[lobotimizer]

Are there any settings that I can use to improve the sound quality on movies and games? I am playing the audio through a PC without amplification, music sounds great but gunshots and other noises and movies are flat. Would a 5.1 headphone be a better experience for movies?

Some additional questions are:

Is there anything I can do for clamping force, I wear glasses and it becomes uncomfortable after 3 hours?

Will amplification aide sound quality if I listen to music quietly?

Thanks in advance,

 

[sillysally]

There is no settings that come with the HD650.
You probably can use your PC/disc player as a DAC, but you do need a good headphone amp.

I have never found a 5.1 headphone to be all that good, mostly gimmicks.

There is something that will make you think you have a great 5.1 or 7.1 speaker system for headphones, but its very costly.
Realiser A8.

You can gently bend the metal headphone band.

ss

 

[tubetwister]

Senn HD 650's are arguably pretty good music phone's other than not being surround (which may not be that convincing on phones ) they should be good with Movies.

 

[lobotimizer]

There is no settings that come with the HD650.
You probably can use your PC/disc player as a DAC, but you do need a good headphone amp.

I have never found a 5.1 headphone to be all that good, mostly gimmicks.

There is something that will make you think you have a great 5.1 or 7.1 speaker system for headphones, but its very costly.
Realiser A8.

You can gently bend the metal headphone band.

ss

Thanks for your response, to be clear I am able to get plenty of volume from the build in amp on my soundcard, how much will an amp improve sound quality when I am listening to music at 1/4 volume?

 

[sillysally]

Thanks for your response, to be clear I am able to get plenty of volume from the build in amp on my soundcard, how much will an amp improve sound quality when I am listening to music at 1/4 volume?

The 650 is a fairly flat headphone and easy to power, so there is not much you can do unless your soundcard has a equalizer, but don't expect a big change in how your HD650's sound.

A very good amp and DAC like the ESS 9018 Sabre32 could help somewhat and depending how its setup, but if you are going to spend that kind of money then you should start looking at Sennheiser HD 800, Denon 800's, HiFi man HE6 or a STAX system.

My headphone system sounds in every way (except the house doesn't shake) like a high end speaker system, but at about 7% of the cost of a very high end speaker system.

ss

 

[sillysally]

Please can you tell me the specs of your setup?, I have a good speaker setup with a really good bass that I cant use right now because I moved to a new house.... so, I want a good headphone set to match my speaker setup, but please, I hate the "inside your head sound effect" that most headphones have, I want a natural soundspace ilusion.

Thank you very much.

Oppo 103 HDMI port 2 out to realiser>Realiser A8, copied AIX sound studio's 5.1, 7.1 and 7.1 THX ($250,000) speaker system in there studio 1 using there sound engineer>W4S DAC, balanced R&L out>STAX SR727 Amp output balanced>SR 009 balanced headphones.

The key is the Realiser A8. Where you copy the speaker system because of room acoustics , what speakers you use along with speaker placement, amp, equalizer, etc.

The Realiser A8 has its own built in DAC so you don't need a DAC, all you really need is a AMP and a good set of headphones.

You can use any speaker sound system and room to copy, but the better the speaker system and room acoustics the better the sound you will hear coming from your headphones.

The Realiser A8 was developed for sound engineer's, that need to hear what different room acoustics, speaker systems and placement sound like when mastering audio.

ss

 

[sillysally]

Buttkicker or the like is something that you don't really need, and don't forget you have to have a solid floor for it to work effectively.

I have a pair of HD800's, they are a very good choice.

The only problem with a speaker amp is they are made for speakers, they are not liner as headphones are.
Non the less the Realiser may be able to over come speaker amp's short comings. One of the realiser's features is it copy's the sound coming from the headphone via small mic's you put in your ears, and then does its magic.

Yes you can, but it will only sound 100% correct with whoever had the mic's in there ears when they copied the sound system and room acoustics.

Here is a thread you may want to look at.
http://www.avsforum.com/forum/90-re...-finally-available-purchase.html#post16205338

ss

 

[donkimizer]

Are there any settings that I can use to improve the sound quality on movies and games? I am playing the audio through a PC without amplification, music sounds great but gunshots and other noises and movies are flat. Would a 5.1 headphone be a better experience for movies?

Some additional questions are:

Is there anything I can do for clamping force, I wear glasses and it becomes uncomfortable after 3 hours?

Will amplification aide sound quality if I listen to music quietly?

