Sennheiser make good headphones?

[Lightness]

allright, so heres my setup as is:

i have my custom pc thats pretty lacking in the audio sector. i have an Asus A7N8X Dlx thinking that the onboard audio would make it worth my while to go dlx...

i know that a lot of ppl out there own this mobo and i was wondering...should i get a new sound card, if so, any advice. i assume that a sound blaster would be a good choice. any suggestions on the model?

my speaker system is a klipsch promedia 4.1 system hooked up to this onboard system. i would like to upgrade my audio cables tho, as they are running on stock cables at the moment. if this is a stupid upgrade let me know, but i have heard that it would be important to do from various sources. where can i find these cables and what kind should i buy?

my third, and probably most important question is on my headphones. i have some cheap pos ones, and now that im going to college i figure i will be using my speakers less often, and therefore would like a headphone upgrade. i have looked through the sennheiser's thouroughly and have personally tested their HD570 set. in fact im testing them while im typing this out.

 

[CSMR]

The sources that say upgrade cables are probably audiophile. Not noticeable at this level. I take it this is for games (since you have more than two speakers)? If you want good stuff for music I can advise. The Senn hd580 headphones are great headphones; I have them myself. Don't know about the hd570s. (However they are best with separate amplification, and if you won't have that, you may as well go for some cheaper headphones that are easy to drive. There are good ones for less than the 580s.)

 

[DarkAmeba]

I own the sennheiser HD-590's. They're absolutly incredible You can't really go wrong with sennheiser

 

[Phooey]

I have the Sennheiser HD-280 Headphones and they sound great when listening to my Yamaha Stereo. However they do not sound as good through a PC sound card (I'm using an old SB Live! Value card). This model covers your whole ear to help cut off external noises - useful if you have loud neighbors.

 

[PinchyCM]

if you're using higher calibur cans like the 280s, 590s, etc...dont' use crappy onboard sound, low kpbs mp3s, or a bad soundcard. do yourself a favor and rip all your music in the most recent lame standard, with eac, and then buy youself at least a half decent sound card. cheap options woulde be audigy2 zs, revo 7.1....

 

[PinchyCM]

oh yeah, and those klipsch pm 4.1s are being held back by that poor onboard sound as well.

 

[cw42]

i don't think it'd be worth it to upgrade the cables on the speakers unless you're having an actual problem with them, honestly i doubt you'd be able to tell the diff. you'll def want to upgrade your soundcard to maybe chaintechs, m-audio revos, or audigy2's.

 

[borntodie]

Gotta reiterate what people are saying... upgrading the cables shouldn't be necessary and isn't necessary at this point since your speakers are being limited by the onboard sound to start with. If you play mostly games grab an Creative Labs Audigy 2 ZS otherwise if you're listening to music you can go with something like a M-Audio Revolution 7.1, Terratec Aureon 7.1 Space, or Chaintech AV-710. With any of the mentioned sound cards in your system your Klipsch speakers should sound how they were intended to sound. Sennheiser does indeed make good headphones and I can personally recommend the HD-500 headphones and PC150 headset.

 

[Lightness]

great responses guys, very helpful so far. ive been looking at the hd555's, but i havent found too many reviews on that model, i have a spreadsheet with the diff sennheiser models and found that:

i can get an

hd555 for approx 115
hd280s for approx 90
hd500 for approx 50
hd590 for approx 180

that about covers all the prices for the models you guys mentioned...

i like the 555s because they are open air, 15hz - 28khz and the price
i am curious tho, if i were to get an audigy2 zs, would i see that big of a diff between all of these headphones?

at this very moment im testing the 570s and they sound allright hooked up to my speaker jack to my onboard, not amazing, but its diff to compare.

what do you all think is the best VALUE for these sennheisers? the 590s have been amazingly popular all over the place, but they are 180 bucks, thats a lot of dough, unless its really worth it, because i would have to agree that from all of the models listed above, the 590 is probably the best one out of any, but its hard to say if its a good value.

thanks a bunch again, great help so far

 

[Wiktor]

Out of the headphones you listed HD555 is your best choice, especially since you like open headphones. The reason there aren't many reviews is that these are relatively new.
HD555 is a lot like the top of the HD5x5 line HD595, and both of them use very similar drivers to HD650, but are lower impendence so that is a plus for computer use (you can compare frequency response at headphone.com).

 

[MrPabulum]

Originally posted by: Wiktor
Out of the headphones you listed HD555 is your best choice, especially since you like open headphones. The reason there aren't many reviews is that these are relatively new.
HD555 is a lot like the top of the HD5x5 line HD595, and both of them use very similar drivers to HD650, but are lower impendence so that is a plus for computer use (you can compare frequency response at headphone.com).

Have to agree with Wiktor. The HD555s apparently need less amplification than the HD580s, HD600s, etc.,. I read at Headroom that they're great for computer and home use, plus are decently driven by portable players. Plus, a small amp in the future would make them sound even better.

 

[Lightness]

the freq responses are:

555 - 15hz - 28khz
600 - 12hz - 39khz

 

[PhoenixOrion]

Sennheisers make best high-end studio headphones around.

Sony comes in a close second for studio headphones in a lot of polls and tests.

 

[Oyeve]

I personally LOVE my sony MDR-v7000DJ headphones. I dont like open air headphones as my wife claims I play my PC games and music too loud. Also, My Denon AH-D750's sound even better than the sony, but not by much.