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AUDIOPHILES: Help!!
luckypotato
Member Posts: 251
Edit: Made my decision after going though many MANY reviews. I decided that the Audio-Technica ATH-M50's win by far. Grado's leak sound and dont have enough bass, Sonys are supra-aural, AKG's require expensive AMPS, and Sennheisers get blown out of the water compaired to the M50's. Thanks everyone!
TL;DR Version: Audio-Technica ATH-M50's are the best $100 head phones.
3rd Edit: After learning that open headphones are better than closed headphones for sound positioning, i am looking around again. Considering k240?
Comments
The Grado SR80 are fantastic headphones for the price. For 100$ they have fantastic soundstaging and very good mids and highs and decent bass. If you wan't to get the most out of them you will need an AMP and a DAC. But that will put you way over 100$. The model down from those JVC's; the JVC HA RX600 are far better and cost a mere 30$ and sound as good as some 100-150$ phones.
Personally I would invest in a AMP/DAC instead of the sound card. You'll find much better results.
Not gonig to lie, you audiophiles will rape me for this, but im actually going to use the headset for music as well as 3D-audio positioned (virtual surround sound) Gaming.
Im not familiar with DAC's, but i have a hunch that they are purely stero and dont have any Doby software for gaming.
All a digital to analog converter (DAC) does is take the 1/8 or 1/4 audio jack on your headphones and turn that signal into USB. Plugging headphones in via USB or SPDIF yeilds much better quality sound then a audio jack. The DAC has nothing to do with "surrond sound" and what your actually describing is usually called sound staging in audiophile circles. You do not need a sound card to have this effect while playing video games. All you need is a good set of headphones with good sound staging.
Well maybe, but im currently running on motherboard audio *cringes*
Truthfully, i have enough complicated technology in my life, and i much rather have computer hardware in which i know how to use rather than something im completely unfamiliar with. Im not saying Sound Cards are superior-- but i dont even know where you can buy a DAC, or how to pair a DAC with an AMP.
hey if its for gameing why not get a gameing earphones with nice audio! razers earphones looks really cool! and sound cool!
http://au.razerzone.com/razer-megalodon
but it may be a bit off budget tho give it a look
oh it comes with an external soundcard too
This is the nature of "OPEN BACKED HEADPHONES." They all leak sound. The benefit is that they sound head and shoulders better then any closed back headphones; better bass decay, more natural sound, lively soundstage. The best headphones in any price range are all open backed; Sennheiser HD 800's, 650's and 600's, Grado 325is, Beyerdynamic DT 880's and 990's, these are all open backed headphones, they all leak sound on purpose.
Don't get me wrong there are some very good closed back headphones; Denon and AKG both have some good ones but they are all out of your price range.
As a good general rule of thumb; don't buy headphones with "gaming" in there title if you intend to use them for gaming. Same rule generally applies to Bose and Skullcandy as well. Why? Because they are consumer products for the general consumer. Your average consumer does not know what good sound is and thinks good sound means obnoxious, inaccurate, uncontrolled bass. Then they pick up some Grado's or high end Sennheisers and realize they haven't been hearing tons of nuances in there media.
Ulgh, yeah i found this out reading on the fourms. Looks like im not getting the M50's after all.
So what would you reccomend for an accurate soundscape? I have found several soundcards with intergrated DAC's and AMPS, so OHMs isnt a problem.
I was thinking about the k240's? There Semi open... but have some great reviews.
Additionally, i understand that Grado's have horrible soundscape accuracy?