A funny thing happened on the way to using headphones for watching films...

[GlacierTuba]

Do you use headphones to watch films and/or tv series/live TV?

What headphones do you use? And if you do, do you even care if they're any use and just want them to spit out audio, any audio? Curious to know what everyone else is using for this sort of thing.

Anyway, I was messing around today trying to see if I could get some half decent sound out of a few pairs of headphones and earphones for watching Blu Ray discs. Of course by going in to this I had to accept that I wasn't going to be getting class-leading discrete surround, but to be honest the majority of what I watch is ancient and mostly 2.0, maybe 5.1 at a push.

With expectations set, I fired up some equipment and started meddling.

First experiment was with a flagship 1Mii Bluetooth TX/RX which can do LL, APTX, LDAC etc. So it's well able for spitting out decent audio over Bluetooth. I tested with APTX HD on my Galaxy Buds2 Pro first off. The sound was great and attempted to give some semblance of discrete surround but this was more to do with how the earphones work rather than anything fancy going on with the 1Mii.

I tried LDAC this time and found my WH-1000XM3's sounded a bit cleaner than the Buds2 Pro. One common problem though is even when the volume was maxed out, both pairs felt a bit 'quiet'. It done my head in so I got the aul 3.5mm cables out and went off to find my Sennheiser's and a DAC.

using the headphone port on my LG OLED, I plugged a 3.5mm straight in to the telly and put on my HD598's. Open backed, cream and fake wood cans. They look mediocre but they pack a punch.

The telly did a grand job of spitting out louder audio than the 1Mii TX/RX, so the LG OLED must have a half decent analogue board on it for headphone out. It still wasn't 'loud' enough though.

So I went and plugged in one of my portable DAC's.An old FIIO E17 (the model number, nothing to do with Brian Harvey and a bag of yips).

I popped in my Japanese AC-3 Laserdisc pressing of Mission Impossible 1 (the ONLY way to this day in 2023 that you can get the original theatrical audio) and cranked up the volume.

Holy moly!

This is what I was looking for. Decent audio and LOUD! I'll be going this route in the future for sure. I've a couple more bits I want to test. I've a Pioneer XDP-300R which is beefy enough with Dual DAC's and balanced outputs, so that's going to be tested next as i think it's a bit juicier under the hood than the E17.

I'll also try a paid of AKG 510's to see if the closed cup approach fares better than the Sennheiser's. I'll try a couple of Shure e3c and e4c IEM's too with triple flange tips to see how much more audio I can inject in to my skull.

The main point for me from all of this is how disappointing the Bluetooth audio was in co.parison. On the flip side, the sound quality i got for wired cans and a DAC in the chain just blew my ears off. I'll be using this set up much more in future, mainly for late night film viewing.

What about you? What kind of headphone set up do you use?

[GlacierTuba]

Just a small update but a good one, if anyone gives a hoot. Hopefully it helps someone some day.

Not wanting to call it quits just yet, I dug out my trusty Brian Harvey E17 DAC/AMP again and something caught my attention that totally passed me by yesterday.

The trusty Brian Harvey E17 has a 3.5mm SPDIF input!

I managed to find a 3.5mm > SPDIF adapter that i've had laying around unused for about 387 years. Now it was finally time for it to step up and have a use! I connected the optical output on my LG OLED to the adapter and the adapter to the 3.5mm optical input on the aul Brian Harvey.

Sure enough, it works brilliantly. Even better it has a built in feature where if you increase the amp gain, it fades in the volume between mode switching so you don't destroy your hearing. Obvious bonus points include absolutely zero hiss, hum, noise, nada.

Everything I threw at it worked from streaming, Blu Ray, UHD and Laserdisc. For Laserdisc I tested with the MI:1 AC-3 disc again. Everything works fine via AC3 coax, SPDIF and RCA outputs fed to my VP50 pro which spits out optical or audio over HDMI per my settings selection.

No hitches, glitches or general tomfoolery. It works perfectly and the sound quality of MI:1 and the Laserdisc-exclusive-still-in-2023 original theatrical audio sounded as crisp as a Findus Crispy Pancake!

I was going to start looking at getting a new DAC/Amp but now I needn't bother! Unless anyone knows of a DAC/Headphone Amp portable device with an optical input? I do have one gripe though with Brian, it doesn't have much in the way of a decent EQ. Treble and bass, that's all you get. A bit more configurability would be great.

Anyway, I hope this helps someone. Here's a snap of that all important input!



Edit: Just to note, with an adapter, you can also use digital coax in the SPDIF 3.5mm input! max over SPDIF and Coax is 192khz/24bit.

[figrin_dan]

I occasionally plug in my Sennheiser HD570s into my Marantz NR1608. Unfortunately my actual speakers are at offset distances which is adjusted for in the amplifier's menu so Marantz choose to apply that offset to the headphone socket as well. As if my right ear is 2 foot away from my head.

So I had to buy a set of HD35s which came with an inline balance control. I had no use for the actual on-ear headphones but, after removing the headband, they fit nicely into the speaker pockets in my ski helmet. Unfortunately the cable is quite short so I then had to buy a bluetooth receiver for that.

[GlacierTuba]

Originally Posted by figrin_dan

after removing the headband, they fit nicely into the speaker pockets in my ski helmet.

