Ok I need peoples final opinions as I've gathered some suggestions. So now I need a general consensus.

Here are headsets I've been recommended and am looking at.
 
 
Razer Carcharias Over Ear PC Gaming Headset - $60

SteelSeries 7H Fnatic - $98

Thermaltake Shock - $80
 
TRITTON 720+ 7.1 Surround Headset for Xbox 360, PS3 and PS4  - $90 (found velour replacements, couldn't find a place to buy though)
 
SteelSeries Siberia V2 - $60 (No velour replacements, )
 
Razer Kraken PRO Over Ear PC and Music Headset - $65 (No velour replacements, )
 
Plantronics GameCom 780 Surround Sound Stereo PC Gaming Headset - $71
 
Skullcandy SLYR Gaming Headset - $65 (First post guide recommended is a plus, not sure what kind of ear pads they are and I'm worried about the plastic headband as they tend to snap.)
 
Corsair Vengeance 1500 USB Dolby 7.1 Gaming Headset (1500 v2) - $70 (One person recommended, only to have a person right after say there were bad so idk)

For a headphone + mic combo I'm looking at these for headphones

Sony MDR-V6 Monitor Series Headphones $88

SR850 - Professional Studio Reference Headphones - $50
 
Creative Aurvana Live! Headphones - $82 (First post guide recommended, but I can't find velour replacements, )

And for the mic

Zalman Zm-Mic1 High Sensitivity Headphone Microphone - $10
 
 
Side note: The AD700 look and sound like they would be perfect along with a mic, but there a bit out of my price range (even though the guide says less then a $100 XD)

axelcloris said:

Here you go Nameless. $30 @ Amazon.

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Awesome! I got a code for $30!
 
...and not so awesome is the fact that PSN just keeps giving me "An error has occured." messages every time I try to enter the damn thing.

purpleangel said:

  I think the STX is a good choice.
 
A Xonar DX or D1 sound card, combined with a O2 (Objective 2) headphone amplifier, makes a good setup.
As long as you have no plans for also using speakers (otherwise you spend time swapping the jacks).

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I agree with you, but there is a litle problem , the price ! I was ondering if the Asus cards can perfomance as a creative in terms of gaming, since the Creative has CMSS-3D wich is a great feature for games.  I could afford the creative titanium HD as well for my 598's , i hope it wont break because the amp of this card is too strong, or am i wrong?

avens said:

  Mad Lust, would you say the K701 are the very best headphones for competitive gaming on the market? What would be #2 and #3?
 
I'm looking for an upgrade of my soundstage modded senn 555, but something more significant than a 598. Plus the AKGs do look quite nice compared to them and certainly have better build quality, both which are reasons why I'm also considering the K702 Anniversary edition.
 
If all factors are considered (music, movies, etc.), I also have a senn 600 dedicated to music listening so it'd be nice to have different brands and signatures, and then again I'm looking for the very best for gaming not the fifth place that the 598 might be.
 
Thanks.

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K701s are not the very best for competitve gaming. 
 
HD800s or SR009 are probably the very best, but nothing is going to be that much of an improvement for competitive gaming over the AD700s.
 
Your NOT going to keep getting competitive improvements as you go up in price.  The main improvements your going to get are a more immersive sound (fuller weighter sound, better bass).  Sometimes a more immersive sound counteracts a competitive focused sound though.  Part of the reason the AD700 works so well for soundwhoring is because it sounds bright and bass light (counteracts immersion though).
 
So if your looking for the very best headphone for competitve gaming, just get an AD700.  Or get an HD800.  Everything in between the two will offer improvements to immersion, but not really improvements for simple competitive sound whoring.
 
If your willing to trade a little competitive ability for a more immersive and enjoyable sound (and a more audiophile headphone that will be better with music), then you should look at things like the Q701, K712, X1, etc. 
 
 
Quote:

bakuryu said:

  Ok I need peoples final opinions as I've gathered some suggestions. So now I need a general consensus.

Here are headsets I've been recommended and am looking at.
 
 
Razer Carcharias Over Ear PC Gaming Headset - $60

SteelSeries 7H Fnatic - $98

Thermaltake Shock - $80
 
TRITTON 720+ 7.1 Surround Headset for Xbox 360, PS3 and PS4  - $90 (found velour replacements, couldn't find a place to buy though)
 
SteelSeries Siberia V2 - $60 (No velour replacements,

)
 
Razer Kraken PRO Over Ear PC and Music Headset - $65 (No velour replacements,

)
 
Plantronics GameCom 780 Surround Sound Stereo PC Gaming Headset - $71
 
Skullcandy SLYR Gaming Headset - $65 (First post guide recommended is a plus, not sure what kind of ear pads they are and I'm worried about the plastic headband as they tend to snap.)
 
