/tech/ - Soyence and Technology

>>21947 (OP)
Fiio FT1 but it doesn't have a mic.
DT 770 Pro X if you don't like chinkware. Also no mic.

I'd spend more to get something real good.
Sony MDR-M1 or Meze 99 Noir on Drop https://drop.com/buy/massdrop-x-meze-99-noir-closed-back-headphones
The Sony's will withstand more of a beating, but the Meze's are more comfortable.

Use a Sony ECMLV1 mic.

>>21968
I should mention that all headphones genuinely need parametric equalization to actually sound good. But since you're looking for PC headphones it's easy to implement with this:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/equalizerapo/
And the plugin for it that makes the UI usable:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/peace-equalizer-apo-extension/

You can websearch around for recommended EQ settings for any of the headphones mentioned here. You can also use Squiglink's automatic EQ function, but be patient, because you'll have to search through a billion different measurement sets from different people and websites to find your model.

Protips:
Cutting is better than boosting.
Low distortion measurements means they'll generally respond to boosting a little better.
No matter what, try your hardest to not boost by more than +6dB.
Lower pre amplifying gain by the highest amount you boost by.
Because Windows audio is weird, Subtract another -0.5dB from whatever you set the pre amp gain to. You should always apply this half dB subtraction even if you don't use EQ.

buy a pair of headphones, not a headset (headphones + microphone) is my advice
you can't go wrong with audiotechnica

>>21972
It's easy to go wrong with any brand when it comes to headphones because they don't pay close attention to this image when designing a lot of models. Audio engineers and musicians somewhat account for this when mixing and mastering audio, but a lot of headphones, especially "audiophile" headphones droop down quite a bit below 100Hz, which is counterproductive to how we hear. A lot of people will listen to headphones way too loud because they're subconsciously trying to hear and feel the bass more clearly, and this damages your hearing over time. Headphone frequency response is a bit weird because of the close proximity to your outer ear and because they're in an enclose space of variable size, so it is difficult to get a good frequency response on each different model. This is also why so many headphones have pads that are so thin that your ear touches the baffle. It's intentionally done so your outer ear and headphone earcups and earpads have less of an effect on the sound. But at that point you may as well go for IEMs because they're far less painful than prolonged pressure on your outer ears.

I have pic related. theyre pretty good. they hold your head a bit weirdly though.

>>21972
Some headsets aren't completely terrible these days. Like the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5X, Fractal Design Scape, and newest generation Astro A50X. But they still have bad microphones, and have that gamer look to them (although the Scape is thankfully moving away from that aesthetic.) so you end up looking like a 10 year old if you want to use them outside as regular headphones. So in the end it's probably better to get a good pair of headphones and use a good separate mic like the Sony I mentioned.

>>22036
arent the pc38x and audeze maxwell batter value doe?

>>22048
The PC38X has that awful bass rolloff and a non-removable mic and the Maxwell is genuinely heavy.

>>21947 (OP) im not a audio guy but my best advice is just go to some store, try out some headphone maybe with amp and choose the one that fit you most
just don't buy gaming headset since most of them are dogshit

I aryanheart my Sennheiser 560s but those are open back

>>22095
So you can hear your PC fans and any other background noise when you're trying to focus on the game! All headphones have awful sound staging compared to even a $100 pair of speakers, so I never recommend open back headphones. Headphones are better at micro detail, and closed or semi-open designs just improve on that strength. I hate the headphone and IEM crowd because they constantly try to get into battles against physics and claim superiority where they have none. IEM kiddos go around acting like cutting out the natural sound presentation of the outer ear and room is somehow a strength, because the graph measured by a fake ear canal looks nice. Open back fans love to pretend bass shouldn't exist. Measurements are important to get a better idea of what's going on, but people are so obsessed with target curves that they forget that we don't hear like a microphone. It's brought to an "I LOVE SCIENCE!" and "The science is settled!" soyboy religion nonsense.

>>21977
good reply but…
>IEMs
are you baiting?

>>22243
I like the sennheisers because they're comfortable and my ears can breathe in them tho

>>22301
That's fine. Comfort is very important. The only problem is when people start acting like open backs do everything right. Everything has its flaws. You can try different pads on different models, but that does require a bit of work to equalize because different pads usually change the sound, so I can't completely fault you there.

OP here, bought a pair of Philips Fidelio X2HR on a Cyber Monday deal. I already have a condenser mic that I use, and Ill use Equalizer APO o algo. thanks for the advice everyone

>>22303
>>22243
why so obsessed?

>>21970
I forgot to mention that, although you think you can boost a little more below 80Hz because we're not as sensitive to distortion that low, you run the risk of pushing the speaker too hard and lowering the lifespan of the speaker. Because although we're less sensitive to distortion down low, the driver and voice coil needs to physically move a lot more to reproduce those frequencies. It's more wear and tear, but also can produce audible distortion elsewhere in the frequency range due to the fact that it's almost guaranteed to be a single speaker trying to produce the full range of frequencies. Some IEMs use multiple drivers and a handful of headphones have experimented with multiple drivers. But the few headphones that have ever attempted this suck because they're almost never smart enough to cross the drivers over at 80Hz. It's weird how it's so avoided in high end desktop headphones that are already bulky and suck a lot of power, because even really good headphone drivers are stupidly cheap compared to good speakers.

Anyway, just listen very closely for any weirdness when you use EQ to boost. With some headphones you can get away with more, and with others, less.

>>22555
use (((audeze))) for using +12db bass boost eq, especially closed back ones

>>21947 (OP)
Samsung EO-IA500

>>23369
I'm not saying EQ can't ever be +12dB, just that it's not going to save every headphone. I have the Meze 99 Noir from Massdrop and have a +10 boost at 3300Hz without any issues so far. I also listen at lower levels than a lot of people would, so it's less of a strain on the driver.


>>23370
Those are rebranded AKG's that have horrible channel imbalance and terrible build quality. If you're looking for wired IEMs under $200, looking at the dozens of Chifi options is the only reasonable answer these days. I'm not too knowledgeable with IEMs and the scene changes every 6 months, so you have to do some digging yourself.