Caiman connections

[audionewbi]

If you have an Express card slot at the side of your laptop (check the specs. It could be express card or PCMCIA), I got an X-FI optical for sale that would solve the problem.

sadly my laptop does not have a express card. I think down the track purchasing a v-link musical fidelity is not a bad idea.

for some tracks I hear a minor sibilance, is that normal? I am still burning in.

[slate]

Thanks, but I doubt my laptop supports that, I have a Thoshba Qosmio F60

According to this unfortunately no http://forums.computers.toshiba-euro...ssageID=194872

Actually my Vaio does have the combined mini-jack connector; never tried it but it is indicated above the connector

[Werner Berghofer]

However I do think a little more gain would have being great for the k702. Got to figure out what to do.

Welcome to the club! I’ve been using AKG K701 headphones for two years, and no matter where I plugged them in they sounded thin, narrow and not really satisfying. Resolution, seperation and sound stage of these phones really are great, but I missed a lot of power, punch and volume (not to be confused with loudness). This became better as I connected them to a Caiman+ with Gator board, but I still was not really happy.



By adding a dedicated, stand-alone headphone amp things greatly improved, but when I tried to increase the volume above a certain level distorsions were audible. Since those terrible bumps in the AKG’s headband were causing a lot of trouble for me after wearing the headphones for more than 30 minutes, I eventually switched to a Beyerdynamic DT 990 600 Ω model. This headphone is a perfect match for my tube headamp; even if the volume knob is turned to the maximum position there are no distorsions.



The Beyerdynamic DT 990 feels very comfortable, I can leave it on my head for hours without any obstructions. Sound, volume, power and punch are really satisfying, although detail resolution with the AKG K701 might be a little better. The AKG K701 is great for extreme analytical listening, but for me there’s more joy and a much higher foot-tapping factor when listening with the DT 990.



Good luck for your journey and your quest for a matching headphone amplifier which is able to drive your AKG K702 cans ;-)

[audionewbi]

Should have bought an iBook or an iMac! Actually I'm not sure about iBooks, but the iMacs have the optical connection within the headphone outlet.

There are add-on gadgets which will provide an optical output. if we wait a while I'm sure others will remind us about these. i think there's one which outputs to USB then converts to a standard optical signal. I found this one which I've not seen before - don't know if it's any good - http://www.firestone-audio.eu/shop/p...sted/bravo.php seems a bit pricey.

There are a few others. I heard good things about the M2Tech Hiface -
http://www.m2tech.biz/hiface.html Not sure about the current price, but I think it may be under £100.

There are also some sound cards which have an optical output - though I don't know how well they work, or whether they are reasonable quality. I have an old SoundBlaster external card which should do this, but I've not been too successful with the optical in/out, and in any case the sound quality is not as good as the DAC I normally use (Caiman). You could try ebay - see for example - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...#ht_2135wt_922 Mine is an MP3+ Soundblaster card - though I can only run this from my PC as I can't find the drivers to run from my laptop.

thanks for those. I was reading about the m2tech, but I was told that v-link might be a better option both in terms of built quality. It does cost more but it looks solid.

Or I can simply start using my PC more often :-D Problem solved in a way lol

[Werner Berghofer]

Actually I'm not sure about iBooks

The MacBook and the MacBook Pro models have been equipped with a 3.5 mm combined analog/optical outlet since day one.

[dave2010]

The MacBook and the MacBook Pro models have been equipped with a 3.5 mm combined analog/optical outlet since day one.

Thanks Werner. Actually I wasn't sure about the latest MacBook Pros - I looked at the specs very carefully, as in many ways they seem excellent, and actually have more processing power than my couple of years old iMac so I'm tempted. Perhaps Apple just assume that "everyone" knows they do the optical within the audio jack - which ain't true! I'd be sad if I bought a new MacBook Pro and found it didn't have the optical output.

[audionewbi]

Welcome to the club! I’ve been using AKG K701 headphones for two years, and no matter where I plugged them in they sounded thin, narrow and not really satisfying. Resolution, seperation and sound stage of this phones really are great, but I missed a lot of power, punch and volume (not to be confused with loudness). This became better as I connected them to a Caiman+ with Gator board, but I still was not really happy.

By adding a dedicated, stand-alone headphone amp things greatly improved, but when I tried to increase the volume to a certain level distorsions were audible. Since those terrible bumps in the AKG’s headband were causing a lot of trouble for me after wearing the headphones for more than 30 minutes, I eventually switched to a Beyerdynamic DT 990 600 Ω model. This headphone is a perfect match for my tube headamp; even if the volume knob is turned to the maximum position there are no distorsions.

The Beyerdynamic DT 990 feels very comfortable, I can keep it on my head for hours without any obstructions. Sound, volume, power and punch are really satisfying, although detail resolution with the AKG K701 might be a little better. The AKG K701 is great for extreme analytical listening, but for me there’s more joy and a much higher foot-tapping factor when listening with the DT 990.

Good luck for your journey and quest for a matching headphone amplifier which is able to drive your K702 cans ;-)

Thanks for the welcome. The reason why I love the 701/702 is due to their great sound stage and instrument separation. In particular for classical music.
I have become acustom to the annoying 'comfort padding' of the akg, but yes they did cause me headache at first. I love the caiman gatorized with the hfi 780. Seems like I really need to buy an amp for this headphone.

Hopefully once day I get enough funding for the Beyerdynamic DT 990. It is not easy to find the 600 Ohms version either.
Would changing of the opamp make any difference?

[Werner Berghofer]

Perhaps Apple just assume that "everyone" knows they do the optical within the audio jack - which ain't true!

It can be found in the technical specifictions – scroll down to the section titled “Audio” in the left column:

• Audio line in minijack (digital/analog)
• Audio line out/headphone minijack (digital/analog)

[Werner Berghofer]

Would changing of the opamp make any difference?

I have no idea, since I’m not a technical oriented do-it-yourself type of person.

Probably your listening requirements are different from mine, but I fear in the long run you won’t be really happy using the AKG K702 without a stand-alone headphone amp. The Beresford DACs really offer outstanding performance in their price category (I own five of these little black boxes!), but at least in my opinion even the latest, gatorized models are no substitute for a true headphone amplifier.

[dave2010]

The MacBook and the MacBook Pro models have been equipped with a 3.5 mm combined analog/optical outlet since day one.

Werner

OK. I agree. I only found out about the possibility of combined optical audio jack socket outputs a few years ago by accident. Without that knowledge the specs are less meaningful. I meant to clarify this for the new iBook Pros with the people at the Apple Store - the specs don't specifically say optical outputs.

There's also the fact that manufacturers don't necessarily keep the same standards across all their ranges or products. AFAIK the iPad on which I'm trying to type this doesn't have an optical jack output.

I liked the headphone pictures. I have a Beyer DTX900 - suspect your 990s are much better, but I'm switching back to loudspeakers mostly now, when everyone else goes out for the day! Headphones are useful in the middle of the night, or on trips.

Best, Dave