Definitely a newbie

[sultan.of.swing]

OK first off, Hello everyone.
I'd Like to say I am definitely a noobie when it comes to everything to do with Headphones/Amps and DAC's.
I am trying my hardest to not get sucked down the rabbit hole of crazy expensive gear but it's not working.
I like my music pretty dang loud.
I also Game quite a bit as well.
A few months ago I picked up a set of Sennheiser HD558's as I have never owned any open back headphones. I got them locally for a pretty good deal but I instantly was not "blown" away. It took about a good week or so of listening to them and tracks I like to fully understand the sound of them and the tonal response they have (lack of better words).
The biggest issue I had with them is they were not loud enough for me, I tried a few different sources.
Motherboard soundcard-not loud enough(possibly not 2vrms on lineout???)
Picked up a cheap FIIO E7 portable dac/amp-not loud enough(waste)
Broke out my old Soundblaster X-fi Titanium-better but still not loud enough.
Being only 50ohms I should not have needed an amp.

Starting reading and doing research and somehow ended up with a Pair of Sennheiser 58x's at my door step.
I think they sound great but back at the not loud enough stage again! Uhhh.
Did a bunch of research for about 3 days on a "good" headphone amp and narrowed it down to 2 choices. Either the Topping A50 or the JDS Atom.
JDS has been out of stock on the Atom for a while now so I ended up getting the Topping A50.

I got the A50 all hooked up to the line out on my X-FI Titanium and I do not hear any electrical noise.
Here is my next issue. After buying the A50 and it was delivered I read some reviews and it showed it had high output impedence.
Right now with the 58x's running on the A50 and the windows volume at max I have to run the amp on high gain and it doesn't start to get loud enough for my ears until about the 12 o'clock position.
I am running the headphones off the 2.5mm Balanced output which should have the most output from the Amp.

Background on my self, I don't consider myself to have "bad" hearing but I also do not have another persons ears for me to know
I work in the high performance automotive industry so I am always around race cars so my hearing may very well possibly be worse than others.

At any rate, I am on to wanting to get a DAC now, even though my X-FI card is Fine I would like to move away from the internal sound card setup and have a desk setup.
I've been looking for weeks on end as far as getting a DAC and from what I can see The Topping D50 looks like it might be what I go with.

Jeez I know this is a long post, if anyone has any suggestions let me know, I do eventually plan to possibly upgrade cans in the future, maybe to 660s or something but would like to enjoy what I have for a while first.

 

[solderdude]

Read it twice. Can't figure out if you have any specific questions or just wanted to tell your journey.

 

[sultan.of.swing]

Read it twice. Can't figure out if you have any specific questions or just wanted to tell your journey.

I guess at the end of the day I am now looking to get a DAC.

 

[RayDunzl]

Jeez I know this is a long post, if anyone has any suggestions let me know,

Do you have a headphone friend with which to compare notes in person?

 

[sultan.of.swing]

Do you have a headphone friend with which to compare notes in person?

Unfortunately none of my friends are really into music/audio at all.

 

[RayDunzl]

Unfortunately none of my friends are really into music/audio at all.

I often listen to speakers rather loudly, but tend to listen at much lower levels with headphones.

I mean, you know, it's right in yer ear...

That's listening in a quiet environment, though. Not been around race cars since high school hanging the the Vogels and Brumos Porsche people.

Headphones may never sound as loud as a good speaker setup, as you don't get the whole body sensing the vibrations in the bass region.

 

[sultan.of.swing]

I wonder if I would be better served with a Higher end Amp? I thought the A50 would be plenty but on high gain I feel like I could possibly use some more.

 

[pozz]

With the quality headphones amps produced these days you can pick one up cheap and keep it for a long time. I bought the JDS Atom and every headphone I've tried has worked really well with it.

Assuming your current amp has enough power, if you really aren't satisfied, try new headphones.

 

[sultan.of.swing]

With the quality headphones amps produced these days you can pick one up cheap and keep it for a long time. I bought the JDS Atom and every headphone I've tried has worked really well with it.

Assuming your current amp has enough power, if you really aren't satisfied, try new headphones.

Well right now I am using 58x which are only 150 ohm so I would think the A50 should have plenty of power but I often time find myself on high gain with the volume turned all the way to the 3 o'clock position.
I do plan to go with better cans in the near future, Might grab a pair of 650's which I will then be going from 150 ohm to 300 ohm which will then probably have me needing even more power.

 

[solderdude]

The HD58X and HD650 have about the same voltage sensitivity meaning they will be about equally loud on the same amp.
The A50 is a good amp and can provide enough power in high imp. headphones. HD650 is not very different from the HD58X.

 

[sultan.of.swing]

The HD58X and HD650 have about the same voltage sensitivity meaning they will be about equally loud on the same amp.
The A50 is a good amp and can provide enough power in high imp. headphones. HD650 is not very different from the HD58X.

OK, this is where my problem comes in then.
The 58X's are not quite "bright" enough for me. I have a pair of 558's that I use to game with and those are quite a bit brighter than the 58x.
Been looking at review after review and it looks like the 600's would be "brighter" than 650's.

A lot of my music listening consists of a lot of guitar playing.
I dunno what to buy anymore.

 

[solderdude]

The HD600 is brighter and has slightly less bass impact.
The HD650 is slightly brighter than HD58X.

Have you tried tone control or EQ ?

 

[sultan.of.swing]

The HD600 is brighter and has slightly less bass impact.
The HD650 is slightly brighter than HD58X.

Have you tried tone control or EQ ?

I've messed around with a bunch of EQ settings, I've even tried a bunch of EQ settings for Peace that are 58x specific but everytime I EQ if lets say 150hz is raised 4.5db I have to reduce Gain in peace that same amount to avoid clipping which then just reduces overall volume. Then I just go on a stray of chasing EQ settings for days instead of just enjoying the music.

The 558's are bright enough for me but I do not know how those would compare to 600's or 650's as I do not own either of those.
Realistically in a perfect world if I could get the bass response of the 58x and the brightness of the 558's i'd be happy for a bit.

 

[solderdude]

The 650 will get you the same bass levels of HD58X but a bit less 'tight'.
You will have better results with EQíng the treble a bit upwards.

 

[sultan.of.swing]

The 650 will get you the same bass levels of HD58X but a bit less 'tight'.
You will have better results with EQíng the treble a bit upwards.

OK, I will mess around with them a bit more than.
Thank you for the replies.