I have a problem - no, not THAT one!
I'm quite Mutt & Jeff and while I have solved the "live" TV problem by a pair of decent wireless headphones, I continue to have hearing problems when using my laptop.
I download a fair few TV programs, mainly, I'm ashamed to say, lightweight stuff like NCIS, The Mentalist, Bones and so on.
I play these using VLC media player on my Windows 7, 62 bit laptop and have real difficulty in finding a pair of headphones at sensible money, which are capable of producing the volume necessary for me to actually hear the dialogue comfortably.
This is with the laptop volume set to maximum and VLC volume set to its maximum.
I've just returned a pair of cheapish over the ear Sennheiser HD 201 phones to Amazon as not up to the job. I've also tried these latter phones with a dedicated amplifier - FiiO E06 Portable Headphone Amplifier, also returned as one channel failed after a couple of day's use. That, when working produced volume, but also had the phones leaking huge amounts of sound into the room, much to the vocal annoyance of my wife!
So, has anyone any recommendations for a reasonably priced set of closed back, over the ear headphones capable of being driven from the audio jack of my ACER 7540 laptop, whose ordinary loudspeaker sound is a bit weedy when compared to my wife's Sony Vaio?
What sort of specifications should I be looking at? They should not disturb the tigress watching her soaps!
I need speech clarity not bass boost for music.
It would be good if the output jack was joined to its cable robustly as this has been the source of failure on my last two sets of cans. An angled jack would work best, to relieve pressure on the jack/cable joint when using the outfit while sitting in a fairly close fitting armchair!
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Are subtitles an option, I think you can often just turn them on if you have downloaded the program.
Last edited by: sooty123 on Tue 24 Feb 15 at 18:49
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None of the shows I download have sub-titles.
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Ask these guys.
preview.tinyurl.com/pnlopxx
No connection (Pardon) other than I bought some headphones there a year ago for my Laptop and they are brilliant. No Leakage mentioned by my Tigress (Soap Crap). Volume not a problem. Comfortable. I have big lugs and they fit a treat. I guess they'll not do mail order, but being North Devon (Nice) they may sort something. The big bonus was the cost. I'm not going to state it hear (sic) cos the purists will just the tiss. Try 20 something.
Wait. Written on the headband is the word Citronic. On the earpieces HP35OPRO
They really are excellent.
Last edited by: R.P. on Tue 24 Feb 15 at 20:43
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I've just summoned 'er indoors from the Soap Pit, via I message of course to listen to me listening to the Four Tops giving it large followed by the Cure (Friday I'm in Love) at blistering levels. She can hear me in a pub at 10 miles so I have no doubt about her snooping abilities!
She says that there is no seepage:-0)
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Chromecast to your telly. Use your telly to watch your downloads.
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>> Chromecast to your telly. Use your telly to watch your downloads.
>>
SWM is watching all the soaps, (God there's a lot) + Casualty, Holby City, Waterloo Road..........................................
No chance for me until she's gone to bed!
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>> None of the shows I download have sub-titles.
Thats the problem with nicking stuff, its always missing something.
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I've got Weller doing his best right now Going Underground with the Eton Rifles. There's no Malice there. It's all as loud as... and there's no distortion or indeed leakage.
Roger. Give that link a tweak and just ask them. Honestly. MD.
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Why can't you use the same headphones as you use for the TV? Unplug from TV when you're not allowed/able to watch and use on the laptop.
Subtitles can be downloaded separately to illegal movies and used alongside the MP4 videos.
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try ac3filter, it allows you to increase the output volume on certain file types.
www.ac3filter.net/wiki/Download_AC3Filter
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>> try ac3filter, it allows you to increase the output volume on certain file types.
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>> www.ac3filter.net/wiki/Download_AC3Filter
>>
Crikey that looks complicated!
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>> Why can't you use the same headphones as you use for the TV? Unplug from
>> TV when you're not allowed/able to watch and use on the laptop.
Logistically difficult - the input for the headphones is taken directly from the Humax Foxsat box, as plugging in directly to the TV mutes its normal sound.
The box is in an enclosed solid wood Ercol TV cabinet, triangular in shape and pushed as far into a corner as possible to hide the cafflle.(Pembrokeshire dialect for a real tangle) .
Then the moving and connection/disconnection with the utter chaos of wires for the Humax, the TV, the DVD Blue Ray player , the CD player + speakers, the power for the soundbar, the telephone power & connection make a plate of spaghetti look simple and is just not an option!
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>> Subtitles can be downloaded separately to illegal movies and used alongside the MP4 videos.
USA TV shows = no subs.
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>> USA TV shows = no subs.
Oh that doesn't follow at all. I often need to get english and/or Spanish subs, both are readily available; try getting them from a different place. From memory its something like www.tvsubtitles.com or .net or something.
