Hello. I am very new to Head-Fi, and the audiophile world in general. I have always loved music and been kind of a snob when it comes to my music collection (All my songs are encoded in FLAC). Currently I have a Corsair Vengeance 1500 USB headset. I also have a Samson C01U Condenser Microphone, but it doesn't seem to want to pick up much sound (That is another problem, for another time.)
 
I have grown tired of USB headsets in general. Every pair I have ever owned has had some problem with it that eventually drove me to seek an upgrade, and the Vengeance 1500 is no exception. I have no real experience in the audio field, and only know very little. I have attempted to read online guides, but there doesn't seem to be any (at least that I could find with a few hours of Google searching) that list terms in a way that a beginner can understand. Every time I would either get swarmed by terminology too quickly or find myself reading something that turned out to be no help at all.
 
What I have come to understand though, is that each pair of headphones/set will sound different, even on the high end and that each of them are made with a specific purpose in mind. Beyond that though, its all just gibberish to me currently.
 
Right now, I am looking at a Sennheiser G4ME Zero (I prefer closed over open for headsets) for my gaming/minor music needs, and a Omega HT Claro Halo for my sound card. I had looked at the Sennheiser PC 350 SE, and it appears to have the same stats as the G4ME Zero, so I am assuming the G4ME Zero is just the newest revision of the same headset.
 
For just music I was interested in the Sennheiser HD 598 for now, and possibly the HD 600 later on.
 
Beyond this though, like I said before, I am sorta clueless. I have read things about a desktop amp, and I can only assume one would be required for this setup. If anyone can either offer a suggestion or point me in the direction of an instructional guide that doesn't just swamp the reader with terms, it would be much appreciated.
 
Thanks.

By not swamping you with audiophile terms you mean you don't know what warm, bright, dark, veiled, neutral, soundstage, imaging means? 
 
I'll keep it simple and say if you plan on getting a headset for gaming and a pair of cans for music listening I would recommend getting music cans (HD598s) first and try those with gaming.  I assume you play FPS games? the 598s are pretty darn good for gaming already.  They won't require a dedicated amp to sound good ( you can plug them right into your computer/sound card and they'll sound good)
 
I have the HD 600s on my head right now and they're great for all kinds of genres of music and well.... it's hard to describe them without using that lingo... I would also recommend learning what all that stuff means before you buy a mid-fi set of cans/amp like the HD600s as you continue to learn and hear more headphones you'll learn what kind of sound signature you're looking for and what head phones you'll want to avoid. 

When I say swamping with information, I mean the guides will talk about ohms, switch to mentioning frequencies, then throw in voltage along with several other things. They will state that each of these things is important, but while I am trying to get my head around ohms, which from what I remember from my schooling, is impedance, but I don't really know how that relates to sound other than I guess a higher voltage is required to push the speaker.
 
The problem with 598's for just gaming is I need a microphone as well as my current condenser microphone just isn't working properly. I also prefer a closed headset for gaming, and I believe the 598's are open. 

prayingwithfire said:

  When I say swamping with information, I mean the guides will talk about ohms, switch to mentioning frequencies, then throw in voltage along with several other things. They will state that each of these things is important, but while I am trying to get my head around ohms, which from what I remember from my schooling, is impedance, but I don't really know how that relates to sound other than I guess a higher voltage is required to push the speaker.
 
The problem with 598's for just gaming is I need a microphone as well as my current condenser microphone just isn't working properly. I also prefer a closed headset for gaming, and I believe the 598's are open. 

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The 598s are open but closed cans tend to be a lot worse at imaging.  IIRC K550s are closed and have a pretty good sound stage but I'm not sure.  They don't require an amp to sound good either and yes, ohms mean impedance and for the most part is why 300 ohm HD600s need an amp and the 50 ohm 598s don't.  it has nothing directly to do with sound quality, just how much power you need for them to reproduce all frequencies accurately.
 
edit: as for the mic on headphone issue I use my HD600s for gaming and just a cheap little clip on mic for ts and skype.  Unless you have some crazy settings I really doubt your friends on the other end can hear the difference between a quality mic and a $5 clip on after all the processing that's done to the signal.