Corsair Vengeance 1500 USB Dolby 7.1 Gaming Headset (1500 v2) - $70 (One person recommended, only to have a person right after say there were bad so idk)

For a headphone + mic combo I'm looking at these for headphones

Sony MDR-V6 Monitor Series Headphones $88

SR850 - Professional Studio Reference Headphones - $50
 
Creative Aurvana Live! Headphones - $82 (First post guide recommended, but I can't find velour replacements,

)

And for the mic

Zalman Zm-Mic1 High Sensitivity Headphone Microphone - $10
 
 
Side note: The AD700 look and sound like they would be perfect along with a mic, but there a bit out of my price range (even though the guide says less then a $100 XD)

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Way too many options. 
 
You pretty much listed every gaming headset out there.  You need to do some more research to narrow it down yourself some. 
 
I'd cross off a bunch of those unproven gaming headsets though.  I've read the Carcharias might be decent.  The Slyrs are decent.  If you can get Trittons 720s for $90, that's a decent deal (assuming you also need a surround sound box for consoles- if not, they don't really make sense).
 
SR850s are supposedly good some people prefer them to AD700s as they're more immersive.  I'm very picky about comfort though and I know they would fail there for me.  AD700(x), AD900(x), HD558, MA900 are all solid proven choices.
 
I would not get the Zalman mic.  I own one, and it isn't a great mic from my experience.  It's not sensitive enough for a clip on mic.  This had been stated many times on this forum (and by the OP as well) so I'm not sure why people still keep mentioning it.  I suspect it still gets recommened on some PC forums and people come here form those forums thinking it's the best option. 
 
 
 
 
Yeah.  We need to write a FAQ...

chicolom said:

   
K701s are not the very best for competitve gaming. 
 
HD800s or SR009 are probably the very best, but nothing is going to be that much of an improvement for competitive gaming over the AD700s.
 
Your NOT going to keep getting competitive improvements as you go up in price.  The main improvements your going to get are a more immersive sound (fuller weighter sound, better bass).  Sometimes a more immersive sound counteracts a competitive focused sound though.  Part of the reason the AD700 works so well for soundwhoring is because it sounds bright and bass light (counteracts immersion though).
 
So if your looking for the very best headphone for competitve gaming, just get an AD700.  Or get an HD800.  Everything in between the two will offer improvements to immersion, but not really improvements for simple competitive sound whoring.
 
If your willing to trade a little competitive ability for a more immersive and enjoyable sound (and a more audiophile headphone that will be better with music), then you should look at things like the Q701, K712, X1, etc. 
 
 
Way too many options. 
 
You pretty much listed every gaming headset out there.  You need to do some more research to narrow it down yourself some. 
 
I'd cross off a bunch of those unproven gaming headsets though.  I've read the Carcharias might be decent.  The Slyrs are decent.  If you can get Trittons 720s for $90, that's a decent deal (assuming you also need a surround sound box for consoles- if not, they don't really make sense).
 
SR850s are supposedly good some people prefer them to AD700s as they're more immersive.  I'm very picky about comfort though and I know they would fail there for me.  AD700(x), AD900(x), HD558, MA900 are all solid proven choices.
 
I would not get the Zalman mic.  I own one, and it isn't a great mic from my experience.  It's not sensitive enough for a clip on mic.  This had been stated many times on this forum (and by the OP as well) so I'm not sure why people still keep mentioning it.  I suspect it still gets recommened on some PC forums and people come here form those forums thinking it's the best option. 
 
 
 
 
Yeah.  We need to write a FAQ...

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Well that's the problem. I've been given a dozen recommendations and I've researched a lot of them, but I don't know what to look for. I simply want a good (for) gaming headphone/set (+mic) for $100 with velour earpads that won't break easily. The guide I've looked over multiple times and looked many other places and none seem to fit my budget and the ones that do have pleather ear pads, are gaming headsets (people seem to not like those), have few reviews and or recent bad review even though they are overall highly rated.
 
Edit: A suggestion from MDL would be reassuring, is my budget the problem?

Thanks for the answer. Would you say the AD700s are a sizable upgrade coming from soundstage modded 555s? Way better than the 598?
 
Same questions go about the K701 (and relateD) compared with the 555 and 598s, knowing the K701s won't be as good soundstage-wise as the AD700s. Right now I'm more interested in the AKGs than in the 700s because they are overall better, but I must know before hand if the soundstage and overall gaming aspects of the AKGs are better than the 555s and 598s, and also if the difference between the AD700s and AKGs for gaming is substantial enough for me to forget about the nicer AKGs.
 
To be honest the reason why I didn't buy the 598 today is not only that I want a 10/10 headphone for gaming instead of a 9.5/10, but it also has hideous looks (one of the worst looking I've ever seen) and I know low tier sennheisers don't have great build quality. That's why I'm now thinking about the AD700 in particular (infinite soundstage) and the AKGs (way better headphones overall). The HD800s are discarded since that's overkill for what I want.

