Considering getting either the Noire X or XO, but had a couple of questions if anyone can help me out…
1) How open are the XOs? Do they provide any amount of isolation, or do they just sound like you aren’t wearing headphones?
2) For either model, can you lay down with them on, or do the cup brackets push them off your head? Hard to tell from photos.
3) Has any one tried these for gaming? The only similar FR headphone I have is the AKG k371, and, for whatever reason, those are useless in games. Impossible to tell where sounds are coming from, even in games with otherwise good HRTF/binaural audio; in some games I couldn’t even tell left from right.
I don’t know what characteristic(s) of a headphone relate(s) to good localization (and, having pored over the forums for a week or two, it’s unclear that there’s an answer to that question), so any information/experience would be helpful.
4) On a related note, I’ve tried two Harman target (plus or minus) headphones; the k371, and the Sony MDR-MV1.
I don’t care for the former at all; sounds like the mids are all scooped out/absent, and the bass is just, I dunno, messy.
The latter seemed somewhat better, but I have to return them because it hurts to wear them for more than 20 minutes or so. (Ear against speaker grill)
The Noire X and XO both have a little bit in common with those headphones FR-wise, but I don’t have any idea if the differences are enough to make them sound better. (Versus just being a better implementation of the same overall sound.)
Uh, that was supposed to be a question… so, I guess, if you’ve tried either the MDR-MV1 or the k371 in addition to either DCA; do the DCAs sound like either of those, with the scooped mids effect?
(I’ve looked at the measurements for all 4 models here, and a couple of other places, and I know that 6-10db is about double/half the volume, but don’t have the experience to understand what those differences might sound like.)
Anyway, I think that’s it* for now**. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
* - Unless someone knows of a headphone similar to the Sony MDR-7509HD, but with a bit more bass extension, less distortion, and better group delay numbers below 600hz or so; e.g.: a modern version with a bit of bass. I’ve tried to find something with similar FR… except the only measurements I could find of the 7509HD were on solderdude’s ear-less test rig, a somewhat suspect set of numbers on an unknown rig from inner fidelity, and maybe one more place that I’ve misplaced the link to… which doesn’t give me a lot to go on trying to compare elsewhere.
** - Maybe this should have been a standalone post.
