I felt the need to post my non audiophile impressions of my refurb Turtle Beach PX5 that I have had for a few days. I still have a lot of learning to do with the whole system since I haven't been using the wireless PX5 phones much. I was really fortunate to have found them for $138 total on amazon and they came in pretty much perfect condition (still smell new =D). I actually haven't had the chance to play any FPS games since I was in the middle of finishing up Alan Wake when they arrived about a week earlier than I was expecting. When they came I pulled everything out and set them up with the optical out on my PC (motherboard audio) and started playing away. 
 
The PX5 amp is AMAZING!! the PX5 headphones sound great and the presets are a neat feature. Just for fun I plugged my Sennheiser HD 435s into the headphone out plug on the amp and HOLY COW they sound incredible. I had played a couple of hours of Alan Wake before I realized that I hadn't even turned on the Dolby surround it just sounded so good and even had great positioning in stereo. The 435s sound much... richer? I think it is because they are open compared to the closed PX5 phones, maybe it has something to do with break in but that is beyond me. 
 
The PX5 is pretty comfortable if a little snug on the jawline if I don't position them right, but it is nice to not have them pushing on my ears like my 435's. The only other problem is that I have astigmatism that I've been correcting with glasses which are very uncomfortable with any headset. I have been pushing my glasses up at an angle so that they sit on top of the cushions but I think it is time for contacts. 
 
Any ideas how to break in a wireless headset without going through 100 AA batteries? I used to have a pink noise .flac somewhere. 

Old PC power supply and some alligator clips is how I'd do it.

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fa11ou7 said:

Any ideas how to break in a wireless headset without going through 100 AA batteries? I used to have a pink noise .flac somewhere. 

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I thought you said the PX5 sounded amazing? Don't worry about break/burn in for them. If they sound good already, just enjoy them whenever you use them.

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mad lust envy said:

 

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Interesting to see the fun rating fairly high on the 770's and 990's. I've owned the 770's for some time and don't particularly care for them w/ music. Too colored. The 580's while smooth, still sound a bit boring. Looking @ the Q701's or Denon D2000's to double for gaming either home or LAN.
 
 

I find them fun BECAUSE they're colored, lol. Big bass adds to fun.

I would say a good tradeoff between fun and balanced is definitely the Q701. Its fun when it needs to be.

Hi I'm new to this forums so my apologies if i make a nub mistake.  But anyhow, my preference in gaming headphone/set is a clear detail in footsteps, knife swings, etc for fps games like mw3.  Which headphones/sets would be great for those on the xbox 360?  Money isnt an issue for me, I just want to know which headphone will do that best.  Also i've heard about the hd598/dss combo.  would that be all you need for a headphone?  And what is your preference for fps gaming?

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xzoazax said:

Hi I'm new to this forums so my apologies if i make a nub mistake.  But anyhow, my preference in gaming headphone/set is a clear detail in footsteps, knife swings, etc for fps games like mw3.  Which headphones/sets would be great for those on the xbox 360?  Money isnt an issue for me, I just want to know which headphone will do that best.  Also i've heard about the hd598/dss combo.  would that be all you need for a headphone?  And what is your preference for fps gaming?

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did you not read the first page? Your question is already answered there. It is also answered a few pages back. Have a read through this thread (not all of it but some of it)

Hi xZOAZAx, I'm new here too - there's a lot to take in isn't there!! From what I've learned so far it sounds like you need to steer away from headphones with lots of bass so you can pick out the fine details. MLE has lots of recommendations on page 1 such as the AD700s and the PC360s - they're bass light and high on detail. The HD598s may have a bit more bass than you're looking for from what I've read so far - I'm considering those as I want something of a more cinematic experience.
 
Have you considered the mixamp instead of the dss? It seems to get good reviews for its location abilities using its dolby headphone processing.
 
Good luck!
 

So the pc360 and ad700 would be better for sound whoring correct?

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xzoazax said:

So the pc360 and ad700 would be better for sound whoring correct?

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My Audio Technica ATH-AD700s are so light bass that I do not use them anymore.
Because everything i listen to sounds better with at least decent bass (or full bass).
 
