Headphones: No idea what to do.

theplaidfad

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Hello all.

I've been using Logitech 7.1 wireless headphones the past few years, and I keep seeing people saying that I'm missing out on really good sound quality for gaming. The bracket on my G930's have broken for a second time, and seeing as these already have superglue and electrical tape holding them together, It may just be time to go ahead and get something nicer instead of patching up an already ugly rigged up set.

I know absolutely nothing about the higher end of sound quality when it comes to headphones. The one thing I know for sure is that I absolutely must have surround sound for my games.

Where do I even start? I'm not afraid to spend money, but I'm not even sure what kind of a budget I'd need to get going...

TYIA for your help and guidance.
 
ATH-M50X and a Mod Mic.
I've been using that setup for sometime.

But I am so enjoy a lot of music with my headphones. If you're looking for the overpowering bass effect from "gaming headphones" then the Logitech G430's are an amazing option for the price.
 
If you really must have surround sound, the first choice you have to make is real or simulated surround sound?

So far real surround needs multiple very small drivers and so sound quality suffers, a lot. Tin can sound city, and is still subjective to the user if it actually helps them position the sound any better.

Simulated surround might sound somewhat better, but is an approximation, and sometimes can be totally wrong.

All marketing IMO, but sound itself is subjective. After trying many sets, for gaming I settled on the Hyperx Clouds with good 53mm drivers. Great stereo sound quality at a very good price. Positioning for games works very well, and the good drivers gives you the subtilty of the sounds.
 
My SB Creative Titanium HD xifi or w/e sound card with the gaming effects, plus a decnet or better set of open backed headphones gave me all the positional cues I needed to tell exactly where someone was. I could for instance in BF3 tell whether someone was coming up the stair or down the stairs. Also, Left 4 Dead (2) the same setup was huge in quickly identifying spawned infected to get a headstart on where they were.

They don't make that sound card anymore, but I'm sure yiou can find an equivalent one preferably with a headphone amp.
 
Would the Sennheiser G4ME ONE paired with the Creative Sound Blaster Z be a good choice?
 
I'm using a Corsair H2100, have had them for a year. I personally think they sound pretty good, have good spacial effects for surround sound, and are independent of any onboard sound card you have (via USB). I do a lot of FPS and between the powerfull bass for explosions and the good positional audio to better locate via sound where an enemy is shooting from, I can't complain at all. And they are at a good price, Newegg has them for 89.99 with free shipping.
 
Would the Sennheiser G4ME ONE paired with the Creative Sound Blaster Z be a good choice?

I have the sennheiser PC360 which is almost identical to the g4me one headset and i am very happy with it. I have tried several different headsets and always came back to the sennheiser.
 
Breakage of plastic headsets is why I bought my Steel Series Siberia Elite headset. My head isn't so big and misshapen than I am going to break a steel band! Nor will small incidental drops and accidents screw them up.

They're a bit on the heavy side. But I can deal with it. Especially since I'm not having to replace the fucking things every 4-6 months.

Previously I'd buy a new set of plastic headphones of decent quality, then epoxy all the seams to keep them from splitting/breaking. AND THEY'D STILL BREAK!

Sure, $200 is a bit much for a set of PC headphones. But it's cheaper than an $80 set (plus epoxy) every 4-6 months!
 
I really have no clue what I'd be looking at spending. Let's have options for the whole spectrum.

Well you could spend £30 or £3000 so it is pointless unless you say a budget.

You would probably be happy with some sennheiser HD650 for open back or if you want closed Shure SRH 1540.

Lower price would be beyerdynamic DT770 or AKG K701, but I would advise paying more for the HD650 or 1540.
 
For around $80-$100, the HyperX Cloud 2 headset is great. It comes with a removable mic. Honestly, there's not much difference between the Cloud 2 and the original Cloud 1...you could probably find the original headset for $50 or so.
 
I was looking at the Sennheiser G4ME ONE headset, would that be a good start?

Personally I would go for a nice separate mic and headphone combo.

I personally use Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro's with a amp/dac combo, and a modmic. Has been working excellent for years now.
 
It's less convenient but you tend to get better quality in general using this approach.

Agreed. Throw my suggestion up for ATH-M50's.

I have the original ATH-M50 and love them. But the new x model has a removable cord which is a nice plus. I know Amazon is doing a deal right now that if you buy the ATH-M50x's, you can get a Creative SB portable amp for free.
 
If you can spend a bit more, the ATH MSR7 measures extremely well. And sounds like it does too.
 
Thanks for all the help. I ended up going with the Sennheiser game one and the sound blaster z. I've got 30 days to return it if I don't like it.
 
After using this all day, I am nothing but pleased. This sounds light years better than the Logitech G930 I've been using for years now.

