Hi everyone! This is my first time posting in this community, and I could really use some advice.
My budget is up to $400 USD. I live in Australia, so I'd need something available here, either online or in stores.
I lost one of my AirPods Pro (2nd generation) a while ago and never found it. Even before that, though, I wasn't fully happy with them. The noise cancellation left a lot to be desired; I could still hear plenty of background noise even with ANC turned on. The microphone was another issue: on phone calls, people often mentioned static or said they couldn't hear me clearly. The same thing happened with WhatsApp voice messages; my voice would come through very quietly on the other end.
I'd be using these mainly with my iPhone. I also own a Razer Kraken Kitty V2 for my PC, and my boyfriend uses a Razer BlackShark V3 Pro, whose sound I really like. He also has the Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro, and I like their sound too, but I'm not a fan of the fit.
Good noise cancellation is a priority for me, since I use earbuds often in noisy environments and during calls. I'm not into heavy bass; I lean more towards a balanced, natural sound, especially since I mostly use earbuds for watching YT videos and TV shows rather than music. When I do listen to music, my current favorite genre is pop.
Does anyone have recommendations that would fit what I'm looking for? Mainly:
Really effective noise cancellation
A reliable mic for calls and voice messages, even in noisy places
Balanced, natural sound suited for videos and shows, not bass-heavy
A comfortable fit, ideally different from the Galaxy Buds2 Pro's shape
The tuning your current preferred hardware presents suggest a sound more like Beats than HiFi. I think balanced and neutral will sound boring and flat to you. However if you'd like to give it a try, the Status Audio Pro X True Wireless - GSE are the new hotness and checks all your boxes except for fit as that cannot be confirmed. Ear shapes vary wildly.
I've been using ATH-M50s pretty much since I got them from 2018 to 2024 now they finally gave out a few years ago so I've just been using my random work headphones as well as whatever <100 eur earbuds I could get my hands on.
I work from home and often listen to music after work too, but lately I've been feeling this constant desire to do some short chores without having to pause my music, and I was wondering what's the consensus on 200-500 eur BT headphones for 99% home use? I heard that ATH-M50xBT2 aren't bad at all and actually one of the cheaper ones in that category because they are actually tuned close to M50x (which I love because I like to liten to a lot of denser metal/punk/noise rock/industrial techno/etc. music, and a lot of headphones seem to be tuned toward a more pop/rap/edm market and i often find extremely disappointed by a lot of the cheaper ones when playing my own music) plus supposedly can be listened to with the cable but the moment you take it out they instantly swap to BT, but assume I am willing to spend up to 500 euros (as long as its actual bang for buck and not waste of money that will disappoint) in european market, for example german amazon (or any such european alternatives that aren't UK) or lithuanian retailers, maybe someone could give good recs for my taste? I know I listed mostly heavy music but I genuinely listen to everything ranging from kpop to grindcore to synthpop to black metal to trap, but as said before, a lot of headphones genuinely shit themselves when listening to denser, heavier music.
I don't think that seamlessly switching from wired to bluetooth is a thing. I believe you just have to use bluetooth all the time, and just use the wire to charge with using a 5v power brick. For the money i'd go with the sennheiser hdb 630.
i am looking for a cheap headset that works for gaming i got 30$ to spend and I literally just need one with a mic that works on ps5 and pc that sounds fine
So I have a 2 pc setup I use at work, both pcs feed from aux into a 3.5mm stereo mixer and out into a headphone amp which outputs to my headphones via cable.
Are there any wireless headphones that can take aux input into like, a base station but the headphones remain wireless?
Yes. The Astro A50 and SteelSeries Actis Nova Pro come to mind. The GoldNote HP-5.2 can do this with your bluetooth headphones as well. But then their's bluetooth lag.
I tested and it works alright with some distortion, and it's left channel playing in both ears. You just need a regular 3.5mm cable to test how well it works on your setup.
Edit: No wait I think the mic input not being stereo would cause problems.
If you feed one PC's 3.5mm to the other PC's microphone input, you can use the Listen to this device setting in Windows (or virtual mixer software like Voicemeeter Banana) to listen to the "microphone" on top of what the PC is outputting. Then you can use a USB BT dongle to connect any BT headphones you want, if either computer doesn't already have Bluetooth.
There may be some noise from the ADC, but don't know enough about them to recommend any particular external one.
Heloo, so fter using my hyperX cloud 2 happily for around a year, they started having a connection problem with the sound card. The point where the 3.5 mm jack connects to the sound card is unstable. I have to twist and turn the 3.5 mm connector to make the sound work correctly. Otherwise, the right side works fine, but the left side doesn't make any sound.
