New pair of Cans

[Niemand.JP]

Hi All

I am currently using a Steelseries arctics Pro Wireless, and was wondering would it make a difference for me to change to one of the following, also which one of these do you recommend, the first option has so much great reviews, than saw the upgrade to it, and lastly saw 3rd one while browsing on Amazon.

1. Phillips SHP9500
2. Phillips SHP9600
3. Phillips Fidelio X2HR

My main question here is the R1000 bucks extra worth it for X2HR, and from what i can see 9600 is more or less same with bit more banging bass.

Inputs here would be awesome.

Thanks all.

 

[goldfritter]

Hmm, lots to consider here.

Firstly it is worth noting that all three your suggestions are open-back, meaning they leak more sound in and out (i.e. you can hear people around you and they can hear your music/games). But the benefit of that is a wider soundstage with music (i.e. instruments in the band sound further apart, which is nice) and better positional audio in games (for me the difference in Siege was night and day, I could much more easily hear the direction of footsteps, coming from a HyperX Cloud).

It is also worth noting that they are not wireless and don't have a mic, but I guess you knew that already. These are quality of life things that you will need to take into consideration when upgrading from a gaming headset.

As to whether they are better than the Steelseries, I would say all 3 are likely to be much better in terms of sound quality, definitely for music and very likely for games too.

The SHP9500 is a very popular entry-level hifi headphone and the X2HR is a very popular entry-to-mid-level hifi headphone. If I were you I would look at this to compare their characteristics: Philips SHP9500 vs Philips Fidelio X2HR Side-by-Side Headphones Comparison

Now don't look at any category except "neutral sound," because that is what they were designed for. They lose points on things like wired gaming because they don't have a mic. Look at the sub-sections under neutral sound to get an idea of the strengths and weaknesses of both. Note when they say "bass accuracy" they don't mean the loudness or boom-iness of the bass, they mean how closely do the bass sounds made by the headphone match the bass sounds of the original recording.

I have the X2 and my brother has the SHP9500. The sound of both is very good, but the X2 has more accurate (and, yes, louder) bass by my measure. The X2 also feels more premium, more solidly built, and it has the self-adjusting headband vs the manual one on the SHP9500. Whether these differences are worth R 1 000 is for you to decide, but if I had to buy again, I'd get the X2HR's.

Either way, upgrading to hifi-quality headphones is a great experience, and you will probably never look back, regardless of which one of these you choose.

 

[Niemand.JP]

@goldfritter yeah, this all started when Kid ate my mic on Steelseries, so have desk Mic now.

Yeah want to give the open backs a run. I saw the 9600 has more bass than the 9500 hence why i threw it in here.

Are either you or brother running then from a DAC/AMP?

 

[goldfritter]

@goldfritter yeah, this all started when Kid ate my mic on Steelseries, so have desk Mic now.

Yeah want to give the open backs a run. I saw the 9600 has more bass than the 9500 hence why i threw it in here.

Are either you or brother running then from a DAC/AMP?

Sorry that your kid ate your mic, but at least it gives you an opportunity to enter the head-fi rabbit hole

I don't know a lot about the 9600 but maybe also check RTings for it.

Yes we are both using DAC/Amps, he has a Fiio E10k and I have a Drop CTH + SDAC. It really allows the headphones to stretch their legs, but even if you are using onboard the new headphones will show a big difference. All those headphones are low impedance so they will run fine on onboard and/or your phone.

 

[EliteOp]

Had both and would I'd choose the X2HR. Better quality and more bass, imo. Also got the VModa Boom pro as add on for mic, worked perfect.

 

[Niemand.JP]

@EliteOp you recon the X2HR is the way to go here. You can say it the extra 1k?

Then i have z390 aorus xtreme motherboard, and from what i can see looks like onboard is great, just want to get feedback on running that vs DAC/AMP.

I am no Audiophile and lot of sound stuff does not make sense, specs looks on par with most DAC/AMPS or am i complete wrong and not reading the stuff correctly.

This is something for website on board Audio :

• 127dB SNR AMP-UP Audio with High-End ESS SABRE 9018K2M DAC, LME 49720 and OPA1622 OP-AMP, WIMA audio capacitors

@goldfritter i am scared of this Rabbithole.

