The two pictures are both rear views of two different models I think. Their marketing department could use an overhaul (heh) as yeah I think they should have included a front view for each.

In a couple of weeks here I'm going to give this little guy a shot. My current setup is onboard sound --> creek obh-11 to phones. I just upgraded computers and I don't think my new onboard sound is as good. I'm looking forward to having a semi-decent DAC.

oh and the creek obh-11 is an excellent little amp. To my ears (this probably isn't saying much) it sounded pretty close to my old amp, an $1800 headroom, which while awesome, was certainly not $1600 better. I don't remember the model offhand. Oh and yeah I used to have a better source (Meridian), I wasn't some nut with an $1800 amp with a crappy PC soundcard

The HD800s are the only thing I would spend more money on, very tempting.

I'm very happy with, 650s with custom cables and modded Grado 325s and a Grace 901 amp/DAC.

what cable are you using? I've got the cardas smurf for my 650s (formerly 600s). Had it for probably 6 years now, love it.

The blue Cardas for me also.
My 325s have wood lined chambers and Headphile C-pads.
http://www.headphile.com/page38.html

very nice

Anyone tried the HD800's yet?

Also I'm pretty sure all headphone cables do (and most hi fi cabling) is EQ the sound slightly. I don't think they bring improvement to sound quality.

As someone who has sighed at people using 5k nordost speaker cables a million times, I don't think anything will "improve sound quality" it will simply interfere with the qualities of the sound less. I guess I could see an argument for "degrades sound quality less" over "improves sound quality".

+1

I know there's a lot of debate about this but from my personal experience custom cabling is the most cost efficient way to improve sound quality. Especially with the 650s... The custom cable I got done by Double Helix improved the sound a LOT and I'd spend the $150 again anytime.

I don't doubt they change the sound output, but I would query as to whether the sound quality has improved, or if the sound has been EQ'd in an expensive way. Netherless, if you are happy with your purchase and beleive there is sound quality improvement then it doesn't really matter what how or why.

Im looking to purchase headphones for working out that won't fall off my ears and good sound quality. Any advice.

sorry to leech and ask a generic question when i can probably get good info by reading the thread, but i am super busy and flying tomorrow, and would like a high end pair of noise cancelling over the ear headphones.

it has to be something that i can buy in the UK since i have no time to order online, but what's the general concensus?

thanks in advance

I bought this, it just arrived. I plug it into my computer, Windows 7 does not recognize the device, so it cannot install drivers for it.
Any suggestions?

Edit: NM, It came with a power converter that I needed to use.

please let us know what you think of this. I almost pulled the trigger on it the other night, but after reading the head-fi forums a bit I decided to just pick up a DAC since I already have an amp (the creek mentioned upthread).

So, I ordered a E-MU 0404
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-045-_-Product

I may also try out some of the tube amps here in the future.

+1 - Curious to see what you think of it. All reviews on head-fi made it sound like a simple but very good bang for the buck dac/amp.

The power cable is annoying, but all of the better amps really need it.

If you want a cheap one that doesn't need a separate power input you can go with the HotAudio HotUSB1/2

Just saw this on Engadget, pretty sick new top of the line UE's with 6 drivers per ear (for reference, i think the SE530's have 3?)



http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/14/u...ivers-per-ear/

Retail is $1350

I used to have a pair of super.fi 5's, and they were awesome (although obviously not on par with the Shures), their customer service was out of this world too!

unfortunately I cant yet start any threats in here. maybe an admin can seperat this from the main headphone threat...


so I am looking for a portable NON-apple MP3 player.
I need something to go with high quality bose headphones.
At least 8GB.
needs to work as a standard external disk on the PC (fu** i-tunes)

what would you buy today if you dont go with an i-product?

HiFiMAN

http://www.head-direct.com/product_detail.php?p=72

"And about that performance: To the best of my knowledge, there is currently no other portable product like the HM-801 on the market. Keeping in mind that the heart of of the HM-801's DAC section contains the PCM1704 DACs (and its output section the OPA627's), you simply cannot compare an iPod to it--unless that iPod is docked in a Wadia iTransport, and that in turn is feeding digital to a phenomenal outboard DAC."

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f15/hi...ne-two-424091/

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f15/pl...period-458246/

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f15/

As I said, I bought this a couple weeks ago and someone asked for a review.

Note: I'm no audiophile. I don't only listen to FLAC and often I can't find an album I'm looking for encoded higher than 180 kb/s so I just listen to that anyway.
I listen to enough music, however, that I can at least tell the difference between bad and good sound.
I have K701s and I initially had them on some other USB headphone amp that definitely sounded good but the headphone jack became flimsy to the point of not being usable so my K701s have just been running off my mobo's onboard for 6 or so months.

So I got that little $85 DAC and I'm definitely liking it from before. I can't give you as detailed review as someone who knows this stuff better, but I can pick up details in songs a little clearer and the music sounds fuller when I have it cranked a bit.

If you consider yourself an audiophile, I'm sorry I can't tell you whether or not you'd like this amp. They very well may live up to your standards but I couldn't say for sure because I don't hold those standards. If you're like me, however, and you decided to get yourself a nice pair of headphones and now everyone is telling you that its a crime not to have them amped, but you don't really see the point is spending another $200 or whatever, I recommend this amp.

