Sennheiser PC37X randomly goes bad after disconnecting the cable ?
Greetings, Yesterday I was using my headset like normal with my macbook, just listening to music and on a call with people like usual, and the headset was perfectly fine. The stock wire that came with the headset is extremely long and yesterday it annoyed me very much that it kept getting tangled with itself, so I decided to see if the cable is replaceable. I pulled out the cable from the headset and saw the adapter, and looked online for a replacement. Upon plugging it back in, the audio sounded extremely muffled and washed out. Im not sure what I did wrong to make it mess up like that as I've always taken good care of it, ive had it for about 2 years and its always just been chilling on my desk, but anywho I thought the cable just went bad and ordered a replacement. The replacement came, and the issue is still persistant, so I am not sure what the issue is I've tried multiple different headsets and the issue is not with the port, and I also tried it with my windows laptop and...
Apr 23, 2024
Apart from that, for competitive FPS/action gaming (like CS, PUBG and R6) the K7XX should be better, since they have better soundstage and imaging than the HD58X. The 58X are not bad, maybe for gaming they won't have that huge soundstage you'd like to have. Maybe you should try the super-cheap Superlux HD668b, you can find them for under $30 and they have great soundstage & imaging. I have the 668b and also the HD6XX, and I can tell you the Superlux are way easier to drive and might be even better just for gaming (they're somewhat analytical, you'll be able to hear and locate every footstep or shot easily). For the rest, the HD6XX are way better in every single aspect, but they cost almost 10 times more and are harder to drive.
Here's why: 1) This will help give you a baseline figure for wattage available from the amp later in the analysis 2) A 300 ohm headphone can have peak at over 1000 ohms at certain frequencies (typically in the bass arena), if the amp doesnt produce enough juice at 1000 ohms you will notice a lack of impact in that region 3) This determines how loud your headphone will get from the supplied wattage/voltage 4) Large amounts of current are needed by low impedance, low sensitivity headphones (planars, AKG) 5) Large voltage swings are needed by high impedance headphones (Sennheiser, 600 Beyers) 6) If you listen loud you will need a beefier amp, if you listen at low levels this is less of a concern. Also take into account your musical genres. Pop, EDM, Modern Rock, Rap will typically have very compressed dynamic ranges (difference between soft an loud sounds) so amplifier headroom is less of a concern. Classical, Jazz, Acoustic, Opera and some Rock groups will have a much wider range and require more headroom.
A General note on amplifier designs (exceptions exist!) OTL Tube - typically have some of the best voltage capability compare to others, lacking in current SS - typically have great current delivery, voltage can be a toss up depending on design Transformer Coupled Tube - also runs the gammut but certain designs can have a ton of current AND voltage swing.
My personal mantra on amps: Assuming all else equal, I like to have power to spare. The reason behind this is headroom, highly dynamic source material can draw absurd amounts of power from your amplifier. You might cruise along at 20 mw for most of the listening but an explosion or massive bass tone could spike that 10x, 50x, 100x. If your amp can't deliver the necessary wattage that note will lack the impact of the original recording or reach highly noticeable levels of distortion. Worst case scenario you do significant damage to your drivers. I also value a very low output impedance as my headphones range from 12 ohm sensitive IEMs to double magnet planars with a peak current handling of 5W. I also feel a well designed amp will not aim for coloration but minimizing distortion and crosstalk. If I want coloration I will roll some tubes or buy a colored/"fun" headphone. On the speaker side, I am a big fan of monoblock designs as they have greatly enhanced my low level listening. It also doesn't hurt that they have 400W in reserve for times that I "unleash the beast".
Also, having 400 Watts to spare to power headphones seems slightly excessive.
And just to point it out, I don't even own an OTL amp, I'm not trying to defend my choices or acting like a 15yo fanboy. I own some high impedance cans (HD6XX), and I can tell there's a HUGE difference when driving them from a very-low-power source like a smartphone (S7), a low-power SS DAC/amp combo (Hifime Sabre 9018), and a mid-power SS/tube hybrid amp (LD I+). I would say the biggest difference was when I turned up the switch gain on the LD, the HD6XX gained a lot of bass presence and soundstage, even at similar volumes. I know it sounds crazy, but it's 100% legit: a more powerful amp won't just give you more volume, it can improve the sound of your headphones A LOT.