Go for these - Stereo, built very well, has a mic, velour cups and gets good reviews: http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/headphones/1299214/qpad-qh-85.

I have been testing out my new Vali for the past few hours, and I have some impressions. With the rubber feet, and on a solid surface the micro-phonics really are not that bad, but I expect for a lot of people to make a huge deal of it. Just when you first turn it on, or plug in a headphone, and its gone within a minute. I have noticed that the lower the impedance the worse it is. 
 
It sounds great with all of my headphones (hd598s, akg 702 annies, Grado sr80i music only), except my denon d600s. For the money you really cant go wrong. 
 
This amp is really good for gaming with my hd598s, it adds a touch of immersion. I cant wait to try out my He400s with this amp, black friday always leaves me broke. 
 
ETA: This amp pairs with the mixamp really well. I have the 2013 mixamp and I am able to set the mixamp's volume to ~98% and you are able to hide the hiss pretty well. With the asgard & ibasso, the hiss was a lot more noticeable at lower volumes (amp and mixamp). 

avens said:

  Thanks for the answer. Would you say the AD700s are a sizable upgrade coming from soundstage modded 555s? Way better than the 598?
 
Same questions go about the K701 (and relateD) compared with the 555 and 598s, knowing the K701s won't be as good soundstage-wise as the AD700s. Right now I'm more interested in the AKGs than in the 700s because they are overall better, but I must know before hand if the soundstage and overall gaming aspects of the AKGs are better than the 555s and 598s, and also if the difference between the AD700s and AKGs for gaming is substantial enough for me to forget about the nicer AKGs.
 
To be honest the reason why I didn't buy the 598 today is not only that I want a 10/10 headphone for gaming instead of a 9.5/10, but it also has hideous looks (one of the worst looking I've ever seen) and I know low tier sennheisers don't have great build quality. That's why I'm now thinking about the AD700 in particular (infinite soundstage) and the AKGs (way better headphones overall). The HD800s are discarded since that's overkill for what I want.

Click to expand...

My hd598s have held up well, and I would consider the build quality excellent. I upgraded to the akg 702 annies, and they are a better headphone in every way IMO, but they cost 2x more. 

How would Grados or MDR-V6s work for gaming? A little curious there.

davisman said:

  I have been testing out my new Vali for the past few hours, and I have some impressions. With the rubber feet, and on a solid surface the micro-phonics really are not that bad, but I expect for a lot of people to make a huge deal of it. Just when you first turn it on, or plug in a headphone, and its gone within a minute. I have noticed that the lower the impedance the worse it is. 
 
It sounds great with all of my headphones (hd598s, akg 702 annies, Grado sr80i music only), except my denon d600s. For the money you really cant go wrong. 
 
This amp is really good for gaming with my hd598s, it adds a touch of immersion. 

Click to expand...

 
That's good to hear, literally.  I've been holding off getting a $100-150 dedicated amp because I was waiting for the Vali's release.  I also have the HD598 (from an awesome $140 BF deal last week) and K702 Annies currently driven by Audioengine D1 and sometimes Fiio E17.  I really wanted to try the tube sound, but all the sub-$100 tube amps available (before the Vali) were not very appealing.
 

davisman said:

  My hd598s have held up well, and I would consider the build quality excellent. I upgraded to the akg 702 annies, and they are a better headphone in every way IMO, but they cost 2x more. 

Click to expand...

 
What are you driving your headphones with?  I just got the HD598 a couple days ago and to me they actually sound more... fun and musical than my Annies driven by the D1.  I find the bass more enjoyable with the HD598 vs Annies when I listen to music (mostly female vocals, pop, rock).  Mids, treble, and detail is better with the Annies.  I haven't really done any critical listening nor gaming with them yet, but for pure fun music enjoyment, I actually prefer the HD598 right now.  Maybe I'm not driving my Annies properly with only the D1 or E17?  Considering my Annies cost 2.6x more, I think the HD598 are pretty good bang for buck.  Build wise, I think the Annies and AD700 feel more solid than the HD598.  

Grado's & Sony V6 are good and would work... I do love my dad's Grado SR60 (which I bought for him) with some awesome 70's Rock, they really make me wanna headbang, but neither of those headphones have that magic soundstage juice that makes the ambient world in a videogame come to life. But they're still good headphones.

I got my AD700 four years ago for about $80 from a 3rd party seller on Amazon. And I had a bad customer service experience, it took a month to actually get the headphone I ordered because apparently their inventory system thought the A700 was the same headphone. Now I'd rather spend a bit more and get the right product directly from Amazon. If competitive gaming surround/tactical is your absolute priority, then the AD700 or AD700x is your answer.

