Hey everyone i am looking to upgrade my whole system to get ready for the ps5 and for PC gaming. I mostly game on the PC, but i will be getting the PS5 for the exclusives and some games i prefer to play on the couch.
Let start with the headphones:
I am Looking for a planar, but opened to anything. I mostly play immersive games for example rpg, single player games, mmo. I currently own the dt 990’s 250 ohms and debating if i should go in another direction to try something different. I was debating on getting these headphones Audeze LCD-1 , Audeze Mobius, Hifiman Sundara, Hifiman he-400i 2020, sennheiser hd 560s. I hear they are all highly praised except for a few which might have QC issues.
What would be your opinion on the headsets I mentioned? I am open to any other suggestion also
Do you think its worth upgrading from the DT 990’s or am i just wasting money
For Amp / Dac:
I was debating on at getting either a Schiit stack (hersey + modi 3) , but the cost is kinda high with shipping and duties to Canada. I was also looking at the Topping E30 + Liquid Spark or the Topping L30 and the Topping E30.
Any combo better then the other? I am also open to any other suggestion
Would it be better to possibly wait since the PS5 doesn’t have any optical port and no adaptors from hdmi currently support 2.1. I am assuming something new will be coming out
I mean, this depends. Are you really happy with the sound of the DT 990s? They are a sharp V signature so it would depend completely around what you like and don’t like. Would make it a lot easier to recommend a headphone if we knew what kind of sound preferences you had in this regard. More so considering the headphones you list after this that are all of different signatures.
skip, trash
Bright planar, be wary of quality control issues with the company. a bit harder to drive than one would expect. Very gorgeous sounding headphone but is relatively bass lite. Responds well to equalization and amps with extra bass buttons such as the IFI setups. Not the best for Casual gaming however, imo unless you can appreciate bright headphones(990 is a bright headphone but its still V shape… this is still bright but without all the added bass). Large soundstage with a lot of depth and not as aggressive as your 990. planar bass slam and speed
another bright planar similar to the sundara. If you have the budget for the Sundara, skip this as the Sundara wins over this for sound qualities in spades.
Absolute extreme neutrality. May appear very boring if you prefer a more exciting or fun sound to your games. Compared to the 990 has much less soundstage and not as good imaging(sound placement). Build quality takes a hit as its plastic but still works fine(beyers are built like tanks so this really isn’t a negative). Sennheisers are good at vocality, but not the best for gaming if you have particular preferences due to the natural neutral approach. However, this headphone is still acceptable, this or the 58x jubilee are quite nice depending on ones preference.
not a big fan of this one in all honestly, more full bass than a sundara, still somewhat bright. Audeze are quite a bit on the hefty side too so its rather questionable if you will like the brand. I would honestly take the Sundara over this particular headphone any day of the week for a planar.
we really don’t know much information on how good the audio chip is for the ps5 or how to properly go about using a set of headphones on this unit to my knowledge outside of potentially an optical adapter for the unit. I would suggest waiting this out till more information is obtained.
quite subjective and really depends. 990s are quite the special headphone and a step up would be more costly than what you have listed as of current. If you really like the 990s already, stick with them. However, it doesn’t hurt to try other headphones to see what you like a bit more.
go with the spark if at all possible as it helps with brighter headphones by rolling off the treble and adding a bit of warmth to the lows. heresy + modi does look good but it has a slight brightness edge to it that can teeter an already bright headphone to slightly uncomfortable / fatiguing brightness. L30 + E30 is a nice combo and very neutral… but it’s more expensive generally due to more power and slightly better than the usual $100 amps and dacs that cater more towards neutral like that
in that price point? All you are missing there is enog 2 pro stack and the jds atom stack which are quite nice as well
There is nothing i don’t like with the dt 990’s was just curious on trying something different. I think the biggest issue might be the syba sonic amp\dac.
I am very new to headphone always used some crappy gaming one so not sure what sound preference i prefer. I know i don’t care about hearing footsteps.
What dac would you go with the spark? I am looking at amazon Canada to make life easier
It seems the L30+E30 comes up to the same price as the spark amp and E30
oh… that’s what your using? lol yeah, that’s definitely an issue. Highly recommend you upgrade that first and foremost before looking into alternatives there.
going to be a bit of a journey for you then. Suggest you try to figure out a way to find your more preferred sounds in music and gaming so you know what to look for a bit more… quite a rabbit hole so not knowing your own preferences is a big issue. Though, make sure you get the proper entry amp and dac($200 maximum less going l30 stack or enog stack which are slightly more expensive).
L30, to my knowledge is actually stronger than the spark. However l30 is quite neutral meanwhile spark over there rolls off the treble and adds warmth(bass and deep tones) to the lows and lower mids. l30 will be cleaner than the spark. Can’t go wrong with either honestly, but depends on use case. For the 990 I prefer spark and amps like it due to the rolled treble dealing with pesky potential sibilance issues. Other than that, if on pc download peace apo its a free equalizer program that will let you tinker with your headphones sound… just be sure to make use of the preamp setting at the top to keep the sound balanced out as the more you equalize the more preamp is needed(be careful of doing this with lower ohm headphones though… too much amp power can blow up a headphone granted with an L30 or spark you can power 600 ohm headphones)
as for dac with the spark? E30 works fine… if you want a tad bit cheaper with slightly less performance on the dac… D10 works fine still topping. Monoprice released the spark dac as well if you prefer that