Thanks in advance,

Downscaling 5.1/7.1 sound to stereo will almost never ever result in surround experience you will get with real surround.
Amplification is used to amplify the signal, HD650 have 250Ohm impedance IIRC so you might like some nice amplification to reach reference level...if you prefer to listen loud. Standard computer sound cards can 32 Ohms reasonably but I find them unsatisfactory for HD650.
There are two things I can suggest regarding flatness of movie effects:
- you can try some Virtual Surround gimmicks...those might color the sound to give you a better illusion of surround
- you can try some other headphones with wider soundstage and boomier bass response (if you prefer more BOOM in the movies)
5.1 headphones I never tried nor i will. Those seem kinda scammy based on my half-objective opinion

Clamping force...you probably have them for 3 days, it will weaken, but feel free to stretch them with hands a bit, or give them to someone with big head to wear them for a while.

 

[donkimizer]

The key is the Realiser A8. Where you copy the speaker system because of room acoustics , what speakers you use along with speaker placement, amp, equalizer, etc.

Damn, I want one of these now. Even though like you said, even without something like that...most high end headphones will sound like 20x more expensive room setup.

 

[sillysally]

Damn, I want one of these now. Even though like you said, even without something like that...most high end headphones will sound like 20x more expensive room setup.

Remember the Reailser is only as good as the sound system and room acoustics you copy in person.

I used as many Realiser owners use, AIX sound studio in LA.
Lorr Kramer of Smyth set it all up for me and can get a very special deal to use AIX's sound studio.

ss

 

[sladi75]

Are there any settings that I can use to improve the sound quality on movies and games? I am playing the audio through a PC without amplification, music sounds great but gunshots and other noises and movies are flat. Would a 5.1 headphone be a better experience for movies?

...

Will amplification aide sound quality if I listen to music quietly?

Now your LFE channel gets very probably discarded and there is no crossfeed in headphone signal path.
Good starting points would be proper channel routing (LFE channel onboard) capable device (=AVR) as multichannel downmixer + good clean headphone amplifier with feature called crossfeed.

Discreet headphone amplifiers virtues are quite solely impedance matching and specific "processing" can listening requires i.e. that crossfeed.
Some kind of crossfeed is mandatory in headphone listening. Its simulates human listeners natural hearing, i.e. prevents can listening anomalities, like bass output to other ear only. Downmixed multichannel video soundtracks especially require strong crossfeed.

Impedance matching means low output impedance. Low output impedance means output impedance below 1 ohm, as all power amps (headphone driving stage is mini-sized power amp). PC soundcards output impedances can be eye watering figures; tens or even hundreds of ohms. Means severe coloration to headphone feeding voltage. Driving headphones with non-power-amplifier -kind output impedances is very common mistake even among so called "audiophiles".

 

[donkimizer]

Impedance matching means low output impedance. Low output impedance means output impedance below 1 ohm, as all power amps (headphone driving stage is mini-sized power amp). PC soundcards output impedances can be eye watering figures; tens or even hundreds of ohms. Means severe coloration to headphone feeding voltage. Driving headphones with non-power-amplifier -kind output impedances is very common mistake even among so called "audiophiles".

Below 1 ohm? From what I understand, amplifiers impedance must be equal or lower then speakers impedance, lower usually being better. For example, if I have 8 ohm speaker I could drive it with 8, 4, 2 Ohm amp, etc.
Most headphones usually have 32 Ohm impedance, above mentioned HD650 have 250Ohm iirc. I am no electronics expert, but that

 

[sladi75]

Below 1 ohm? From what I understand, amplifiers impedance must be equal or lower then speakers impedance, lower usually being better. For example, if I have 8 ohm speaker I could drive it with 8, 4, 2 Ohm amp, etc.
Most headphones usually have 32 Ohm impedance, above mentioned HD650 have 250Ohm iirc. I am no electronics expert, but that

 

[Achilles2205]

Are there any settings that I can use to improve the sound quality on movies and games? I am playing the audio through a PC without amplification, music sounds great but gunshots and other noises and movies are flat. Would a 5.1 headphone be a better experience for movies?

Thanks in advance,

I just saw your question, thought of sharing some ideas even if it's too late. Have you tried Pioneer SE-DIR800C for 5.1 headphone? I own it and it kind of gives you a bit of surround sound. The one thing I found missing in SE-DIR800C is the bass. Unfortunately, the bass in 800C does not sound like Denon ahd2000. 800C is wireless as well but i am not sure they are in stock anymore. Again, as Sillysally mentioned 5.1 headphones are mostly gimmicks.

I too own HD650 but it's good for music. It's a warm sounding headphone and sound is laid back.

Realizer A8 is a fantastic product but it's too expensive and I cannot afford it. I sometimes use surround sound processors like iogear DTS 5.1 or Turtle beach earforce dss 7.1 with good bass sounding headphones like denon ahd2000 to watch movies. It satisfies my movie watching experience to certain extent. However, Realizer A8 should be the ultimate choice and I can only dream of buying that .