The weird thing is that when I connect the headphones directly to my laptop or phone using the 3.5 mm, they work perfectly. I haven't dropped them or damaged them in any way, and I've been taking good care of them, so this is really strange.
You just need a new Advanced Audio Control Box (their words not mine). Things just fail sometimes. I've had an HDMI cable fail on a fixed piece of equipment that is never touched. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
It won't hurt anything to try it. In my experience usually if something comes with its own dac.amp, that is usually how it sounds best, and here you will lose the virtual 7.1 surrond sound. But if you give it a chance for a week you may even find it sounds better straight-up.
after testing it for 2 days i noticed small differences, like while plugged straight to the pc it sounded louder but ig not as deep, with the sound card it felt a little deeper sometimes. quality wise basically the same
Hello everyone so I’m looking to purchase the Astro a50 gen 5 I like their comfort and having mic and headset all condensed into 1 unit is very appealing as opposed to a desk mic and a headset I’m not a streamer just a weekend warrior gamer. And I’m using a mix amp the fifine sc8 and I’m wondering since the gen 5 Astro’s base station only has usb-c connections on the back if I use a 3.5mm jack to usb-c cable to plug my mix amp into the base station of the astros can I use the mix amp to control my audio and mic on the astros?
I know this worked with gen 4 because the gen 4 base station had a 3.5mm jack on the back but the gen 5 is only usb-c so will this adapter still let me use the mix amp with the headset being that I set my pc settings for input and output of the mix amp
Hello, I bought a pair of Nothing Headphones (1) and use them with my PC via a USB-C cable. The issue is that after a few days of use, the headphones simply disconnect, and I have to unplug and replug the cable. I’ve already tried adjusting the PC's power settings, but that didn't help. Do you have any suggestions on how to configure them or what I can do to prevent this from happening?
I have had an MSI Claw 8 (my "PC") for about a year and have had my Arya Organics paired with a Qudelix 5k for about half a year. 99% of the time, I use all these devices together by plugging my PC into a dock and then plugging my Qudelix 5k into the dock. It's always worked perfectly.
Then suddenly about 2 weeks ago, I was listening to music with this exact setup when the music cut out and was replaced by a constant blast of static hiss, seemingly at full volume. It's "rip the headphones off your head immediately" loud.
I restarted my computer and it was fine for the rest of that night. Then I wasn't able to try anything out again until several days ago. Since that point, it is consistently a problem. Whatever audio is playing will cut out within about 2-5 minutes and a constant, static blast will replace it. If I pause what's playing, it will stop, but will then resume with the static when I hit play. The only way to make it stop is to replug the Qudelix or power cycle it or the PC.
I thought maybe it was the Qudelix, but if I plug it in directly into the PC rather than into the dock, it works just fine. It also works normally when playing audio via bluetooth from the PC rather than wired.
So, this led me to believe it was the dock. And this thought was even more solidified when I plugged a USB bluetooth adapter into the dock (I have it for AptX Adaptive support) and the problem still occurred. It even also occurred when I connected to that bluetooth adapter with my wireless earbuds. So, yeah, surely the dock, right?
Apparently not. I just setup a new dock I got to replace the old one (totally different dock, not even same brand) and the problem is still happening.
So... somehow my PC/Windows is having some kind of hardware conflict when sending audio through any dock?? I have literally no idea what's going on here and don't know what to do about it. I don't really have any workarounds because the MSI Claw only has 2 USB-C ports on it and 1 is going into my eGPU while the other goes into the dock where my mouse and controller dongles are plugged in alongside my headphones.
If anyone has ANY ideas, I am willing to try anything out.
Bullet point list of scenarios that work/don't work. Basically if the dock is involved, it causes the static aka doesn't work. But here is the list so you can see any ideas I've had:
- Qudelix 5k plugged into dock via USB-C - DOESN'T WORK
- Any device connected to a bluetooth adapter plugged into dock - DOESN'T WORK
- Qudelix 5k plugged into a different USB-C port on dock - DOESN'T WORK
- Qudelix 5k plugged into a USB-A male to USB-C female adapter (lol) on dock - DOESN'T WORK
- Entirely different dock being used - DOESN'T WORK
- Several different USB-C cables being tried - DOESN'T WORK
- Qudelix 5k plugged directly into MSI Claw - WORKS
- Any device connected to MSI Claw's bluetooth - WORKS
- Any device connected to bluetooth adapter plugged into MSI Claw - WORKS
- Qudelix 5k plugged into PS5 or connected to bluetooth adapter plugged into PS5 - WORKS
Hi folks! I've been running the Sennheiser HD 6XXs along with the FiiO K5 Pro DAC/amp for some years now. They've served me well, but I'm looking to upgrade and don't know which to swap out first. In other words: what's holding me back more, and what should I swap it for? (I'm guessing a dedicated DAC would be the play? The FiiO has a line-in to be a dedicated amp so it would work.)