Now that is an interesting use case!

How did you get it set up to work with bluetooth?

By the way, I did a little more looking around and happened upon a new desktop amp/dac with a small footprint also from Fiio, the K11:

https://www.fiio.com/k11

This one has similar specs to the Brian Harvey E17 but is obviously not a portable amp/dac. To be honest I've struggled to find anything that looks to be half decent with spdif/coax inputs that isn't at flagship prices. I think another from Fiio, the Q5s, meets the criteria and is portable, but also costs around 800 Euro.

Tempted to look in to a K11 as it's far more capable that Brian Harvey on the stats side e.g. is DSD capable, higher bitrates yadda yadda. It's firmly on my radar anyway.

EDIT: ...and now I've just gone and bought a K11. FFS...

[GlacierTuba]

So a quick update if anyone cares.

The K11 arrived today. Its very easy to set up and get going. Menu is easy to navigate and all done via the volume knob. I've only had a few minutes of toying with it tonight but I'll continue testing and messing with it.

I did do a very quick test with a 7.1 title, Elemental, and I have to say I wasn't impressed. It felt like it wasn't able to power my HD598's properly which in fairness are relatively easy cans to drive. I think the first impression was too hasty though. I tried some stereo and 5.1 tv channels which seemed OK, but again nothing that I thought my trusty Brian Harvey wasn't able to do much better.

Then I plugged in my Flip 5 phone to the K11 via USB and fired up Tidal. Figured I'd try some MQA, DSD and so on.

I fired up an MQA copy of Metallica - Enter Sandman...


HOLY MOTHER OF GOD!


So yeah, the K11 absolutely OBLITERATES poor old Brian Harvey from E17. This. Thing. Gets. LOUD!

I tried some more stuff. A DSD copy of Tracy Jack's from.the Parklife album by Blur. Again, absolutely superb quality and loads of room to stretch the K11's legs. A few more tries with daft Punk's RAM album in MQA which sounded glorious.

Another good Daft Punk test is Daftendirekt from Honework. Particularly the very heavy filtering and phasing which can distort crap headphones and speakers. Played it in MQA and it was silky smooth. Really nice quality.

You can tell when your stuff is playing back at the right bitrate or unfolding properly for MQA as it changes LED colour on the top of the box. Hopefully the LED can be turned off though for watching or listening to content in a dark room.

So yes, after a shaky start, this little beaut has impressed me. Brian Harvey is still great for a pocket device, bit is definitely outclassed here by the power and capability of the new 2023 K11 in my very amateur opinion.

I watched The Black Pit of Dr M last night in the company of Brian Harvey and I'll watch another Mexico Macabre disc tonight with the K11 and compare the experience. I think I will keep Brian Harvey for travel purposes though, he's a useful little device still and very versatile!

Edit: Both the top and front LED's can be turned off or have their brightness levels customised.

Also I mistook the MQA compatibility. My phone will do MQA, Atmos, 360 etc but the K11 just spits it out at a high bitrate and not true MQA. that's fair enough. Still sounds ace. I did wonder how they got MQA snake oil baked in at that price point! Not too fussed as I can play all those formats elsewhere and I want the K11 for telly and films.

[GlacierTuba]

More drivel if anyone cares.

The K11 is certainly living up to the task I impulsively purchased it for. I've now hooked up my Pioneer XDP-300R and tested it using the USB output direct to the K11.



It's already (in my opinion) an absolutely super DAP, but teamed up with the K11 it performs even better I think. I tested a few more tracks, a mix of straightforward 176k *.wav files that I ripped directly from my CD collection, as well as a range of *.dsf files. Some DSD tracks were downloaded from HD stores, others were vinyl rips I made in DSD with my Sony PS-HX500.

CD albums comprised the Akira and Patlabor 2 soundtracks. Both sounded absolutely crystal clear, ripped to pure *.wav files. Particularly the beautiful synth swells on Kenji Kawaii's magnificent Patlabor 2 score.

I also tested with a handful of vinyl rips I had made from two RSD purchases a couple of years ago. Tangerine Dream's magnificent soundtrack to the Michael Mann hyperfilm, The Keep. Followed by the main title theme for criminally underrated film The Internecine Project by Roy Budd.

Obviously there would be limitations from it being a vinyl source and also the perimeters of my equipment, but yet again the K11 (and XDP-300R) delivered in spades. Crisp, clean audio that didn't sound sterile and flat. That's all you want right?

I also tested some sample DSD files of varying bitrates. Literally right up to the limits of what the Pioneer and Fiio can handle. It played everything back first time with 'bit perfect mode' switched on, so no upsampling, rencoding or piddling about. No stutters or splutters, just perfect audio.

I think for the money, the K11 is proving to be an absolutely sublime bit of kit so far.

[meremortal]

Watching movies with headphones can be really fun and immersive. One of the aspects these days is probably staying engaged with so many distractions and headphones can help to remain focused, imo. Even without the discrete channels of a proper speaker setup, it's a fun way to listen and you may even pick up on details missed from speakers since the sound is right at your ears. I also agree that using headphones for LD can be a treat; don't have an AC-3 demod, but PCM mixes were generally good quality. Btw, be careful when plugging headphones directly into an a/v receiver as they can get super loud.