Best headphones???

[YukonTrooper]

Did you order them from Japan? Understandable if they are coming international. My AD900's took one week from Japan to my work in Canada so I can't complain.

[disruptfam]

no,i'm in Aus and ordered from Aus..

They said 2 days shipping it's been 4

cheers

[disruptfam]

Wooooooooooooohoooooooooooooo Just Got My Stuff!!!!

Its Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiik

coming from onboard audio and el cheapo pair of plantronics is unbelievable, i wish i had a better pair to compare them to.My mate has some hd 995's ima ask him to bring over and i can compare...

Best purchase i've made this all year for sure...

will post couple pic when i can find my camera.

Only thing is i cant seem to get my pioneer surround sound to work off the soundcard

The ad900's are so sik.... still working on configurations for the best sound though.

[disruptfam]

i talk about in more depth when 2morow gives me time to really listen to them properly.

so comfy... lol

Testing music and games atm

cheers

[chiefhog]

i talk about in more depth when 2morow gives me time to really listen to them properly.

so comfy... lol

Testing music and games atm

cheers

Enjoy your new purchase!

[it_burns_when_i_pee]

now you got a decent set you can enjoy equaliser presets in winamp etc - hardware and software alike

should notice the difference in games too, you'll hear alot more

[YukonTrooper]

Yup they are very nice. Make sure to leave them on overnight with some music playing to let them burn in a bit. I found after a few days the sound got even better. Try some acoustical music if you have it and listen to the acoustic guitars... heaven. Try grabbing some Alice in Chains MTV Unplugged and play Rooster. It sounds like the guitar is actually in the room and the reverberation of the string on certain notes tickles your ear.

[disruptfam]

yeah i was listening to some acoustic stuff last night,Sounds awesome....

I do notice a lot more in games to.... not necessarily a good thing when the sounds aren't properly done the headphones pick up on that.... eg et:quake wars the sounds are a bit off...in some area's

Only trouble i having with my soundcard is i cant it working with pioneer surround setup through optical output..I read somewhere i can't run 5.1 through the soundcard via optical until some updates are made?

is this true?

also one thing i did notice is that bass is not as lacking as i thought is was gonna be.It's more detailed rather than boom boom


cheers

[YukonTrooper]

Yes, the Prelude still needs updated drivers for all the optical and digital stuff to work. Seems kind of silly for sure, especially considering that Auzentech delayed the release of the card to work on the drivers a bit more with Creative. Oh well.

Yah the bass is definitely not lacking, it's just not a bass power monster. It is a neutral bass which is actually more bass than 75% of headphones anyways lol. It has great extension and detail meaning it can play all the very low notes and you can hear all those cool things like the pedals on the drums, strikes on the bass guitar etc. It is just not as prevalent as the rich midrange and sweet airy treble. Listening to the right material these headphones are like diamonds sprinkled on velvet. If that makes any sense...

[disruptfam]

hey yukon

Listening to the right material these headphones are like diamonds sprinkled on velvet. If that makes any sense...

Whats the right material?

cheers

[Growly]

I know I'm quite a bit late, but I thought I'd add that the Sennheiser HD595s are absolutely brilliant. I paid NZD$320 and would buy some more at the drop of a hat.

I also had a chance to listen to a friend's HD650s. The difference was marginal at best when playing mp3s on the X-FI extrememusic - I think to make the most of the HD650s you really need your CD player, amplifier, and gold plated cables in an acoustically perfect room.

If I had to buy a pair just for gaming, I'd probably go for the Sennheiser PC150s - but that's largely due to my ignorance of all other products in the bracket.

[YukonTrooper]

The AD900's are good overall cans but I find they excel with jazz, acoustical, vocals, classic rock and electronica. Hard rock and metal do good and actually might be the strong point for some people but I find they do very well with the aforementioned genres. At the same time I prefer hard rock and metal (my main genres) more out of the 900's than my KSC75... well I sure hope so Yukon!