Sweet! Companies like Sennheiser know just a liiittle bit more about headphones than Logitech and other general PC peripheral makers... ;)

Senn's headsets are some of the few I'd ever recommend over separate headphones + mic.
 
I wish I could have posted before he bought anything.

For cost, comfort and quality and it took me several missteps along the way I would have suggested you went with:

Asus Xonor U7 Dac / Headphone AMP. This device is external, costs $80 and supports not only 7.1 but 24bit / 192hz. It's sounds incredible. Better than than the creative Zx I had.

Shure Wireless Omni-directional Condenser Mic w/ Noise Cancelling that's $35. I already had the wireless base so I didn't factor in the cost to that.

AKG K 240 headphones for $80. These sound fantastic and incredibly comfortable. Universally these are about some of the best reviewed headphones out there and for $80 they are a steal.

Budget on all 3 items are about $200. The Wireless mic does need a wireless base but it's not that expensive. There is also a wired version of this Shure mic.

The cool thing about the Asus Xonar U7 is it's external, has a jog shuttle dial up top, USB bus powered and has tons of connections. you can use it on your laptop, from PC to PC and it's just an incredible piece of hardware. I also found out a lot of home based / hobbyist recording studios use it as their sound interface. The quality is that good.

What really surprises me is most PC users use the cheap mics when the professional omni-directional condenser mics are tons better in sound quality and are about the same cost. The problem being is PC users are not educated enough to seek those out instead of the cheap ones marketed to the PC community.
 
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I certainly appreciate you taking your time to follow through with your opinion even after I've made the purchase.

The only thing I can respond with is the fact that I'm thoroughly pleased with what I've purchased, and I can't really see the need for it to be better than the jump I got in quality from what I had to what I have now. Everything sounds great in game, and I've been tinkering around with all of the settings and have found what sounds really good to me.

As far as your point about the microphone, I'm not really sure that it matters to me as much as it would matter to whomever I'm chatting with over VoIP or TeamSpeak, and nobody has yet to complain.
 
While headphones are extremely subjective, I actually went through the same thing just the last year.

I had a pair of Audio Technica Ath-m50's for 2 years, absolutely loved them..great sound. Good solid lows, great clarity throughout and was only $129 when i bought them.

It was time to replace them so I got a pair of Senheisser pc 333ds. Now these sounded great but man did they hurt the head. I couldn't wear them for over 4 hours without getting a head ache but man did they sound good. The lows actually sounded better than the ATH-m50s and I didn't feel like I was missing anything.

Out of curiousity I bought a pair of Hyper X Clouds back in November last year and wow they are comfortable, and for the price of only $79 they actually sounded pretty good. People said the mic on the Senheisser sounded better, but the clouds weren't bad...just not as crisp. The sound from the Sennheisers was better though, but the clouds weren't that bad and sometimes I preferred wearing them if I was gaming for the day.

Last week all this changed though.

I got a pair of V-moda Crossfade m-100's...and...well, they are the best headphones I've ever bought. Yes there's probably better out there but holy hell does the frequency response of 5-30k on the crossfade sound so damned nice. And the comfort level on them is exactly on par with the hyperx cloud.

It combined everything I liked from every headset before it and put it in one small package, and I got this one refurbed for only $179.

Heres the link to the headset - http://**************/1NLbEbr

And I just ordered this, gamers will find this interesting. Vmoda actually has a mic upgrade for gamers using the headset.

http://**************/1NLbOQ7




So that's my addition. I love the sound of the Senheissers but as of this point if I had to buy another headset it will be another Crossfade m-100....so damned nice.

in all intents and purpose the g4me ones will probably make people happy, but for people who like a little punchier bass and slightly crisper highs the frequency range difference of the V-Moda (5-30) compared to the G4me One (15-28) could be a factor.
 
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I certainly appreciate you taking your time to follow through with your opinion even after I've made the purchase.

The only thing I can respond with is the fact that I'm thoroughly pleased with what I've purchased, and I can't really see the need for it to be better than the jump I got in quality from what I had to what I have now. Everything sounds great in game, and I've been tinkering around with all of the settings and have found what sounds really good to me.

As far as your point about the microphone, I'm not really sure that it matters to me as much as it would matter to whomever I'm chatting with over VoIP or TeamSpeak, and nobody has yet to complain.

The mic on the Senn's is very good.
 
Frequency range is the most fudged spec there is... I like the M-100, tho not necessarily for gaming online (much prefer open headphones for that), and I've heard better closed sets at their price point...

I actually like the sound signature of the M-80/XS better, and I've had both for portable purposes. The V-Moda Boom Mic is pretty sweet too, and usable on a lot of non V-Modas. (hooks up fine on my NAD HP50, Philips X2, etc).
 
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