Which Sennheisers?

It will come in time my son. i am now poor so when i get cash i'll start looking to invest in a Essence card.
I do have my little labtec speakers with a headphone jack that acts as a pre-amp ^_^
 
poffle said:
It will come in time my son. i am now poor so when i get cash i'll start looking to invest in a Essence card.
I do have my little labtec speakers with a headphone jack that acts as a pre-amp ^_^
Click to expand...

Srsly? From Labtec? :p

Is it more powerful than the D1? :confused:
 
hahaha yeah. They are actually the business, plug your headfones in to the speakers and turn the volume full, it will destroy the headphones- it just pushes it way to loud, but i am sure it pretty much nullifies the point of having a good soundcard if you have to go from Soundcard -> ****ty speakers -> good headphones.
 
The HD555/595 does have a replaceable cord, you just have to remove the foam pad and inner cover (they clip off) and you can replace the cord. I have had a 515 for 6 years, and never did I need a new cord, only foam pads. I now have 2 HD555's and they are great. (one is modded, the other not)
 
Thanks for that info P924! I didn't even notice that it had a replaceable cord when I did the bass mod :)
 
I have the HD25-II coupled with the soundcard in my sig, and the sound is superb... these are however on ear phones so they are definitely not the most comfortable... meaning extened hours of use are pretty much out of the question...
 
Ahhhhhhhh FU i hate waiting for awesomness :( sunday seems so far away.
I must say Amazon are fantastic. I ordered at 8pm our time, it was delivered the next day straight to the hotel reception and my mate picked it up 100%.
 
Now you just need an amplified sound card - like me ;)

I tried to order one at iKonicIT this morning, but they were out of stock on the Asus Xonar Essence STX unfortunately :(
 
yeah, but that will come later :) Currently my sound is loud enough & clear enough.
 
Perhaps a mini detailed review? ;)

And think about what you have to still be excited about... Essence STX. ;)

My HD595's keep my dome nice and warm in winter. :D
 
Sennheiser RS170 or 180! One of the best wireless ones on the market
 
I received my Asus Xonar U3 this morning and I have to admit that the amplification helps a lot with my colleague's HD600, but it's not really necessary with my HD555's. The U3 is quite a lot better than the onboard sound of my Asus P7H55D-M Evo motherboard, and probably superior to my Dell Inspiron 9400 laptop's sound too ;)

Without the amplifier set to 64Ohms+ on the U3 with my colleague's HD600, the bass clips horribly, where as with my Asus P7H55D-M Evo motherboard it still sounds OK. I can't really notice that the amplifier actually makes the bass better at all, like many people claim. With the U3 the treble is higher than that of my onboard sound - I have to adjust the bass with the equalizer when using my colleague's HD600 & the U3, otherwise the treble is too overwhelming.

Now I'm waiting for my Xonar Essence STX, which would hopefully be a lot better than the U3.
 
I've now installed my Xonar Essence STX and I really find it difficult to tell difference between it, my Xonar DX and my Asus P6T Deluxe v2's onboard sound, when testing with my HD555's :(
I'm actually a bit disappointed with the Xonar Essence STX, because I really expected a big/noticeable difference. Perhaps I should test with my colleague's HD600 again.

IMO it is much better to buy a decent set of headphones and then just like the Xonar U3 if your onboard sound sux.
 
Besides the differences between different listeners:

What are you listening to?

What type of music(s)?

What format is it in?

What settings are you using?
-Do you know which are best to always use, for the producer's intended sound?

Can you upload a screenie of your Xonar console?

---

I have not tested Xonar U3 or DX. I can imagine that U3 would sound similar, due to its amplification.

But there is absolutely no way though, that there is no difference between P6TDV2, U3, DX and Essence STX. Little difference, I can understand.

The Essence is of course, far more advanced and superior in terms of parts used - sound processor, OP amps, etc. I can understand though that to some people, it will be hard to tell a difference, and it may be much of a muchness.

But there is a difference. All professional reviews confirm this. All my and others' IRL experience confirms this.

Essence booklet confirms this...

It's tricky to analyse this all, I'll give you that. :p
 
Last edited:
Sennheiser's HD 800s

or
Sennheiser HD 598
Beyerdynamic Tesla T1 Balanced
 
Last edited:
I didn't say that there are no difference between the cards. All I said that the difference was too small for me to make the upgrade worth while for me.

The HD555 don't really need amplification, and the same would apply to all the other < 64 Ohm headphones like the HD595/598.
From Sennheiser it is only the HD600/650/800 that has > 64 Ohm nominal impedance.