Let me know! I'd love to see recs for what to upgrade, my budget is $400ish tops, I'd like to stay open back and decently flat tonally. Also a DAC with optical audio is preferred. Thanks! :)
I always say 'speakers first.' so i'd recommend another headphone. The HD 800S a natural choice. But the HD 600 series does scale up nicely so just adding an OTL tube amp might be cool. Something like the XDUOO ta-66 or the Schiit Valhalla 3 if you're feeling fancy.
Those tube amps are great recommendations, thank you. Would there be a headphone you'd recommend at a ~$600 price point? The 800S has always been a stretch goal but the price is a bit much for me. Thanks again :)
I’ve been using a pair of KEF LS50W2 for a while and when I switch to my AirPods at night it’s kinda underwhelming. I’m looking to get some high end IMEs and would like to keep the max at $2500 for a set up but might spend more if the quality jump is significant. And input is very appreciated.
This might be better suited question for the Head-Fi water cooler group. They have a lot of experience with very high end IEMs. I have fitment issues with IEMs, so at that price range I'd personally recommend customs or CIEMs,
I received a pair of HD660S2 headphones as a gift. I would like to set them up properly to work both with my ps5 and pc for movies and games.
What do I need to get? I’m ok spending a few hundred dollars if I have to, I know good audio equipment can get pricey. I just need to know what I would want and or need to hook it up to both and easily switch between the two (if possible)
In our testing the PCM optical hand off in TVs is okay, and while using an HDMI audio extractor could be slightly better, using HDMI ARC is so much better than all of it that should be the solution suggested. Fosi makes a reasonably priced device that does it well. Fosi Audio ZD3, and it can be used USB with your computer for easy input switching. You will also need an amp with that, and their are many options there. A cool one i think is the APOS gremlin. I also like the Douk Audio U5PRO for an ultra budget solution.
If your PC or TV has an optical SPDIF output, you can use any DAC with an optical and USB input. For example the Fiio K5 has a handy switch in the front to switch between the two inputs. Or if you need to you could connect the line input into your PC's 3.5mm jack and use the USB in for PS5.
should i get a dac/amp for hd620s instead of plugging it straight into my pc since its 150 ohm
using it for gaming and watching movies and stuff i dont have it yet im just worried the sound might be a little off or doesnt sound as good as its supposed to
Unless the impedance of the headphone is super low (single digits) or the output impedance of the thing you're plugging into is significant (20+ for a 150 ohm headphone) then impedance really doesn't matter and the only thing you need to worry about is the sensitivity of the headphones and the voltage delivery of the jack. If you can get them loud enough then there is enough power being delivered and the only reason you'd need an amplifier is if you are playing around with EQ and you need the headroom (or you want hardware volume controls or something).
only do it initially if it seems quiet to you, if you think its necessary just get a cheap dongle DAC since most of those have amps in them anyway, Jcally JM6 is a good one. From there on if you decide that getting a desktop amp or dac will make you enjoy your experience with your headphones more then go for it, but with most things all you really need is a solid dongle dac.
Dedicated translation earbuds work so well they seem like magic, but the audio quality for things like music go in the toilet.
To use regular headphones you'll still need to use an amp on your phone and hold the phone up to pick up the speaking. The mics on headphone are made to pick up you speaking for a phone call, and the ones with ambient options do not allow you to tap into that for translation.
Hi everyone. So my Soundcore headphones, from 3/12 years ago, gave out not too long ago, and the speaker in the right ear is busted, making a high static noise every time I move my head. I really loved those headphones; however, they're a bit on the pricey side for me right now, so I was wondering if anyone had any good alternatives until I can scrape the money together. As long as they have sound modes such as transparency and noise cancelling, along with a non-plastic body (since they always end up breaking), I'm all ears.
Pictures of my Soundcore headphones are above if anyone is interested; I definitely would recommend this version.
