Great video Alex and also a timely one. I just changed from the apogee groove dac also and whilst I do still like it in some instances, it does also have its flaws-mainly harshness in upper register for me. I also changed to planar magnetic headphones and the difference to me is quite remarkable. I just wanted to ask do you use a crossfeed plugin when mixing on headphones? Thanks bro and stay blessed🙏🏾🙌🏾
Ahh perfect. I just share my experiences in the hope that it helps someone, so it’s always great when it does. I don’t use a crossfeed plugin because I found that make any headphones I love sound terrible 🥲😅. Also I would need that cross feed plugin permanently active across the system because music will sound one way in Tidal/Spotify without it and then another way in the DAW with it. I understand them in concept but I just don’t like the sound of them, they inevitably mess with the phase which affects the transients heavily. So I’d much rather just play it out the laptop speakers for a check and then really take the time to learn my headphone my setup.
@@WhoIsAlexElliott really appreciate the response Alex. How funny cos that was my initial feelings with crossfeed too😄. I tried a trial and did not like it a while back, but am trying it again. Like you without it being systemwide, it seems like a lot of hassle. However, I am looking into the soundsource app, which looks like it will be able to solve this problem. I saw another mix engineer using it for the same thing and also for eq’ing his headphones using fab filter and he had set it up-systemwide along with Canopener and it looked like something I would be interested in. Still in research stage, but it looks encouraging🙏🏾.
Seems like we think alike. Ive got the DT770s and the LCD X and agree. My LCD X's are also too heavy for travelling with. I use a Topping DAC awith a Topping headphone amplifier. I use my Apollo X for tracking though. The newer Macs are a lot better with the headphone out as they can do 250ohm headphones now- I use for producing stuff (maybe not mixing but I want to give it another go).
Yes I relate to you on the Audeze weight. They are pretty chunky. I’ve never heard of the topping but will do my research on that, what made you go with that choice? Yeah defo need an interface for all other stuff I use a lynx aura n. I tried my M1 headphone amp which was first addition to do 250ohm but the mixes hits never came out great, so I need a proper dac for mixing but maybe you’ll have more luck. For me it’s quite a big difference between the Grace and built in laptop output.
Dope! Very similar to my on the go setup. Open Back Planar's (Hifiman), Closed Back Dynamic (Focal), and dac / amp for now is the little Topping dx1 (until I can afford a Chord Mojo or something lol). Got to love how far the tech has come over just the last 2 decades to where we can actually WORK on the go.
Thanks for sharing, your the second person to mention the topping, what made you decided to go for that one? and yes tech has come so far, I only found out about planar headphones 2 years ago and its been amazing. and battery life in laptops is so good now. It use to be the case before that you could only use word doc or internet but no intensive CPU programs for long.
@@WhoIsAlexElliott Paul Third put me onto Topping. Their DX7pro+ is the one I want for the studio (spec wise it out performs the Lynx Hilo). The DX1 I currently own was just the best cheap one I could find that was fully bus powered - something I wanted for the portability. He also put me onto Hifiman as an affordable planar option. Only tried the 1 pair from them, but for less than £300 for open back planers w the Sundara’s, once EQ’d they sound sooooo good for the price.
Yeah you’ve seen the whole process when I was sending tons of videos into that group chat as I was building this set up. Defo worth it in the end. 😂😂😂😂I absolutely love and trust it
I think Gaming laptops actually do have good quality audio cards and interfaces and is one of the selling points because Games need to have good quality audio. I can hear that My Razer Gaming laptop has significantly better audio then My HP laptop which just has generic audio. I could be wrong but these brands definitely make a point in Gaming laptop specifications how the audio is very important.
That makes sense why gaming laptops have better audio than a normal one. the new macs have high impedance headphone outputs so the loudness is there but the quality isn't. But I am comparing it to a £670 dedicated dac and amp.
I'm lucky.. I'm fixed location. No excuses to spend more money. However I can attest that the Grace headphone amps and DAC sounds amazing. I really wish they done a mastering ADC.. It would be my first purchase. A cheaper set up for those that don't have the spend, I would recommend a Focal Bathys Headphones connected with USB to the laptop using it's internal DAC. Headfpones are good balance of Hifi and Accurate Reff on the cheep. The DT's are industry standard In my book. Loved the balance between life a death with the misses.. 😬
Hahaha. Risking my life for the UA-cam 😂😂. If grace did an ADC 😍😍😍. Yeah I’m mostly fixed but there have been times where a client has come with a big opportunity but needed a 24hr turn around and I was fortunate I had my portable set up 🙌
@@WhoIsAlexElliott QQ, LCD X - seem bass light.. but have the most amazing Mid and High's I have ever heard on Headphones. Probably kills 70% of speakers to be honest. I found the Focal MG Clear Pros better at representing the bottom end, but not the Upper Mids and Highs I wish there were a pair of Headphones that merged both sounds.. I thought the Head MK2 would have done it however, they are so far of the mark and for the price.. I can't find any justification to purchase them.
