u/jackdriper

I'll check them out! Might be a little too big for the place, but I always have a living room that could use an upgrade too.

Do you know how the new reference line compares? I was considering maybe the r-7 ii's for the living room in the future.

Do any shops stock them for demo? They look like theyd be great but I'd really like to try whatever I get before buying.

That receiver will be fine. Though I wouldn't expect to get more than 40-50 watts out of it before you hear distortion (it lists a high 1% distortion at 90 W per channel). So depending on how big of a room and party you're talking about, I'd take a look for a pair of efficient used speakers, like Klipsch's older KG line.

Any pair of decent powered speakers plus an airport or Bluetooth adapter will sound better.

In addition to buying used, buying from a store that allows returns. We're talking beginners, right? Most of the "beginner" audio gear is available at places like Amazon or even Best Buy so one can buy several things and return all but the favorite.

I'd even simplify your advice to "do comparisons". Way too many beginners just go out and buy online whatever they see recommended online, without trying anything out first. Preference plays such a huge role, and I bet most beginners don't even know what they prefer yet. It's a fundamental problem with internet product recommendations.

I doubt and amp would do much (like /u/callmesaul8889 says with experience). A DAC often will help a bit, since onboard DACs are kind of garbage and/or pick up a ton of noise from the rest of the components. I don't really like recommending one out of the gate, since you never know if your onboard DAC is fine until giving it a shot, but it sounds like you'd likely benefit from one. Just don't expect it to make a huge difference.

The Schiit Modi is popular, same with the ODAC. FiiO makes very inexpensive options that will pretty much be at least 90% as good as either of those. I use an XDA-2 for all of the inputs and the built-in headphone amp.

Haha yeah headphones like yours are going to be very revealing of any flaws along the chain (whether that's the DAC, file quality or quality of the song master). There's a lot of music I can't enjoy anymore because I can hear all of the little mistakes.

Glad you're enjoying them otherwise! Update your flair!

Looking good. Impressions?

In an ideal world, yeah. But would you trust any data that Sony puts out anyway? I don't even trust frequency response data given by reputable manufacturers. The responsibility is on 3rd parties to verify the quality and performance of products (like innerfidelity, or you or me).

Well, there is no Moore's law of audio gear, so you don't have to worry about something twice as good coming out every other year.

But there definitely is a benefit of getting newer stuff. Technology does improve constantly and the high end of today is much better than the high end of 20 years ago (likewise across all budgets, what you can get now for <$200 is pretty amazing). We're just taking decades, not years like in tech.

Isn't that good though? I'd rather see criticism of products than praise as long as it's not mindless bashing (which most of the top criticism comments aren't).

The Cali-Belgique is something I really should like. I enjoy the aromaticity and bitterness of IPAs and I enjoy the fruity, spicy flavors in Belgian pale ales-- but instead of getting the complex layered, yeast-forward IPA I'm looking for, it's sort of something that does neither an IPA nor Belgian well (to me, that is).

To answer your question, it's hard not to go with Anchor Steam or SNPA. Throw in Weihenstephaner hefeweissbier for a real oldie.

I don't disagree. But I don't think I've ever seen someone in the sticky ever recommend the M50/x. Plenty of people ask about them, but nobody says "yeah, those are the best pair for you".

Outside of /r/headphones is another story. But here, they're kind of irrelevant.

increases sound quality

This is sort of the problem with getting the recommendation from random internet users (hey, just like us!). You get hand-waving explanations or recommendations that pretty much only say "X makes Y better" with no reason or rationale.

Amps don't just flat out "increase sound quality"-- it's a much more complicated issue than that, but if I had to sum it up I'd say it likely wouldn't improve anything due to the low impedance of your headphones (woo, more hand waving).

Yup! It'll be the same with a receiver too.

T-amps like the sa-50 don't put out a ton of power, so look for high efficiency speakers (sensitivity >90 db/Wm). Klipsch makes good options, so check out their kg line or rf line, depending on budget.

Looks like a pair of Sony's lower end bookshelf speakers and you don't want them-- most of Sony's speakers are really bad value for the money. I had a pair of SS-MB150H (similar, but not exactly the same) that blew me away with how bad they were, even for budget speakers. I ended up selling them for $25 and felt like I kind of ripped the guy off.

Check out the sticky if you're looking for speakers suggestions. You can do much better for the money (the Micca PB42x is the go-to entry-level recommendation).

What floorstanding speakers do you have? You can probably just get an amp like the SMSL SA-50, an onkyo stereo receiver, or any used receiver from craigslist.

Your car has an amp and your receiver is an amp. Putting an additional headphone amp in between your iPod (with its own amp in the headphone jack) and your receiver/car amp only adds distortion.

Something like the HE-400 or Alpha Dogs with a Schiit Lyr would give you a good taste of higher end gear before dropping thousands on a setup you might not like.

The best way to output 7.1 is running HDMI with a solid home theater receiver from Demon or Onkyo. You'll need an amp to push those speakers anyway so you might as well get one that supports HDMI (which they all should).

That's an awesome pair. I use the HD600's as my main headphones right now and love them. The HD650 are similar, bit a little more "fun" and less neutral. One thing to keep in mind though is that they still do have a bit of a "laid back" kind of sound compared to popular closed headphones, like the ATH-M50s. But I think you'll end up loving them for how clear and articulate they are. Closed, V-shaped sound is great for pop, but it gets grating after some time.

(It's sort of like the Pepsi taste tests, where Pepsi would beat out Coke in blind 4 oz comparisons. But that was just because Pepsi was sweeter and stronger flavored so people preferred it in small amounts. If you drink much more than that, then most people would prefer the less sweet, more interestingly flavored Coke.)

Although they're fine without an amp, they'll definitely benefit from one. FiiO makes good cheap options, though I'd say spend a bit more and get something from Schiit or JDS's O2 amp. You likely won't need a DAC, unless your computer's built-in one sucks. Give it some time and see if you can hear noise in the background, especially when your computer is under load. FiiO makes a great cheap DAC, and Schiit's is pretty and marginally better (though more expensive). A DAC is sort of the last 1% of what determines quality, so as long as you have a non-broken one don't worry about spending too much on a DAC.

Headphone jack converters are super cheap from Amazon or Monoprice, so you can always grab one to fit whatever you need. The cable itself is replaceable too, so you can always get a new cable if you don't want a converter for some reason :P

I'm glad you have a very positive outlook! I was afraid I came off a little too harsh haha. Hope you stick around here (and /r/headphones)-- though we can be a little rough on the new guys sometime, we're all here to enjoy sound just the same.

What're you looking at for your first headphones?

It's a really nifty device. FiiO makes a lot of very inexpensive but surprisingly good audio gear, particularly their portable amps and DACs.

These kind of kickstarters (irrationally) bother me. Audiophilia gets a lot of bad rep from people who buy $10,000 cables because they make sound more "airy" and "musical". But overpaying for gimmicks and snake oil isn't limited to high-end users, and that's evidenced by every single audio gear kickstarter. They're taking advantage of new users (like yourself, who I assume was interested at first) with pretty marketing and a promise of doing it better than the big guys.

The fiio e6 does the same thing for less than half the price. It's just pretty marketing (tho lol @ "Problem: audio quality has been trending down" shows what kind of gear they've been buying)

I don't think I've seen an audio related kickstarter that either 1. is new, 2. provides any sort of meaningful specs or performance numbers, or 3. isn't straight up snake oil.