Best sub 200 dollar musical production headphones for EDM?

[Kolzach]

I'm a musician that needs a new pair of headphones so I can hear what sounds I'm really making.
I was planning on getting the Sony MDR-V6's, MDR-7506's or maybe even a pair of AKG K 240's as their pretty cheap right now.

I don't know a lot about headphones, but I know for musical production they need to be as accurate as possible, let me know what sub 200 dollar headphones you guys think would be good for EDM production.

 

[Kolzach]

So apparently my MSI Z97 Gaming 5 mobo has some sort of amp built inside of it, which might explain me not needing an amp? https/gaming.msi.com/article/audio-boost-2-theory-and-practice

 

[Kolzach]

no. the eq would be in your sound software (your motherboard sound drivers). there are a few "3rd party" solutions for windows eq but i'm not sure if they work, if they are safe and all the details on them.

o2/odac is good, the magni/modi stack is also great. not sure about xduoo as i've never heard of them. for on the cheap the fiio e10k is a good choice

I've heard that the Shiit stack isn't as accurate as the O2 combo though, not sure if that's true.

 

[ssddx]

from what i've heard, the schiit stack is incredibly transparent. the magni is also a stronger amplifier than the o2 if i recall correctly. both are nice setups though depending on what you're looking for. perhaps some of the guys over at headfi have had the chance to compare the two together.

all onboard audio (and soundcards) already have amps. its not a question of if it does.. but how powerful it is. some of the better onboard has a stronger amp meant for headphone use which is why many hifi headphones will work - though this does not mean they will power them as well as dedicated equipment - it really depends on the can.

 

[shotgunz]

Uh oh. We've already gotten you thinking about amps and dacs. Well designed amps working within thier power limits don't sound very different. I personally would get the stack or JDS Labs Element. Both will power almost all headphones to levels that will hurt your ears so just pick the one with features more important to you. The Element is more compact and has a big, smooth, satisfying knob ontop.

Just enjoy your new headphones for now and save your wallet.

Also, if you're looking for a system wide EQ, equalizer APO with the peace GUI may work out for you.

 

[Kolzach]

Uh oh. We've already gotten you thinking about amps and dacs. Well designed amps working within thier power limits don't sound very different. I personally would get the stack or JDS Labs Element. Both will power almost all headphones to levels that will hurt your ears so just pick the one with features more important to you. The Element is more compact and has a big, smooth, satisfying knob ontop.

Just enjoy your new headphones for now and save your wallet.

Also, if you're looking for a system wide EQ, equalizer APO with the peace GUI may work out for you.

I'm not planning on buying anything else right now, I might buy something next month when I have the money.
Thanks I'll download the EQ and try it out.

 

[gondo]

Yes that board has the a headset amplifier. And a nice one at that....for a motherboard. Only thing missing is the extreme DAC the higher model MSI's have. Read up in the manual to know which connector to use and how to set the switch on the motherboard.

That motherboard also delivers a true 5V USB signal so any external DAC you use will work properly. With studios, they often add PCI USB cards to improve the USB signals for their DACS because they have thousands of dollars worth of audio equipment with shit computers . You won't have that problem.

Your motherboard also use Creative Cinema software to control the audio. Set it for headphones, and pick your options. You can get the virtual surround sound from headphones which isn't bad. For the EQ you can use the one in your motherboard audio software to affect everything, or the EQ built into your music player to affect only your music. The latter is usually preferred so your movies and gaming doesn't use the same EQ as your music.

Winamp, VLC, Media Monkey, etc... any music player you use will have a built in EQ. I'm a Media Monkey fan myself. Sometimes the audio software has a nice EQ that you enjoy so you can just use that...I use to use some settings from Creative that I liked and used it across the board.

Since you have half decent sound as it is, an external DAC will not be a super vast improvement. It won't be night and day. It's not like going from a cheap motherboard to a high end DAC. That being said check out Emotiva DACs. They are generally regarded as being the best in their price range. Check the reviews and they agree with me. They make 2 smaller ones for desktop computer use, and they have a larger one suited for a home theatre with dual headphone amps and balanced outputs for speakers. Check them out and they are what I would recommend unless you want to go swimming in $600+ territory. But in the meantime enjoy your motherboard audio and you may not even want to waste money with a DAC since you already have something on board. Enjoy the headphones mate!!!!

 

[Kolzach]

Yes that board has the a headset amplifier. And a nice one at that....for a motherboard. Only thing missing is the extreme DAC the higher model MSI's have. Read up in the manual to know which connector to use and how to set the switch on the motherboard.

That motherboard also delivers a true 5V USB signal so any external DAC you use will work properly. With studios, they often add PCI USB cards to improve the USB signals for their DACS because they have thousands of dollars worth of audio equipment with shit computers . You won't have that problem.

Your motherboard also use Creative Cinema software to control the audio. Set it for headphones, and pick your options. You can get the virtual surround sound from headphones which isn't bad. For the EQ you can use the one in your motherboard audio software to affect everything, or the EQ built into your music player to affect only your music. The latter is usually preferred so your movies and gaming doesn't use the same EQ as your music.

Winamp, VLC, Media Monkey, etc... any music player you use will have a built in EQ. I'm a Media Monkey fan myself. Sometimes the audio software has a nice EQ that you enjoy so you can just use that...I use to use some settings from Creative that I liked and used it across the board.

Since you have half decent sound as it is, an external DAC will not be a super vast improvement. It won't be night and day. It's not like going from a cheap motherboard to a high end DAC. That being said check out Emotiva DACs. They are generally regarded as being the best in their price range. Check the reviews and they agree with me. They make 2 smaller ones for desktop computer use, and they have a larger one suited for a home theatre with dual headphone amps and balanced outputs for speakers. Check them out and they are what I would recommend unless you want to go swimming in $600+ territory. But in the meantime enjoy your motherboard audio and you may not even want to waste money with a DAC since you already have something on board. Enjoy the headphones mate!!!!

Thanks for all the info man, I don't think I'll be getting an AMP anytime soon, this mobo is pretty juicy.

Are any DAC's different from one another? I know that a 30 dollar UAC222 probably doesn't sound as good as a 99 dollar Modi 2 or something like that. But do any DAC's have frequency bumps? I only want accurate audio and I don't know which DAC's are flat and good quality.

 

[shotgunz]

Upgrading your DAC gives you a small amount of improvement. It's what changes digital information into an electrical signal. The main thing you will notice between onboard and discrete DACs is there is less static in the background and the highs/lows may extend a little farther.