For me, my first AKG was an upgrade (Q701) in warmth and immersion (music sounded more lively and got me more involved!) with almost no drawbacks, it took me a few months to realize that the frontal soundstage imaging depth was a bit shorter than with the AD700 until I bought a nice tube amp. I kept both headphones for quite a few months, trying to decide between the quality difference and value, but in the end the Q701 won out because it was the headphone I wanted to listen to.

The Sony MDR-MA900 was the first headphone I'd heard that joined in the AD700 and Q701's (and K712's) rarified echelon of having very good and noticeable soundstage. It was very good at creating a space, but ultimately I felt it wasn't enough of a bargain (for me, bought my Q701 used HEY-OOh!) and it was the same comparison again where the K712 sounded more lively and begged to be used. I probably would've sold my K712 by now, except that with the Q701, K712, and MA900 all available at once, the Q seemed to have a touch less mids than I was looking for... but by itself I would never have noticed. Recent reviews of the K612 have me very interested from a value and balanced-yet-lively point of view, but knowing myself, I would probably end up owning 3 different yet very similar AKG models h34r:

AvroArrow,
If the Vali is anything like my tube amp, you may find the Annie's taking the lead in musicality. Then again, the Sennheiser sound may be just more your preference, and that's totally fine too.

...

If you get the Vali, you'll probably like the effect with the HD598, but despite the cost you may find it hard to resist the Annies on the same setup with the amp. AKGs really seem to reveal differences in amps, the sennheisers I've heard tend to gloss over the differences and impart their sound signature.

avens said:

  Thanks for the answer. Would you say the AD700s are a sizable upgrade coming from soundstage modded 555s? Way better than the 598?
 
Same questions go about the K701 (and relateD) compared with the 555 and 598s, knowing the K701s won't be as good soundstage-wise as the AD700s. Right now I'm more interested in the AKGs than in the 700s because they are overall better, but I must know before hand if the soundstage and overall gaming aspects of the AKGs are better than the 555s and 598s, and also if the difference between the AD700s and AKGs for gaming is substantial enough for me to forget about the nicer AKGs.
 
To be honest the reason why I didn't buy the 598 today is not only that I want a 10/10 headphone for gaming instead of a 9.5/10, but it also has hideous looks (one of the worst looking I've ever seen) and I know low tier sennheisers don't have great build quality. That's why I'm now thinking about the AD700 in particular (infinite soundstage) and the AKGs (way better headphones overall). The HD800s are discarded since that's overkill for what I want.

Click to expand...

 
 
The AD700 is a slight upgrade in soundstage from the HD5xx, but is also a step back in terms of immersion. 
 
HD55x and the AKGs are almost on par with each other in terms of competitive soundwhoring.  The main benefit from the AKGs is in immersion and music listening (fuller sound, better extension, more detailed and refined).
 
If you only want 10/10 soundwhoring (and not the 9.5/10 from the Senns and AKGs), then the AD700 is a logical choice.
 
Only caring about maximum soundwhoring ability in a headphone is sort of equivalent to only caring about maximum frames per second with your graphics.  You may get a slight advantage by sacrificing certain settings to squeeze out those extra FPS, but the graphics will be more bland and less exciting.    I would rather trade of a few of those extra FPS for that richer and more immersive experience. 
 
 

salx said:

  Go for these - Stereo, built very well, has a mic, velour cups and gets good reviews: http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/headphones/1299214/qpad-qh-85.

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I believe those are a headset version/rebrand of the Takstar hi2050 headphone (which itself goes by a bunch of other names). 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/585356/the-takstar-technical-pro-gemini-greathon-thread
 
They get decent reviews and are also quite cheap, so they are probably one of the better options in the sub 100 bracket.
 
 
 
Quote:

davisman said:

  I have been testing out my new Vali for the past few hours, and I have some impressions. With the rubber feet, and on a solid surface the micro-phonics really are not that bad, but I expect for a lot of people to make a huge deal of it.

Click to expand...

 
Microphonics...on a desktop amp? 
 
I don't understand.
 

hpuser9083 said:

  How would Grados or MDR-V6s work for gaming? A little curious there.

Click to expand...

 
 
Can't speak on the MDRV6, but the lower end Grados are just OK.  They don't really have anything special about the soundstage IMO.  They sounded intimate next to my Q701s.

chicolom said:

 
Microphonics...on a desktop amp? 
 
I don't understand.

Click to expand...

 
It's documented in the Vali thread.  If you tap the casing or just plug in the headphones, the vibrations shake the tubes and if you listen to it right away, you'll hear an EEEEeeeeee or ringing sound that decreases and goes away in about a minute.  Schiit says it's one of the several trade-offs of the design to hit that price point.  It's on their product FAQ page.  I still want to try it out as I've never heard a tube amp before and it looks to be more powerful than both of my DAC/Amp combos.