A40 Gaming headphones

[Mad Lust Envy]

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Hard to find open headphones with very good bass like the Denon.

 
Hi.

 

[SJB610]

 
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Well have you ever played an FPS with a discrete 5.1 speaker setup? Because this is accurate, i love my A40 mixamp it sounds great creating a surround effect but it is less accurate than Without the surround mode. You re like the only person i ve ever heard saying the contary outside of Astro of course. I really would like it to be accurate but it isn t at all period 
 
 

 
I'm not gonna lie, I was alittle shocked to read someone thought the mixamp isn't accurate enough for FPS. Like Envy said...you have to use a headphone that has good imaging and soundstage to take advantage of the mixamp. I'll give an example with 2 pairs of headphones I have. 
 
The first pair....the Bose over-ear 'phones.....these have a tiny soundstage...ok bass......overall terrible headphone for FPS. It's accuracy in surround sound is ok at best, I really have to be concentrating on the sound to tell where it's coming from.
 
The second pair...Sony MDR-F1.....these are my go-to 'phones. You're not going to find a more open headphone under a grand. The surround sound accuracy is scary accurate, the soundstage is enveloping, bass is on the weak side, but I want a competitive edge.  I can play with my eyes closed and still probably go positive in CoD.
 
If you can, get a headphone recommended here for gaming and come back with your opinion. If you still feel dolby headphone isn't accurate enough for FPS, your hearing doesn't match the sound algorithm it uses.

 

 

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

All my audiophile friends who have heard the F1 all say the same thing about it with the Mixamp. DAMN, why is it so damn hard to find for a good price?

Though the friends I have that owned both the F1 and K701/K702 say the AKGs are better in SQ overall, though not worth the price increase if you plan on just gaming with it... that and the F1 is a looooooot easier to drive off the Mixamp. Guess it'd be useless for me as I wouldn't part with the K701, but if I had none, best believe the F1 would be my first purchase.

 

[Salchichon]

In my search to replace my shure840 which i will bring back to best buy asap, i saw the HeadZone mixamp on Beyer s website, i wonder how it does comparing to the astro mixamp, except for the kind of useless head tracking device. Does the huge price difference is worth it? It looks a bit more advanced.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

KBI (no longer here) is a huge fan of the Headzone. He said it's a huge step up from straight Dolby Headphone, but I don't see it's application for gaming purposes, more for music and movies. I can see it getting in the way of gaming.

 

[Salchichon]

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KBI (no longer here) is a huge fan of the Headzone. He said it's a huge step up from straight Dolby Headphone, but I don't see it's application for gaming purposes, more for music and movies. I can see it getting in the way of gaming.

 Why? how does it works comparing to the astro miaxamp?

 

[VulgarDisplay]

I believe that te head tracking surround simulators make the sound seem more like a 5.1 or 7.1 system hooked to whatever your watching.  It simulates the different speaker positions in a room.  With a real 7.1 system when you turn your head the sound hits you at different angles.  A head tracker allows this to happen through headphones ( kinda pointless if you ask me).

 

[Salchichon]

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I believe that te head tracking surround simulators make the sound seem more like a 5.1 or 7.1 system hooked to whatever your watching.  It simulates the different speaker positions in a room.  With a real 7.1 system when you turn your head the sound hits you at different angles.  A head tracker allows this to happen through headphones ( kinda pointless if you ask me).

I agree it is pretty pointless, but i was asking about the process giving 5,1 with stereo headphone?

 

[Riku540]

I disagree with the conclusion in your review being that the price is acceptable. This is on the grounds that even with the bundled price of the A40 + Mixamp, the Mixamp + AD700's are cheaper still even separately, and provide superior results.

 

[Salchichon]

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Hi.

Are you really using the 600ohm version with the mixamp? Sounds like a bad idea...

 

[Riku540]

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Are you really using the 600ohm version with the mixamp? Sounds like a bad idea...

 
Well since I know that Mad Lust Envy has the FiiO E7/E9 bundle on it's way very much like myself, the Mixamp can be used as a preamp into the E7/E9 therefore not only getting the Dolby Headphone processing but the proper amplification it needs to boot.
 
PS: Can't wait for Nov. 3rd!

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

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Are you really using the 600ohm version with the mixamp? Sounds like a bad idea...

If you set the game/voice knob all the way to game (no voice chat), it sounds fine. It works at least until I get my E9.

 

[Salchichon]

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If you set the game/voice knob all the way to game (no voice chat), it sounds fine. It works at least until I get my E9.

 yeah i always do that to but indeed you need another amp with 600ohm cans. But what are the benefits next to the 250 or the 32 versions? with the 32 version you wouldn t need another amp. Do they all have the same sensivity?

 

[Riku540]

Well, you could probably get a little better sound out of your games with the 600 Ohm properly mix-amped (see what I did there?). Although more so than likely those 600 Ohm 990's aren't being exclusively used for gaming... so having a better headphone overall for gaming/music/movies would definitely be a huge benefit.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

 
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 yeah i always do that to but indeed you need another amp with 600ohm cans. But what are the benefits next to the 250 or the 32 versions? with the 32 version you wouldn t need another amp. Do they all have the same sensivity?

The 600ohm has been proven to be the definitive version of the three main Beyers (770,880,990). They also use different drivers than the other ohm versions.
 
Unlike strict analytical listening, gaming doesn't need every single ounce of power to get the headphones to be effective. Mixed with dolby headphone processing, and it'll be pretty hard to get the right 'feeling' for these headphones to sound right. I'm not alone in this, as my friends own desktop amps that they pair with the hard to drive phones and say that adding it after the Mixamp really only benefits voice chat volume, and that their 600ohm headphones sound generally the same pre and post desktop amp. Of course, I'm sure the improvement is there, but when you're gaming, you're not analyzing how perfect/imperfect/accurate/inaccurate/pristine the sounds are. You'll be too focus on blowing **** up, and as long as the headphones do this well, there won't be complaints. Go ahead and try one of these and tell me if you think the Mixamp sounds like it's truly limiting them. For music, I have no doubt, but for gaming....not really. These two hard to drive phones have beaten every other easier to drive headphones I have ever used, so if the 32ohm version is inferior than my 600ohm for the same price, it's only logical for me to use the 600ohm and build on it.
 
The K701 and DT990/600 sound juuust fine with the Mixamp, though I can see the benefits of a desktop amp preventing my DT990s from clipping (not that they have), and tightening up the sound some more. The K701 sounds pretty much perfect as is as it's within the range of the Mixamp's power, though they are quite a bit insensitive to it unless it's fully juicing game audio. Once you move the chat knob away from fully powering game audio, you can seriously hear these two take a dive in every way from volume to overall SQ.
 
I'm mostly getting a desktop amp to power these two bad boys BETTER, and not necessarily because I believe it will mark a huge improvement. Neither sound like they lack anything in particular when compared to some 32ohm headphones I have used. They sound just as full, if not better all around.
 
For my non-gaming purposes, the K701 and DT990 DEFINITELY lack the juice with what I currently have, and the E9 will be my (hopefully) decent solution to this. Some amps may even impact SQ NEGATIVELY for gaming as it can alter soundstage and positioning. I'm hoping for the best, though to be honest an amp after the Mixamp is not necessary for me to love my cans.
 
I had the DT880/32ohm and the Mixamp powered it pretty much like my K701 and 990/600, with slightly (and I mean slightly) more volume. It was pretty insensitive itself, though was definitely easier to power when hooked up to my other non-gaming sources.