Hi all. Just upgraded to pianoteq 6. Bought new headphones and wondered if there are any other improvements soundwise you'd receive recommend? I've read about external dac a little and external sound cards but I know little about either? Both or would one upgrade be beneficial?
Piano Yamaha ydp161
Headphones sennheiser HD 598
Using Asio4all v2
Labtop - lenovo G500 with ConexantSmartAudioHD
Thanks
I would recommend powered monitors and an external sound card. The sound dispersion in the air makes a big difference, for me, and most external sound cards, at least in the past, have provided better sound quality than the chip found on laptops. The sound chips have gotten much better in the past few years, and I have not done a side by side comparison of a laptop chip and a sound card, but I suspect that the sound card would still create a more detailed sound.
Just like Jake says. I played pianoteq with Asio4all too years ago, but an external soundcard sounds better (you have a newer laptop of course, so might see for yourself how the difference is for you, maybe some friend can lend you an external usb card?).
Active monitors are very fine too, but of course it depends upon where you live, if you can play loud over monitors all the time or if some neighbours want silence etc. (like funnily enough in Germany more and more younger neighbours, hmm....20-30 is the new 90?^^).
What I like as a workaround against neighbours^^ is to sometimes use a plugin like Redline monitor or Toneboosters Isone. Those plugins mainly narrow the stereo image. You would never use those if you play over monitors, but they are quite good when you have to mix songs on headphones, for example. It is a "second best" idea if you rely on headphones. You can test the redline plugin 2 months for free, whereas that from Toneboosters was very cheap, 20 Euro I think it was, and there is also a demo. So I just thought I'd mention that, you could test for yourself and see if you like it if you would not buy monitors - which are great, but can be expensive.
But a nice external soundcard would surely be the first I'd think about. I use a Steinberg UR 22 usb card and am happy with that, but there are a lot of soundcards out there for your laptop, so you might read around and go to a good shop for that.
I can't speak of your Lenovo specifically, but I've been very surprised with the recent quality jump in built-in computer audio. I have a fairly recent Asus motherboard in my main system, and a Surface Pro, both of which sound indistinguishable from the external sound card I used to use. If your headphones draw a lot of power, you might need an amp, in which case getting a good external sound card might be the same price. Even the audio from my smartphone is excellent (with headphones). I run Asio4All on both my computers. Oh, and funny enough, my external soundcard (an E-MU, which has great 48v preamps by the way) produces more latency than using Asio4All, so it's actually worse than using the motherboard sound (in my case).
Thanks all. I only use headphones no speakers.
Invest in an audio interface, will cost about ~$100.
I use this one: https://www.amazon.com/Steinberg-UR22MK...VUAHM?th=1
The 598's are a good pair of headphones.
ur12 even cheaper. I just moved from e-mu0204 to Steinberg ur12. This device has a slightly higher performance (apparently because of more competent drivers)(When playing with a higher frequency and lower delays). And the sound I like more .. a little more nobility for my ears. Maybe the e-mu did not quite cope with the high impedance of headphones at 250kΩ and added distortion. In general, I'm satisfied!
A strange thing happened to me. I went to the music store and ask to test a good headphone. To my surprise the sound was not natural and had a metalic ringing, like a piece of metal was loose inside it.
I ask if it was a really good headphone, and it was a AKG model. The seller tried it but could not detect any loose metalic ringing during chords, even with me insisting and playing the exact chords that was making me heard it.
So I ask: Is that possible that some labyrinthitis or some crystal in the inner ears creates that?
Anyway I never found a headphone that felt really natural to me.
Headphones, and most speakers need to "burn in." So it's possible that was the issue... but who knows...
I've been happy with my Audio-Technica headphones, but there are a lot of great ones out there these days.
"Burn in" is largely a myth - the exception appearing to be AKG headphones. SOS has a very good discussion about it on their website.
The polemic "burn in" effect. Is the device that get better with some use, when compared as new, or is the buyer who get used to some problem.
Anyway the seller listened bad and could not hear the anoying metlic vibration, or I had some sort labyrinthitis or crystal aligment problem in the inner ear that day.
But sometimes I feel that if I test the best headphone on Earth I will still not be satisfy.
The polemic "burn in" effect. Is the device that get better with some use, when compared as new, or is the buyer who get used to some problem.
Anyway the seller listened bad and could not hear the anoying metlic vibration, or I had some sort labyrinthitis or crystal aligment problem in the inner ear that day.
But sometimes I feel that if I test the best headphone on Earth I will still not be satisfy.
Have you tried all types of headphones? (like those covering all the ear etc.)
Some do never get used to earphones since it just isn't a natural way of generating sound for the ears.
The last two models, covering the entire ear, did not pleased me.
I only tested one last time, cause sellers here got anoyed if someone test many products and do not buy anyone.
Maybe only a large device could sound really good, adspting it to small high quality speakers:
Well, headphones also can sound different in different ear canals, earflaps, and the size and shape of the head can have effect on how headphones reproduce the sound(maybe it is why also in Ptq binaural mode you can increase the the size of the head). Can be worth to try many different headphones. Have yoy tried Grado series? Grado 80SR? Do not have too much bass, dynamic response. Do not cover all the ear. Sound good for many people, and for me.
I never tried Grado series.
I'm so tired of get disapointed with eletronic products.
Ear covering it's important to avoid the high volume used by many people in noise places.
Well, headphones also can sound different in different ear canals, earflaps, and the size and shape of the head can have effect on how headphones reproduce the sound(maybe it is why also in Ptq binaural mode you can increase the the size of the head). Can be worth to try many different headphones. Have yoy tried Grado series? Grado 80SR? Do not have too much bass, dynamic response. Do not cover all the ear. Sound good for many people, and for me.
I've been reading posts about tbisone plugin and how this has benefited lots for some. I can't find it on the Internet. Is there a new version or something else anyone would recommend? Is it difficult to setup with pianoteq?...I'm not great at computer stuff! Thanks all.