Suggestions for headphones for gaming

Look:

make it easy on you. You're spinning your head about nothing really. Chose between the Beyerdynamc DT770pro 80ohm or the ATH-A700. Flip a coin at this point. Either way, you WILL like them.

Don't spend more money on headphones at this point. You simpyl won't hear the difference between the ATH-A700 or the ATH-A900. Especially not without amp.

Go with one of these two and just enjoy gaming for a while. Flip that darn coin!!!!
 
Look:

make it easy on you. You're spinning your head about nothing really. Chose between the Beyerdynamc DT770pro 80ohm or the ATH-A700. Flip a coin at this point. Either way, you WILL like them.

Don't spend more money on headphones at this point. You simpyl won't hear the difference between the ATH-A700 or the ATH-A900. Especially not without amp.

Go with one of these two and just enjoy gaming for a while. Flip that darn coin!!!!

Do it!
 
Look:

make it easy on you. You're spinning your head about nothing really. Chose between the Beyerdynamc DT770pro 80ohm or the ATH-A700. Flip a coin at this point. Either way, you WILL like them.

Don't spend more money on headphones at this point. You simpyl won't hear the difference between the ATH-A700 or the ATH-A900. Especially not without amp.

Go with one of these two and just enjoy gaming for a while. Flip that darn coin!!!!

lol, agreed. :D

You really won't be disapointed with either one. Don't torture yourself so much, and simply pick whichever one you're leaning towards right now.
 
I wonder, what do you guys use for online multiplayer games to speak with your teammates (Im talking about microphones or what, since Im guessing you dont use el cheapo headsets)?
 
Heh, flipping a coin definitely seems like the easy route! I was leaning towards the Beyers, but from what i've read it seems the A700s or AD700s work better without an amplifier.

Oh, and to make things worse, i've added another sound card into the equation. How does the Auzentech X-Meridian, compare to the Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty Professional? The reason i'm considering this, it because it might allow me to connect the front audio ports on my case to it--which was actually my second question. Does anybody know if this is possible?
 
I wonder, what do you guys use for online multiplayer games to speak with your teammates (Im talking about microphones or what, since Im guessing you dont use el cheapo headsets)?


Actually, the microphone question is much easier since the software itself degrades the quality quite a bit in first place, so a high end microphone is not that important. I used a el cheapo headset with removable boom-mic and with a little engineering i velcroed it to my ATH-A700 cans, essentially making it a headset with boom-mic.
 
Actually, the microphone question is much easier since the software itself degrades the quality quite a bit in first place, so a high end microphone is not that important. I used a el cheapo headset with removable boom-mic and with a little engineering i velcroed it to my ATH-A700 cans, essentially making it a headset with boom-mic.
Ah alright, seems like a nice engineering solution :D
 
I bought the DT770 (80) and absolutely love them, and if you pick those up I am sure you will also. Give them a bit of time to break in and get the feel for them, but after awhile anything else just does not cut it.

Also for the mic, I just have a decent logitech mic, I would use my built in one for my laptop, but it apparently cuts in & out many times causing problems. My view is if they can hear me, and understand me 100% it does not matter after that.
 
I bought the DT770 (80) and absolutely love them, and if you pick those up I am sure you will also. Give them a bit of time to break in and get the feel for them, but after awhile anything else just does not cut it.

Are you using them with an amplifier? I feel, if i get the Beyers, i'd really need to get an amplifier to get my money's worth. You said it yourself, spaceman, that i'd need an amp to get the most out of the Beyers. This is pushing me toward the A700s, or AD700s. That reminds me, which of the ATs would be the best? So i can narrow down the decision a bit more.

Also, which sound card out of the X-Fi Fatal1ty Professional/Platinum and X-Meridian?
 
OK, so i've pretty much decided i'm going to get the Beyers, but i don't know about the sound card now; what do you guys think? Will the X-Meridian allow me to connect the front audio connectors on my case to the card?
 
X-Meridian allow me to connect the front audio connectors on my case to the card?

Yes, it will allow you to connect your front audio ports. However, even though the X-Meridian got some great reviews, keep in mind that this card has no support for EAX 5.0 or OpenAL like the X-Fi cards do. Also, in benchmark tests, the X-Meridian is slightly slower (gives less of an FPS boost) then the X-Fi. Also, the X-Meridian was discontinued in June.