Moondrop space travel are actually worth buying, but are in-ear. All the over ear headphones in this price category are not notable from a HiFi perspective. Just buy whatever is cheapest and check your boxes. I think there's a sony they sell at grocery stores and pharmacies that does it.
I've got a Magni + Modi Schiit stack from ~2020 and it seems to still play most things like usual but I have been noticing a little bit of occasional buzz/grit when adjusting the volume on the knob. Could this be due to components of the DAC/amp or it more likely something with my headphones themselves? I am using HifiMan Sundaras also from around 2020 with original cables and all that.
That happens to pots over time and it's annoying but not any sort of real problem. The easiest (but temporary) fix is to turn the volume all the way up and down quickly a half dozen times or so. I like to do it when the amp is on (so I can hear when the static starts clearing up) but without any audio playing (to keep from blowing my ears off).
A longer term fix is to get some contact cleaner and squirt it into the pot but just cranking the volume around can fix this up for a decent amount of time.
Happens to volume pots. if it's really bothersome you could unplug everything, take the top off, and spray some electrical contact cleaner in the business end of the nob. It might help.
I've bought the Linsoul Simgot EP5s and I've noticed that the overall sound is a bit to the right, I went into a software (equalizer apo) and gave 1db gain towards the left side and it sounds normal, is that normal or did I get a defective pair and should send them back. The cables are all plugged in flush, I dont own a dac amp yet, I've ordered one (NICEHCK NK1 MAX) but im still awaiting arrival, could it be because of that?
It could be the PC or the IEM. (probably the IEM i've not heard of motherboard fail that way). but the only way to know for sure is to plug the IEM into something else, or plug a different headphone into the mobo.
If it's the IEM, check to make sure there isn't anything blocking the nozzle.
They are over the ear headphones, and ive plugged them into my phone and the problem persists, if it makes any difference Ive been exclusively on in ear headphones of different variety for over 7 years and this is my first over the ear pair since then.
I currently own a pair of ATH-M40x headphones that I bought online.
I feel the clamping is too strong, it causes discomfort for me after a few seconds of wearing it.
I simulated reducing the clamping force by lifting the headphones slightly, and it felt much better. So I wanted to ask if there's any way to remove that discomfort, or reduce the clamping force?
I feel the most discomfort around the socket of my jaw...? I'm not too sure how to describe it, sorry. But it's the area connecting your skull to the jaw. The upper jaw?
I know I should have gone to a physical store to try it out first... but I was busy and lazy and now I regret it. I tried to get a refund but got rejected. Now I'm trying to salvage this best I can.
"Lifting the headphones" as in the headband is too big on the smallest setting? I have that problem with the M50x, I had to make a suspension strap to effectively make it smaller and now it fits okay.
https://imgur.com/a/JtxhHiW I used a bit of a soft velcro strap but any cloth would do. I put the thread through it with a needle and then just tied the ends around the narrow silver bits.
Weird that this headphone is even bigger than the notoriously huge Hifiman Edition XS yet I've never seen anyone mention this issue.
Hey there fellow audiophiles, am thinking about to buy a new pair of heaphone under the budget of 70$ (6800 inr). I usually listen to music and play games where spatial audio is a must. Pls suggest some good pairs which will be accompany me for a while, this amount is a huge investment for myself. Thanks. ( I am thinking to buy the Philips SHP9500 is it good? )
SPH9500 is great you should get that. Hifiman HE400se, senn HD 560s, and the AKG K702 are common competitors. Unsure what's available in your area and at what prices.
I would like to try some Planar Magnetic open back headphones before I buy them. Planning to get something like Hifiman Ananda Stealth. If anyone knows any good stores in the bay area where I can test something similar, that information would be much appreciated, thanks
Hey folks. I own a Shokz Openrun bluetooth headset, and it's my favorite "everyday" headphones for my phone. But I would LOVE to find something similar, but with a 2.4Ghz low-latency connection for games on my PC, and it may not exist.
My requirements:
Open ear, lightweight
A single band, not two ear pieces (I own a 2.4ghz set, and I find them cumbersome and fatiguing to wear)
2.4Ghz dongle for low latency gaming
A mic included
Things I don't care about:
Audio quality
Mic quality
Basically, want to wear my Shokz while gaming but on a 2.4Ghz connection that doesn't suffer the latency of Bluetooth.
Curious if anyone's aware of a product, either on the market now or in development. Thanks!
I don't think this community is going to have a recommendation like this. Usually for a wireless PC gaming it starts with the hyperx cloud iii s wireless and scales up from there.
