Hi! I’m looking for someone that owns the Cloud Flights, and could compare them to the Audio-Technica M40x’s or Yamaha MT5’s, in both the sound signature, and build quality.
I’m currently using the MT5’s with sheepskin oval angled Brainwavz pads, and would like to use them with the Cloud Flights
I would take the m40x any day over the flight… it’s nice but not that good in my opinion. It’s relatively a W signature until swapping out the pads but it remains rather boomy with a lot of rumble and sub bass, clean vocals, and obviously increased highs. I wouldn’t call it by any means a higher quality sound though and the build quality is pretty poor as it’s just cheap thin plastic without all that much padding on it and hotspot on the top center of the head. It also has quality issues where the thing just will stop being able to be charged after some time and is one of the reasons I just got rid of mine as I have gone through two of them.
M40x over there is a subtle V signature out the gate with some slight recession to the mids post pad swap it can change it’s sound quite nicely. It becomes more of a Warmer signature when you put a sheepskin sort of pad on it. Quite nice, Plastics a bit thicker than the flights, properly portable, better quality sound, doesn’t look gamey
Oh i don’t expect a sound ugprade, just wanted to know if it’s similar enough and/or worth it for the freedom of not having a cable, also they’ll live on my desk, not planning on taking them out, so aesthetics are not important.
Also, can you elaborate the charging problem? Was that the reason you went through two of them?
Not quite sure what causes it. The first one outright died and wouldn’t even power on being plugged in directly the other just stopped being able to be charged. Seems to be a common issue as theres others reported to have this problem by a good degree.
I would sooner say buy something else outside the flights. They have a pretty uncommon signature. Hell you can go grab the shp9500 or x2hr and purchase a 3.5mm bluetooth dongle and make them wireless if you wanted to. If I remember right zeos actually had a review, I think it was on the 9500S vs the 9500, where he showed you can use a bluetooth dongle on them.
Wireless in general you stand to lose quite a bit of quality of sound but there are some exceptions. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t call the flights an exception.
I actually have a pair of X2HR’s laying on my desk right now, was kind of disappointed with how they sounded, but i digress.
I also considered the bluetooth addon path, but with bluetooth comes delay, and i like to play some competetive, fast-paced games, so that’s a no go.
Do you have any other dongle - wireless headphones in mind that could be a better option in this case?
I like the way they sound but in some cases without an amp improper power completely destroys them and their sound quality. Though even then the bass is muddy and too loose with a lot of rumble great for a casual gamer… pretty bad for competitives honestly.
Ah, okay yeah that makes sense then. Well even then though the issue with even gaming headsets is the latency. Audeze Mobius had huge issues with this.
Depends, what kind of budget are we talking here and amp or no amp? Hard to recommend any headphone as you stand to gain benefits from owning an amp to begin with… but also a lot of headphones require more power. Low latency headphones aren’t particularly a commodity…
I wonder how much can a dac / amp alter a sound signature of such a low impedance headphone, from reviews, the X2HR’s were reeeeeealy hyped up, and in the end plugging them into a motherboard or an audio interface gave me a ‘meh’ experience.
When it comes to deciding on buying new headphones, the only thing i was looking for now was something wireless for use at home, i have a pair of Yamaha MT5’s with nice pads, i love that headphone very much, and wanted to get something that would provide a similar’ish experience in an open-back form. So i got the X2HR’s, the rest of the story is known.
Before i considered jumping on the ‘wireless’ train, i wanted to buy the FX Audio DAC-X6, heard some good things about it, and for such a low price considering the competitors, i added it to my “to buy” list.
Well, to begin with amps and dacs actually sound different they can offer different results with headphones. Motherboards just aren’t good for sound quality let alone provided any sort of power less you have one of the motherboards with a built in amplifier but even then it’s not worth much. Hell, my own pc is beefy but has issues running the x2hr as well as many others. Just because they are low in ohms doesn’t mean they aren’t demanding in power it also goes by the db sensitivity for power. If your x2hr isn’t properly powered it can cause a world of issues from compression, distortion, being too quiet, lacking bass, hollowed out, veiled, among other problems.
