Headphones and Amps and DACs... Oh My!

[ibanez33]

Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro > Schiit Magni and Modi (optical model) > Win 7 with Foobar2000.

Did you get the 990s from NCIX? They had them for $220 last week... If only it wasn't right before pay day

I've been looking for new cans for a while and everything I listen to just sounds better and better and I keep thinking "okay well if I wait another month I can get THESE...". I'm pretty sure this is just going to go on for another year and I'll end up with some Audeze LDC3's or something insane like that.

Currently, I'm running my Mac into the Audioengine D1 DAC/amp and from that into Audioegine A2 speakers and Sennheiser HD228HD419 headphones. At this very moment I have The Fragile playing through the headphones as hard as this little amp can push them, just to see what they can handle, and my god does it ever sound good. I'm not sure if it's the amp or the headphones but the sweet spot seems to be around 60-70% volume. On bassier songs like Into The Void you can feel the earcups vibrating against your head even at 50% volume.

For what it's worth, I know this is super bad for my hearing. I've never done this before and I don't plan on doing it again, just wanted to see how far I could push these $30 headphones, and they held up wayyy better than I anticipated.

[virushopper]

Did you get the 990s from NCIX? They had them for $220 last week... If only it wasn't right before pay day

No, I got them from Massdrop for $180. Crazy, I know.

[ibanez33]

WHAT! Damn, and I thought $220 was a steal... I gotta set Massdrop to my homepage or something, I keep missing out on the best deals. Were they the 250 or 600 ohm version?

[virushopper]

WHAT! Damn, and I thought $220 was a steal... I gotta set Massdrop to my homepage or something, I keep missing out on the best deals. Were they the 250 or 600 ohm version?

I know, I couldn't believe it too. 250 OHM Pro is the one I have. Massdrop sometimes have great deals on headphones, always check it regularily. When you see it, buy it! Don't hesitate.

[Aywok]

Did you get the 990s from NCIX? They had them for $220 last week... If only it wasn't right before pay day

I've been looking for new cans for a while and everything I listen to just sounds better and better and I keep thinking "okay well if I wait another month I can get THESE...". I'm pretty sure this is just going to go on for another year and I'll end up with some Audeze LDC3's or something insane like that.

Currently, I'm running my Mac into the Audioengine D1 DAC/amp and from that into Audioegine A2 speakers and Sennheiser HD228 headphones. At this very moment I have The Fragile playing through the headphones as hard as this little amp can push them, just to see what they can handle, and my god does it ever sound good. I'm not sure if it's the amp or the headphones but the sweet spot seems to be around 60-70% volume. On bassier songs like Into The Void you can feel the earcups vibrating against your head even at 50% volume.

For what it's worth, I know this is super bad for my hearing. I've never done this before and I don't plan on doing it again, just wanted to see how far I could push these $30 headphones, and they held up wayyy better than I anticipated.

$220 is about the "regular" price you'll pay for the 990 250's at this current time. Sweetwater has them right now for $229.99.

You know what you really want to do is save money for years and go the Stax/electrostatic route.

I have several "portable" type DAC/amps, and 60-70% seems to be about the sweet spot. That's where I keep the volume myself for several of my Sennheisers. If you want to get a little more accurate, I use about 55-65%.

(Edit): I listen to a lot of jazz and anything higher than that, the horns become way too strident.

[ibanez33]

$220 is about the "regular" price you'll pay for the 990 250's at this current time. Sweetwater has them right now for $229.99.

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAhahaha... they normally go for like $400 in Canada.

[Aywok]

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAhahaha... they normally go for like $400 in Canada.

Great Scott! That's $355 US! I have the 600's, and they are a beautiful set of cans. Both the 250's and 600's have excellent soundstage, with that "wide" sound you'd expect from open cans.

Not sure if you have any preference, but some consider the 990's to be warmer headphones. I've found them awesome for my tastes, especially on bassier things like Welcome Oblivion. And they don't shake your freaking ears, like you mentioned a few posts above. I use my son's Beats every once in awhile, so I know exactly what you meant.