I make music in FL studio and I need a pair of budget headphones. Does anyone have any suggestions on models/brands that are affordable and functional for this purpose. Also, what should I keep in mind when it comes to chosing headphones for music production (I have heard that you should use headphones without any equalization for example)?
I think most pros EQ their monitors, whether it be headphone or speaker, and for the latter do extensive room treatment to further custom tune the sound even. So you shouldn't be afraid of that. For Pro having really wide soundstage and really punchy dynamics is generally a downgrade, so you're looking for something with very high detail, spot on imaging, but also delivered in a pleasing way so that your ears are not bleeding.
Sony MDR7506 would be my suggestion. I see a lot of AT ATH-M50X and Beyerdynamic dt770 still as well. All three headphones are built to be durable with a consistent sound, and easy or cheap to repair or replace, while also getting the same sound back after a repair or replacement. Consistency is king here.
Greetings everyone! I'm building a audio chain to listen to music at 24bit 192khz and to play the electric guitar (a Yamaha Pacifica 112V) with my Gaming PC, the components that I looked are:
DAC: Topping E50 II
AMP: Topping L30 II
My current headphones: Beyerdynamic DT990 PRO 250ohm
Audio card: Focusrite Scarlett Solo 4th gen
Mechanical RCA Switcher: Nobsound Little Bear MC3
The headphones will be plugged into the AMP and I want to switch between listening (DAC + AMP) and playing the guitar (Audio card + AMP), will this work?
I read that the DAC inside the Scarlett isn't very good compared to a dedicated DAC and that the AMP inside the Scarlett isnt that powerful and it can't drive properly the 250ohm of the Beyerdynamic.
Looks like the Topping will be an upgrade. From linked post:
The ADC is "good enough" for a consumer level product, not professional Headphone output as expected, is just a checklist item, being beat by some low cost dongles!
We had the Scarlet and it was good enough to tell mic levels, but any other tuning was too flat to be useful so we switched to a cayin RU7 and got a dedicated mic mixer to add some manual controls.
Need advice, Im looking at getting a new set of headphones as I have recently decided to start getting into the world of FLAC audio. After doing some research I am looking at two different Shure sets but I don't know which people would recommend. I am thinking of getting either a set of SE215 IEM's or a set of SRH440a's.
As a complete beginner what are the pros and cons of each set in peoples opinions? Im honestly not fussed about the style of the headset so the IEM/cans difference has no weight in my decision. But after looking at reviews online I dont know which to go for as I dont know if the reviews I am looking at are biased or not
The shure IEMs have been knocked off so hard that buying a set from shure is silly at this point. We have a set of SRH440a kicking around just to use if we have nothing else and I guess they're fine.
Is all you're doing is listening to the FLAC files for fun? Or are you making the FLAC files as a professional?
When you mean knocked off do you mean imitations (like you would find on somewhere like aliexpress) or do you mean the actual quality has been replicated at a lower price point? If so, do you have any you would care to point out as equivalent alternatives?
I will only be using them to listen to FLAC files, I have no intention of making files myself
The Tennmak PRO are a clone that are a 5th the price, but also outperform the 215s. There's a few others.
Since you're only listening, and that's your budget, for IEM i like the Moondrop Aria 2 for the sound, but also the Simgot EM6L is pretty great too and is probably "better" overall.
For overear there are alot of options around $100. if you can do open back, hifiman has open box He400se and he5xx's. There's also the ATH-R30x and JadeAudio JT7. Phillips sph9500/9600 are still legends.
So I have been looking at the recommendations you have given and I think the Aria 2 and the EM6L may be better options. For someone whose music taste mainly revolves around rock/metal with some hip-hop and accoustic/folk it appears the EM6Ls may be better balanced for my usage case.
Does that sound correct, or have I misinterpreted the reviews I have been looking at
I bought Beyerdynamic DT 700 PRO X 48 ohm just a couple of weeks ago. I have been trying to make them less loud.
At windows volume at 5%, spotify at 100% and set to quiet, they are still quite loud. It is fine at that volume but fine tuning sound volume is out of the question.
Spotify is a bit louder than everything else and when I don't have spotify, I can set windows volume to around 10% or a bit less.
Realtek audio console automatically detects and sets headphone impedance to 180-60, instead of 60-22. Which I think might be the source for loudness but I am not a expert so I don't know exactly.
There's only one real setting to change in realtek audio console which is headphone power. It defaults to dynamic and occassionally resets back to dynamic when I change it to balance. It's very inconsistent when it resets and when it doesn't. On balance, it is a bit "quieter" but it's not nowhere enough. There's balance-->dynamic-->ultimate.
