Unamped: AKG K 701 vs Ultrasone PRO 750 vs beyer DT 880 - Page 3

^ he's right.

and to the OP: don't worry about an amp, the opamps on the prelude are enough to drive all those headphones. getting a more powerful amp would yield very subtle but noticeable improvements. but for you, it won't make a difference since you wouldn't care or probably even notice the improvement in sound quality in games. from the list you suggested, i'd say go for the pl750. if you're not strictly going to follow that list, then go for the dt770.

Crispness is very important for gaming audio. Not for the explosions, sure, but the most widely played competitive games such as Halo 3, and Unreal Tournament 3 have amazing audio that, when paired with great headphones, can tell you where everything is going on, from footsteps of enemies, to bullets and explosions across the map. Good sound is very important.

For gaming and pop music PRO/PL2500, Or the HFI780.
For Studio K702/701, PRO/PL650.

You can get 32 ohm 770's or 880's from:

beyerdynamic Shop*-*MANUFAKTUR

with a coiled cord if you want it and very slick custom color features ... these will have consumer headband clamping force, less than the Pro models, so if you are going beyer I would vote for the 770 to seal everything out, as other posters noted.

48's all the way now. Dull, but the unreal and natural clarity and detail keeps me coming back.

I use DT-880s for competitive gaming right out of a X-fi prelude. the X-fi actually drives them quite well, and the positioning is spot on. I would go for them.

Why why why!?!

To be honest I don't think either of these are the best choice.

Recommend you go with Audio Technica AD700's- they are easy to drive, great value, have a good soundstage and comfortable (important with hours of gaming).
AD900's are better in detail and have more bass but if you are going to use the phones purely for gaming I don't think you would notice much difference.
Search gaming community forums on either of these if you don't believe me, they both are popular and highly reccomended.

AT A900's have stronger bass but don't offer the same soundstage or detail and can often get hot to wear.

Spending the sort of money on 701's or 880's without decent amplification is like driving around in a ferrari with your tyres flat- it just won't perform to its maximum potential.

But I guess if you have your heart set on these two its a good thing value is percieved, and so too audio quality.. (which is evidence enough that I could be wrong as well!)

Can't comment on the Ultrasone's.


p.s I thought DT880's were good on my Auzentech Prelude until I heard them on a decent amplifier. I now have AD900's for gaming and DT880's for music.

Cripes, nothing like bringing an old post back to life- just noticed the original post date...

color me weird, but i liked the 701s straight out of my computers headphone jack with flac. My regular set up was a bada12 and DAC 1. I expected a HUGE improvement. On board sound too.

++1

AD700's are a terrific value for the OP's purpose, pretty comfortable (despite the odd appearance) and have very minimal amplification requirements. The DT880's will bring a bit more bass impact while requiring signifigantly more amping, much higher price, and no better imaging.

Edit: Bah! Blindly followed posting in a year old dead thread!

Glad you brought it back to life, was wondering the same as the OP.
Just lately found this forum. I use the bayer DT990 for gaming, for me it sounds great coming out of my creative x-fi sound card, but then again I haven't tried it with anything else. Of course I use them for music as well, also through computer, to my ears they sound great.

i use 750's (amped through my e7/e9 DAC/amp combo) but used to use them unamped for competitive gaming. I must say, to the person who suggested a cheaper set w/ a mic (i alos use a clip on mic), hearing the pitter patter of footsteps through that big explosion at 4 o clock when the explosion is at 7, is very useful especially since i play black ops (was playing mw2) on hardcore and one mistake = death

 

positionally, the 750's surround sound works as well as i could ask it to, while also working as my electronic/techno/house cans (i listen to metal on grados otherwise)

 

the k701's i havent heard but they are notoriously needing of an amp, and i havent heard the dt880's. i can say the soundstage on k701's are huge but needing of an amp to bring it out well