New Headphones, any recomendations?

M

Malignant Kid

Limp Gawd
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Oct 4, 2005
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I have a pair of DSP 500's and am planning on getting a new set of cans with the new rig I'm building. I'm setting a limit of about 400 on myself for my sound system. I have read great things about the sennheiser's but I'm not much of a music freak, I only listen to some Project 86 and the like now and then. Their primary usage would be for gaming. The most important factor for me is positional audio. For instance hearing the sound of a rifle in bf2 and discerning it's location based only on the noise. Is this possible without DSP?
 
$400 for a set of headphones JUST for gaming? That's way too much. Get some 5.1 headphones if music matters very little and you don't care much for SQ. Otherwise, common recommendations are Senn HD201/485/497/555/595/580 (I would pass on the 600/650 -- too much for this purpose), Beyerdynamic DT770, Audio Technica A500/A900.
 
Also good are the Audio Technica AD500/700, like the A500 and other models. the AD500/700 are open headphones, not sealed.
 
My $400 buget includes a sound card and from what I've read the new X-Fi line offers great 5.1 headphone emulation? I'm looking at paring that with a pair of 580/595's. I am not a sound guy so what is the Brightness they say the 595's have? Is it like a criper sound or is it more sharp and distinct?
 
Malignant Kid said:
My $400 buget includes a sound card and from what I've read the new X-Fi line offers great 5.1 headphone emulation? I'm looking at paring that with a pair of 580/595's. I am not a sound guy so what is the Brightness they say the 595's have? Is it like a criper sound or is it more sharp and distinct?
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If it's for games primarily.. $400 will get you an XFi + a decent headphone amp + DT770s. I've owned the 580s which were great for music... but distorted like crazy when bombs blew up and tanks rolled by. The bass just overwhelmed them. I think you would be happy with some 770s. (plus they are great cans for music too.) The 770s are also closed so you won't have sound bleeding out of them at a lan party.
 
Perfect, thanks for your help! If I may ask one more question do you recommend a particular amp for these?
 
Yes I have them and I love them more and more the more I use them. Bass is everything in gaming and from what I have read there is no match for the DT 770:s :). And they sound just awesome in the other registers as well even though I guess there may be some that perform even better there. But bass is number one priority for gaming really. They are closed but they do sound like there is some distance from your ears :).

Sadly I am stuck with an Audigy 2 ZS can´t wait to try them with my X Fi.
 
back again with my standard answer: Sennheiser 497s sound fantastic, don't require a seperate amp, and are frequently available for <$50. The 280s are also very good if you prefer closed phones.

-Ace-
 
An entry-level X-Fi set to 5.1 output & bass redirection enabled with a pair of Speed Link Medusas would probably be the most effective set-up you could have if you're heavily biased to gaming. CMSS-3D with a good pair of phones is very good, but it doesn't quite give you the same ability to snap-judge where a sudden sound is coming from if it's not moving around to give you a reference point. I also like the rumble effect on the Medusa, it works surprisingly well.
 
Yes that is awesome however with strong enough headphones with bass down to 5 hertz they do rumble on their own... Not to mention the punth to your ear drums :D. But the FFB on my Kinyo was far more then a gimmick for sure :).

But as for bass redirection I shouldn´t use it on stereo headphones right? my Kinyos had a separate bass driver actually which is quite odd I guess...
 
Let me say that my ATH-A900s sound amazing when paired with the X-fi. In music the 3D headphone effect actually makes the music sound better. And when gaming I can actually tell if people are below, above behind, or anywhere for that matter. They have great bass extension and are very comfortable. The beyers seemed to crush my head when i tried them last, and the beyers need an amp.

If you want the best sounding system without the added bulk/expense of the amp, the a900s are unbeatable. The X-fi also makes music very clear and positioned. I'm getting an x-fi elite soon and can't wait to hear what difference it makes.
 
oqvist said:
Yes that is awesome however with strong enough headphones with bass down to 5 hertz they do rumble on their own... Not to mention the punth to your ear drums :D. But the FFB on my Kinyo was far more then a gimmick for sure :).

But as for bass redirection I shouldn´t use it on stereo headphones right? my Kinyos had a separate bass driver actually which is quite odd I guess...
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Even with the most visceral-bass phones, you don't really get the actual rumbling effect of the Medusa which is as I said quite effective in explosions, etc. I have gamed with the DT770 (250) and the A900, as well as my current computer phones which is I believe the world's most expensive production headphone. These days I tend to crank up the Medusa more than the Orpheus (+CMSS-3D, which definitely does not improve music) for my gaming sessions. The Medusa amp is definitely a let-down, after all what can you expect when you get an amp and 5.1 phone for the same as a cheapish phone?, but it works for its allotted use, i.e. gaming very well. Headphone 3D sound is still not that great in any case, but while I think that CMSS-3D does positional translations (movement of sound in a 3D space) better, I feel that 5.1 via the Medusa does absolute positioning better. It's just that tiny bit of a difference which means I'll be consistently pointing the right way more often. YMMV of course.
 
But I find I had to tone down the Kinyos because otherwise they would vibrate all the time. I usually toned it down so they only vibrated from say 50 hertz otherwise to increase the vibration kind of kills the effect since they vibrate all the time otherwise.
 
My answer to this question HAS to be Sennheiser HD280's. For gaming, I personally am deadly when I'm using these things. Relatively cheap, good for gaming, good for other stuff. A little on the bright side, but still effective for gaming.
 
Thanks for the help guys, I went with the DT-770's and I'm building a cmoy to start with before I work my way up to a PPA. I found this neat little site to get me started. http://tangentsoft.net/audio/
I don't have much experience in circuit building but I work with schematics all the time in the appliance business so I shouldn't have too difficult of a time. That being said do you guys know of some good literature for me to read on general electronics? I'll be held up for a while dealing with a cracked rib and I'd prefer to spend my time doing something productive instead of playing bf2 or the like.
 
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