Which Headphones?

need to comment - i have always recommended the steelsound 5hv2 for a headset- citing no bass tho. i got the steelsound 4h (because it was 20.00 at alienware) and it has some bass! not a lot but some..
 
ourfpshero said:
need to comment - i have always recommended the steelsound 5hv2 for a headset- citing no bass tho. i got the steelsound 4h (because it was 20.00 at alienware) and it has some bass! not a lot but some..
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My incoming normal bias SR-Lambdas have been the back wave mod that gives it even deeper bass than stock. mmmmmm Stax is tasty!

My headset = leet ty zalman mic

lol
 
Anyone want to share any input or advice? I'm looking into getting a nice headset for my PC. I am looking at the Steelseries (icemat) Siberia headset. Likewise I'm tempted by Sennheiser unit's since everyone seems to like their quality. So I started to look at the HD555's. Which one would be a better buy, or anything else along that price range that is a better choice over these two? Main use would be for gaming and music, occasional movies. -thanks
 
Dark Zero said:
Anyone want to share any input or advice? I'm looking into getting a nice headset for my PC. I am looking at the Steelseries (icemat) Siberia headset. Likewise I'm tempted by Sennheiser unit's since everyone seems to like their quality. So I started to look at the HD555's. Which one would be a better buy, or anything else along that price range that is a better choice over these two? Main use would be for gaming and music, occasional movies. -thanks
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Did you read the sticky?

Steelsound is ok but not anywhere close to the Koss SB40.

HD 555 is ok but not anywhere near as good as the A700 to me

AKG 601 is the best dynamic headphone for the $$ to get top directional sound

etc and so forth. been there tried it all so I am a know it all lol.
 
I glanced at it, but boss over my back couldn't read it in depth ;) Hmm those Koss do look appealing. Off to read i go....
 
Dark Zero said:
Anyone want to share any input or advice? I'm looking into getting a nice headset for my PC. I am looking at the Steelseries (icemat) Siberia headset. Likewise I'm tempted by Sennheiser unit's since everyone seems to like their quality. So I started to look at the HD555's. Which one would be a better buy, or anything else along that price range that is a better choice over these two? Main use would be for gaming and music, occasional movies. -thanks
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the icemat siberia is NOT a real headset- it comes with a clip on mic. also it sounds like hell and isnt comfortable for a lot of peeps. a 30$ senn beats these easily. for a 100-ish budget get a senn 555 or audio technica along with a clip on mic. senns are usually durable, audio technica ad series are fragile as eggshells (but sound fantastic)
another option is an Equation rp-21- very durable and great sounds- not as comfy as the others

if u NEED a headset- the sb40 sounds good but has a lousy mic. the steelsound 5hv2 has a great mic, mids, and highs, but no bass. the steelsound 4h has some bass but not a lot. (seeing a theme here- headsets have compromises)
 
A headset isn't a deal breaker, I can easily just get a standalone mic. Mic would be just for an occassionly online gaming session. I just wanted a get set of headphones so I can comfortably play games or watch movies without other people in the household telling me to lower my speakers.

I'm currently looking around for prices on the ones you guess suggested. Hell, maybe if I get a killer deal on some, I can easily get two sets of headphones.....overkill I know :)
 
I'm using AKG headphones i got them from ebay and seen good reviews on them, they seem to work very well for me and put out very good bass for hip/hop music.

i hope this helps someone who is looking at choosing AKG for a brand
 
I see you added not to get the Koss SB45's.... :(

Well I'll try them out soon with my new Xtremegamer and see if they directional imaging improves or not.
 
I got my AD700 at the beginning of this week, and it does sound more balanced than my previous HD555s, however, is it me or does anyone think that the AD700s are very uncomfortable? I'll give it some more time I suppose...
 
You got that right, fluffy which ends up warming my ears (which I would get used to), and I agree they are pretty light.

However, I find that they put stress in the area right under the ear which gets irritating really fast. I found the HD555 to be far more comfortable, by a fairly large margin.

HD555 has a nice snug and tight fit, where the AD700s are loose, but I understand there is a ghetto mod out there that involves elastic bands, will try that out later today :)
 
Loose to the point it moves out of position after sharply turning your head?

Maybe I have a small head? Nah, I dont think so :p

I have an average sized head I suppose
 
So spaceman, you noticed a pretty decent sound quality difference in going from the Creative X-Fi to the Prelude?
 
Citizen86 said:
So spaceman, you noticed a pretty decent sound quality difference in going from the Creative X-Fi to the Prelude?
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analogue yes.

however, since I use digital out to my Pre-amp, and I only play COD4(no EAX), I sold my Prelude and use onboard sound.