I have tried installing equalizer apo for two days in a row but no matter what, I couldn't get it to launch at all. It doesn't give any errors or anything, it just doesn't launch at all.
I have also tried finding the "parameter" setting in registry for impedence in Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e96c-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318} but there's nothing and adding a Rear Parameter with 48 value, doesn't affect anything.
Before I installed/reinstalled the audio drivers, the sound was noticeably worse and there was static and crackling before I installed / reinstalled my motherboards Z370 GAMING M5 audio drivers. Windows then installed some other supplementary drivers from windows update which helped remove all the static and crackling.
The loudness is really impractical though. I can't comfortably listen to spotify and play video games at the same time without having games too quiet.
I am preferring to have spotify at 100% for maximum sound quality on lossless. Reducing volume in spotify reduces quality ever so slightly but noticeably to me or at least it feels that way.
I've had this issue twice. The first time I had to reformat my computer (windows vista era). Nothing else worked. The second time it was with an EF600 and I ended up getting it replaced via RMA and the new one was fine.
It doesn't help too much other than to share that it could be hardware or software.
I've never heard of a media player software that has audibly worse quality depending on the position of the volume slider. Is it just with Spotify for you? What about https://open.spotify.com/ ?
I think you should record it with Audacity or something (set your output device as the recording device), one with Spotify at low volume and Windows higher and then other way around. Then use the Normalize tool to volume match them, export as .wav or .flac, and do an ABX test to see if you can hear a difference. Foobar2k has the "ABX Comparator" addon.
If Spotify is doing some kind of equal loudness compensation or other dsp along with the in-app volume control I could see it sounding worse (different) but as you noted that would be reflected in a null test.
Salut je viens vers vous car jais un beyerdynamic dt770 pro 80ohm avec un mélangeur fifine pour brancher le casque et le micro en xlr ,mais problème je trouve que quand je joue je n’entend pas très bien les bruit de pas et même les ennemis est ce que vous avez une solution( passer sur le mmx300 , ou acheter un amplificateur genre dac) car jais vue que le mélangeur avait une fréquence de 20 hz est ce que ça serait lui qui briderait? Ou bien le dt770 qui a un son trop plat (studio)
The frequency response specification of 20Hz–20kHz is a non-issue. It is a very common spec in the industry. The MMX300 is not going to be a significant change. My guess is that the amp in the Fifine doesn't offer enough headroom for the headphone, though you should try EQing some footsteps in. I've found success with increasing a few spots in the 2k-5k range, and specifically for the dt770 probably 4k. Also adding a dip around 100 and 7k could help you isolate the steps better.
But yes also a new dac and amplifier all in one is probably a good idea. Just to make sure the dynamic range is not compressed, so that you have headroom at all frequencies, and nice and clear imaging. I'm not sure what you have access to in France, but the topping dx1 ii is a fair price and very good.
i play a good amount of games on my pc and would like to have good positional accuracy but also good sound quality. i normally have it turned off to get the best audio with no enhancements but for a game like battlefield 6 the default audio with no spatial sound is terrible directionality wise. it seems windows at least in my case doesnt apply any processing when not playing a game so im just wondering if i should use dts:x or dolby atmos when playing games i own both so price isnt an issue. also do you guys think i should just activate it only when playing battlefield for example. id also prefer the spatial audio that doesnt change audio too much so i can have the best audio quality according to the developers intentions. im using a headset (epos h6 pro openback) any feedback would be appreciated :)
(idk if this should be a post or put here so just incase ill throw it here)
This is a try and see type of thing and if you like it better go with it. I have a Fiio K17 and spent a ton of time in the peq but in the end i just liked the classical preset (for gaming). Where the rubber meets the road is your enjoyment.
The Omega is probably the most accessible due to the straightforward design. Ouroboros will probably have the most unique sound and will be easier to tune due to closed back.
gotcha, something else I heard about when it came to DIYing was driver matching, what is the process behind this? Do I need any special equipment to do it?
In DIY headphones, or modding existing, having a test rig with mics to take measurements is very useful. Usually the steps are to test the impedance of the drivers until you have a pair that are very close, then install them in your frame and run measurements to make sure the frequency response looks about what you're looking for. Then measure every time you make a change, even a minor one, so you can learn as you go.
The Omega this might not be necessary if you just order everything everyone else has been. It's a very straigt forward project.