Also, I personally wouldn't purchase this card, because it is riddled with C-Media hardware. In the past I had an old motherboard with on board C-Media sound, and it was horrible. In fact, you couldn't even use your microphone with it, and after extensive research I found that this was a very common thing with that chipset, and C-Media customer support wouldn't do a thing about it. Could this have been an isolated incident and something that isn't prone to happen again? Sure, however the horrible customer support experience was enough to make me avoid any future C-Media products like the plague. Then again to be fair Creative isn't known for the best support in the world either, but we don't exactly have a whole lot to choose from these days. :rolleyes:

If I had to choose a new soundcard and a new pair of headphones right this minute, it would without a doubt be the Beyer DT 770 Pros with the X-Fi Fatal1ty Professional. If I had an extra £39 to throw around I might get the Platinum/Champion with the front bay, however that's doubtful. The only use I would have for it is to hook up my headphones/microphone a little easier, as I have no other devices that would take advantage of that panel.

Most likely though, I would simply get the Professional without the I/O Drive, hook my headphones up to the control module for my speakers, and then run an extension cable from the back of my sound card for the microphone if I had to. That is, after first testing to make sure that the audio sounds the same from both the back of the sound card and the control module, of course.



Oh, and just to make life even harder on you, I feel I should mention that Auzentech is set to release a new sound card soon, which is based around the X-Fi chipset from creative. The Auzen X-FI™ Prelude 7.1 soundcard should hopefully give the best of both worlds, providing the incredible audio quality of the X-Meridian combined with the gaming performance of the X-Fi line, as well as support for EAX 5.0. I can't really say about how good the sound card will be other than that, however it's set to be released sometime this month. It should retail for around $199, but you might be able to find it for cheaper at some e-tailers. :D


If you don't want to wait for the X-Fi Prelude, then if I were you I'd go with the Beyer DT 770 Pros and the Fatal1ty Professional.

Here's a review of the X-Meridian
Also here's the preview page for the X-Fi Prelude.
 
Thanks again, Blu_Haze. I'll drop the X-Meridian then, and get one of the Creative cards. I think i'll get the Platinum version of the Fatal1ty card, because it sure would be nice to be able to connect both my headphones and microphone to the front of my case. I will have to get some 3.5mm-->6.5mm jack adaptors, though; well, at least one anyway because i think the Beyers come with one.

This X-Fi Prelude card certainly has caught my interest, but i really would like to buy a sound card now. I don't want to wait until this card is supposed to be released, and find the launch date is just pushed back again. If it has descent driver support, it really would give me the best of both worlds; i just don't know if it's worth the wait. I suppose i could just buy the headphones now, and put the sound card off for another couple of weeks. If only the X-Fi Prelude was rumoured to be utter crap, then i could just get the Creative card with no regrets. Why did Auzentech go and make a sound card i want for, really? :rolleyes:
 
I was really leaning towards to ATH-A700. They are like 130 on amazon.com, and compared to the DT770's (the cheapest I've found is 180?) that price seems considerable. For the money, are they worth the difference? I've heard its a coin flip, and even before price I was leaning toward ATH a-700. A middle ground headset is nice, as long as it can do both decently well
 
I was really leaning towards to ATH-A700. They are like 130 on amazon.com, and compared to the DT770's (the cheapest I've found is 180?) that price seems considerable. For the money, are they worth the difference? I've heard its a coin flip, and even before price I was leaning toward ATH a-700. A middle ground headset is nice, as long as it can do both decently well

In your case, i'd probably get the A700s. In the UK, the DT 770 Pros are £80, whereas the A700s are £100. Although this didn't put me off getting the A700s, it did help a little with my choice of getting the Beyers since at £80 it's a pretty good deal.
 
ah... that explains why youd get that. If anyone happens to see this in the states,,, the dt's cheaper then 160ish then tell me, otherwise the ATH's seem like a winner
 
I will have to get some 3.5mm-->6.5mm jack adaptors, though; well, at least one anyway because i think the Beyers come with one.
You shouldn't have to get any extra adapters for the I/O drive. As you said the Beyers come with an adapter, and there's a 3.5mm to 6.35mm plug adapter already in the X-Fi Platinum Fatal1ty Champion box. This way you should already have two adapters to use with both your headphones and microphone. You can see everything that's included in the box here.

I'm now ordering the DT 770 Pros and X-Fi Fatal1ty Platinum Champion Series! ;)

Sounds good, I think you'll be very happy with this combination. Make sure to let us know how it works out, I'm interested to hear whether or not you like the extra bass the beyers provide for gaming. :D
 
You shouldn't have to get any extra adapters for the I/O drive. As you said the Beyers come with an adapter, and there's a 3.5mm to 6.35mm plug adapter already in the X-Fi Platinum Fatal1ty Champion box. This way you should already have two adapters to use with both your headphones and microphone. You can see everything that's included in the box here.

