[Noxey]

I know I'm going to be destroyed by this topic, but I need an honest answer. And do not give an opinion if you have not tried both headphones before. I don't want to look at 30 biased responses saying "Razer makes mice not headphones so these are bad". I don't need to see that, so if that is your comment, press the back button now.
 
I need an honest comparison of these two sets of headphones. I'll be buying one of them with an Astro Mixamp mainly for gaming with movie watching tv music etc on the side. I've read reviews of the Orcas that directly compare them to the AD700 saying they're of similar sound quality. I need to know how true this is, because if the AD700 are leagues ahead, I can justify spending 50 dollars more on them, however, if it's just a tiny change in quality I may not even notice, the $50 would be better kept in my pocket.
 
if you've used the orcas, can you give an honest review of them for me? 
 
Thanks.

 

[Ra97oR]

While I haven't heard the Orca, I have experience with their Razer Piranha and their top end Megalodon. As you said Head-Fiers are gonna say they suck and I can fully support them. If you wanna play safe, I totally suggest you go and get the AD700, I doubt that the Orca will be a huge step up from the Piranha or the Megalodon seeing they are the cheapest on their line-up.

 

[Mad Max]

AD700 smokes the Orcas if I am not mistaken.  If you do not mind doing a little DIY, the Fostex T50RP is a big improvement over AD700 as far as sound, not only for music listening, but gaming as well.  The down side is that they are often sold out, but patience will be well rewarded.  Otherwise, go for AD700.

 

[Ra97oR]

While the T50RP is very musical, the soundstage is no where as good as the AD700. Its a trade off that I don't think it worth it as the AD700 really doesn't do anything wrong and have excellent soundstage to boost.

 

[Mad Max]

 
Quote:

While the T50RP is very musical, the soundstage is no where as good as the AD700. Its a trade off that I don't think it worth it as the AD700 really doesn't do anything wrong and have excellent soundstage to boost.

I couldn't disagree more.  A fully modified T50RP blows AD700's soundstage clean out of the water.  AD700's soundstage is wider, but it loses drastically in every other way possible.  T50 is also more refined throughout, though it loses in treble extension a little bit.
AD700 do nothing wrong?  Those messed up upper mids, that dull, metallic treble, and it just sounds pretty unnatural and unpleasant unless you are coming from EP630's or something.  T50 exihibits no such qualities.

 

[sonance]

I've found that gaming soundstage is a very specific requirement, and some headphones which sound fine musically in that respect, sometimes fail to produce the right directionality needed in 3D games. As an example the Sennheiser HD600/580, generally accepted as a high quality headphone, does not work that well as a gaming headphone, IMHO, because the tipped up mid-bass causes it to muffle directional cues. More "lightweight" sounding headphones usually do a better job.
 
Now I have no experience with the Fostex T50RP, but I assume you've used them as gaming headphones in 3D games before making this recommendation, rather than basing this recommendation on muscial soundstage?

 

[Mad Max]

 
Quote:

I've found that gaming soundstage is a very specific requirement, and some headphones which sound fine musically in that respect, sometimes fail to produce the right directionality needed in 3D games. As an example the Sennheiser HD600/580, generally accepted as a high quality headphone, does not work that well as a gaming headphone, IMHO, because the tipped up mid-bass causes it to muffle directional cues. More "lightweight" sounding headphones usually do a better job.
 
Now I have no experience with the Fostex T50RP, but I assume you've used them as gaming headphones in 3D games before making this recommendation, rather than basing this recommendation on muscial soundstage?

Totally.  I used to have HD600 and tried gaming with it as well, I preferred AD700 or DT880Pro over it.  T50RP excels as well, even more than AD700 and DT880.
 
Edit: I should add I'm mostly an FPS guy.

 

[Ra97oR]

 

I couldn't disagree more.  A fully modified T50RP blows AD700's soundstage clean out of the water.  AD700's soundstage is wider, but it loses drastically in every other way possible.  T50 is also more refined throughout, though it loses in treble extension a little bit.
AD700 do nothing wrong?  Those messed up upper mids, that dull, metallic treble, and it just sounds pretty unnatural and unpleasant unless you are coming from EP630's or something.  T50 exihibits no such qualities.

The pair I tried was brand new, the sound was pretty decent for the price amped with a iBasso D2+. Maybe burning in will change the sound that much.

The T50 modded I heard where I found the soundstage was bad is the Thunderpants with wood cup, the other T50 modded was just dampened, were I found that was much better in all aspect. Driven by the same amps, I tried quite a few as I was in a meet.

