Audio Setups on Sagers...

I just use a good pair of headphones instead of speakers. I have also used a MIDI USB interface. I use the midiman 2x2 with Sonar 2.0 xl. Everything runs like it should.

Hehe

Well i'm glad you asked what i have my laptop hooked up to ahemmm
Since i work at bestbuy, i get a steal on hometheater speakers so naturally, i pieced one together and bought it for 500$, saving over 1000$ off retail prices. So, i have a soundblaster extigy for my soundcard. I then run the audio into my Yamaha 5660 A/V THX certified 6.1 channel reciever :-) man i love that thing. From there the bass goes to my massive jbl pb12 sub, rocking the whole house. My speakers are sony. The front main ones are about 4 feet ttall, each has dual 8" woofers a mid and a high tweeter. Then i have a sony center and rear center, then left and right rear speakers. The key factor in building a great sounding HT system is the reciever. Sony speakers are good, but that reciever makes them sing. I could make a pair of KLH's sound good. HAHA man KLH, maybe not...... Well anyway, thats what i got set up. It's pretty sweet, especially for MOHAA and SH online :-) man ok well its off to bed for me!

cooltoad, that sounds like a wicked setup! wish I had something even close to that for my home computer system

On my 8887 I just use the built-in audio for gaming and watching TV shows on the go. If I'm working on audio projects, I use the Echo Indigo card, and I always have my Sennheiser HD600 headphones and Etymotic ER4P (with ER4S converter plug) earphones along. What I'm praying for is a foldable, rollable midi keyboard controller so I can tote it along and play piano anywhere I want to. Like that'll ever happen, right?

From Desktop to Home Theater

not really sure if this fits but i think it might help a few people out there.

On my desktop the only sound output i have goes to the cheap HP speakers that came with my system (the kind where u change the volume with a knob on the keyboard). Since i recentally got a beautiful Onkyo TX-SR500 receiver with Onkyo SKS-HT500 speakers in my room i wanted to be able to listen to my MP3's through that. So i ditched those speakers and got some amplified ones (where u can turn the actual speakers off and change the volume on the actual speaker). I made a quick trip to radio shack and bought 1) a splitter to change the one speaker output into two and 2) an adapter to change the headphone style connecter into RCA connecters. Then ran one end to my home theater and the other to my computer speakers. Low and behold i now can get either cheap computer speaker sound, or turn them off and get beautiful sound from my home theater.

Again, don't know if this fits/applies, but it's a inexpensive alternative that works pretty good, esp. if your sound card doesn't have a second Line Out. I would imagine u could rig this up for a laptop but i think it's kinda pointless since there's other, probally better suited, outputs you could use

huh?

Ummm, the yamaha 5660 is a hometheater reciever, it has nothing to do with keyboards..... Anyway, yeah the system isn't solely for my comp, its mainly for watching movies, another hobby of mine. Oh another neat thing i have is a 2.4ghz wireless AV transmitter made by a company called leapfrog that i use to transmit the a/v from my lap top to the reciever without wires :-) its great, and while it retails for around 150, i picked it up for around 60, man i love working at bestbuy :-)

Wow, HD600 headphones...those are like $500. Quick question. I am thinking of getting the Grado SR 125 headphones for listening to MP3s on my Dell Axim X5 PDA as well as my laptop while I am on the go. In your opinion, does the 8887 built-in audio provide comparable sound quality (when listening through high quality headphones) as to the sound produced through an external sound card? Also, if you have any advice for or against the Grado's let me know.

ic

jyoung,

The 8887's built in audio actually has pretty decent midrange and highs, but there doesn't seem to be enough power to drive the bass on a pair of good headphones. Also, the built-in audio relies on your CPU to work, so getting an external soundcard will help the computer a great deal, especially when you're playing CPU-intensive games or professional audio software. I have an Echo Indigo PCI card, which costs about $100 and has great sound. There's also a USB Soundblaster Extigy and a few other sound optiions you might want to research

As for headphones, I think the Grado SR125 would work very well with your portable MP3 player! I only recently tried out a Grado, the SR60, and it sounded really good with my portable MP3 player. I think it's a great brand!

The Sennheiser HD600 I have is usually listed at a high price, but it's always on sale on various websites online, and you can usually get it for about $279.00. I bought mine about 4 years ago, and it cost the same as it does today. It has really great sound and I would recommend it, but the one drawback is that it's an open-ear design... the part that covers your ears is actually open, so people can hear whatever you're listening to, and it sounds really loud to them - and you can also hear everything around you. Even with music at full blast, you can still hear the phone ring. So the HD600 is good for quiet environments.

The Grado I tried was a closed-ear type. It covers your ear and when you turn on the music, that's all you hear The SR60 has great bass, and is perfect for listening to Pop, Rock, or any type of mainstream music. It's really enjoyable and I'm sure you'll have a lot of good use if you get the Grado!