I’ve never heard the Hedd but it’s on my list and yes the LCDX is bass shy in comparison but because the mids are soo good it’s easy to dial in the mix ❤️💯. But there is still space for the perfect headphone. I wonder if manny audexe 500 headphone solves this, as he was using the LCDx but had some issues he suggested to change and that’s how the Audeze Mm-500 came about.
Hey Alex , I'm also using a pair dt 990 pro 250 ohm and the only portable interface i tried that powered them was the audient id4 mk2 .. Just curious if you ever gave that interface a try .. Great video
Yeah it’s a great little interface. I’d even go as far as to say it’s the best budget portable audio interface. But for mixing quality the M900 does one thing only and does it exceptionally well. So I always take it as my portable mix set up.
Great vid again mate! Lucky you spoke quiet when mentioning the mrs singing being annoying, you wouldve been sleeping on the floor if she heard that bruv 😂
@@mzinfiniteprofilepictureof9860 yet most people still don’t know anything about it or that it exists 😂😂😂. None of my engineer piers or producers had even heard of it, so this video is for anyone who is also 10 years late. 🙌😂
Plus when I went to buy it myself a few years back there were no useful videos for me that shared the things I wanted to know. So now that I have this new channel I’m making the video I would love to see ❤
Great video Alex and also a timely one. I just changed from the apogee groove dac also and whilst I do still like it in some instances, it does also have its flaws-mainly harshness in upper register for me. I also changed to planar magnetic headphones and the difference to me is quite remarkable. I just wanted to ask do you use a crossfeed plugin when mixing on headphones? Thanks bro and stay blessed🙏🏾🙌🏾
Ahh perfect. I just share my experiences in the hope that it helps someone, so it’s always great when it does.
I don’t use a crossfeed plugin because I found that make any headphones I love sound terrible 🥲😅. Also I would need that cross feed plugin permanently active across the system because music will sound one way in Tidal/Spotify without it and then another way in the DAW with it. I understand them in concept but I just don’t like the sound of them, they inevitably mess with the phase which affects the transients heavily. So I’d much rather just play it out the laptop speakers for a check and then really take the time to learn my headphone my setup.
@@WhoIsAlexElliott really appreciate the response Alex. How funny cos that was my initial feelings with crossfeed too😄. I tried a trial and did not like it a while back, but am trying it again. Like you without it being systemwide, it seems like a lot of hassle. However, I am looking into the soundsource app, which looks like it will be able to solve this problem. I saw another mix engineer using it for the same thing and also for eq’ing his headphones using fab filter and he had set it up-systemwide along with Canopener and it looked like something I would be interested in. Still in research stage, but it looks encouraging🙏🏾.
Ok thanks for sharing that with me also. I’ll check that out.
@@WhoIsAlexElliott So with you on that one, I don't like anything that messes with the sound.
@@richertz yeah it really affects my mix decisions
I love the grace design stuff. When I got my M905 analogue and digital monitor controller my music changed from average to finally making me some PRS…
Ahh the M905 is on my wish list 🙌🙌🙌. My old mixing mentor had one and I remember the day he plugged his speakers into the DAC 😍😍😍😍
Seems like we think alike. Ive got the DT770s and the LCD X and agree. My LCD X's are also too heavy for travelling with. I use a Topping DAC awith a Topping headphone amplifier. I use my Apollo X for tracking though. The newer Macs are a lot better with the headphone out as they can do 250ohm headphones now- I use for producing stuff (maybe not mixing but I want to give it another go).
Yes I relate to you on the Audeze weight. They are pretty chunky. I’ve never heard of the topping but will do my research on that, what made you go with that choice? Yeah defo need an interface for all other stuff I use a lynx aura n. I tried my M1 headphone amp which was first addition to do 250ohm but the mixes hits never came out great, so I need a proper dac for mixing but maybe you’ll have more luck. For me it’s quite a big difference between the Grace and built in laptop output.
Dope! Very similar to my on the go setup. Open Back Planar's (Hifiman), Closed Back Dynamic (Focal), and dac / amp for now is the little Topping dx1 (until I can afford a Chord Mojo or something lol). Got to love how far the tech has come over just the last 2 decades to where we can actually WORK on the go.
Thanks for sharing, your the second person to mention the topping, what made you decided to go for that one? and yes tech has come so far, I only found out about planar headphones 2 years ago and its been amazing. and battery life in laptops is so good now. It use to be the case before that you could only use word doc or internet but no intensive CPU programs for long.
