Hey guys, wanted to have a chat with anyone who knows a bit about audio, so feel free to chime in. My plan in the coming week or so is to upgrade from my old broken PC350 to a good headphone setup with an external DAC/AMP set-up. These are what I had in mind, tell me what you think: http://www.amazon.com/AKG-Signature-Reference-Class-Premium-Headphones/dp/B004444OFK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404434442&sr=8-1&keywords=akg q701 with http://www.amazon.com/E17-Alpen-Portable-Headphone-Amplifier/dp/B0070UFMOW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405620398&sr=8-1&keywords=fiio e17 and as a mic possibly one of these two: http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Micropho...F8&qid=1405627337&sr=8-1&keywords=blue nessie Or http://www.amazon.com/Zalman-Zm-Mic1-Sensitivity-Headphone-Microphone/dp/B00029MTMQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405620446&sr=8-1&keywords=zalman clip on mic Let me know what you think, I'm open to suggestions and advice.
I'm a Huge fan of Beyerdynamics, I have a pair of DT 770s at home and DT990s at work. At work i power them off a DAC and Tube amp one of the engineers there and I made. at home i use a FiiO E10 DAC/amp. I also have a Nuforce Icon uDAC that i like very much but was replaced by the tube amp. I own or have owned Sennheiser and AKG, while i have nothing against either of them as far as sound goes, i don't like how Sennheiser has starting making everything out of a fairly brittle plastic now days and i just don't like the fit of AKGs (but that's just me). I think you will be quite happy with the headphones and amp you have picked, as long as your not odd like me and not like how the AKGs sit on your head. You may be able to save a little money by getting an DAC/AMP that is not made to be portable, unless you do plan carry it with you. last thing i would really suggest is spend a little more on a mic... a decent mic makes a huge difference in coms. for ballpark $50 you can get a Blue Snowball and its a very nice mic... it's just big, big like the same size as a softball.
Yeah I was more or less leaning in the direction of the Blue Nessie as far as mic's go, and just making my own homemade pop filter since most people say the built in one is useless, love the way it looks. On the other hand as far as comfort goes, I have pretty thick hair and a big head as well as large ears so I think the AKG's will be a nice fit (I hate tiny driver housings....they hurt my ears). As far as amp/dac setup's go I was also looking at the Schiit stack Magni/Modi, but I quite like the E17's portability and interface (comes with a built in EQ).
i'm sitting by a pair of Senns HD650's > Maverick Audio tubemagic d1 DAC > Schiit Mjholnir amp, and Schiit makes good shiit [lolol], but fucking heavy. most of their equipment is just, if you're going to be moving, or rearranging your desk, i wouldn't go with them. also they run pretty hot. great sound, though.
I can't weigh in too much on the headphones as I haven't experience with expensive ones. I bought a set of sennheiser HD 201 headphones in a local supermarket on sale and I love them. They have the longer cable for studio use as well as the adapter to plug it into sockets that take the same plug as electric guitars. Apart from that they are standard 3.5mm jack. On the headphones, they are quieter than others but the crispness of the audio is so much better. I hear so much more of the music when I am listening so you don't need high volume to hear the more subtle or quiet bits. The noise cancellation is also great so you don't have to worry about background noise leaking in and stopping you from hearing what music you have on or whatever. For example, I don't need max volume on my ipod to hear music while cutting the grass when pushing the lawnmower, just don't try to talk to me at the same time :P They also fit very nicely to my head as they can adjust tilt sideways and up and down to fit snugly against whatever shape your head is. They also are a little big for my ears so should fit anyone with ears bigger than mine. This all makes for a real good quality set of headphones that you can play on lower volumes and get a better experience. I personally don't like my volume to the max to preserve my hearing. Can't weigh in on amps. On mics, good condenser mics start in around 100. You can get ones for 50-60 but they are less in quality. Edit while writing, basically went on for a little while about usb condenser versus more costly regular with all accessories for it but not too important here. To weigh up how you feel about mics I strongly suggest you check out a site like Thomann.de, basically they have recordings (sound samples) on the product pages on a lot of their mics so you can hear how they sound. The Behringer C1U might be a nice usb condenser mic for you. I recently used Thomann to order two samson q7 mics with stands, cable and the two channel audio interface to record to pc. Now if you are getting a mic, a pop filter is a nice cheap accessory to improve audio quality. They are 10-15 or you can make one at home with coat hanger and a pair of nylon stockings. That's all I can think of saying at the moment, but I will re-iterate checking mic models on thomann for audio samples to tell difference in quality at least between what options you lay out for yourself.
