Need gaming headset/headphones for Sound Blaster Z SE (must match impedance, etc).

[OpenSource Ghost]

I am not an audiophile, but I can hear difference in audio quality between typical MP3 compression VS uncompressed playback on monitoring headphones, like Sennheiser HD 280 Pro. I finally have my Sound Blaster Z SE SBX working correctly to reproduce positional surround sound cues in video games, but I don't have headphones/headset to completent it. I prefer sound that is as close to original recording as possible, but I also know it isn't going to be possible with SBX enabled.

Currently I have Corsair HS50 and they suck... I don't care much for having a microphone, but I need headphones that match SBZ SE impedance and complement it in terms of audio quality. I don't plan on buying DAC and don't want to spend more than $200 on such headphones. Please suggest some!

 

[OpenSource Ghost]

Bump! Really? Where are all the audiophile gurus? I think SBZ has 22ohm impedance for its headphone jack and headphone impedance must be at least 7 or 8 times greater than headphone jack impedance. That renders ALL typical gamer headphones as poor choices for such a soundcard... I guess I need 150ohm+ headphones at least.

 

[TrunksZero]

Bump! Really? Where are all the audiophile gurus? I think SBZ has 22ohm impedance for its headphone jack and headphone impedance must be at least 7 or 8 times greater than headphone jack impedance. That renders ALL typical gamer headphones as poor choices for such a soundcard... I guess I need 150ohm+ headphones at least.

You need something that is low impedance. It doesn't need to match per-say, just the higher the impedance of the headphone the harder it will be to drive. That usually manifests as just not getting as loud. I wouldn't really worry about that till you get up into crazy high numbers well past 150+ ohm's.

So for a recommendation...

HiFi-Man/Drop HE-5XX - Impedance: 18 ohms, so easily driven by your SBZ SE.
https://drop.com/buy/drop-hifiman-he5xx

I use these on my AE-5 and love em.

 

[LukeTbk]

Do you really need something low impedance, the amplifier is graded for 600 ohm according to creative:
Our Sound Blaster Z SE comes featured with a headphone amplifier that easily drives studio-grade headphones of up to 600Ω.

Maybe it would be limit for them, but I would imaginer the 80 ohm type would not be an issue, some review did test with 300 ohm headphone.
https://www.lifewire.com/sound-blaster-z-review-4769764

 

[OpenSource Ghost]

Headphones impedance is supposed to be 7 or 8 times greater than sound card impedance, which is 22 in this case. As such I need to focus on headphones with impedance of 144 and above.

 

[TrunksZero]

Headphones impedance is supposed to be 7 or 8 times greater than sound card impedance, which is 22 in this case. As such I need to focus on headphones with impedance of 144 and above.

That's a general rule of thumb. Why I said you wouldn't really need to worry about anything well beyond 150Ohms.

The general darling headphones of PC gaming are the Drop/Sennheiser HD-6XX. But they are 300Ohms, which makes em a little hard for your card to drive. However the HD-58X Jubilee's have a very very similar sound signature and are way easier to drive @ 150Ohms and are cheaper.

- https://drop.com/buy/massdrop-x-sennheiser-hd-58x-jubilee-headphones/

Another popular recommendation is the Drop/EPOS PC-38x which is a headset style with a mic (**Note that EPOS used to be part Sennheiser before they where spun off as a separate company. So these used to be called the Drop/Sennheiser PC-38x)

-https://drop.com/buy/drop-epos-pc38x-yellow-gaming-headset

Anyway, I still stick by the HE-5XX. Very easy to drive and they sound great

 

[OpenSource Ghost]

Wow - thanks! Those 2 do look very promising. What can be done about using headphones with low impedance (32-50ohm) on sound cards with high impedance (22ohm+)? Can external DAC be used to somehow noramlize and/or correct improper/poor impedance ratio/compatibility?

 

[TrunksZero]

You don't do anything. You can read down some rabbit holes on this, but it goes down a bunch of audiophile paths that you really don't need to worry about at these sort of price ranges. The only thing worth remembering is that the higher the Ohm's, the harder they are to drive. That boils down to how loud your soundcard is going to be able to make the headphones.

*Edit*
So 22Ohm's at the sound card with a 18Ohm's headphones is just going to mean it can drive the headphone to it's "max" before hitting 100% volume on the soundcards output. So nothing to worry about.

 

[legcramp]

That's a general rule of thumb. Why I said you wouldn't really need to worry about anything well beyond 150Ohms.

The general darling headphones of PC gaming are the Drop/Sennheiser HD-6XX. But they are 300Ohms, which makes em a little hard for your card to drive. However the HD-58X Jubilee's have a very very similar sound signature and are way easier to drive @ 150Ohms and are cheaper.

- https://drop.com/buy/massdrop-x-sennheiser-hd-58x-jubilee-headphones/

Another popular recommendation is the Drop/EPOS PC-38x which is a headset style with a mic (**Note that EPOS used to be part Sennheiser before they where spun off as a separate company. So these used to be called the Drop/Sennheiser PC-38x)

-https://drop.com/buy/drop-epos-pc38x-yellow-gaming-headset

Anyway, I still stick by the HE-5XX. Very easy to drive and they sound great

+1 the HE-5XX for gaming but not sure how the HD-6XX gets recommended so much for "gaming" but they are mediocre. They have lush mids that makes female vocals sound amazing but that doesn't help for gaming lol

 

[That_Sound_Guy]

+1 the HE-5XX for gaming but not sure how the HD-6XX gets recommended so much for "gaming" but they are mediocre. They have lush mids that makes female vocals sound amazing but that doesn't help for gaming lol

This topic is beat to death and lets not go down that road. To many variables for, as you quoted. "gaming" and no proper signal processing.

Im confused - OP is talking about noticing the difference between lossy and lossless audio which is obvious in any $50+ headphone, surround sound (which almost entirely relies on sound card software) and "matching impedence" of a claimed 600ohm capable card. Currently using a garbage corsair headset and not referencing tone or audio profile. OP, whats wrong with the HD280's you mentioned in your post?