Behringer AMP800 and Koss UR29 First Impressions

[Robert-The-Rambler]

I just wanted to post my first impressions of these two budget based portable audio solutions used in tandem. As some of you may know I had originally bought the Behringer AMP800 to power my Sennheiser HD 515s only to be impressed early on but to realize that the combo was too harsh for extended listening. Here are my initial thoughts.

This is really a heck of a combo. I did some thinking and I came to the conclusion that the Behringer techs probably never intended for the AMP800 to be used with Open Aire audiophile headphones and they more than likely engineered the product to be optimized for DJ style closed cans overemphasizing mids and highs to compensate for the enhanced bass output of many DJ style headphones.

The Behringer AMP800 is a product marketed at professional setups and I wondered why the hell the rated measurements were done at 100ohms.(124mw at 100 ohm) Who the hell even makes 100 ohm headphones I thought? Well enter the Koss UR29. I just happen to be in Walmart buying clothes and I almost laughed at the headphone selection until I spotted these strange 100 ohm headphones. I really wanted the polar opposite of the Sennheiser HD 515s so I could alternate headphones based on whatever each set sounded best with. I was thinking about blowing yet another $100 on the Sennheiser 280 Pro model but when I saw a price tag of $30 for closed cans with a higher than usual impedance that matched what Behringer had rated their products with I decided to take the chance.

The Koss UR29 are the most comfortable closed headphones I've ever worn. The top band is as soft as a pillow and the ear cups are huge and soft and fit right over my big ears. The bass output is a touch punchier than the Sennheiser 515s and the highs are not harsh at all. They do lack a big of midrange I suppose. I really don't know. I just can listen to these for hours unlike the 515s with my Behringer AMP.

This is not the end of the experiment. Over the next 2 days I will be dropping the hammer and if this doesn't get me the sound I want I will just have to deal with it. Scheduled to arrive tommorrow is my brand new FiiO E9 desktop headphone amp and then Thursday I should be getting my USB DAC/soundcard in the Soundblaster X-FI HD USB.

I just bought about 50 CDs and a few DVD-Audio discs so I will have plenty of music to test with. You stay classy San Diego.

[hifi-freak]

Nice impressions robert, its the first time i hear about this amp. Do you have pictures of your rig?
do you plan to buy more headphones?

[Robert-The-Rambler]

Nice impressions robert, its the first time i hear about this amp. Do you have pictures of your rig?
do you plan to buy more headphones?

I have several setups but I guess I will try to borrow a camera to take a pic of my dining room setup. I have so much tech I think I need to get a simple camera. LOL Nothing better than slapping a decent pair of headphones when the family is watching something on TV I don't care for while eating a nice meal so I can game on or rock out. It has two separate PCs each with my entire music collection on them built for casual use or hardcore gaming use. The sound setup has a stereo power amp in a Gemini XG-3001 amp that puts out 200 watts a channel into 8 ohms @1khz driving two DCM KX 6 Series 2 bookshelf speakers backed up by a dual 10" 200 watt RMS Sony powered sub . It is a decent class A/B amp marketed for DJ use. There are also two Behringer AMP800 portable amps. One amp is supposed to be able to have two inputs but in my case there was noise of which I couldn't get rid of on input 2 on one amp so I decided to just get another amp altogether. They look pretty mean stacked on top of each other on top of the main Gemini amp. I'll go into more detail if I make a whole thread dedicated to the setup. I'll try to work the camera as soon as I can.

Right now I have several headphones. I'll list the major players.

2 Creative MKII Fatality Gaming Headphones circumaural 32 ohm closed cans

Sennheiser HD 202 32 ohm superaural closed cans

Rosewill RHM-556 50 ohm superaural closed cans

Sennheiser HD 515 50 ohm open aire cans

Koss UR 29 100 ohm circumaural closed cans

Koss Pro 4AAT 250 ohm circumaural closed cans

Next tax season I plan to use my refund to probably get something like the Sennheiser HD 650. The X-Fi HD USB DAC sound card and FiiO E9 are poised and ready.

[hifi-freak]

Next tax season I plan to use my refund to probably get something like the Sennheiser HD 650. The X-Fi HD USB DAC sound card and FiiO E9 are poised and ready.

I've heard they are great for classical and orchestra...a lil soft rock. Nice choice.

[harley .guy07]

Sennheiser makes a good headphone, i used to sell them in the 90's at the high end shop I worked at and with the right equipment they can sound really good. Behringer equipment is one of the more affordable pro audio stuff out there and while they had some quality issues when they first got popular I have heard that their stuff is better now. I have heard some of their new mixers and crossover equipment and they work and sound good (I have a friend that is a DJ and runs sound for bands playing in my home town and he uses some behringer equipment). Good to know that this setup works well for you.

[Robert-The-Rambler]

Sennheiser makes a good headphone, i used to sell them in the 90's at the high end shop I worked at and with the right equipment they can sound really good. Behringer equipment is one of the more affordable pro audio stuff out there and while they had some quality issues when they first got popular I have heard that their stuff is better now. I have heard some of their new mixers and crossover equipment and they work and sound good (I have a friend that is a DJ and runs sound for bands playing in my home town and he uses some behringer equipment). Good to know that this setup works well for you.

I had been using several Behringer EP2500 amps for my home theater but plan to sell that off to be more conservative in power consumption. It really did sound awesome but I got way too carried away.

But anyway when I first tried this AMP800 with the Asus Xonar DS I was thinking my God this is a bit much. That was with an Asus Xonar DS and Sennheiser HD 515s. That was just a less than ideal match. That harshness I started to detect was not present as much with other sound cards like the older Soundblaster X-Fi Extreme Music or the X-Fi Surround USB or a couple of C-Media USB sound cards even using the same HD 515s. I'm finding in audio it is so important to test with a variety of gear before you pass judgement. Anyhow the Sennheiser HD 595s are a great match with the AMP800 with whatever you are using but you still will notice a variety of sound differences as you try different sound cards in my case and headphones. For example the sound of the expensive X-Fi Titanium Fatality sounds thinner with less bottom end than a $25 Syba/Best Connectivity USB sound card I got from Newegg. I don't use equalizers I just try surround features for music and if they work and are convincing I use them. I try to keep it simple.