Do I need an amp ?

[xiaobuaya 0]

Hi ..

I'm a super newbie at this audio stuff., I just own a grado sr-80 for use on my computer don't even know what exactly amps are for... amplifying ? haha

sometimes when watching DVDs on my computer, I find the sound to be too soft even when i turned all the volume up to max..

So an amp will help me with this right ?

also will songs sound better with an amp ?

which amps should i look at ? and where in sg to look for amps ?

advice would be greatly appreciated

Edited July 19, 2006 by xiaobuaya

[dle4e_2005 0]

Sr-80 would sound better and louder when used wif amp.........

Edited July 19, 2006 by dle4e_2005

[Kippei 0]

Depend on your budget. So far I only tried before PPA and SOHA. SOHA I consider it for energy for Grado, PPA detail and clarity for Grado.

[Mackie 0]

Hi ..

I'm a super newbie at this audio stuff., I just own a grado sr-80 for use on my computer don't even know what exactly amps are for... amplifying ? haha

sometimes when watching DVDs on my computer, I find the sound to be too soft even when i turned all the volume up to max..

So an amp will help me with this right ?

also will songs sound better with an amp ?

which amps should i look at ? and where in sg to look for amps ?

advice would be greatly appreciated

 

Amp = amplifier = Longman dictionary says: instrument for making sound louder

 

DVD carries various audio encoding, Dolby Digital 5.1, Digitial Digital 2.0 and DTS. Select DD2.0 and it should sound louder thru your cans.

 

Drop by Jaben (Adelphi...Coleman Street, Singapore) and Stereo Electronics (Causeway Point, Woodlands mrt.....also Singapore). Bring along you SR80 and listen you your mp3 or cds with and without amp. If you can't tell the difference, save the money and buy more cds instead.

Edited July 20, 2006 by Mackie

[bakavic 0]

If you've followed Mackie's advice to use the DD2.0 track, and you still find it soft, you could "solve" it by using dynamic range compression.

 

DVDs usually have a large dynamic range. This means that in general, DVDs sound "louder" than your mp3s, cds, etc (which tend to have a compressed dynamic range, in the quest for loudness - more on this later) - if you're watching your movie in a noisy environment, you might find yourself missing a lot of dialog and soft sounds.

 

In audio, dynamic range is the range between the softest and loudest produceable noise. If we say that a particular cd has a "large dynamic range", it means that we can preceive a huge difference between the soft sounds and loud sounds on cd.

 

In layman's terms, it much like in the movie theater, where sobbing (or the sound of rain) can be very soft but still noticable, and explosions feel like the real thing.

 

However, if you're watching your movie in a noisy environment, you might not be able to hear the really soft stuff. You turn up the volume to hear the dialog, then get your ears blasted when the explosions come.

 

So what to do? We can reduce (compress) the dynamic range of the movie, to increase the "loudness" of the softer stuff. What this does is to make the softer stuff louder, and louder stuff softer. The movie doesn't feel as real, but hey, you can watch the movie peacefully now

 

In most of the software dvd players, there are controls like "Enable DTS/AC3 Dynamic Range Compression". If you can't find it in your player, you can try AC3Filter.

 

As to whether your comp is having problems driving your headphones - do you find everything (music, movies, etc) soft (is your volume control already max) when using your headphones? If yes, then an amp is probably a must.

 

Anyhow, buying an amp is no loss - depending on your headphones, you'll find that the bass/treble will feel more robust, among other things. Will songs sound better? You'll probably hear more detail, but if you have badly-encoded songs, the amp will certainly make them a lot more glaring.

 

On to my situation - I too have a SR80 - just got them yesterday at SE (thanks Aron!). When I got back home, and tested them on my Technics portable cd player, it gave fairly strong bass, among other things. But when I cranked up the volume a bit more, I started getting this cracking sound everytime a beat came.

 

Thinking that maybe I got damaged headphones , I tested it on my laptop, with the same song - I didn't get any cracking sound this time. I'm thinking that my cd player isn't powerful enough to drive the cans, so will getting an amp solve this problem?

 

If yes, are there any DAC + amp combos ala Headroom's Bithead? My laptop output seems to have a background hiss, so I reckon a external DAC should be better. I'm kinda interested in a portable model, so that can use with mp3 player as well.

Edited July 22, 2006 by bakavic

[viix 0]

On to my situation - I too have a SR80 - just got them yesterday at SE (thanks Aron!). When I got back home, and tested them on my Technics portable cd player, it gave fairly strong bass, among other things. But when I cranked up the volume a bit more, I started getting this cracking sound everytime a beat came.

 

Thinking that maybe I got damaged headphones , I tested it on my laptop, with the same song - I didn't get any cracking sound this time. I'm thinking that my cd player isn't powerful enough to drive the cans, so will getting an amp solve this problem?

 

If yes, are there any DAC + amp combos ala Headroom's Bithead? My laptop output seems to have a background hiss, so I reckon a external DAC should be better. I'm kinda interested in a portable model, so that can use with mp3 player as well.

 

the cracking is clipping due to either some bassboost or the internal amp of the player. If the technics PCDP doesn't have a lineout, you might still get the crackling sound past a certain volume on the pcdp with an amp. However it would improve if you amp the lineout instead, the signal coming out is cleaner.

 

[bakavic 0]

Yup, I intend to amp the lineout of the PCDP - will go down to Jaben's to test the various portable amps he has there and see if I can improve the output - especially interested in the LDM+...too bad I just missed the MO on it. Oh well, there's always next time.

 

I've basically given up on finding a DAC + amp combo - I don't think I'll be able to find one for under $100.

[bakavic 0]

$20? Ok, you got me interested I have some basic soldering skills and equipment (30w iron, multimeter, etc).

 

Hmm...I did a bit of searching, but most of the designs posted online seem to be rather complicated (here & here) and expensive.

 

Could you point me to some of these $20 DACs? Would be cool if they had ready-made boards, or even kits (Dare I say finished products also can? lol).

 

EDIT: I tried searching this forum for more info, but it seems like all the interesting usb DACs are pretty ex...can't seem to find any instructions on making either.

 

I'm kinda wondering to myself now - the output of my laptop may not be stellar, but it could be due to a weak internal amp...I should probably give a headphone amp a go with my laptop, and see if I'm happy with the results or not. Then I can have a look at these usb DACs. I also think that Jaben's has a usb DAC for testing - will give a go when I'm there as well to see if I can feel the difference or not.

Edited July 24, 2006 by bakavic