Mine is a more expensive and complicated setup than most. Like new it would cost at least $1000 lol. I spent about half that buying used though.

That is why I say get the Prelude and the SB40 which = pretty impressive game experience.
 
Whoo, ALO HFI-780's came in. Out of the box (and running only from an X-Fi), they sound great. A smidge better SQ than my AD700, and *lots* more bass. From what I read about these, they apparently benefit from burn in almost as much as the K701's, so I'm pretty excited to see how these turn out. Also, my amp (iBasso D2) is coming in soon, so it should really shine then, since another guy reported these things sound much, much better with an amp.

Oh yeah, Spaceman:
Which would you use?
X-Fi > Coaxial > Zero DAC Amp (Opamps rolled) > Headphones
or
Hotrodded X-Fi > iBasso D2 > Headphones

I'm thinking about selling my iBasso D2 straight away for the Zero (reported to be fairly better than a stock Zhaolu 2.5C), would you do this? Any idea how much better the SQ would be the Zero way?
 
hmmmmm. So you have the iBasso coming but do not have the Zero yet?

Ok I have not heard the zero but a modded zhalou or like older dac on audiogon (PS AUDIO 2 dac comes to mind) and a $100 MisterX Pint or mini3 would be my best budget suggestion. The dac and the amp should be around $200 +/- $20.

I do not really care for any dac/amp combo atm. Not when you can get something like the above. I do have a mini to coax cable if you need one. I am using optical for the moment lol.

However, that is just the upgrade path from the iBasso which I do not really care for although it is a fine piece for the $$. You may love the way it sounds. I am sure it will sound great w/ the X-Fi.

So yeah. I would do this in your shoes.

No to the iBasso and yes to the mini3 and that allows you to mix and match old dacs off of audiogon. I found that a PS Audio 2 dac gave me AWESOME bass response when I was playing Bioshock. Just incredible sound.

Now that I have my keeper headphones, the Lambda Stax, I intend to get a class A amp and then begin auditioning dacs until I find "the one". I do really like the Oritek Zhalou though.
 
How are the Creative Fatal1ty Gaming Headsets? I'm very very tempted to get these over the Koss SB40 since they look more comfortable and cooler. But quality wise, I'm assuming the SB40 would be better right? I'll be using it mostly for vent to talk to friends while playing WoW and music(but music will mostly be on speakers).
Heres the link by the way.
http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Labs...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1205904237&sr=8-1

Bleh, I'm just gonna go with the SB40s.
 
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Well I've been playing CS:S with the X-Fi and SB45's, and it seems like they do a pretty decent job of directional audio, although I don't have, say, the SB40's to compare them to. I can tell where people are running from, and where explosions happen. So they are pretty decent I believe. I feel that itch to find out what better headphones sound like though :cool: Damn this hardware addiction....... Too bad I could really use a video card upgrade first.

So for future reference, if I was to buy a gaming headphone with keeping in mind music interests, like rock/punk/hardcore music for the most part, although I do listen to some of everything, probably with acoustic type music coming in a close second.

I would be interested if I could buy some Darth Beyers maybe without the wood, but fixing the innards and recabling. Not sure if he'll do that from looking at his website, looks like he wants to woody it :rolleyes:
 
I'd suggest you just get some HFI-780's instead. The detail is impeccable, and yet when the song calls for it, get ready to start drowning in bass. Even when the bass is drowning you, you can still tell the vocals and everything apart due to this remarkable separation of the lows, mids, and highs.

I'm pretty sure most people who've heard both the Darth Beyers and stock HFI-780's have stated that the Ultrasones are either equal to or better than the Darth Beyers. Only the deep cup version has been favored consistently over the stock HFI-780s... but they cost $1000.

EDIT

I'm comparing some SB45s (lots of hours of burn in) I have to the ALO HFI-780 (about 60hrs burned in so far). ALO HFI-780 is a recabled/reworked internals HFI-780, but shouldn't sound too different from the vanilla $200 version. Simply put, I can't stand the SB45's being fed from my USB iBasso D2 (30 hrs burn in so far). Vocals seem to be extremely veiled, bass doesn't slam like it should, general lack of detail. When I switch to the 780's... whoo boy. Voices seem much more natural, the soundstage is *very* much improved.. Bass is a lot better, and there's more of it to boot. During certain parts of songs, the 780's can take your breath away. No such thing with the SB45's.
 
