GreenZeldo
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- Joined
- Jul 13, 2018
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Hi everyone,
I'm looking for advice on something that is probably going to make most of you roll your eyes because of how simple it is; But I am a complete novice when it comes to audio so please bear with me.
First up let me give you some background on my situation.
These past 5 years or so, I've been using fairly low-end headphones connected to an Asus Xonar soundcard that's plugged into my PC's mainboard. It's served me reliably, but now I'm planning to significantly upgrade my audio equipment in hopes of increasing the quality of the sound I'm getting and maybe even increasing my enjoyment of music.
So after doing some research over the last few days, I've decided to replace my soundcard with an external DAC and amp, and my aging headphones with higher quality ones. My choice fell on the FME-ADI 2 Pro as a 2-in-1 DAC/amp solution and the Sennheiser HD800 as my new headphones. Both of these seem to be highly recommended online, with the ADI 2 having been recommended by people on this forum even.
The reason I went for the more expensive Pro version over the DAC version is that the latter doesn't feature a balanced headphones out mode which I've read can make a big difference in the amount of power it delivers to the headphones and supposedly help drive the HD800 better.
This brings me to my questions (thanks for sticking with me this far):
I understand that the Sennheiser only come with a regular SE cable that can't be used for balanced operation. Now I've read a bit about balanced cables and that you have to replace the SE one with one or two of those, but this is where I get completely lost. Apparently there are different types of cables, XLR and cinch, 2 x 3Pin XLR and 1 x 4Pin XLR or something along those lines?
I think XLR is what I need, but I'm not sure whether to use 3Pin cables or 4Pin cables and why you have to use 2 of one type, but only 1 of the other if that assumption is even correct.
Also, will I need to use a special adapter or can I just plug the cable(s) straight into the HD800 and the ADI 2 Pro?
And lastly, does cable quality make any discernible difference and if so, what should I look for?
I don't want to compromise on quality so I'm looking for an optimal solution if possible.
If anyone has made it to the end of this terrible and uninformed post then thank you for taking the time out of your day; And if you have an answer that could shed some light on any or all of my questions I'd be very grateful for that.
Tldr: What is the best way of connecting the HD800 to the RME ADI 2's balanced headphones out jacks, what cable(s) should I use and is there anything else I need to look out for?
Best Regards,
GreenZeldo
I'm looking for advice on something that is probably going to make most of you roll your eyes because of how simple it is; But I am a complete novice when it comes to audio so please bear with me.
First up let me give you some background on my situation.
These past 5 years or so, I've been using fairly low-end headphones connected to an Asus Xonar soundcard that's plugged into my PC's mainboard. It's served me reliably, but now I'm planning to significantly upgrade my audio equipment in hopes of increasing the quality of the sound I'm getting and maybe even increasing my enjoyment of music.
So after doing some research over the last few days, I've decided to replace my soundcard with an external DAC and amp, and my aging headphones with higher quality ones. My choice fell on the FME-ADI 2 Pro as a 2-in-1 DAC/amp solution and the Sennheiser HD800 as my new headphones. Both of these seem to be highly recommended online, with the ADI 2 having been recommended by people on this forum even.
The reason I went for the more expensive Pro version over the DAC version is that the latter doesn't feature a balanced headphones out mode which I've read can make a big difference in the amount of power it delivers to the headphones and supposedly help drive the HD800 better.
This brings me to my questions (thanks for sticking with me this far):
I understand that the Sennheiser only come with a regular SE cable that can't be used for balanced operation. Now I've read a bit about balanced cables and that you have to replace the SE one with one or two of those, but this is where I get completely lost. Apparently there are different types of cables, XLR and cinch, 2 x 3Pin XLR and 1 x 4Pin XLR or something along those lines?
I think XLR is what I need, but I'm not sure whether to use 3Pin cables or 4Pin cables and why you have to use 2 of one type, but only 1 of the other if that assumption is even correct.
Also, will I need to use a special adapter or can I just plug the cable(s) straight into the HD800 and the ADI 2 Pro?
And lastly, does cable quality make any discernible difference and if so, what should I look for?
I don't want to compromise on quality so I'm looking for an optimal solution if possible.
If anyone has made it to the end of this terrible and uninformed post then thank you for taking the time out of your day; And if you have an answer that could shed some light on any or all of my questions I'd be very grateful for that.
Tldr: What is the best way of connecting the HD800 to the RME ADI 2's balanced headphones out jacks, what cable(s) should I use and is there anything else I need to look out for?
Best Regards,
GreenZeldo
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