Philips Fidelio X2 $198.90 after $50 Instant Coupon on Amazon

These have quite a good soundstage, very easy to drive and a very inoffensive presentation that won't kill you with the trebles. I think you can't beat the construction and the overall quality of the sound at this price. Only the Massdrop x Sennheiser HD6XX is comparable in value (but not in construction).
It's not neutral. The sound is not IEM kind, so instrumentation separation is not surgically clean. The bass presentation is precise and comes through effortlessly.
There is some weight with the X2, but that's distributed quite well with the self-adjusting headband. They are big though, and you might not want to wonder around the streets with them. The velour pads get hot by the way.

I highly recommend this for gaming. X2 has a 3.5mm cable termination so you can plug the V-Moda Boompro mic directly to the headphones, turning it into a headset. Keep in mind that this is an open set of cans, so sound will leak out of it. The soundstage, positioning and imaging on these are really good.

Get it. You cannot get a set of gaming cans with this level of fine construction. At its price, the X2 have nearly no rival.
 
I have these, and they do sound amazing. However after an hour or so my neck will start to hurt from the weight.
 
I have the Fidelio X1s and they're awesome. I assume these are somewhat similar.
 
I have the Fidelio X1s and they're awesome. I assume these are somewhat similar.
Construction wise they are near identical, although some x2 have removable earpads. X1's cable termination is 1/4" instead of 1/8".
X2 and X1 do sound a bit different. Some thinks that X2 have cleaner bass with a bit of a bump at 9khz.
 
I sold mine, actually sold all the low/mid cans I had. Too many X2, 990 Pros, AD900x... all the same boat. The X2 is probably all around best of that group but its an annoying can too, heavy as hell with a massive headband and scratchy sometimes ink bleeding pads. I sold my Gibsons with no glue for 160 ish iirc.
 
I sold mine, actually sold all the low/mid cans I had. Too many X2, 990 Pros, AD900x... all the same boat. The X2 is probably all around best of that group but its an annoying can too, heavy as hell with a massive headband and scratchy sometimes ink bleeding pads. I sold my Gibsons with no glue for 160 ish iirc.

What are you using now?
 
Of course they're on sale now. Not on Black Friday or Cyber Monday when i was ready to buy. Oh well, maybe next year, need to get rid of few of them first.
 
I have the Fidelio X1s and they're awesome. I assume these are somewhat similar.
they're quite different.

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There is some weight with the X2, but that's distributed quite well with the self-adjusting headband. They are big though, and you might not want to wonder around the streets with them. The velour pads get hot by the way.

I highly recommend this for gaming. X2 has a 3.5mm cable termination so you can plug the V-Moda Boompro mic directly to the headphones, turning it into a headset. Keep in mind that this is an open set of cans, so sound will leak out of it. The soundstage, positioning and imaging on these are really good.

Get it. You cannot get a set of gaming cans with this level of fine construction. At its price, the X2 have nearly no rival.

This pretty much exactly. The X2's are my primary gaming headset with the V-Moda Boompro mic. I replaced the stock velour pads with the Brainwavz HM5. I purchased them in November of 2014 and I have not had any issues at all.

I have a lot of high end headphones, and I keep coming back to these. I can listen for hours and not get any listening fatigue. I can't say the same of the Sennheiser, Beyer, Fostex, and AKG headphones I have owned.
 
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Those are all bright to shrill cans so that's to be expected. You might like warm to warmish cans...

I actually really enjoy the Sennheiser sound signature - or at least the 600 and 800. The 800 are one of my favorite headphones, but they just give me serious listener fatigue.
 
I actually really enjoy the Sennheiser sound signature - or at least the 600 and 800. The 800 are one of my favorite headphones, but they just give me serious listener fatigue.

I like those cans for like 5 minutes and then my ears hurt lol. Half the mods to those cans are to reduce the upper end, kinda makes ya think.
 
I like that the X1's I have are nice and wide and completely envelope my ears, so I don't have the pads pushing against them. I think that helps with lessening fatigue.

The headphones are kind of heavy - I would not recommend using them for, say, VR (I tried on mine..they sound great but if you move your head a lot they have a tendency to fall off) but I don't have any problems using them for a long period while sitting at a screen.
 
I'm using my current SPH9500's with a Vmoda mic and Creative Soundblaster DAC for my gaming rig and the sound is incredible compared to my ex-gaming headsets from Turtle Beach and Corsair. No way I'm going back now.

The 9500's were my first pair of open back headphones and I'm hooked. The X2's can't get here fast enough!

Thanks for everyone's input. I'm new to the audiophile level of cans and the comments have been useful.
 
For gaming I'd pick the ATH-AD1000X. The price on these has gone down from the $600 mark to about $279. Comfy for big heads and one of the widest sound stages. Great for competitive gaming.
 
I have the X1's... they are amazing. Get these while you can. In games its like you can see where people are coming from with your ears. Scary good.
 
my favorite headphones for the money have been 990 pro 250ohm with fiio E10 bass boost on. All day comfort, fantastic sound -- i never gamed with them though -- but the X2 weight really irritates me midway through my gaming session.
 
I use Sony MA900 for everyday and MDR-Z7 those late nights.

And here I am as an MA900 user thinking these would be what I upgrade to (if I ever did, these MA900's are so hard to beat all around)

thanks for sharing, and saving me money.
 
And here I am as an MA900 user thinking these would be what I upgrade to (if I ever did, these MA900's are so hard to beat all around)

thanks for sharing, and saving me money.

Don't get me wrong the X2 are still very nice. But if you like the MA900, you like it for the things the X2 cannot do which is the MA900's extremely wide staging and incredible imaging. The X2 is better for bass, although a lil boomy at times and it has higher highs. The MA900 is like a feather to the X2's hammer weight wise and comfort... the MA900 wins in spades. You can also mod the MA900s in a variety of ways where you can't do jack to X2's. And as a MA900 owner, you're vertical move would be to the MDR-Z7 because it builds on the things that made the MA900 great. And above that the MDR-Z1R, hooohya! Those Z1R's are a lil expensive but is the biggest star on the scene right now.
 
Don't get me wrong the X2 are still very nice. But if you like the MA900, you like it for the things the X2 cannot do which is the MA900's extremely wide staging and incredible imaging. The X2 is better for bass, although a lil boomy at times and it has higher highs. The MA900 is like a feather to the X2's hammer weight wise and comfort... the MA900 wins in spades. You can also mod the MA900s in a variety of ways where you can't do jack to X2's. And as a MA900 owner, you're vertical move would be to the MDR-Z7 because it builds on the things that made the MA900 great. And above that the MDR-Z1R, hooohya! Those Z1R's are a lil expensive but is the biggest star on the scene right now.

Yup. I mean, yeah sometimes I miss more bass on the MA900's, but you confirmed my suspicion...

heavy as hell with a massive headband and scratchy sometimes ink bleeding pads.

...that the X2's would feel too heavy on the head, ESPECIALLY for someone used to MA900's. For a discontinued headphone (because I don't like to collect, I'd sell the old pair to clear room), I'd probably never be happy giving up MA900 comfort for modest/sidegrade improvements in sound

I'll never understand why Sony discontinued these. People keep recommending other headphones, and I have yet to find one that truly beats the MA900 enough for me - either a big comfort downgrade or a huge price jump.
 
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