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>> >> USA TV shows = no subs.
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>> Oh that doesn't follow at all. I often need to get english and/or Spanish subs,
>> both are readily available; try getting them from a different place. From memory its something
>> like www.tvsubtitles.com or .net or something.
It's .net - many thanks for that link, NO FM2R - it certainly gives listings for quite a few of my interests.
I shall try it to see if I can make it work :-)
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>> >> Oh that doesn't follow at all. I often need to get english and/or Spanish
>> subs,
>> >> both are readily available; try getting them from a different place. From memory its
>> something
>> >> like www.tvsubtitles.com or .net or something.
>> It's .net - many thanks for that link, NO FM2R - it certainly gives listings
>> for quite a few of my interests.
>> I shall try it to see if I can make it work :-)
I tried a subtitle file for Person of Interest. VLC player has a simple menu item "add subtitle fie".
Found the extracted file, clicked on it hey presto - subtitles!
My new headphones are OK. Build quality is not that good for around 3 times the price of the ones I sent back to Amazon.
I've found it helps to disable Dolby and surround sound on the laptop, which combined with tweaking of the graphic equaliser on VLC, gives reasonable volume & clarity with VLC's volume set at 200%.
Alternatively, SM Player produces much louder sound as standard, but controlling it to take account of intrusive music highs, involves a slider rather than the wheel button on the mouse which does that job with VLC.
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Roger,
Someone I know has hearing problems but likes these shows. How did you get on with www.tvsubtitles.net ?
Did it work out ok or was it too much work?
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Odd compared to Netflix. It will download subtitles ("captions") for American material but not British
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>> I've got Weller doing his best right now Going Underground with the Eton Rifles. There's
>> no Malice there. It's all as loud as... and there's no distortion or indeed leakage.
>>
>> Roger. Give that link a tweak and just ask them. Honestly. MD.
Thoe cans you mention are available on Amazon!
OK - good info about leakage; thanks.
Those phones seem to be for DJs and possibly leaning towards music reproduction - I do not listen to music, though!
I think part of the problem may be that the laptop's sound card isn't man - oops sorry - person enough, to drive some headphones.
As I mentioned the "normal" output from the ACER speakers is very quiet compared to that from my wife's newer Sony Vaio.
The difficulty lies in not being able to try before buying, using my laptop as the source. PC World said no, headphones generally are not on display out of their packaging - Maplins said maybe, ask in store!
Online, one has to rely on customer's reviews, all of them with different criteria and perceptions.
I don't want to get a reputation with Amazon for returning stuff willy-nilly!
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>> The difficulty lies in not being able to try before buying, using my laptop as
>> the source. PC World said no, headphones generally are not on display out of their
>> packaging - Maplins said maybe, ask in store!
My local Tesco extra has a row of cans on display, each with a music sample, more importantly. there is an external 3.5mm jack (for your iPod) to test your own source.
Tried a rather nice pair of Sony ones - 15 quid.
Why are you using a laptop? why did you buy the hudl?
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>>
>> >> The difficulty lies in not being able to try before buying, using my laptop
>> as
>> >> the source. PC World said no, headphones generally are not on display out of
>> their
>> >> packaging - Maplins said maybe, ask in store!
>>
>> My local Tesco extra has a row of cans on display, each with a music
>> sample, more importantly. there is an external 3.5mm jack (for your iPod) to test your
>> own source.
>>
>> Tried a rather nice pair of Sony ones - 15 quid.
>>
>> Why are you using a laptop? why did you buy the hudl?
My ACER has a 17" screen, so it's good for viewing. It's very heavy & runs very hot, so is not too good for actual lap use. I use it mostly as a desktop substitute, although I also use it (warmly) while sitting in an armchair.
The HUDL - it's good for reading, surfing while I'm in my pit (or on the loo). It's good for travel and lets me (in paranoid mode) check our bank account every day while away from home. The picture is a bit small and the sound - again :-( - is only just adequate at maximum volume.
Thanks for the TESCO Extra tip - our nearest will be in Chesterfield or Sheffield, I think.
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I use Studiospares M2000. Not angled jack but they don't overdo the bass and seem pretty effective as closed backs go.
www.studiospares.com
Someone there might be able to advise more.
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Thanks for the suggestion Ronald, but as they are open back, (according to their website's description) there'll be too much sound leakage for my wife's comfort.
Last edited by: Roger. on Wed 25 Feb 15 at 12:35
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Thanks to all of you who have contributed to this subject.
I've played safe and bought from Amazon due to their easy returns policy.
I've ordered a pair of reasonably low impedance Sennheiser HD449 headphones at rather more than my ideal budget. They should be here tomorrow, so I'll see if they work OK for me, quite soon.
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Er - what was said? - sooty123