I also have the Etymotic ER4P earphones. These look like your regular Walkman $10 earphones. But these cost the same as the Sennheiser HD600 - around $279.00. It seems outrageously expensive, but there's a good reason - it sounds as good as, and often better than the Sennheiser HD600. And, it goes inside your ear, and blocks out 30 decibels of sound. This means you can listen to your portable MP3 player and have a huge semi truck drive right in front of your face - and you won't even hear it - at all - but you will feel the vibration of the truck! It's like being deaf - you have to learn to look both ways before crossing every street or turning corners. And you can't hear someone calling you even if they're yelling directly into your ear. The huge drawback to this earphones, is that it goes inside your ear - like a hearing aid. It takes getting used to, and I'd only recommend it to real music lovers who will put up with anything to get great sound. There are days when I don't feel like sticking it in my ears and I'll use the Sennheisers. But it's invaluable to have with a laptop if you are in a noisy environment. I am so I rely on these earphones almost all day long

Two things to think about when you consider buying headphones:

1. High-quality headphones can turn a dance MP3 on your laptop into a full-blown nightclubbing sound experience - classical music will sound as if you were right there in front of the orchestra! And it doesn't even cost $300.00 for a lot of the best models, even the Sennheiser HD600! A top-of-the-line computer can cost over $5000.00, a car over $30,000.00. So $300.00 for headphones isn't that bad

2. You will probably end up needing an external soundcard for your laptop, so plan that into your budget for the headphones.


I buy my headphones from HeadRoom and even if you don't buy from them, the site is great for checking out the various brands and models. They carry a lot of the Grados, and the SR125 you mention is going for $149.00 on their site.

Good luck on your headphone research, and I hope you pick out something you'll enjoy for a long time! Feel free to ask any questions about my Sennheiser HD600, Etymotic ER4P, and Echo Indigo card. I'll be happy to tell you more about them

Cheers!

i use good headphones (sony mdr-vj700v, i'm a dj for a local radio station and i play some clubs so that is what i use them for mainly but they kick butt on the computer) i reccomend this because it is private (won't bother neighbors) and with an investment of maybe $100 or $150 you can have the same audio quality as some much more expensive systems because the sound doesn't have to travel through anything so there is no chance of that kind of distortion. Not to mention they make you look wicked cool!!



so ok, my headphones aren't the sennheisers mentioned before but they are still good, my question for you is what is an Etymotic ER4P (with ER4S converter plug)??? should i get one? and if so where?

aladdin,

You can check out the Etymotic Research website to learn about their ER4P and ER4S, and also their musician's earplugs. You can buy their products directly, but they're a little more expensive than going through a retailer such as HeadRoom

The ER4P is designed for low-power portable CD and MP3 players. The ER4S model is designed for use with powered amps and home stereo systems. In the past you would have to buy both models if you wanted great sound using portables and hi-fi systems. But they now sell a small adapter cord that turns the ER4P into the ER4S. So if you buy the ER4P model with the adapter, you will have both models of the earphones at a cheaper price!

Etymotic also makes a cheaper model of their earphones, the ER6. I do not recommend these at all... I don't think they sound good enough to be worth the $150.00 price tag. For that money, you're better off saving for their ER4 models

The ER4 earphones come in a plastic box which holds all the spare eartips and other things, and you get a small pouch that you can roll up the earphones and put it in. I always just store the phones in the small pouch, and carry it around in my pocket with my MP3 player. In my laptop bag I have one of those hard plastic eyeglass cases and use that to store my Echo Indigo soundcard and the Etymotic ER4P adapter cord.

The Etymotics themselves take some getting used to, and you have to practice putting it into your ear. It's easy enough to do, but if you don't push it in far enough, you don't have a good seal and you'll be able to hear outside noises. And you'll also have poor bass response. But once you get it right, you'll be in total silence. Being a DJ, you no doubt have some sort of permanent ringing in your ears (as all of us music fanatics do!) so of course, with a good seal, you'll hear the ringing pretty loud, along with your breathing, and you can hear yourself talk, which is odd.
But you get used to all this in no time and it's no bother.

Using the Etymotic earphones, it's like you're in a private, quiet studio and you'll become oblivious to everything around you. First-time Etymotic users often get what is called "Disassociative Disorder" which is where you feel detached from the outside world. It's quite an experience to be listening to your portable music while walking down the street, and you only hear the music - and it sounds like you're listening at home on your hi-fi system! You feel like you're watching a music video. And sometimes it's hard to take off the Etymotics, because you don't want to go back to reality. For me this phase lasted a good... 3 or 4 months. Now I'm pretty used to it and it's neat to watch others go through the phase

One big plus (or big minus, depending on your situation) is that people will barely notice you have the Etymotics on. With regular big headphones on, everyone knows you're doing something with audio. With the Etymotics, it's pretty common to look up from your laptop and see someone talking to you and they think you've been listening to them the whole time

I swear the audio is top-notch... for DJ'ing I doubt you'll have much use for it. But for working on studio projects, it's great!