Make sure to let us know how it works out, I'm interested to hear whether or not you like the extra bass the beyers provide for gaming. :D

Aha, thank you. I wasn't aware it came with an adapter; and it also comes with a molex to floppy(?) connector - bonus!

I'm banking on everything arriving for Thursday, although it probably won't be until Friday or the weekend before i've had a chance you use them properly and make a descent judgement.

Thank you ever so much for all of your help; i'm most greatful.

Also, Rob36, where have you found the DT 770 Pros for $180?
 
The sound card and headphones arrived today!

I must say, Battlefield 2142 sounds amazing now. However, if i try to select "Creative X-Fi" in the audio settings in-game, it just crashes- i don't really know what to do.

To be honest, i expected more bass than there actually is. How should these sound compared to your average £70 computer 5.1 speaker setup, because compared to my speakers these DT 770 Pros seem to lack bass and it distorts if i start messing around with EQs. I don't really know how much bass headphones like these should have, so i might be expecting too much, but to me they don't seem to produce much bass at all when listening to music. Another thing, the sounds in Oblivion completely lack bass. With my speaker setup, when i swing my sword i hear the subwoofer rumble; with these headphones, there's absolutely no bass at all.

I don't really understand... :confused:
I mean, this sound no better than the broken Medusas i had in Oblivion. CS:S, though, now that does sound good now.

I'll probably give a better judgement tomorrow, but i really wish i could get the sound card to work properly in BF2142; any ideas?

Oh, and another thing: am i best to set the volume to max in windows, then use the knob on the front of the i/o panel to adjust volume, or the other way around?
 
As I mentioned before you bought them... did you break them in? Cause I had the same experience... until they broke in.

Also.. in regards to your crashing make sure you are in game mode vs. entertainment or movie mode on your x-fi. And make sure to try it on the high settings instead of "ultra" in BF2142 and see if it works.
 
As magnetik said, breaking them in can provide a noticeable difference in sound. Keep in mind that if the speakers are still stiff from the factory they won't provide as much bass since deep bass requires the cone to travel farther distances than mids/highs.

As far as BF2142 crashing is concerned, this may be a driver issue. Are you using the drivers that came with the CD, or the newest ones available from Creative? The X-Fi series has had a really bad history with bad drivers, so you may need to try a few different versions before you find one that works well.
 
Thank you for your help again. What would be the best way to break them in, pink noise?

Also, with Battlefield 2142, i've tried both the Creative drivers that came with the CD and those on there website, and i have the problem with both. Also, concerning what you said about changing the the audio quality to high instead of ultra high, magnetik, before selecting Creative X-Fi: i can't actually select ultra high, when i do it just reverts back to high.

The Creative Console is set in game mode, although i've tried it in entertainment mode, too, but to no avail. I also tried downloading Alchemy, but Battlefield 2142 wasn't listed as a game i could add within the program. :confused:

EDI: Oh yeah, about the changing volume thing, should i do it within windows and have it set on maximum on the front bay, or the other way around?
 
Breaking them in is easy. Just make a looping playlist with a few different genres of music, turn the volume up to normal listening levels, and let it play either overnight or while you're at work. You may have to do this a few times to finish the job.



Just think though, breaking them in is only the beginning. If you decide that you're going to keep the Beyers pretty soon you'll find yourself wanting to save up for a small amp to make them sound even better. Then later on you'll be compelled to save up even more to have them modified into Darth Beyers to make them sound even better. :D

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Then you might even find yourself wanting a nice matching stand from headphile. :p
 
Heh, yeah, i can definitely see myself shelling out a lot more money in audio equipment in the future; don't know about darthing my Beyers, though, it might be a bit difficult since i live in the UK. Are open Darths better than Closed Darths?

So, when burning them in, am i best to play music instead of pink noise then?
 
Congrats on the buy man.

I really had to Monkey with my X-Fi settings to find some good bass and along with the rest of the mids and highs. Once you find it though, it's killer.

The software has a specific mode for headphones, which helps a lot.

Just get a good break-in on them for 100 hours or so (easily accomplished in a week) and keep messing the settings until you find something that sounds great on your headphones. Everything will be good then.

Best of luck!
 
Yeah play with the sound settings until things seem right to you. Every ear is different.
 
Not derailing the thread, but I was wondering how long the cord is for the Zalman mic clip? I'm considering it myself but I don't want to get it if the cord is too short and won't reach down and around on my PC.
 
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