Citizen86 said:
So for future reference, if I was to buy a gaming headphone with keeping in mind music interests, like rock/punk/hardcore music for the most part, although I do listen to some of everything, probably with acoustic type music coming in a close second.

I would be interested if I could buy some Darth Beyers maybe without the wood, but fixing the innards and recabling. Not sure if he'll do that from looking at his website, looks like he wants to woody it :rolleyes:
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You know there are other companies that do headphone recables, right? EnigmaAudio and APureSound come to mind, but I've never used their cables before, so... Anyways, why not try the DT770's first and see if you even like them at all? Chances are that there is probably a link in your system that is worth upgrading first before considering a (expensive) headphone recable.
 
40s sound much different than the 45s. weird but the 45 is a headset made for tlking mostly. The 40 is for gaming but hjas that wimpy mike. You need a Zalman mike with it but they do great in cod4.
 
spaceman said:
40s sound much different than the 45s. weird but the 45 is a headset made for tlking mostly. The 40 is for gaming but hjas that wimpy mike. You need a Zalman mike with it but they do great in cod4.
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You got a chance to compare the two?
 
i might be getting a 45, since it would be great fo once to know from which direction ppl are coming.
 
http://www.xoxide.com/zmmic1.html

just get that and the 40. sound is better by a fair amount.

the 45s do no sound much like the 40s. Weird I know but true enough.

THe Ultrasone 780s are great I am sure but for the ALO mod $$ I would get Stax all day. Nothing faster with more detail period. :)
 
ATH-ESW9's,they own.

They easily handle any genre with ease.Lite wieght,and soft lambskin leather help to make a comfortable wear as well,over extended listening sessions.
 
As I read more and more reviews and long headphone threads on various boards, the HFI-780's seem to sound like the gaming headphones (closed) to own. I have the DT770's right now and am pleased with them, but I wouldn't mind picking up a pair of the HFI-780's either...

I don't have an amp right now, and don't plan on getting one anytime soon, so the lower impedance of the HFI-780's is highly appealing to me.

Also, I was just wondering if anyone uses the Plantronics Audio PC Headset Speaker Switch (62085-01)? I use it and find that it comes in handy, as climbing behind the PC every time you want to show a group of people a video on youtube gets old real quick. However, it has really small wires connecting the soundcard to the switch, and I can see how people might complain about that, maybe it could be re-cabled so there is no quality loss?
 
look on parts express for a speaker selector. same thing.

the hifi 780s I need to try. maybe I can swap someone my Stax for a pair for a month.
 
This is an awesome demo of 3d sound. I wish my games sounded like that!
http://www.2loop.com/hsound.html

I checked out parts express and the speaker selectors they had were all for regular speakers (positive and negative wires) and they didn't have any line out jacks or anything like that. The switch from Plantronics can be had for less than $10, highly recommended for anyone that uses both headphones and speakers.

On another forum, forgot which one, some guy from Etymotic was pushing the GX400's pretty hard, but I guess thats to be expected from someone that works there, but he seems to swear by them. I have a set of the ER6i's and I have been happy with them, as I used them whenever I was on the train (every weekend for 8+ hours for 3 years....glad thats over), and on airplanes they work great for watching video on the PSP since they block out all sound. However I was thinking about upgrading them at some point in the future and the GX400's dont sound bad. They are pretty much exactly the same as the ER-4P's except that they include a built in mic. I was under the impression that the ER-4P's were some top notch IEM's?
 
I've talked to Agrajag (the guy who is always pushing them) a bit about the GX400s, they are an ER-4P with a longer cord and an inline mic.

I can definetely understand where he is coming from, for competitive CSS my ER-4P (over the HD580s) is the go-to.
 
I always wanted to get a pair of those, but when I bought my ER6i's the ER-4P's were like $300. But now that they have come down a bit I will probably pick up a pair when I replace my ER6i's.
 
D2000's just came in :D

Out of box impressions:
MUCH more comfortable than my 780's. At the moment, they sound a lil' worse in all areas compared to my ALO 780's (200hrs), but I'd expect the gap to close when I burn these in, as well as if I got a recable like my 780's have. D2000's have much less sibilance/brightness at high volumes compared to 780's. Surprisingly, these cans don't have all that much bass, despite reports that they have almost basshead-y bass. I guess it appears during burn in? :)
 
The D2000's are almost the same as the D5000's right? Maybe you should take a look at this mod at head-fi, it's a DIY, but apparently it helps so much that the author traded in those cans for his $4000 Sony MDR-R10's :eek:

So many choices in headphone world, makes me kind of sorry I stepped into it... because now I'm all curious and interested :D
 
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