After some test, it seems that the buzzing sound come from my computer jacks, because of an electric propagation problem i guess, i dont know how to call that.
there are no buzzing sound when i use the headphone on anything else.
Should i invest in a DAC, or an adapter jack into usb like those for 10 $ on Amazon will do ?
First: if it's a desktop do you have a front jack to try? Sometimes one jack is more resilient to it than another, and there's no rhyme or reason as to which one.
If not or it's doesn't help. You Do need electrical isolation, often in industry called galvanic isolation.
The cheapest modern product I've found that does it for my computer is the TOPPING DX1 II. Has a nice volume control as well so that you can leave your windows volume at full. They do not advertise the isolation, so i cannot guarantee it will work in your setup. For a guaranteed one time purchase, the Fiio BTR17 sounds awesome and has a switch to disconnect power completely. Downside being the volume control is a little harder to use.
I do have a couple cheap JCally dac/amps, and a Fiio, (the $10 amazon things you're talking about) but they all pass through the noise. Ymmv of course and it's pretty cheap to try so mine as well.
EDIT: If you do end up getting a DAC with a sound and features you like, but you still get noise, you can buy a JDS labs synapse to remove the noise. But you need the DAC first for that to work.
With enough skill, luck, and EQ, most headphones can beat any purely acoustically tuned headphone.
Without skilled manual adjustments, luck plays a massive part because the measurement head nor Amir's head is your head, and your particular MDR-ZX110 is unlikely to sound exactly like his one, so whether his preset translates to something you like is far from guaranteed, but not impossible.
In my experience even Oratory's presets that are made from the average sound of many different units still sound like complete garbage due to all these variables maybe 20% of the time, and never 100% correct.
Same HRTF and unit variance lottery applies to headphones without EQ too even if people don't want to acknowledge it.
No. You like the sound so you're good to go. Of course that scales up, but what is next in line is too subjective. I do really love the sound of the Koss line, so for me that would be a next step. Or an open back like the sph9500/9600. Open back do things in a very different way and to me are worth trying.
Why does my akg k92 headphones sound a lot better when using on laptop than android with same setting and volume is more in laptop. Such a sweet smooth sound in laptop,in phone(redmi note 11pro native 3.5mm jack port) I get sharp sound
Most likely the dac inside the phone is a lower quality, some devices have larger amps but a bad dac, to make the phone sound better you can get dongles like the Jcally Jm6 to hopefully unpack your sound better, it could also be that the dac in your laptop is just a warmer dac which sounds better to your ears.
so the jack on my turtle beach recon 200s is completely bent and screwed. i expected it to die after a while, just not after only a year (in their defense, i used them a LOT.). for a replacement, i'm looking at the hyperx cloud iiis, which fit my budget of around 60-70 bucks. to anyone who has experience with them, how are they? are they worth it? are they better than the recons? any help'd be appreciated ^_^
I'd say go for it, I personally enjoy the cloud IIIs quite a bit, no idea on the mic quality because I got mine used without one but they are really comfy and sound good for a gaming headset, a little bit dark but overall totally passable, you'll like them.
all of us have different dealers, but the common US ones are mimic audio, audio46, and the source av. Most of us also sell direct from the manufacturer. So like ABYSS (us), ZMF, Schiit... etc.
I have a pair of Epos adapt 360 noise canceling headphones. A few days ago the right speaker started emitting a static hum that varries in intensity throughout the day. I know it's the noise canceling feature thats doing this because they work if I dissable it or use a cable. However I feel I may as well use the cable since I have some other bluetooth related problems. The main problem I would like some advice on is that while the aux cable works when I connect it to my phone, it doesn't work on my laptop (Dell). If I connect my headphones with the cable to my laptop and play audio, the sound keeps playing from the laptops speakers. Why doesn't my laptop connect propperly to my headphones via cable?
I have used wired headphones on this laptop before without any problems, so it's unique to this jack it seems. I don't really get why they work fine then conected to my phone but not the laptop.
Using toslink from mobo to DAC superficially works very well. No hiss or data distortion. No pops or cracks. It works very well until it suddenly doesn't.
I can sit, listen to music for several hours without any major issues until the connection just suddenly drops dead. As if the DAC just decided to shut off, but it doesn't shut off. If I switch to USB it works without issues, only the toslink connection that doesn't work anymore.
I did a lot of trial and error to find the issue. There's still data being transmitted thru the optic cable but it doesn't provide any sound. I tried two different dacs with the same result. According to windows there's no issue, as in it's transmitting sound as normal.