The yamahas, if I remember right it’s been a while since I had those, are a very subtle V shaped signature the bass is increased as is treble but not by a lot… X2HR on the other hand is a warm headphone with quite a lot of bass and rumble to it alongside a large soundstage. Subtle V shaped signatures aren’t all too common to my knowledge to begin with. The one I just tried recently was the Shp9600 but pad swapping is a no go until some adapters are made for that one like the 9500.
Well, depending on the price bracket you go to with those will definitely dictate how much power your going to get… X6 is not particularly bad but it’s definitely by no means very powerful. It can drive up to 250 ohms maximum any higher or trying those headphones that are more picky and it’s not going to be up to the job. Though, definitely keep in mind this hobby or just having a setup can be fairly pricey on the entry point.
Edit: looked back up the yamaha. This may help a bit…
That’s the graph of the yamahas sound frequency. Below I will post the M40x
as you can see they are quite similar to each other
That there is the hyperx flight. The S variation has the treble falling on the dotted line (which is what you would refer to as your neutrality frequency)
I’m hesitant to buying a Dac / Amp because i’m afraid it’s not going to magically make me love the headphone, the most unfortunate part is, i don’t know anyone with one, so i can’t possibly test how the headphone sounds with proper power.
The Yamaha’s i’m talking about have thick leather pads, so in practice they have more bass and soundstage v. stock pads. But the thing is, i like them no matter the source, phone, my pc or an audio interface that i use with my condenser mic.
If your headphone lacks in power you would definitely notice out the gate the moment you used the amp/dac even then the sound will change and appear rather cleaner considering the change in dacs. Most gamers just stick to gaming headsets… It’s convenient after all… you dont need to worry about amp/dacs or sound signatures… you just buy whatever looks good to you and is comfortable… Wouldn’t hurt to make use of a return policy or see if you have an audio store nearby for that to check out an amp/dac for yourself. I used amazon my first time testing my equipment since they have a good return policy…
Makes sense but I don’t think you particularly stand to gain a whole lot switching to the flight. It’s a very different sounding headphone. It’s worth a shot if you have a return policy though.
I consider myself a gamer first, then a movie watcher and music listener second. I disagree with that statement, at least speaking for myself, i care for good audio and hardware in general and strive to own and use something that will satisfy my needs.
When it comes to the cheaper end of dac / amps, they all come from china one way or another, ordering from for example, aliexpress would be a nightmare to send something back
Amazon seems like an easier option, but still don’t know if i want to take that route, at least for now.
Going back to wireless headphones, do any come in mind? Not talking about adapters for existing ones, just built from the ground up (dongle standard) wireless cans?
I did say most. The issue with good audio is that it comes at a cost and gaming headsets definitely aren’t good for really anything outside of convenience and maybe group call meetings.
hmm, I wouldn’t say all of them… quite a misconception on that one. Depends on what you consider to be cheaper… for me the $100 margins are the cheaper units as under that I don’t find them really worth buying in general. Something like Schiit Fulla over there which is $100 is made in the USA, Soundblaster g6 and x3 are made in Singapore. Ifi Audio is based in the UK but imports parts from germany, japan, and usa. Aliexpress doesn’t particularly allow many returns to my knowledge really up to the seller. There are other sellers that have good returns though like Apos Audio and Adorama.
Most of the ones I would suggest wouldn’t really be headphones as most of them aren’t particularly low latency. Least not in the budget friendly region. Hyperx Flight, Coolermaster MH670, Sennheiser GSP 670, Astro A50, Steel Series Arctis Wireless, and Audeze’s newest addition the Penrose are essentially what I would consider the best bet for wireless headsets…
Sennheiser R-185 RF, THX PANDA all that really come to mind for respectable wireless sound.
Wireless and good sound quality don’t particularly go hand in hand. add that on to needing low latency and you get some issues.
Honestly, I don’t think cutting the cord is really worth such restrictions if you ask me.
Yeah i’m going to need to reconsider some things, thanks for your time though.