Looking for headphones/headset - $300-400 price range!

Heya,

The Beyer is a good way to go.

Alternatively, you can get any headphone and add the ModMic to it (google it).

Alternatives (assuming you want closed back):

Denon D2000

AudioTechnica A900 & A900X

Brainwavz HM5 (or Fischer Audio FA003 & FA002W)

Beyer T70 & DT770

AKG K271 MK II & K272 HD & K550

Shure SRH940

Ultrasone PRO 650 & PRO 750

Very best,

The headphones you currently use are optimized for gaming. I think the headphones mentioned above would be great choices, but I don't know if they would be suitable for FPS video games. There is no doubt that there will be excellent sound, but it might not give you the advantage in FPS games. I recommend buying quality headphones just for movies and music. Then again, I don't know much about headphones, but if I was very competitive when playing multiplayer first-person shooters, I would want headphones that would assist me in staying alive or getting kills.

Quote:

Originally Posted by leader 

The headphones you currently use are optimized for gaming. I think the headphones mentioned above would be great choices, but I don't know if they would be suitable for FPS video games. There is no doubt that there will be excellent sound, but it might not give you the advantage in FPS games. I recommend buying quality headphones just for movies and music. Then again, I don't know much about headphones, but if I was very competitive when playing multiplayer first-person shooters, I would want headphones that would assist me in staying alive or getting kills.

Heya,

The only thing that a headphone would give an advantage with in FPS games is sound stage or imaging which would be a factor in positioning.

There are no "optimized" for gaming headphones that magically do this better than a good quality headphone from a decade ago that have a good sound stage. And the "gaming headsets" are just normal, cheap headphones, with a microphone attached, and the gimmicky novelty of the word "gaming" added to it. They do not have better soundstages, or anything better, frankly. And the "surround" sound headphones are also a bunch of gimmicky falsehoods as well. The surround effect is software based, virtual, and can be done with any headphone via a soundcard with the same software. Dolby Headphone for example, from a $30 Xonar DG, with any headphone, will do that.

Very best,

That makes sense. Thanks for clarifying. Now I know what to tell my friends when they suggest that they have to buy headsets by companies that make gaming equipment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Confucius 

Thanks a lot for the reply, I will be sure to look over each of the suggestions you wrote! The ModMic looks like a very cool idea and it also opens up a lot of different options for me to explore.

 

I've noticed some threads about the Senheiser HD 600, with lots of positive feedback, do you think that would be a viable option as well (EDIT: I just realized these are open headphones, they would probably be to noisy for others for me to use)?  What amp would you say would work well with these different headphones, and what ones would you pick given the choice of only one?

 

Thanks a lot again for taking the time to reply!

Heya,

Open headphones are going to be heard by all around you, and you will hear others as well. I figured you were after closed headphones for isolation since your original ones are closed, thus all my recommendations were closed back headphones with good sound stages.

The ones suggested above, do not require amplification beyond what your soundcard already provides. If you don't have a soundcard, I would suggest a simple Xonar DG ($30), it has dolby headphone and an onboard amplifier that is more than capable of driving the above headphones. If you want something external to output from your soundcard (soundcard -> amplifier -> headphone), then you can get anything, but again, it's not necessary since they're all efficient headphones and will run from most devices without a problem. A good starting discreet amplifier would be something like a Fiio E9 (go used if you can, save a buck) (which is overkill for your need). But note that you can use AVR's for headphones too (you can output to whatever AVR/AMP you're using for your speakers assuming you're using one).

Very best,