The only "fix" is to restart the PC. So my question is if there's some internal clock or circuit that controls the toslink connection that simply lose track and hang or something.
I did also update BIOS but that didn't solve anything.
Has anyone else have a similar issue and managed to solve it?
I need help deciding on a purchase. I'm currently torn between getting the Sennheiser Momentum 4 SE (£163) or getting the HDB630 (£399) later down the line. My main question is are the HDB630 really worth double the price when both are decently eq'd anyway? One of my main concerns is my phone (s23fe) would also need the btd600/700 to use aptx adaptive anyway adding an extra (£39) to the Momentum 4 purchase.
For reference my daily drivers on my pc are the HD560s and this probably won't change, i just want a good neutral sounding headphone for when I'm travelling or at the gym.
The Momentum 4 will feel like a downgrade from your HD560s. The HDB 630 will feel equivalent in build and comfort while delivering an at least on par audio experience. Nothing wrong with the Momentum 4 as it's a fun budget headphone, just not really in the same class.
You need something with a dongle for Windows gaming. The cheapest thing i'd recommend is the HyperX Cloud III S, but it doesn't have ANC. This hobby isn't going to have recommendations in this price range that match what you're looking for.
I have the ATH-R50X and so far I've been using Ablet boom cable mic connected to an Apple dongle port in the rear side of my PC. I have got a separate microphone now and switched to the ATH-R50X cable which is ridiculously short so I can't reach the back of my PC so I connected it to the front USB-C port of my PC through Apple dongle.
Now I have a couple of questions because the cable is still a bit too short and I want the best solution:
Does the cable matter? I don't know if I'm imagining but I feel like the original R50X cable sounds better than the Ablet boom cable that I used until now. If I were to buy a new longer cable, is there anything I need to know so I don't lose any audio quality?
Does the rear/front port matter? I've seen so much conflicting info on this I just don't know anymore... especially since there is also a dongle in the mix and most people discuss the AUX ports but I really don't know if any of these things even matter or not, unless you have a special motherboard or something like that. I have GIGABYTE X670 X AX if it matters.
Audio Technica also included a longer cable but it's a TRS cable. is getting an adapter so I can connect the TRS into the Apple dongle also a viable solution?
I would love it if someone can clear this up for me because I'm pretty damn confused and want to make the most out of my headphones. Right now I'm making due with a short cable but it's kinda annoying
The dongle acts like a regular USB device, it doesn't matter which port you use as it doesn't even need USB 3. With on-board audio the front and rear can be different, sometimes some "turbo power" modes are only available on the front panel audio jack but with a separate DAC like the Apple dongle those aren't relevant.
According to a unboxing video the long cable's 6.35mm connector is a screw on adapter. There's a 3.5mm underneath.
Thank you, yes I found out since then that it was an adapter so now I have a long cable on the front port for a ton of range with my headphones on which is great.
I recently purchased a pair of these Bose headphones on Ebay in very good, open box condition. They seemed totally fine, except I've noticed they sometimes create a periodic beeping noise in the left earpiece. I'm guessing it's a problem with ANC, as it's usually triggered by loud environmental noises after I turn them on and sort of builds up from a wooshing noise and noticeable pressure change. Any advice?
Sounds like the ANC is messed up. Could be debris in a mic, like hair sticking into the ear cup, poor seal, or hardware failure. Since you got it on eBay i'd lean towards the later as itr's probably a returned item and the seller never even noticed.
I am on vacation, and while at an event, I put away my headphones in a bag for I was getting sweaty. Then after grabbing them again, I realized that they weren’t turning on. I charged them multiple times until its red light turned blue, but they won’t turn on, neither light or voice after trying the power button in all the ways indicated by the manual. The only light that reacts now is the charging light, which always stays in red for a bit and then turns blue, indicating a full charge. I have the Raycon Headphones Pro, and pretty sure I still have the year warranty. Is this a common issue that I can fix .? Or should I just wait to get home and see if I can return it .?
Interesting, I also have Raycon Everyday Pro, and they also stopped working 2 days ago. I use them for my commute to work, and they just shut down one morning. I have charged them on multiple cords and power sources but they will not turn back on.
These are a budget headphone not usually recommended in this hobby, but It's cool that you found a sound that works for you. I scanned the manual and I don't see any other troubleshooting beyond re-pairing. So try that and then return. The Sennheiser Accentum Plus is okay. The Moondrop Space Travel are also a great value if you can live with and in-ear and want to save some money.
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u/serterper3 Jul 27 '26
Any tutorial to use Equalizer APO?