 

[Mad Max]

Mine's modified as well, no wooden cups a la "Thunderpants".  The T50RP megathread covers all the modifications you should do.  I have not tried SRH840 earpads, but for gaming, the stock earpads should be kept and the stock felt over the face of the driver should be reduced, but not fully removed, to a thin, transparent layer or you get loads of bass from opening up the cup vents.  The vents have to be opened up completely or you do not get a complete and 3D soundstage.

 

[ourfpshero]

heavy duty gamer here:
if the orca isa carcharias less the mic- see my impressions here:
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/452710/razer-carcharias-headset-a-headfi-ers-impressions
the carcharias is pretty decent.
 
i have also had a modded t50rp (as well as several other orthos). peeps have a love affair with orthos, and they become better than anything to their owners, especially when modded by themselves. 
the soundstage on a t50rp is nowhere near a large open can like an ad700, k701, or dt880. i've had all of them. however, soundstage can be artificially increased with dolby headphone, x-fi cmss3d, and such for gamers. in that case, even a medium stage can, like a large closed headphone, can have large stage

 

[Mad Max]

 
Quote:

heavy duty gamer here:
if the orca isa carcharias less the mic- see my impressions here:
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/452710/razer-carcharias-headset-a-headfi-ers-impressions
the carcharias is pretty decent.
 
i have also had a modded t50rp (as well as several other orthos). peeps have a love affair with orthos, and they become better than anything to their owners, especially when modded by themselves. 
the soundstage on a t50rp is nowhere near a large open can like an ad700, k701, or dt880. i've had all of them. however, soundstage can be artificially increased with dolby headphone, x-fi cmss3d, and such for gamers. in that case, even a medium stage can, like a large closed headphone, can have large stage

Size ain't everything.  AD700 and DT880pro cannot place sounds around your head with the razor-sharp accuracy of T50, or A2000X for that matter.   AD700 is just bigger and fuzzier by comparison.  It depends on how your T50 is configured.  Best way is leeperry's mod, but with the exceptions I mentioned.
It ain't the best headphone ever, but it is certainly Noxey's best bet within his budget.  Unless he doesn't want to do any modding, then AD700 will more or less do.
 
DSPs are situational, I think.  In the case of DOD:S, CS:S, (and TF2 by extension, I assume), the X-Fi CMSS 3D with XtremeGamer was s***.  It is best to set dsp_player 1 in the console while the audio is set to 2.0 stereo (not headphone, that setting is awful, direction gets screwed up but most noticeably you cannot distinguish distance) and just use an external DAC capable of 3D soundstage like the Zero or an audio-gd unit with OPA Earth, ADA4627-1, OPA1641, or AD797.  X-Fi's DSPSs only messed up the soundstage, so I stopped using it when I was still gaming frequently.
 

 

[ourfpshero]

with source games and an x-fi- you have to set the audio in game to 5.1. set the audio in the x-fi control panel to headphone and turn cmss3d on. cmss3d converts the 5.1 audio to headphone surround. this works the same with dolby headphone sound cards. confusion with x-fi settings was extremely common and probably still is. I use a modded x-fi and a xonar, i switch them depending on my mood. 
some of the xonar sound cards use burr brown op-amps and have a rich warm sound you might like.
 
OP, one thing to consider if you get a t50rp- its needs a medium strength amp at least, a strong amp if modded/damped

 

[Jae304]

Only have experience with the AD700s and I personally think they're fine for gaming but since the OP mentioned using them for movies as well, I'd say find something else.  The lack of bottom on the AD700s make them terrible for movie watching imo.  Truth be told, I don't even like them for gaming for the same reason though I'm more forgiving there simply because they do offer a good soundstage and are very accurate at positioning,

 

[ourfpshero]

another option is a pioneer se-a1000. huge stage, easy to drive, more bass than an ad700.
 
 

 

[GrandZechs]

 
Quote:

heavy duty gamer here:
if the orca isa carcharias less the mic- see my impressions here:
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/452710/razer-carcharias-headset-a-headfi-ers-impressions
the carcharias is pretty decent.
 

The sound is identical to the carcharias. My buddy has the headset and I own a pair of orcas. I'm quite happy with the orcas, in the $40ish price range they sound quite good, very warm, clean, good bass to boot. But alas I have no experience with the others. Just dont dog the orcas till you try em! I know it don't count for anything but my co-worker likes them better than his beats.