Hey Audiophiles! Part Deaux

Ok I received my Sennheiser HD-280 Pros today. I'm very very pleased with them but....

I want to purchase a highly portable equalizer or equalizer/amp combo to run between the 'phones and the laptop. It has to be small in keeping with the idea of portability. After all, that's why I bought the laptop in the first place. It doesn't have to be a real complex EQ - ie 3 channel control is enough for me.

I looked at supercheap, namely the Koss ED50 or something, and it had terrible reviews. So that one's definitely out. I'm really not looking to spend more than I paid for the headphones - so let's say $80 MAX. No stretching the budget like I did with the headphones. I just can't do that. I'd rather have no EQ at all than go overboard. I like the sound as they are, but if I can really make them wow me for a reasonable extra cost, why not!

So does anyone have any ideas? Remember - $80 max budget and highly portable.

well, i have some type of wild in-box sound card with 5.1 digital surround capabilities and was horrified the first time i hooked up my senn hd545's to it to listen to music. a friend recommended i get an external sound card, so i got a soundblaster live external usb and plugged the headphones in it. HUGE HUGE difference. enough that i can discern the difference between an MP3 file encoded at 384kb vs a full on wave file.

getting the sound card away from the computer internals and all the noise interference like CPUs blew me away. i didn't go overboard either with the usb external sound card either, as i recall it was about $99 a couple years ago.

Just want an EQ, thanks.

is there anything wrong with the software EQ's for the PC?

Zepher wrote in post #2333168
is there anything wrong with the software EQ's for the PC?

My sound card doesn't have any controls available to it. I checked on the downloadable type but didn't really know what would be a good choice.

Hello,

This little $29 device might do the trick (has 10-band eq and digital audio out as well):

http://www.turtle-beach.com/site/product​s/audioadv/micro/

If you decide to try it, let me know how you like it. I would ike to pick up something like this as well.

dmp-potn wrote in post #2333326
Hello,

This little $29 device might do the trick (has 10-band eq and digital audio out as well):

http://www.turtle-beach.com/site/product​s/audioadv/micro/

If you decide to try it, let me know how you like it. I would ike to pick up something like this as well.

Interesting. I'm not a fan of thumb drives since I tend to lose things, but I've bookmarked it.

Hello,

Perhaps look at this one as well:

http://www.turtle-beach.com …dv/roadie/produ​cthome.asp

Good luck!

Hello again....

Of course, if cost was of little concern, this would be the thing to get:

http://www.headphone.c​om …eadroom-total-bithead.php

I use one of their desktop headphone amps with my HD 600's, and it works great. I didn't know that they had a USB audio amp, but thought I'd check. Sure-nuf, they do. only $200.

cdi-ink.com wrote in post #2333256
My sound card doesn't have any controls available to it. I checked on the downloadable type but didn't really know what would be a good choice.

What are you using as software to play your music on your PC? Media Player has a 10-band equalizer and RealPlayer has a 3-band one, upgradeable to 10-band.

Bob_A wrote in post #2333414
What are you using as software to play your music on your PC? Media Player has a 10-band equalizer and RealPlayer has a 3-band one, upgradeable to 10-band.

I stream audio through Yahoo Messenger's Radio. I don't download my own stuff, and the controls are non-existant on the Messenger. All they give you is volume, play, pause, and skip. Not exactly meant for hi-fi listeners but it gives me the tunes I want and is a lot less expensive than legal downloads.

dmp-potn wrote in post #2333351
Hello,

Perhaps look at this one as well:

http://www.turtle-beach.com …dv/roadie/produ​cthome.asp

Good luck!

Bookmarked. Thanks for the links. I have to find out all my options before I decide, if I even buy anything at all.

dmp-potn wrote in post #2333397
Hello again....

Of course, if cost was of little concern, this would be the thing to get:

http://www.headphone.c​om …eadroom-total-bithead.php

I use one of their desktop headphone amps with my HD 600's, and it works great. I didn't know that they had a USB audio amp, but thought I'd check. Sure-nuf, they do. only $200.

I was looking at that. It's an amp though and not an EQ. I don't have any problems with volume. I'm typically only needing 20-40% on the laptop. It seems to have a really good quality sound card already, for a laptop, at least to my own non-expert ears.

If you want better sound, i feel like the best way is to get the sound card off the motherboard, like SGwrx said. Being that you dont want that, any cheap equalizer will probably degrade the quality of the sound more than you would want. You could try to work with a small portable headphone amplifier, which will give your bass a good kick in the pants.

sjafari wrote in post #2333458
If you want better sound, i feel like the best way is to get the sound card off the motherboard, like SGwrx said. Being that you dont want that, any cheap equalizer will probably degrade the quality of the sound more than you would want. You could try to work with a small portable headphone amplifier, which will give your bass a good kick in the pants.

Eh it's not a sound card issue really. I've listened to the audio on DVDs and the sound is there. It's Yahoo Radio that I need to "tweak" a bit and I believe an EQ would let me do that. It's not that bad though so I could really do without. I'm not going to go cheap because, like you said, it can degrade quality.

I probably have one of the quietest, cleanest laptops on the planet though. I don't have any interference or hard drive noise, etc so getting the sound card out of the computer probably wouldn't make much difference.

what kind of laptop are you using? my (work provided) Dell D620 gets some hefty interference some time from the trackpad being used. if you like the simple free music sites, Pandora is really good too.