[buccaneer]

Got an X-fi platinum with front console. Can anybody recommend any sub £200 headphones from experience with this card. Looking for value for money. Don't mind if they cost £50. Just prefer not to need separate amp. I like listening to heavy rock music and metal. Thanks

[Tejstar]

I don't have that soundcard yet, but I probably will do soon. I have a pair of Sennhesier HD595's that I thought would work well with them. However, note that they are open-backed and you may prefer closed headphones for gaming.

[buccaneer]

Yeh I was thinking HD595 or HD650. I have some edimensional ear ticklers (vibrating headphones) for gaming. They sound bloody awful with music and the bass distortion is diabolical but i enjoy the novelty

[HughC]

I have HD-650s and that exact card and you cannot use them together as the module from the x-fi provides nowhere near enough power.

[buccaneer]

Cheers HughC, looks like its 50ohm H595's then.

[christam]

Consider the Denon D2000. Absolutely fabulous headphones (check out the reviews on head-fi.org) that don't require an amp. They're closed circumaural by the way. I bought mine from Audiocubes - approx. £180 including 4 day delivery and customs duties. Can't recommend them highly enough.

[MrP77]

i've got hd555 with that same card and they are perfect, and you can get them for £50 of amazon, (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sennheiser-H...0838083&sr=8-1)
from reviews i've read (i recently had the same conundrum as you) the HD595's are only slightly better but cost twice as much, but to my ears the HD555 are perfect


Just Remember not to judge them till there burnt in for at least 100hours

[Reano]

Grado's with that card work very well (I also have sennheiser). I have the x-fi pro because of the standalone box and internal dac's are better. But the game mode is excellent for games like quake, etc and it even has a demonstrator for the surround effects which is awesome it really positions the effects very well. If you want music turn all the processing off and switch to audio creation mode 44.1, bit matching and you have really good sound.

External amps still better but this is good enough to be honest. GO for the best grado you can afford. I would say 325, 225, 125 models will work very well.

[elementalist2]

Hey, how did this turn out? I currently run a 7.1 speaker system off my X-Fi analog channels and was hoping to run 5.1 headphones off the SPDIF flexijack output.

I'm a bit confused about headphones that may or may not use 'virtual' surround or actually have seperate drivers in the cans and can't seem to dig up good specifications

I believe the latter ('real' surround rather than simulated) should be better, but I am right? And if I am, which headphones do it?

Also, PC games: do they output a proper 5.1 encoded signal that 5.1 headphones will use???

[Reano]

Originally Posted by elementalist2

Hey, how did this turn out? I currently run a 7.1 speaker system off my X-Fi analog channels and was hoping to run 5.1 headphones off the SPDIF flexijack output.

I'm a bit confused about headphones that may or may not use 'virtual' surround or actually have seperate drivers in the cans and can't seem to dig up good specifications

I believe the latter ('real' surround rather than simulated) should be better, but I am right? And if I am, which headphones do it?

Also, PC games: do they output a proper 5.1 encoded signal that 5.1 headphones will use???

The original post was regarding music so its best to go for a good stereo headphone first and then let the hardware deal with simulated sound IF thats required.

[Dreamxtreme]

You can use HD650's with the Xfi ,ive never had a problem however i also have a Sherwood amp for the added 'Bang!'

[buccaneer]

Well I purchased HD-595's. I'm glad i didn't spend any more than I did. Because the quality of the music I listen to is not very high (mp3's). So any more expensive and they would of been wasted. However a certain rendition of ave maria blew me away on them. Shame i don't listen to much classical normally . They don't really have the bass that I'm used to. It's the fact i've used shoddy headphones for so long, you get used to the muddyness of them, and to a degree start to like it ! I do like the little headphone desk clamp stand they come with too. Very ingenious, normally they'd end up on the floor.