Hello, I am looking for some help picking out the right combination of components to fit my needs. First I will detail my use case, then my current setup and then I will give what I would like to improve.
Use case:
I work from home taking calls on my computer from customers, work requires a quiet environment with clear voice quality and audio should connect to computer through USB. On the same computer I also game casually, watch movies and listen to music (all types of music classical to metal country to rap and everything between).
Current setup:
Sennheiser gsx 1000 (takes care of the USB connection requirement)
Sennheiser gsp 600
What I am looking for:
Current setup is ok but lacking in the low end a bit, bass feels a little lacking and the mic quality suffers from the headset mic issue of sounding thin and tinny. thus far I havent really considered open back out of fear that it will cause issues with mic audio picking up the headphone audio but if that issue can be resolved I am fine with it. I have a budget of around 400-500 to get the best setup that I can that will fit all my use cases and am willing to use any combination of components as long as they fit the use case and budget.
I am open to headphone and desktop mic setup though the mic would need to go on an arm unless its shorter than 6-7 inches as my monitors only have that much clearance under them and my keyboard is on a slide out keyboard tray. The main thing is minimal background noise from the mic with nice clear sound.
Gotcha, well if you think you could accommodate a mic arm, here is a setup I would get
I would grab a behringer um2 interface, and then grab an amp like the magni heresy and connect it up to the um2, using it as a dac. For a mic I would go for a dynamic like the Shure sm48 lc, as it will be more of a broadcast sound and have better noise rejection than a condenser mic. It won’t block everything, so I would make sure to address noises in your room like if you have any unnecessary background noises or have a loud keyboard or something, I would take care of those
For headphones, in this range you should have many options, I think you would want to go for something closed and isolating so you can prevent noise leak into the mic, and also do nice live monitoring
Imo I think the beyerdynamic dt177x go or dt 770 250 ohm would be pretty nice picks in this budget. I also like the akg k371 for this use case as well
Forgive my lack of knowledge but the gsx 1000 is the first dac or amp I have ever owned, prior to that it was just onboard audio. So in hooking up the interface and amp as you suggested I would run from the computer to the interface then to the amp to the headphones?
So you hook the um2 up to the computer via USB, the um2 rca out to the magni heresy, and headphones into the heresy. The mic would also be connected to the um2. I guess in your budget you also have the ability to upgrade to a better interface if you want, and simplify things depending on what headphones you go with
Well actually, you could just go with the audient id4 as that has a pretty decent headphone out (for the headphones mentioned) and have an all in one if that’s more appealing to you
So personally, the schiit hel is meh for the price imo, mainly because you can get a similar setup that will outperform it for the same price, grabbing a focusrite scarlett solo will give you a better dac and also a fair bit better mic preamp and adc, and then a schiit heresy will give you a more refined amp than whats in the hel
The aeon flow open is alright, but personally it’s somewhat flawed in terms of sound (comfort is great though), it suffers from some dynamic range compression and also unusual presentation that can make it sound off.
Eh, it’s meh at best, but I would more warn you about the condenser mic as it will pick up everything in the room, and will let everything come through, so I would recommend you have a treated room first before you get a condenser mic
The more I look into it the more I feel like the desktop or arm mic might be more of a hassle than I need. I mean I want decent audio quality from the mic but at the end of the day I am not recording songs and such, just chatting with friends over discord and taking customer calls over a vpn connection.
What do you think of this configuration?
DT 770 Pro 250 Ohm
FX Audio Dac-X6
Antlion modmic USB
Will the FX have enough to drive the DT770’s? I know in the specs it says its for up to 600 Ohm headphones but I have a feeling that is not always the whole story. Will the modmic be better quality than a normal headset mic?
It will, but personally I would instead recommend the magni heresy and just running your pc line out as a dac (you will end up with a better amp and can get a better dac later on)
Typically yes, but it won’t match a good desktop mic solution
Problem with the Magni is work requires USB audio connection which means I would have to get an extra piece to go between it and the computer which is an extra point of failure and complexity. I do realize that a desktop mic would be a better option for quality but its a matter of space and having it close enough to not pick up too much keyboard ect while not taking up any field of view of keyboard or any of my 3 monitors of which i use 100% of the screen area for work tools while working.