Audio Gear and Advice |OT| - I like the way you sound

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Well @BRiT I broke down when I saw the Denon PMA-600NE on sale and picked it up last week for my desk/near-field stereo setup. Despite being rated at lower watts/channel than the outgoing Onkyo AVR, the sound improvement has been immediate - the soundstage has widened, some of the top-end brightness has been smoothed off and I’m noticing some additional details in tracks that the Onkyo overlooked in its frequency response.

Constantly impressed with Denon’s output over the last five years (not that they’ve ever been bad by any means). I’ve only tested it with my B&W 607 S2 Annos thus far, but I’ll be popping out some of my others this week to test (really interested to see if my complaints with the KEF Q150s are mitigated, and how it handles the Polk R200s and Chora 806).

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I just grabbed these on a clearance. They blow all my other headphones and earbuds out of the water. No contest. I used them with Tidal CD quality streaming from my AVR headphone jack. I have a Schiit DAC/AMP on the way so I can listen to 24 bit+ FLAC from my phone. I was on the fence between the Hela 2E and the Magnius/Modius stack. I went with the Hella for simplicity and versatility if I need to use a microphone with it.

https://www.schiit.com/

Edit: I will also add that the 712s are the lightest headphones I think I’ve ever worn. Very comfortable! I used them for a couple of hours playing a game and my ears did not get hot (from heat or pressure) nor did I get any irritation on my head from the headband. :metal:

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This… makes me happy :slight_smile: Schiit makes some great… shit (sorry, I feel like it’s a requirement at this stage). Great DAC and can combo!

I was set on picking up the B&W S2s until the PX8s were released - they’re impressing all the people I trust with sound. I know they’re not the most analytical but I generally love B&W’s sound signature and given how much people are digging them, even over some higher cost equivalents, I’m excited.

That said, I have some news soon and that will entail my “play funds” be put on hold for a bit lol.

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Reading the Schiit “about us” page, I think they would agree with you! :laughing:

I was so nervous about getting new headphones. I have scars behind my ears and neck issues related to an old back injury + age. This set is so feather light compared to anything I’ve worn and have a clarity that I very much enjoy. I have mild tinnitus (always have even as a kid) so the detail I hear with this set is almost like the difference from watching a movie in theaters (overly loud and muddy to me) to watching it in my home theater adjusted for room acoustics, speakers, and calibration so I actually understand what I heard before.

The detail I’m hearing in songs old and new is refreshing and like I’m almost listening to a new song! Ok, that’s exaggeration but it definitely sounds like a remaster or better recording!

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Believe me friend, I completely understand how a proper upgrade of audio equipment can be transformative to music you’ve heard for years. I remember when I bought a proper amp, some of the quality speakers, and proper headphones when I started upgrading a couple years back. Hearing entire instruments for the first time on tracks like “Little Wing” and “The Wind Cries Mary” was revelatory. When you find a set of headphones or speakers/amp that provide a wide soundstage is another one of those things that completely change the game (and I don’t mean Dolby Atmos music - not a fan).

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It’s funny how plans work out. As in they never go as planned. I had put the AVR/TV update on hold while I was doing networking updates. My upgrade is still ongoing, took longer than expected because the fiber-rollout here was paused over the last two months of 2022 and some hardware took forever to ship out.

Today I noticed the Denon S970H AVR is discounted $150 down to $750 at multiple sellers now (Amazon and Walmart). I am tempted to hurt my wallet to pick this up now. I’m feeling that FOMO on the “sale” price. I’ll have to double-check all the various AV Forums to make sure there isn’t a reason to avoid this model.

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Do you use the Beam 2 for XSX too?

For the near future I plan to maybe get the Sonos Beam 2 and work from there towards more speakers. But I’ve read a lot of issues from people that have a Sonos (or many other soundbars) with XSX if they want to be able to use Atmos or Dolby Digital. They have audio delay issues. But it really seems to depend on TV brands too. You don’t have any issues with XSX and the Beam 2?

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I use it with the LG B9 and I did have to go in the settings to slightly adjust the audio delay and now it’s fine. But out of the box it seems to have a slight delay on my TV.

The only issue I have so far is when watching movies. Stuff like Harry Potter for example has its audio in DTS:X in UHD Blu-Ray, and while the Beam 2 does support DTS, it seems there is something on the TV that doesn’t want to pass through DTS streams to the Beam with eArc and so I’m stuck listening to those through the TV speakers. It does support DTS, but I always thought the DTS:X stream would still be downsampled to a normal DTS stream and sent over but that doesn’t seem to be the case so I’m still trying to see if there is a workaround for that.

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Thanks man!

I used to have a C9, but now I have a Samsung QD-OLED and it brings some issues with it. Apparently this TV doesn’t support certain codecs or whatever it is, so while Xbox wants to use Atmos or DD the TV is gonna give me a hard time. I’ve now read on Reddit a lot of issues from people with XSX and all kinds of soundbars. Unless they can plug the Xbox into the soundbar, no delay then but then they miss out on VRR/120hz, not good.

Some have said that if I don’t want any issues I should just go for a AVR that supports HDMI 2.1 and get some nice speakers. I just need to try it out for myself. In the near future I’ll get the Beam 2 and see if my TV indeed gives a lot of trouble, or maybe it’s good after all.