@@WhoIsAlexElliott Paul Third put me onto Topping. Their DX7pro+ is the one I want for the studio (spec wise it out performs the Lynx Hilo). The DX1 I currently own was just the best cheap one I could find that was fully bus powered - something I wanted for the portability.
He also put me onto Hifiman as an affordable planar option. Only tried the 1 pair from them, but for less than £300 for open back planers w the Sundara’s, once EQ’d they sound sooooo good for the price.
Awesome. I met him last month at gear fest. Cool dude! Studio wise I’ve been using the Elysia Xpector and that’s been a game changer!
I known you've veen a fan of the Grace for a long time! Need to hear it. Great setup bro
Yeah you’ve seen the whole process when I was sending tons of videos into that group chat as I was building this set up. Defo worth it in the end. 😂😂😂😂I absolutely love and trust it
I think Gaming laptops actually do have good quality audio cards and interfaces and is one of the selling points because Games need to have good quality audio. I can hear that My Razer Gaming laptop has significantly better audio then My HP laptop which just has generic audio. I could be wrong but these brands definitely make a point in Gaming laptop specifications how the audio is very important.
That makes sense why gaming laptops have better audio than a normal one. the new macs have high impedance headphone outputs so the loudness is there but the quality isn't. But I am comparing it to a £670 dedicated dac and amp.
@@WhoIsAlexElliott I think Grace M900 would be better audio then most laptop be them mac or windows.
💯
I'm lucky.. I'm fixed location. No excuses to spend more money. However I can attest that the Grace headphone amps and DAC sounds amazing. I really wish they done a mastering ADC.. It would be my first purchase. A cheaper set up for those that don't have the spend, I would recommend a Focal Bathys Headphones connected with USB to the laptop using it's internal DAC. Headfpones are good balance of Hifi and Accurate Reff on the cheep. The DT's are industry standard In my book. Loved the balance between life a death with the misses.. 😬
Hahaha. Risking my life for the UA-cam 😂😂. If grace did an ADC 😍😍😍. Yeah I’m mostly fixed but there have been times where a client has come with a big opportunity but needed a 24hr turn around and I was fortunate I had my portable set up 🙌
@@WhoIsAlexElliott QQ, LCD X - seem bass light.. but have the most amazing Mid and High's I have ever heard on Headphones. Probably kills 70% of speakers to be honest. I found the Focal MG Clear Pros better at representing the bottom end, but not the Upper Mids and Highs I wish there were a pair of Headphones that merged both sounds.. I thought the Head MK2 would have done it however, they are so far of the mark and for the price.. I can't find any justification to purchase them.
I’ve never heard the Hedd but it’s on my list and yes the LCDX is bass shy in comparison but because the mids are soo good it’s easy to dial in the mix ❤️💯. But there is still space for the perfect headphone. I wonder if manny audexe 500 headphone solves this, as he was using the LCDx but had some issues he suggested to change and that’s how the Audeze Mm-500 came about.
We need to take this set to the Lake my bro! 🧡
Yooo Lake District trip incoming. 👀
@@WhoIsAlexElliott let’s GOOOOOO!!!
@milespascall leave it with me.
Hey Alex , I'm also using a pair dt 990 pro 250 ohm and the only portable interface i tried that powered them was the audient id4 mk2 .. Just curious if you ever gave that interface a try .. Great video
Yeah it’s a great little interface. I’d even go as far as to say it’s the best budget portable audio interface. But for mixing quality the M900 does one thing only and does it exceptionally well. So I always take it as my portable mix set up.
Great vid again mate! Lucky you spoke quiet when mentioning the mrs singing being annoying, you wouldve been sleeping on the floor if she heard that bruv 😂
@nckcn4923 haha I was saving my own life with that manoeuvre 😂😂😂. And thankyou
This remind me of schiit hel DAC in design . Does this DAC have surround sound ? I mean crossfeed sound from movies and games ?
It doesn’t. It’s mainly a headphone amp 🙌💯
Is this USB-C or micro usb?
In the unit it’s micro but it Can be either. I have a usb micro to USBC cable I got from Amazon.
@@WhoIsAlexElliott Great clarification. Thank you
You 10 years late my bro
@@mzinfiniteprofilepictureof9860 yet most people still don’t know anything about it or that it exists 😂😂😂. None of my engineer piers or producers had even heard of it, so this video is for anyone who is also 10 years late. 🙌😂
Plus when I went to buy it myself a few years back there were no useful videos for me that shared the things I wanted to know. So now that I have this new channel I’m making the video I would love to see ❤