One inexpensive way to test out if you'll find the Etymotics comfortable is to buy the Etymotic ER-20 earplugs. They cost about $10 and the tips are exactly like the ER4 tips. So you can experiment with the earplugs (you stick them in your ear the same way) and you'll know if you want to try out the earphones. HeadRoom also has some sort of 30-day money-back guarantee on their headphones, so you can contact them about the details if you ever do decide on trying out the earphones.

Sorry if I typed too much here. I'm a big fan of the Eymotics There are some drawbacks to using them (same drawbacks also on the Sennheiser HD600) so if you or anyone else reading this wants more info on these, let me know and I'll go into more detail.

Don't forget to check out the Etymotic and HeadRoom links above. Even if you're not really interested in expensive headphones, these sites are very informative and in no time you'll be up-to-date on all the good headphones, and know a little about how to protect your hearing

Thank you...thank you...thank you...

This is exactly what I have been looking for...Thanks keal and oberhammer!! Headroom has also been very beneficial.

I am drooling over what I have read about the Echo Indigo so far

I was wondering if you answer a few more questions. Since the Echo Indigo sticks out of the laptop, have you ever had problems with slight bumps disturbing the card and the sound? Or is the "fit" in the laptop pretty solid? Also how solid is the amp on the card? Will it easily power high end headphones?

Frankly, I also cannot make up my mind between sealed and open cans. I'm going back for my MBA, so I will spend most of my day at the university. Obviously I won't be using the headphones in class, but will use around in the building (hallways between classes, breaks at the cafeteria, rooms while working on group projects, etc.). The other 20% of the time would be for gaming at LAN parties, or at home. My wife tends to get upset if I can't carry on conversations with her, while I do need to keep the noise down when my children are asleep. Anyways, I can't decide if I want the open design so that I can maintain an open dialogue with my classmates and wife, or the sealed design so that I don't annoy others who are trying to work/study or wake up my children? Maybe someone has been in a similar environment and can give me some advice?

jyoung,

The Echo Indigo does have a little movement if you move it side-to-side. when I plug in a headphone, I hold on to the card to keep it stable. It's not really a problem, though, as the card has never accidentally come out of the slot. The card is made very well!
As a headphone amp, it's powerful enough to drive any headphone with ease! Make that 2 headphones at once with ease

Open-ear headphones like the Sennheiser HD600 are not good for situations where people are close to you and need to sleep or concentrate on their own work. The open-ear design lets all the sound out, and the noise will definitely draw attention. The Sony model that aladdin uses, or the closed-design Sennheisers that Oberhammer has may be more suitable choices for those types of situations.

Hopefully others can give you more input to help you choose the right headphones to suit your needs

Cheers!

Wow, thanks Keal, that was a ton of info! Yah, as cool as those ear buds look i don't think they are for me; i want something that i can use for work and play.

I like the swivel cups of the sonys for dj-ing and the fact that a loose part can be tighted easily with a screw driver not to mention that they have amazing sound quality.

as for the open or closed design i would fully reccomend closed, when you listen to something you should have only that, nothing else otherwise you will lose the whole effect of high end audio. If you need to talk to some one i keep one ear open so that i can hear. what i have found that is cool is that with my headphones while they create a wicked amount of sound in my ear about 1 foot away you hear nothing from them.

on another topic: i am getting an echo indigo ASAP! that looks like just what i have been needing. the sound card on the Sager creates a whole lot of backround noise and it is annoying, but from what i read the indigo will fix that along with providing a better amp. thanks for the tip on that Keal, i am sure it will revolutionize how i listen to music just like getting high-end headphones did.

My question is when i play a cd using the audoi cd dj front panel on my sager 8887 will the echo indigo be in effect? because the computer is off, so i am afaid if i listen to a cd when the computer is off (by the way, i love that feature) i can't have the quality that i get when the compu is on. thanks for the info

Re: Thank you...thank you...thank you...

Bumps do not disturb the echo indigo. The echo indigo fits very snuggly and tightly. I have never once had any problems with the echo indigo. It is perfect. Can it easily power high end headphones? Yes, very easily. It cranks. You can blow your ears off if you want.

aladdin,

Unfortunately the Indigo soundcard doesn't work when you use the CD player on the front of the laptop. So you'd have to go through the built-in audio output

I have a pair of Grado's Sr 80 and they sound great with the 8886 but not as good as when hooked up to my desktop with onboard sound.