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I didn’t want to spend too much as I have a small livingroom so for me the Beam 2 made sense and was cost efficient paired with 2 Ikea Symfonisks and hopefully soon the mini sub woofer that Sonos released last year.

I’m trying to see if there could be a workaround. Like, that shArc device, don’t know if it can be used for that or if it’s for something completely different.

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If your budget can stretch that far I would definitely go for an AVR and atleast a 5.1 speaker system. The denon S760 is a decent entry level AVR that has 3 hdmi 2.1 ports that support VRR 120fps gaming and its a reasonable price of about $600

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Back again…

Yeah, I really want to upgrade my TV audio, it lacks bass big time, for example. But I’ve decided not to spend too much on a soundbar like Sonos, I’m gonna go cheaper, way cheaper.

My question for now is, if I just don’t bother with Atmos and DD, I should be able to select 5. 1 uncompressed without any delay, right? So technically if I went for a much older soundbar like a Philips Fidelio HTL9100, hook it up to TV HDMI eARC, set Xbox to 5.1 uncompressed (this bar has rears/surround speakers) it should work fine, right?

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I have a Samsung Q990b soundbar now. I wanted to just set the Xbox to Atmos and be done with it. But I’ve been noticing a few things.

In some games like Hellblade, Yakuza 0 and RDR2 the rear channels aren’t used at all when Atmos is selected on Xbox. But with Dolby Digital I do get it, it’s a huge difference.

However, in games like Dead Island 2, Witcher 3 and Psychonauts 2 with Atmos (even though non Atmos supported games) I do get the full surround experience. Why is this?

Also, is there really any benefit to using Atmos in games even though they weren’t made for it? Does it add anything or might I as well just stick with Dolby Digital for every game except the Atmos supported games?

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I’ve never had a sound bar but on the settings for the sound bar is there a direct/pure output option like on an AVR? If there is, use that it’s just outputs whatever the game is made for which is always best. On my AVR it just swaps according to the actual game and the Xbox outputs what is native for the game. I wouldn’t try and force a different format to what it was originally made for it never comes out right

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Is it possible that the games have the sound settings set to headphones?

Also, how do you like the Q990B? I’m considering getting it myself, but it’s quite expensive in Canada.

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I know which setting you mean, my Denon had that too. Nope, sadly not on the bar.

I wish, but that’s not the case. According to some users on AVForums it’s a bug introduced by Samsung with the most recent firmware. Some 5.1 games are affected, which is exactly what I have.

As for the bar itself, it’s an insane, absolutely insane upgrade over the TV sound, that’s for sure, haha. Gun shots in RDR have an incredibly powerful “oomph” thanks to the subwoofer, when set to Dolby Digital the overal experience is awesome, flies buzzing behind me, other nature sounds around me. I tried Psychonauts 2 and yeah it’s awesome. I can see horror games being very very scary with this. Apparently RE Village is Atmos, so I should check that out one of these days.

Also tested Witcher 3, and it’s just such a huge difference and improvement over tv sound. And sure, headphones are great but I don’t always want to wear them, plus you don’t get actual real surround that way. The way I hear kids playing in White Orchard, or just general village chatter behind me is lovely. Skyrim was awesome too, not with Atmos, zero surround, but with Dolby Digital fantastic. I can only imagine Starfield!!!

I’ve also tested movies, John Wick 3 on Netflix, it’s 5.1, not even Atmos but it’s an amazing experience. It wasn’t at first though. I had put the sub next to my TV, on the ground and I found the overall sound way too boomy, just not pleasant. I moved the sub to the right of me, basically in front of the couch and it’s a huge improvement.

750 euro is still a lot of money and I have 14 days in total to decide if it’s a keeper. Samsung does offer many soundbars that have great sound too, there’s the 930b which is cheaper and there’s the 800,700 and 600 Series too. And I believe you can add rears to all of them. But all the “pros” did conclude that 990b is the best of the best from Sammy.

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I was able to find an open box for a pretty significant discount, so :crossed_fingers:. The gaming thing shouldn’t be a big problem because I mostly game at my desk. My XSX has only been hooked up to the TV twice and both times were just to do a quick test to see how a game looked at 120hz.

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Awesome. I think you’re going to love it.

It’s especially interesting to see what other setups would cost you compared to this. Last year I was eyeing Sonos Beam Gen 2 with the plan to add a sub later, and surround speakers as well. I’m glad I didn’t go that way, because it would have set me back a lot more. And according to several AV sites the 990b is the better setup because it simply has more drivers for starters.

Watched some anime yesterday, sadly Crunchyroll only offers stereo but it was still awesome nonetheless. I wanted a TV sound upgrade, well that sure as hell happened. You’re going to hook it up to a monitor?

Enjoy it man, let me know how you’re liking it.

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Yeah, it will be nice to have a better sound system. I put in an ok in-wall system when we finished our basement at our old house but we moved a couple years ago and I’ve been too lazy to do anything at the new place, so I’ve been relying on TV speakers :nauseated_face:.

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@Staffy do you have a link to where this bug is discussed. I’m running into an issue now where it seems like lossy Atmos in a DD+ container (which unknowingly to me is about all any TV supports over eARC at the moment) isn’t properly using my rear channels. When I use my Shield TV however and get proper lossless Atmos everything is fine.

:man_facepalming: The passthrough setting in Plex was off. Still wish the TV supported proper Atmos, but I don’t know if it will be a big enough difference for me to add the Shield back into the mix.