However there is one caveat which is source. The source you play it from can have a drastic effect on how the headphones will sound and therefore should be taken into consideration just as much as the headphone. Out of my iPod the AD900 have a cold analytical sound signature which is good for some music and not so good for other music. Out of my Yamaha HTR-5960 the headphones get a real nice warm tone which I seem to like better than the tone out of the iPod. The sound is fuller, warmer, energetic and overall to me just more enjoyable. Some might prefer the sound out of the iPod but it should come to no surprise that a $500+ receiver might sound better. I have not bothered trying them out of my X-Fi because the stock X-fi op amps are known to be shrilly and metallic which I obviously won't prefer with the AD900's. I will be modding my X-Fi in the coming weeks with LM4562 op amps and a Black Gate power filter capacitor radically improving the stock X-Fi. These are the same op amps used in the Prelude card.

What does this all mean? Well for me the AD900's are keepers. The performance in games and their ability to be a well rounded can for music makes them a very viable can. However I will be pursuing another pair of headphones to compliment the AD900's for other genres, mainly rock. This is why I have the D2000's on the way. They should be hear on Monday or Tuesday and I will do a comparative review with them and the AD900's.

NOTE: Make sure you have all the proper options in the Prelude audio console selected or turned off. Turn off Crystalizer and only have CMSS-3D enabled during games. Also make sure you have the 2.1 speaker option selected opposed to the headphone option. When listening to music have either Entertainment Mode or Audio Creation Mode selected and Game Mode for games. Also, in Game Mode have EAX selected so that games that support EAX will offer you EAX effects. You'll find that the audio console will learn your settings so you won't have to apply the proper settings everytime between Entertainment Mode, Game Mode and Audio Creation Mode.

WARNING: Do not visit www.head-fi.org if you want to keep the money in your bank account. I have only recently dipped my feet into the world of hi-fi headphones and already am considering a $700 headphone amp on top of the $500 I just spent on two pairs of headphones. If you want a great overall set of headphones for gaming and music then go with the ATH-AD900's and don't look back. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

[disruptfam]

cheers yukon

[disruptfam]

oops 4got to post some pic's of my gear.....

just arrived woohoo


prelude In it's new home.....


another one.....


The ad900's!!! i love em!!


the last one






thanks for all the comments and help by the way fellaz...

Probably would of got a crappy overpriced pair of can's without all your input

cheers!!!

[Soulburner]

Now you need a better camera!

Just kidding...you just need better light and focus.

Those AD900s and the Auzen Prelude are a match made in heaven

[Kobalt]

WARNING: Do not visit www.head-fi.org if you want to keep the money in your bank account. I have only recently dipped my feet into the world of hi-fi headphones and already am considering a $700 headphone amp on top of the $500 I just spent on two pairs of headphones. If you want a great overall set of headphones for gaming and music then go with the ATH-AD900's and don't look back. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

So true .

By the way, please make sure you're listening to AT LEAST 256kbit mp3s to be able to take advantage of your headphone setup. 320kbit mp3s would be better and lossless audio (.flac, .ape, .alac) would be best.

[Soulburner]

A lot of my music is done in EAC with a preset that gives 200-250kbps VBR. You'd be hard pressed to tell the difference even with a great set of headphones.

[disruptfam]

Now you need a better camera!

Just kidding...you just need better light and focus.

yes i desperately need a new camera any recommendations?

[disruptfam]

By the way, please make sure you're listening to AT LEAST 256kbit mp3s to be able to take advantage of your headphone setup. 320kbit mp3s would be better and lossless audio (.flac, .ape, .alac) would be best.

im a noob how do you know what kind of quality it is???

[Evi]

Well first off, you should know the bitrate because if it's on your computer, you either ripped it from a CD, or downloaded it. If you ripped it, you should know what settings you used. If you downloaded it, you should at least know what you're downloading before you do so.

Regardless, once it's on your computer, if you need to check the quality, most good audio players tell you the bitrate somewhere. If you're not using a good audio player, go to www.foobar2000.org to download the best one. Now if you want in-depth information about the encoding method used to compress the mp3 files, there are utilities which can do that as well. One called "Mr QuestionMan" comes to mind.

[Soulburner]

Exact Audio Copy is the best.

Big thread full of info:
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/...howtopic=28124

[disruptfam]

cheers