I have the Xonar settings at 2ch, 192kHz sample rate, Headphone out with normal (0dB) gain selected, Hi-Fi for the DSP mode and the EQ is on default. I've tried all the amplification settings, but at Extra High gain, I can hear a hiss when the volume is turned up quite high.

I'm listening to classic (Sarah Brightmen), pop (Roxette & Katy Perry), club (Basshunter) & rock (Evanescence) music - all of which are 320kbps @ 44.1kHz MP3's. Perhaps I should listen to the music directly from the CD's, or rip them with FLAC ;)

I have to agree with you that the card is most definitely superior to the other cards and that it tricky to analyse the differences.
I absolutely love the 6.3mm headphone sockets - no more adapters for the HD555 :D

Perhaps I should ask my uncle to test it, because he has like perfect pitch, and I'm nowhere near that :p
 
Last edited:
Pada said:
I didn't say that there are no difference between the cards. All I said that the difference was too small for me to make the upgrade worth while for me.
Click to expand...

I hear you. :)

As I said, I can understand that there would be little difference; just like you saying you're finding it difficult to tell the difference. I was merely emphasising that the difference is there, because your post might have come across differently to a newbie (affectionate term for someone reading from the sidelines) due to your choice of words which could be misconstrued, but by no means are incorrect.

And with your main point, I do agree that most of the time, assuming the source(s) are as near-perfect as possible (which you have yet to demonstrate experience with, which is important), the upgrade over a cheaper amplified setup (i.e. U3) is small and quite a much of a muchness, especially when listening to lossy sources...

The HD555 don't really need amplification, and the same would apply to all the other < 64 Ohm headphones like the HD595/598.
From Sennheiser it is only the HD600/650/800 that has > 64 Ohm nominal impedance.
Click to expand...

I hear exactly what you're saying. :) Again, insofar as saying they don't really need amplification, I have to point out again that, since we are or at least I am trying to be as technical as possible, your choice of words might lead a newbie to misconstrue what you're essentially saying. I am purely raising these points for the benefit of them, and not entirely us.

I know very well that fundamentally we both agree that amplification does benefit headphones such as the HD555/558/595/598, even though they use a "relatively" low impedance. I am very sure that we both agree that most, if not all headphones (perhaps even buds?) benefit from amplification.

This leads me to saying that I would never recommend someone buying headphones such as those mentioned, unless they plan on getting some sort of amplification down the line. My point is, your wording may lead those to believe otherwise, in which case the headphoneswould never reach their full potential, and really shine.

I have the Xonar settings at 2ch, 192kHz sample rate, Headphone out with normal (0dB) gain selected, Hi-Fi for the DSP mode and the EQ is on default. I've tried all the amplification settings, but at Extra High gain, I can hear a hiss when the volume is turned up quite high.
Click to expand...

That is the correct setup, so you've no doubt researched it.

To all newbies, Hifi mode is imperative as it adds no post processing to the audio, which would render it different to the way the producer intended.

I'm listening to classic (Sarah Brightmen), pop (Roxette & Katy Perry), club (Basshunter) & rock (Evanescence) music - all of which are 320kbps @ 44.1kHz MP3's. Perhaps I should listen to the music directly from the CD's, or rip them with FLAC ;)
Click to expand...

I implore you to, at the very least, compare with FLAC. I'm interested to hear the results. CD's, even better.

I would have to say that our music tastes differ vastly, and that the music I listen to is of a more technical nature. Classical is a good choice, but I would have more layered, instrumental classical in mind. Although the vocal testing is certainly there. :)

I have to agree with you that the card is most definitely superior to the other cards and that it tricky to analyse the differences.
I absolutely love the 6.3mm headphone sockets - no more adapters for the HD555 :D
Click to expand...

It really is an awesome piece of equipment. I find the fact that the OP amps are changeable to be very exciting. Not that I would ever need to change them, I don't think, as I am 100% satisfied.

I have never had an experience quite like my Essence and HD595. HD555 and up are without doubt the best entry audiophile headphones on the market for general listening.

Like the way a lot of our argument revolves, once you are at this kind of level the differences between them and "reasonably priced higher end 'phones" indeed become difficult to tell. ;)

Perhaps I should ask my uncle to test it, because he has like perfect pitch, and I'm nowhere near that :p
Click to expand...

Please do. Let's see what he has to say in relation to the pro reviews which can only rave about the Essence.
 
Thanks for the in depth response and "corrections" for my post.

I'll see what I can do, but nothing will happen before the weekend though. Unfortunately I don't see my uncle that often, so it'll be quite difficult to let him test it though.

At least now I've learned that you can get very high quality private sound equipment for like R1500 (~R1200 for HD555 + ~R300 for Xonar U3).
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X