Speakers For Pod Hd500x

[kpanwar]

Hi everyone,

I've got a Pod HD500X that I've been using with a Laney solid state amp on the clean channel for a few months now and this set-up has been pretty great for me. However, I'll be going to university in a different country soon.

I was thinking of purchasing cheap (and small) PC speakers to use in the dorm room, but thus far the headphones out on the Pod has sounded pretty bad to me. The sound has mostly been kind of fuzzy with little clarity. I've used a 1/4 inch to 3.5mm converter with my Shure SE215 earphones whenever I've tried the headphones out. I have a cheap-looking speaker that I got for free which when plugged in sounds quite bad as well.

So my question is, what are some good options for PC speakers to use with the POD HD500X, and how is everyone's experience with PC speakers with the POD HD series ? I was looking at something like this: http://www.x-mini.com/product/x-mini-max-ii-capsule-speakers.

 

I did get a decent sound when I plugged my earphones into the unbalanced out, with the 1/4 out set to line, and output mode set to Studio/Direct, so should I be using that instead of the headphones out? I understand that headphones are a viable option for me as well, but I would prefer to hear the sound from speakers instead. I would also prefer not to purchase a cheap/second-hand amp once I've arrived at university due to portability issues. Most of the information that I found from my research was regarding headphones and studio monitors, not much to do with PC speakers.

TL;DR: I need recommendations for speakers to use my Pod HD500X with.

Thanks in advance!

[DarrellM5]

I'm sure the speaker experts will chime in shortly but your Shure SE215's are only 20 ohms, which is fine for phones and mp3 players, and the HD500X is designed to run higher impedance headphones like the Beyerdynamic DT880's, which are 250 ohms.  

[spawn2031]

PODs do great through a computer and I have had good results running through the USB and using an Altec Lansing speaker system.  These work well but I didn't get them with anything like the POD in mind.  If you looking for something compact, I was told that the speakers in the link below work rather well and I have seen them in the background on several POD tone demos as well.

 

http://www.americanmusical.com/Item--i-BEH-MS20-LIST?src=Y0802G00SRCHCAPN&gclid=CJ6im9Gd8L0CFchFMgod5QgA1w

[cruisinon2]

I'm sure the speaker experts will chime in shortly but your Shure SE215's are only 20 ohms, which is fine for phones and mp3 players, and the HD500X is designed to run higher impedance headphones like the Beyerdynamic DT880's, which are 250 ohms.

 

I've seen this on the forums a bunch of times, and I'm in no position to dispute it, but I can't find any reference to headphone impedance in either the pilot's guide or the advanced guide. Anybody know where this info actually is?

[Brad_Ames]

Why not (and to no dis-credit to the speakers) just get like a cox mini 3 or Roland micro cube gx ? You could use the POD with them and it would sound ok, better than cheap headphones. But if speakers are your thing, I use a pair of Alesis speakers that sound great

[spawn2031]

Why not (and to no dis-credit to the speakers) just get like a cox mini 3 or Roland micro cube gx ? You could use the POD with them and it would sound ok, better than cheap headphones. But if speakers are your thing, I use a pair of Alesis speakers that sound great

 

Yeah, I saw a pair of Alesis studio monitors that were very similar to those Behringers I linked before.  I'm sure those would do awesome as well, just a bit pricier I think.

[kpanwar]

Thanks for the replies guys, much appreciated. The main issue with studio monitors for me is portability, as I doubt I'd be able to fit them into my suitcase, and they'd take up quite a bit of weight. The reason why I was hestitant with headphones is also partially because everyone seems to have mixed experiences with them, regardless of impedance. With that said, the vox and roland amps do seem like good options. I'll look into those.

[kpanwar]

Sorry for the double post, but just came across this as well: http://www.roland.com/products/en/CUBE_Lite/ . Seems pretty well-suited for my purpose, and it only weighs 1.7kg. Costs slightly more than than the Micro Cube GX though. Anyway thanks for everything guys, I've got quite a few options now, so I'm sure I'll find something that works well for me.

[Brad_Ames]

Good luck man! Those Alesis were almost $250 but sound great, and the Roland portable amps are pretty nifty! If possible call Roland and ask them about them to find one that suits your needs, or demo one at a guitar shop if ya can. Good luck and have fun at university!

[cruisinon2]

Thanks for the replies guys, much appreciated. The main issue with studio monitors for me is portability, as I doubt I'd be able to fit them into my suitcase, and they'd take up quite a bit of weight. The reason why I was hestitant with headphones is also partially because everyone seems to have mixed experiences with them, regardless of impedance. With that said, the vox and roland amps do seem like good options. I'll look into those.

I suspect the mixed results are due to using the wrong cans for the job. You really need a good pair of studio monitor headphones with a fairly flat response. There are a bunch of choices, preferrably open or semi-open back, as the closed back ones tend to give you an artificially pronounced bass response, which might be nice for listening to certain styles of music, but not so much for tweaking guitar tones.

 

As for impedance, I honestly never gave it much thought until I started seeing the topic pop up on here, and I still can't find anything in either the Pilot's or Advanced guides that says what the impedance rating is for the phones output. Everybody keeps saying "high impedance" cans, which it may be, but I'll be damned if I can find it anywhere.

[DarrellM5]

In regards to the impedance thing; I haven't found anything concrete but I was able to find references in the Line 6 support archives and on some other forums.  The support archives have multiple posts that refer to an answer, by a Line 6 tech support person, to a question about headphone impedance.  I can't find the original post but the answer seems to have been 150-600 ohms.

[cruisinon2]

In regards to the impedance thing; I haven't found anything concrete but I was able to find references in the Line 6 support archives and on some other forums. The support archives have multiple posts that refer to an answer, by a Line 6 tech support person, to a question about headphone impedance. I can't find the original post but the answer seems to have been 150-600 ohms.

Fair enough...but you'd think that if were that much of an issue, they might want to consider documenting it SOMEWHERE in one of the manuals. Especially given that many common headphones, even good ones, are not high impedance. AKG 240S for instance, an industry standard for studio monitor cans for neighborhood of 20 years, are 55 ohms.

[Glebber]

The AKG 240 (old version) were 600 ohms, I know, I have a pair and they can be incompatible with newer things hence they released the lower impedance 240s model also. They are great headphones either way.

[aharchenko]

I know it's an old thread, but i'm using new AKG K240 studio headphones with my POD. They are 55ohm, but they sound great plugged into the headphone jack on the POD.

[JohannDaart]

On 12/15/2020 at 5:13 PM, aharchenko said:

I know it's an old thread, but i'm using new AKG K240 studio headphones with my POD. They are 55ohm, but they sound great plugged into the headphone jack on the POD.

 

I bought K240 55 Ohm and I'm really happy with them too :)