New looking for help.

clockworkmark

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Hi all new to these forums,

Looking for some help on my next purchase.

Currently own some Musical Fidelity MF200s (only seem to be happy with FLAC files) some Sony MDR-10rcs fantastic all rounder and some B&W c5s.

Most of my music listening is done at the PC now using youtube, but the sound quality is questionable. Even though I have a Creative sound blaster ZX card.

So my questions are, would a DAC or headphone amp improve the sound qualitry, or do I need to be looking at something like Spotify or Deezer etc? Or is there a way to improve the sound quality from youtube other than HD?

Thanks in advance Mark
 

dalethorn

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clockworkmark said:
Hi all new to these forums,

Looking for some help on my next purchase.

Currently own some Musical Fidelity MF200s (only seem to be happy with FLAC files) some Sony MDR-10rcs fantastic all rounder and some B&W c5s.

Most of my music listening is done at the PC now using youtube, but the sound quality is questionable. Even though I have a Creative sound blaster ZX card.

So my questions are, would a DAC or headphone amp improve the sound qualitry, or do I need to be looking at something like Spotify or Deezer etc? Or is there a way to improve the sound quality from youtube other than HD?

Thanks in advance Mark

We'll need to know more specifics about what you don't like in the sound quality of your music sources for the headphone you're most concerned about. It won't be possible to recommend a solution for more than one headphone, since each has its own peculiarities.
 
dalethorn said:
clockworkmark said:
Hi all new to these forums,

Looking for some help on my next purchase.

Currently own some Musical Fidelity MF200s (only seem to be happy with FLAC files) some Sony MDR-10rcs fantastic all rounder and some B&W c5s.

Most of my music listening is done at the PC now using youtube, but the sound quality is questionable. Even though I have a Creative sound blaster ZX card.

So my questions are, would a DAC or headphone amp improve the sound qualitry, or do I need to be looking at something like Spotify or Deezer etc? Or is there a way to improve the sound quality from youtube other than HD?

Thanks in advance Mark

We'll need to know more specifics about what you don't like in the sound quality of your music sources for the headphone you're most concerned about. It won't be possible to recommend a solution for more than one headphone, since each has its own peculiarities.

If the quality of the recording on YouTube is bad then no dac is going to improve it, or am I missing the point here. You'll have to improve your source.
 

clockworkmark

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When I use the MF200s, they either sound too bright or lack bass when listening to songs on youtube. If I losten to FLAC files they sound good.

I did change the ear pads last night and that seems to have made an improvement.

Okay I thought a DAC would improve the sound quality, so should I be looking at changing my source to something like spotify? Or could it be something else?

When I use my Sonys for listening on youtube they have good bass responce but can sound abit muffled at the higher frequencies like the sound is being rolled off.

Or should I be looking at new headphones?
 

dalethorn

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clockworkmark said:
When I use the MF200s, they either sound too bright or lack bass when listening to songs on youtube. If I losten to FLAC files they sound good.

I did change the ear pads last night and that seems to have made an improvement.

Okay I thought a DAC would improve the sound quality, so should I be looking at changing my source to something like spotify? Or could it be something else?

When I use my Sonys for listening on youtube they have good bass responce but can sound abit muffled at the higher frequencies like the sound is being rolled off.

Or should I be looking at new headphones?

A new headphone would help if it's a better headphone. You could get a parametric equalizer for your computer or music player, but if the equalizer doesn't work with youtube, then you'd need to download the video and use Foobar or the equivalent to convert the MP4 to a WAV etc. file.
 

clockworkmark

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Thanks, just trying Spotify premium at the moment, sound quality is better. Not sure I like the MF200 headphones though, seem a bit bright if pushed hard, and the low end seems lean.

Not sure if I should be looking at another new pair of headohones or an amp or DAC.

The sonys are great with the low end, but they lack clarity at the other extreme.
 

dalethorn

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clockworkmark said:
Thanks, just trying Spotify premium at the moment, sound quality is better. Not sure I like the MF200 headphones though, seem a bit bright if pushed hard, and the low end seems lean.

Not sure if I should be looking at another new pair of headohones or an amp or DAC.

The sonys are great with the low end, but they lack clarity at the other extreme.

With quality headphones, it isn't so much 'brightness' as it is uneven response.

Musical_Fidelity_Mf200.jpg
 

MajorFubar

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clockworkmark said:
Most of my music listening is done at the PC now using youtube, but the sound quality is questionable. Even though I have a Creative sound blaster ZX card.

One of the best free improvements you can make is don't judge the sound of a pair of headphones based on how well they play YouTube videos. You don't judge the performance of car based on how well it runs on two-star petrol. Compared to even Spotify and iTunes AAC downloads (let alone CDs) YouTube sounds universally dire.
 

dalethorn

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clockworkmark said:
Care to explain what I am looking at, other than some form of a scope reading?

The suggestions you're getting from other people here are instructive. The next step is to start the hard work of doing more research. You can get a few good tips here for free, but if you want a personal consultation, that isn't free unless you know someone....
 

clockworkmark

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Foobar is defeating the object, having done some reading on it. Unless I have misunderstood it.

Basically you are downloading the songs, then playing them from foobar and using the inbuilt EQ to tune it to your taste, it all seems abit long and dreery. Is there not a program that can do it on the fly?

As I mentioned above I have started with spotify and the source material has improved, and with some tweaking on the supplied software for my sound card I am getting happier. This too has a built in EQ, and I still find the MFs lean on the bass, they do show signs of potential.

If I could give the bottom end a boost I would be happy, think I need an amp. Going to experiement to prove my point and use a normal stereo amp in a ad-hoc situation to prove this.

This also goes back to my point about reviews and companies providing useable data, ie 1w in to 32r 0.5w in to 200r etc.
 

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