Sorry if that wasn't much of a review, but I can answer questions as well.

new cables are cool if you're not a big audiophile ****** about it.

I put Gotham GAC3 cables on my 250's and it sounds awesome. GAC3 is amazing stuff and you can get it for like $3 a foot if you can find a dealer.

edit: being a big audiophile ******= paying any more than $3-5/foot for cabling.

We need a sports/gym/running oriented headphone update...

In the past, these were recommended. But personally, I think they suck. They don't fit my ears well and when they do it's only a matter of time before they come out.

I'm looking into purchasing these....but I'm open to suggestions...

I'd like something, small/compact/light. These, while awesome, will not work.

Sennheiser PX-100 is small compact and light, but it's like a regular headphone just mini sized.

I think the PMX-100 is the behind the neck version of it.

If you have a small head the behind the neck iGrados might do ya well. They are a bit uncomfortable and clamping on my head, but they sound pretty fantastic for most things (Sigur Ros not being one of them).

If you want buds only have you considered an IEM? Internal ear monitor IIRC, they are sometimes called canalphones. If you want buds only then check out Yuin PK-1 or PK-2: http://www.headphone.com/headphones/earbud/yuin-pk1.php

There's a ton of good IEMs, even some you can get custom molded to your ear. The absolute best are JH13 Pro: http://www.headphone.com/headphones/...o-jh13-pro.php $1100

Pricey, but they are the best... surprised nobody on the last page of this (all I read) is talking about them. They are the best and are in the same league as an HD-800 by all accounts. Totally different as they are canalphones not a big headphone like the 800.

There's also these really cool wireless earphones now that work on Kleer technology, which is somehow very good. Sleek audio has a set called SA-1 that are nice, you pair them a W-1 receiver... you can get the whole thing for $170 at soundearphones.com: http://www.soundearphones.com/shop/s...reless-bundle/

Only problem with that is securing the receiver somehow. I'm sure it could be done, tho maybe uncomfortable. SA-1 also comes with a lot of different sized buds you can swap in and out. Imo though earphones/canalphones aren't very good for running.

I recently purchased both IEMs and noise canceling headphones. I'll post my TR since it might help a few people out. Disclaimer: I'm not an audiophile.

I had the Bose QC3s and wanted something over the ear because they started to hurt my ears after several consecutive hours of use. I read this thread and learned that Sennheiser makes good stuff but I became frustrated to learn that practically no high end Sennheisers were for sale anywhere for miles even though I live in a big city. I didn't want to just buy online before trying them out because I wanted to test them for comfort and sound. Eventually while traveling I went to an Airport Wireless store at DCA that had the Sennheiser PXC 450 and I was able to try them out. The sound quality was fine but I thought the noise canceling was inferior to Bose technology. I really liked the volume buttons, the Talk Through (which is effectively no different than a mute button), and the fact that they work without batteries in passive mode. Comfort-wise I thought they were alright. At that store they were charging $400 obviously I didn't buy because I was aware they were on the internet for < $300. Later I went to Best Buy and picked up the QC15s ($300) planning to return them if they didn't sound better than the Sennheisers. The NC and comfort for the Bose were both very good so I decided to keep them.

I wanted good pair of IEMs mostly for exercise or just doing stuff outside and not wanting to wear bulky headphones. Previously I used these and they were great for the low price but I wanted something more durable, discreet, and higher sound quality. The big problem is I couldn't get just any IEMs because I've tried probably 5 different IEMs and none of them stay in my ears. I got the Klipsch S4s...same story, they fall out easily. Then I got the Shure SE210 at Best Buy for I think $150. They have the foam tips actually stay in my ear so I was thrilled about that. Though for $150 I didn't think the sound quality was great as the bass was lacking. I returned them and got the cheaper SE115 and surprisingly I thought they sounded better than the SE210s. They have the same foam tips that stay in my ears too so finally I kept those.

TL;DR: Wanted something more comfortable than QC3s. Picked the QC15s over the PXC 450s. Shure SE115 are the nuts for IEMs.

So my E-mu 0404 USB arrived -- I don't really have the ears/experience for much of a review, though I do feel I can go out on a limb and say it sounds better then the DAC in the P6T onboard soundcard

I think it sounds good and am very satisfied. However, I did have some issues with random crackling/pops using ASIO drivers. I'm currently using the foobar WASAPI component and that took care of the problem. However, I did notice a couple of non-random crackles in various songs:

Fiona Apple - Tidal - Sullen Girl at 0:23 a crackle (as she sings 'I') -- there are a number of crackles in this song, but this is very noticeable. I thought it could be an issue with my FLAC rip from my CD, but after saying a few unmentionable blasphemies another FLAC version magically appeared on my HD and it has the same issue.

Tori Amos - Scarlett's Walk -- Another Girls Paradise at 0:32 at the very end of her singing 'Emeralds', slight crackle

Could anyone please verify either of these? And no ripping on my music, I have a tool reference in my location and Maynard likes Tori

bit of a silly question :

i have a headphone amp connected to my tv. is this how everyone does it? or would you get better sound if you were connected to a dvd player when watching dvds.

am i 'wasting' the power of the headphone amp connecting it to the tv, or is it all set? it's like a $500 tv, nothing special. thanks.