 
 

xzoazax said:

So the pc360 and ad700 would be better for sound whoring correct?

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Yes, the ad700 is the best headphone when it comes to soundwhoring but the reason it is so good is also the reason a lot of people don't like the headphones for music or the 'fun factor' in games. They can't really be considered a great all rounder.

darren i said:

Hi xZOAZAx, I'm new here too - there's a lot to take in isn't there!! From what I've learned so far it sounds like you need to steer away from headphones with lots of bass so you can pick out the fine details. MLE has lots of recommendations on page 1 such as the AD700s and the PC360s - they're bass light and high on detail. The HD598s may have a bit more bass than you're looking for from what I've read so far - I'm considering those as I want something of a more cinematic experience.
 
Have you considered the mixamp instead of the dss? It seems to get good reviews for its location abilities using its dolby headphone processing.
 
Good luck!
 

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The 598 too much bass? Where did you hear this? The HD598 is not much of a difference from the PC360 itself, aside from more mids, and refinement overall. The bass is anything but heavy.

The HD598 isn't anywhere near my first choice for a cinematic experience. The bass is considerably lacking for that.

Can anyone give me a good idea on how to test a headphones dolby headphone and competative gaming ability?

I love my new headphones but want a good way to test them before I recomend them to anyone. Mass effect 2 seems to be the best for testing positioning ability. More trying to figure out the sound whore aspect. I was thinking just running a bass test tone into the aux jack to see how it would muffle details.

Other problem is I don't listen at very high levels so my very bassy headphones don't sound bassy at all. That is unless I crank up the volune to max and set to bass boost to high. Using the jocker track posted hear sounds like two subs strapped to my head for sure. Not sure what volume level people play at so my low levels might be a lot different than others.

For new games, Mass Effect 3 has jaw droppingly perfect positional cues for Dolby Headphone. You can literally just walk around the Citadel and hear people talk, rotate yourself around and be able to hear exactly where they are speaking from. The game was just mixed extremely well. Both the Q701 and D7000 sound amazing, and I'm sure even headphones with a smallish soundstage can still sound good with this game.

As for soundwhoring, it's not like one headphone will automatically reveal details you couldn't hear in cheaper headphones. That to me, is pretty much pure Head-fi hyperbole. Frequencies don't just begin to exist from one headphone to another. Unless a headphone is REALLY bad, what you hear in a decent headphone will be heard in another decent headphone. The balance in the frequency may make one headphone amplify how loud certain sounds will be, but it's all gonna be there for the most part. The term soundwhoring is more of a "This headphone will amplify the weaker sounds, so you can more easily hear the typically less audible noises, which may help you in a game." The K701 was god mode to me because of the combination of analytical sound signature, huge soundstage, and perfect positional accuracy with Dolby headphone, IMHO.

The K701 and AD700 are so good for soundwhoring because they focus a lot on sounds that are usually drowned out/veiled/weakened typicially by bass in other headphones... these sounds are still potentially audible in other headphones, but you are instinctively going to focus on what's more prominent. Good exceptions to this are the DT990 and D7000, because the bass is either very quick (doesn't envelop the lesser frequencies), or in the case of the D7000 especially, the bass sounds detached from everything else, even with how strong it is. That being said, less focus on bass is just better for competitive gaming, no matter how good/detached the bass is.

Any MW3 players should take note: the sounds in MW3 aren't as well presented in this game compared to the older CoD games, so soundwhoring really isn't gonna help you out in this game like it did in CoD4, MW2, and BLOPS (with Ninja pro).

Also, the Bad Company, Battlefield 3 players should understand that these games may have stellar sound quality, but don't do much in the way of actual HELPFUL positional cues.

I've said it countless times: Dolby Headphone is a proven tech. However, it's either well or poorly presented depending on the game. Some games have terrible positional cues, some have amazing cues, etc.

MLE

Thanks for the great explination. So its not that they are more detailed. They just don't hide the really quiet bits with any bass.

So what are those small bits are they really important to hear like footsteps. Or is it simply that when its competative any small advantage is worth the loss in base.