 

[goldfritter]

@EliteOp you recon the X2HR is the way to go here. You can say it the extra 1k?

Then i have z390 aorus xtreme motherboard, and from what i can see looks like onboard is great, just want to get feedback on running that vs DAC/AMP.

I am no Audiophile and lot of sound stuff does not make sense, specs looks on par with most DAC/AMPS or am i complete wrong and not reading the stuff correctly.

This is something for website on board Audio :

• 127dB SNR AMP-UP Audio with High-End ESS SABRE 9018K2M DAC, LME 49720 and OPA1622 OP-AMP, WIMA audio capacitors

@goldfritter i am scared of this Rabbithole.

It's better than most onboards. Like I said, with headphones, the cans themselves are the most important part of the chain, rather than the amp/DAC.

So there is no real need to buy an amp/DAC just yet. You can start with onboard and use that to determine whether you like the 'phones or not.

Then keep an eye out for good deals on amps/DACs here and on avforums.co.za. When you are ready to take the plunge, go for it.

 

[Niemand.JP]

Ok great, so you and Eliteop recon the X2HR is the way to go here?

Regards,

 

[Deviation]

You absolutely get what you paid for in this game.
There is a world of difference between sub-100 and sub-200$ headphones.
It's only when you go 500$ and above is when you stop hearing differences technically and begins to be tuned to taste.

 

[PerformancePCs]

Are you running these off a amp/dac or the onboard sound card?

 

[Niemand.JP]

@Deviation meaning what here bud?

@PerformancePCs thinking of running them of Mobo for now, as mobo seems to do trick for now, trying to understand what will give me most bang for buck here. And will it be upgrade over my Steelseries if that makes sense. I see from lot of online reviews a DAC/AMP not needed on these Philips headphones.

 

[Deviation]

Get the X2HR or even the x3. But these are quite bass heavy and the booming does leak into other frequencies.
If you want cleaner more even sound, Hifiman HE-400i.

 

[PerformancePCs]

@Deviation meaning what here bud?

@PerformancePCs thinking of running them of Mobo for now, as mobo seems to do trick for now, trying to understand what will give me most bang for buck here. And will it be upgrade over my Steelseries if that makes sense. I see from lot of online reviews a DAC/AMP not needed on these Philips headphones.

From an amplification perspective, if you have low impedence cans, onboard should be okay.

As to the quality that on board can produce.. well let's just say I strongly disagree with the "seems to do the trick for now" comment.

Buying a nice set of cans and running them on the onboard is like buying a Veyron and driving it on a rocky dirty road...

 

[JollyJamma]

Kid ate my mic on Steelseries

Hey? Do kids do that?

 

[Niemand.JP]

@JollyJamma yeah, so what can one do.

@PerformancePCs i hear you and understand just trying to get a grasp of what difference it will make with a pair like that, i get it completely with high end stuff with high Ohm, is it 20% is it 80%. Will i even know as i have no experience in this area at all?

@Deviation coming from my steelseries, i like bass, high volume and clarity without distortion, will the X2HR fit this, i know every person likes different cans etc. I see that headset bumps it up + R1000 again.

This looks a rabbit hole that goes very far

 

[PerformancePCs]

Look, I was in the same boat, when I went dedicated Audiophile grade cans (Beyer Dynamic DT770 Pro 250ohm's) I also got myself one of these: Audio-GD - NFB11.28 Performance Edition - Discrete Single Ended ES9028 PRO DAC - PCM / DxD / DSD - Pre- & Headphone Amplifier • Magna Hifi

I've never looked back. I'm done with "gaming" headsets and onboard. With this setup I can power pretty much any set of CAN's reliably without having to change the source.

Granted it's more $$ but it's a one and done in my case.

 

[EliteOp]

@EliteOp you recon the X2HR is the way to go here. You can say it the extra 1k?

I would, especially at the price you can get it you mentioned to me on Whatsapp

 

[Niemand.JP]

@EliteOp thank you.

@PerformancePCs, that looks awesome, and maybe when going further down this rabbit hole something worth checking.

 

[Maximus888]

The audiophile rabbit hole is deep, dark and expensive. Clench that wallet tight on your journey.

I agree with the guys recommending the Fidelio X2HR. Pair it with a nice entry level DAC like a Fiio E10K and you'll be good for a few years before the itch catches up with you again.