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
Buying a dac or amp/dac combo maybe useful to make the music sound cleaner. But it usually depends on the source of your music. When I play my music through my iPod Touch 2G or though my PC (gigabyte motherboard) though the 3.5mm headphone jack. I can NOT hear any difference between using a dac or without a dac. (Maybe its my ears are not that sensitive) But if I play my music through my acer laptop though the 3.5mm jack, there is huge improvement in clarity when using a dac.
So basically it really depends on your source. After all spending about $200 on a entry level amp/dac is reasonable. FiiO / Schiit products are quite nice for entry level and you may not need to further upgrade your equipment if you are not a lunatic into high end expensive over a thousand dollar equipment.
Onboard device would and will never push these headphones to its full potential, its like buying a brand new Ferrari with 13 inch rims and offroad tyres. If you would compare sound of onboard audio device vs dedicated DAC like Schiit, the sound of onboard will have little to non existent soundstage, separation of instruments etc. Its hard to describe it, you need to hear it for yourself. I have Beyerdynamic DT880, and i am without DAC for some time at the moment, just the onboard DAC on my Dell M4800. Dont need to say that the sound i hear now is awful compared to what i am used to.
On your question of sound quality. If you want sound Quality, you need both (DAC + AMP). DAC is the essential and basic device for HiFi sound. DAC "produces" the sound signal (Digital - Analogue Converter, hence the DAC). If you will send sharp, balanced and overall "high quality" signal to the AMP, it will only make everything better sounding. If the sound signal is bad, then the AMP wont do a thing - Bass, mids and treble will be all better and more aggresive, but overall sound wont be better (guess what - you just amplificated something that is not good itself, so it simply wont be better even if you will amplificate it 5 times).
This review on head-fi talked about the sound when paring with an iPhone 6 and other dac/ amp. http://www.head-fi.org/t/788776/fostex-x-massdrop-th-x00-review
I've since done some research, and come to the conclusion that I was wrong. Impedance is a key factor, but it is ignorant to completely ignore the other factors. I have determined an amps' ability to "drive" headphones comes down to these main factors:
-dampening ratio (amp Ohm / headphone Ohm) -amps' supplied current -headphones sensitivity to that current (sound pressure / millawatt) -impedance curve match-up (amp curve / headphone curve)
Acceptable listening volume is not the same as being properly driven. I'm not ashamed to admit when I'm wrong but I think the main thing was I misunderstood what properly "driving" a headphone meant, and that it's possible to listen to a headphone that's LOUD but not "driven".
At this point in time, I am quite satisfied with my entry level dac and amp. Hope my listening experience can help others who just started their career in the audiophile world.