Well that looks comfy.

In general, yeah, USB should be fine. If I had the option, I would would go for a motherboard with an optical output, though. It might come in handy.

The headphones are huuge.. lol Did you find they fit tighter after?

Also, do you listen to the sort of music I'm referring to?
I mean, club music that's meant to be blasted? Are you able to get that loud club sound on yours?

Yeah, I'd gone my own way.

On the phone, the PowerAmp Music player's always been a great way, for me, to get music sounding the way I want.

On the PC, I channeled the sound through FL Studio.

Neither produced anything remotely promising and raising the volume only left me with a distorted overblown mess.

BTW, thanks for the reminder. Used to use that EQ APO long ago. Had forgotten all about it.

Do you find it helps with the clamping? I hear you too, mine are just inside too.

Ah Dekoni Audio nuggets, lol, I apologize, I thought you meant the ear pads. They actually look good too.

I did the same thing! They were just too big for my head, or my ears are up too high. Probably my ears.

A lot of us just use a well-reviewed dongle (with physical volume control), it's really just plug and play, don't worry too much about extra drivers/et cetera, more info here: https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/121yeg3/my_headphones_buzz_more_or_less_depending_on/jdoixm2/

Dongles with physical volume control (helps with reducing/remove static/buzzing/hissing/etc. noise, especially when gaming), more info here: https://www.reddit.com/r/HeadphoneAdvice/comments/11my6hp/under_150_dac_for_dt_770_pro_80/jbklpr8/

For the powered speakers, you might want an actual thing for that. As dongles (without volume control) and so on will often make the buzzing/static/hissing/etc. noises way louder.

Btw, most motherboards even with the S/PDIF, or like 5.1 options, and so on can have the buzzing/etc. real loud when you're gaming at high framerates/resolution. So the dongle with physical volume control can fix that. For the coil whine, see one of my posts nested within those threads but generally you just undervolt or get Noctua coolers/fans.

The motherboards will pretty much be with Realtek ALC897/ALC1200/etc. even if it's like an expensive one, so make sure you look at the specifications and the I/O pictures properly for your desired outputs/inputs and so on.

So definitely make sure you can reduce/remove that random background buzzing noise with the external audio devices. Some amps/DACs/etc. like say from iFi will often still have the hissing or sensitivity. So just do some research and avoid ones where people complained about those static noises. Especially when idle or with not sounds playing, the static noise can get really irritating.

PC gaming with budget IEMs and headphones: https://www.reddit.com/r/HeadphoneAdvice/comments/11vxaed/gaming_headphones_for_competitive_fps_on_pc/jcvjg2s/

IEMs/TWS earbuds and headphones with PC gaming, squig.link, AutoEQ, parametric EQ: https://www.reddit.com/r/HeadphoneAdvice/comments/11n9l4u/fiio_fh3_for_tarkov/jbm9db1/

With undervolting the GPU/CPU/etc. for less noise pollution, I actually also have a comment (like here: https://www.reddit.com/r/HeadphoneAdvice/comments/11gymgg/wired_headphones_that_block_out_noise_well/jaqyzxd/ and https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/11kp54t/best_noise_canceling_something_that_would_block/jb8lws7/) about that too, lol. Sorry the excessive links, smh, lmao.

Open back headphones and solutions to PC noises: https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/11dh2v9/is_there_anything_i_can_do_stop_hearing_my_own/ja8mltw/ and https://www.reddit.com/r/HeadphoneAdvice/comments/xpa9zd/pc_noise_with_open_back_headphones/iq2znjn/

Basically search up Noctua fans. Specifically the Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM fans.

These days there's the Thermaltake ToughFan 12, Phanteks T30-120, etc. that are a bit cheaper/better/etc. compared to Noctua. The Arctic P12 PWM PST (5 Pack) is still the best value, just be aware of the annoying resonance range, it's like ~1000RPM.

How to maybe soundproof your room for better noise reduction/isolation: https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/10epr17/struggling_to_enjoy_my_headphones_in_noisy/j4t4qaw/

I got the same headband cover for my edition xs. I don’t mine the look of it since it only sits on my desk. You can see in my post on how it looks with it on.

Drivers are one thing about USB that worries me. Is it usually pretty seamless, plug and play now a days?

Huh

Just ordered the Geekria .. Thank you. Now I will be styling.

I personally prefer optical because I've had issues with DACs and USB drivers in the past, but that's just me. The other benefit is the protection against EM noise.

The downside is the lack of support for anything higher than 24-bit/96KHz but that doesn't bother me.

Thank you, I will look into that. I was going to get the Dekoni elite (I think), cost quite a bit, but I hear it really makes a difference. I will definitely check out the headband cover and pad. Thanks again.

Also as a followup to my previous comment, you're definitely not an audiophile and you don't have a critical ear because M50X, bad as they are, sound better than even the $200 Klipsch Promedia or the $250 Bose Revolve+ 2 speakers. It sounds like you're just a bass head, which is fine, but you have to understand that sound is subjective and you don't have "normal" (no insult intended) audio preferences that would line up with the majority of the public (again no insult) which is fine. If you do buy headphones again look for something with very heavy bass to match your preferences. Again the Sennheiser Momentum 4 is a good choice for this.

To be fair, neither of the headphones you have are HiFi. ATHM50X doesn't deserve to be popular just like Beats doesn't deserve to be popular but they're available at every Best Buy and people buy them and think they're good. They're not. Actually IMO M50X is worse than the old M50 (no X) and definitely worse than the cheaper M40X. If you want to truly get good sound out of wired headphones you're going to need to run them off a semi decent dac/amp and get some decent headphones.

Having said that there are some things that headphones will never do as well as speakers, such as if you're just a total total bass freak. Overall though, in terms of clarity and detail, headphones tend to give you more bang per dollar vs speakers, if you know what to buy.

So TLDR blame your headphones. Try something higher end. If you don't want to bother with an amp you might find something wireless like Sennheiser Momentum 4 or even the cheaper 450BT sounds a lot better. Make sure you have at least BT 4.8 on your phone/other devices.

Dekoni Audio Nuggets or Geekria Hook and Loop Headband Cover + Headband Pad Set.

As an owner of the RME, it’s absolutely worth the $$$ for things like auto ref and loudness features on top of the very capable EQ settings.

Very well said my friend, and I would agree. If you have very resolving headphones, you’ll be able to appreciate the differences of the chain in my experience.

I'm glad to hear someone say this because I've always heard that Sennheisers stay good for awhile.

All my respect my friend! 🫡

Thanks for the tip! I've been using a shoe box so far so I don't bend it too much.

Had mine for 4 years now and they're still going strong. Haven't even had to replace the pads yet even though I use them for hours daily.

The 58X is perfect entry to this hobby. If you still find them to be too tight, DON'T try to bend the plastic headband. But instead, pull down the metal hangers/adjusters and bend those.