AX8 - First listen for newbs like me

Whoah. Shocked at this as mine totally rocks through headphones! I guess it depends on your phones. And your head.
When I had the Axe Fx II I used it through headphones mostly at home and it was AMAZING. Love it through the headphones. (I also listen to a lot of music through headphones which is awesome as well)
 
My monitoring is 100% IEM, using the Shure SE535's. Sounds great to me. I also have the SE215's and it's great with those too.
 
And your head.

Will just leave that door wide open... Wait a second... ;)

Good post David, I prefer listening to the presets through my Studio Monitors. The "feel" isn't always there, but gain staging/structuring and amp tone is fairly well represented. Cheers
 
Nice to know I'm not the only one.

The point of this thread is for newbs to not judge the AX8 by the sound through headphones. I still think it's good advice.
As weird as it sounds, I had the same experience. I was very underwhelmed playing through headphones and going through the presets. I have owned an Axe Fx II in the past and something just sounded off. I plan to run it through an interface and then through a monitor on Thursday or Friday and am expecting better results.
 
When I had the Axe Fx II I used it through headphones mostly at home and it was AMAZING. Love it through the headphones. (I also listen to a lot of music through headphones which is awesome as well)
I always thought the Headphones on My Axe XL were amazing as well. I prefered using my IEM's into the headphone jack when creating presets. My in ears are 1964's Six drivers so that might have something to do with it.
 
I have ATM50's and Beyer 770pros. They both sound fine with the AX8....Not sure why people feel the need to make absolutes...If something isn't right for you, soesn't mean it's wrong for everyone. The Beyers do sound "much" better than the ATm50's. And they both sound better using my mixer.
But nothing beats good studio monitors for me-Definitely a nice representation for me.
 
Again, the point of my post is for newbs like me to not judge the sound of the AX8 based on headphones plugged directly into the outputs. It gives me a sense of the sounds, but the two sets I used gave me very different results but neither sounded like the AX8 sounds in the posted clips. You mention that your Beyers do sound much better than the ATm50s and that BOTH sound better when running through your mixer. And nothing beats good studio monitors.

All I'm trying to do is help those new to Fractal amp modeling have a positive experience. Better than someone plugging in their headphones when they get their AX8, hating the sound and sending it back thinking it doesn't sound good.

OK that's fine...was just stating my experience. It does not sound "better" thru my headphones because I have owned an axefx already. It sounds OK because it sounds Ok.
I did end by saying my best experience was Studio monitors. No big deal here really. Just a different opinion.

Not sure why a new user experience will give a "better or equal to" opinion of usage and sound. But hey, that's what makes the world go round-different opinions and views.....
 
Are you plugging your IEMs straight into the 1/4" outputs using a y cable?

At home I run into a small mixer and use the mixer's headphone jack. At church we have Avioms that I plug into.
I should have mentioned that this is with my AxeFX II - I don't have an AX8 (yet!).
 
Let me put it this way, if I judged the AX8 based on what I heard through the two different sets of headphones last night, I would send it back. Fortunately, I know that what I heard was not a true representation of the AX8's sound.

Yes David, I understood that....
 
For the record: I use a single set of presets for live playing and playing 'silent' at home through headphones. And have zero issues with that. The tonal characteristics (representation) are the same. Only less 'air' and thump when playing through headphones, of course.
 
I thought about trying the Blu Mo-Fi headphones, as I think the powered cans would make the lower signal sound better. I don't know that, of course, but it seems it would. Sounds pretty decent through my mixing board and monitors.
 
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The output impedance of the 1/4" outputs is 600 ohms IIRC. This may be too high for some headphones. We always use a small output impedance on our designs to help protect the output devices against improper connections, ESD, etc. The outputs were not really designed to drive headphones, they are designed to drive high-impedance inputs (>10K). Headphones will work but it won't be optimum. For optimum results use a dedicated headphone amp.
 
The output impedance of the 1/4" outputs is 600 ohms IIRC. This may be too high for some headphones. We always use a small output impedance on our designs to help protect the output devices against improper connections, ESD, etc. The outputs were not really designed to drive headphones, they are designed to drive high-impedance inputs (>10K). Headphones will work but it won't be optimum. For optimum results use a dedicated headphone amp.
So it'll sound better when plugging it into a mixer and using the headphone output on there?
 
Let me put it this way, if I judged the AX8 based on what I heard through the two different sets of headphones last night, I would send it back. Fortunately, I know that what I heard was not a true representation of the AX8's sound.

Is this the way you felt about the Helix also? or was it designed for head phones?
 
Just an update here... Tried it through an m audio interface and into GarageBand and it sounded awesome. So, in my experience, I have to agree with David. Listening through the Y cable and straight into headphones is far from the best listening experience and that would be pretty bad way for a first time user to experience their axe fx.
 
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