Help deciding headphones please

[spectra260]

Been trying to decide what headphones I want they dont need to have a mic as I have a desktop mic but dont mind if they do either.

So far what I been looking at are the Sennheiser HD595 or PC360 or steelseries 7h. If you know of any others that may be better let me know. Im gonna be useing these for gaming and music mostly so what would be my best bet? Thanks.

Also im just useing onboard audio right now on win7 would a soundcard be worth the upgrade if so what one?

 

[extide]

Out of those, the HD595's are going to be the best for music, by quite a bit I would say.

If you want to upgrade your soundscard, don't bother with a soundcard, get an external usb dac/headphone amp.

 

[BurntToast]

For the price this is epic. IMO they beat the ones that you have mentioned.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/06/10/audiotechnica_athad700_headphone_review/

http://www.amazon.com/Technica-ATH-...1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1334199507&sr=1-1

For a sound card, yes. A dedicated card will be greatly superior to integrated trash.

The ASUS DX has been around forever, but it's still kick ass.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132006

If you want to spend a lot less the ASUS DG is still superior to on-board.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132020

The Creative Titanium HD is another great card. It has CMSS, it is slightly better than Dolby Headphone surround that the ASUS card uses.

Mechanically the ASUS Xonar Essence STX is better. But CMSS still has it's advantages in gaming.
http://www.amazon.com/PCI-Express-XONAR-ESSENCE-STX-90-YAA0C0-0UAN00Z/dp/tags-on-product/B001OV789U

Some people are also moving towards DACs over sound cards. DACs are USB driven and sit outside of your computer. People prefer these to internal sound cards as the sound is more pure as it doesn't inherit the noise and electrical interference of the computer. For a music purist DACs are better. For gamers a dedicated sound card is better as DACs don't provide any of 3D positioning effects that are crucial for gaming.

Example of a few of the more popular cheaper DACs.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Little-Dot-...ltDomain_0&hash=item3cb4c6fc0c#ht_8946wt_1399

http://www.amazon.com/NuForce-uDAC2...FRNS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1334200058&sr=8-2

 

[Godmachine]

Sennhesier HD595 all the way for music. The PC360 for gaming strictly. I doubt the Steelseries 7H can hold a candle to either one of the Sennhesiers.

As for a sound card it depends if you use simulated surround like CMSS or Dolby Headphone. If you want to use Dolby Headphone then I recommend the ASUS STX. Its not cheap but will also double as a fantastic sound card for music , it has a really quality DAC and headphone amp built in.

I've used the Little Dot for music and its really rich sounding (typical tube sound) however I'm not sure it would flow well for games. If you've never heard a tube amp before you might want to audition one before you plunk down $250 bucks on it.

 

[guitarslingerchris]

- ATH-AD700 is a great and and wonderful gaming headphone for positional queues but it's incredibly boring and lifeless for music and movies. I can't recommend this to someone that wants them for more than FPS.

- The uDAC-2 is a terrible piece of crap. That said, it doesn't sound completely horrible but you shouldn't spend anywhere near $129 on something like that and even so it's not a good match for any of the listed headphones because of the impedances and output impedance.

- Little Dot MK III is a terrible match for any headphone listed unless you specifically want looser, warmer sound. The MK III is specifically intended for high impedance headphones and none of those come close to qualifying. On top of all of this, it's a lot of overkill.

If you're set on those choices, take the 595 and get a Xonar DG and you'll be extremely happy. If you can swing it I would prefer the 598 over the 595 simply because it's a faster headphone with a less dark sound but that same sennheiser warmth and will do more things better.

 

[kazaakas]

I really wouldn't get the HD595 anymore, I have a pair of HD555's "modded to 595's" and they're not the best really.
I'd get the PC360 or the HD598 (I believe these are the same headphones, except that the PC360 has a mic). Pretty nice headphones for music and a spatial sound which is very nice with positional headphone audio!

If you want to spend a bit more and really get something epic you should check into the AKG Q701, they're a TOTAL BARGAIN for their performance.
On amazon these are barely more expensive than the HD598, but they're much much better, the problem is you need a decent amp to drive them which will cost you another ~$200. But that would grant you a setup that is incomparable to anything with HD500 series headphones.