[wdahm519]

Quote:

If money is no subject, you can get yourself one of those surround headsets. Yes it's extremely weird to have multiple speakers sitting on your head, but it does make positioning incredibly easy to determine.
 
For the rest of us who don't want just a headset for gaming, Astro mixamp + any audiophile headphone would do just fine. Particularly DT880 would give you the most realistic experience. Actually, what's wrong with your HD650? I know it's a little dark, but it should be fine for positioning.

I would think the DT990 or even his AD700 would do better than the 880 for more realistic experiences due to those cans being completely open versus the 880 which is only semi-open.

 

[misformatt]

Having tried all the cans in my sig with gaming, I find the PRO 900 to be the best for gaming by a fair margin.  The K702 isn't bad, especially for left/right imaging, but I have a much harder time judging distance and depth with them.  The PRO 900 has a smaller sound stage, but micro-detail retrieval is superior, and it provides a much deeper sound field that conveys distance/location more accurately than the K702 (and the other cans I've tried). 
 
I haven't tried the DT 880s yet, but they are supposed to respond better to artificial surround enhancements, such as Dolby Headphone, much better than the angled drivers of the PRO 900.  That said, I've found straight stereo to be superior to Dolby Headphone in FPS games for precision imagining and placement, at least on the cans I've owned. 

 

[nastyskillz]

Quote:

I've never tried traditional headphones with my 360, but I'd have to say that TurtleBeach X41's are fantastic. I wore them while playing MW2 and Black Ops and all of a sudden I could hear when people were near me, and with incredible accuracy. The main reason you would want to go with gaming headphones as opposed to headphones used for music audiophiles, is that you need to determine where the sound is coming from. I'm just assuming you're playing an FPS. Hope I helped

The turtle beach X41s are simulated 7.1 using Dolby Headphone, so any audiophile headphone paired with the astro mixmap (which also produces 7.1 Dolby headphone) would sound better than the X41s by a large margin. With that said, I will be using these for FPS games on the XBOX 360. I still don't know if an upgrade to the Beyerdynamic DT 880s or 990s would be significantly better than my AD 700s.

 

[Bigrock2150]

If money were no option, I'd think an akg k1000 would be ideal due to their extreme soundstage. You're shelling out at least a grand for them though.

 

[Elanzer]

Having tried the DT990, DT880, AD700, K701, HD555, RS-1 and a handful of other ~$50-200 open headphones, I found the Beyer T1 to be my favorite for gaming by far. Very wide soundstage due to the angled drivers, great comfort, great sound.
 
~$900-1300 pricetag depending if you buy new or used, and needs an amp. It's relatively easy to drive for 600-Ohm (easier than the other 600-Ohm beyers) so you can get away with a $150-250 budget for an amp easily.

 

[sokolov91]

I will just add, as an x semi professional gamer (one game away from CEVO P in CSS... lost it) that all you need is a good soundcard and a good pair of headphones.
 
Oqvist is right that the K70X won't help... the faked soundstage make it hader to hear things than it does easier.
 
Also, from my experience, any sort of DSP will make things harder to hear correctly. Don't even get my started on "surround sound" headphones. All that fake 5.1/7.1 is crap for actually helping you . The effects are indeed cool for casual gaming.
 
Most games are written in 2.0 and 5.1... so either get the best 2.0 you can, or some decent, REAL 5.1. Obviously good 2.0 being cheaper and more cost effective.
 
I used to swear by the Ultrasone Proline 750 for positional audio in game... right now I use my HD 800 and they are fabulous. Hell, even my LCD-2 do a great job. As long as a headphone has sharp "imaging" they will do a good job.
 
 
Hook an extarnal DAC up to your XBOX/PS3 using the optical out of your console or TV and enjoy great audio quality too.
 
I think if you went with the T1, HD 800 or even the DT 990 you would be getting great gaming experiences... add a soundcard/DAC and decent amp and you will be in heaven.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Erm I respectfully disagree completely.
 
Dolby Headphone  DSP with a pair of K701 is god mode. Basically almost being able to see through walls.
 
Just because you haven't used it long enough to get over the difference between stereo and virtual surround, doesn't make it less effective.
 
It takes a little getting used to, and then once you do, you'll never go back, IMHO.

 

[sugarkang]

Woah.  Switchin four lanes like money ain't a thing.
 
Is there a way to get Dolby Headphone on the xbox?

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Click on my sig...
 
In any case, Dolby Headphone on xbox...
 
1. Astro Mixamp
2. Tritton AX720 amp
3. Turtle Beach Ear Force DSS
4. JVC SUD-H1 (raaaare and dated)
 
ALso, there are a few HT receivers that have Dolby Headphone, like some Harman Kardan ones.

 

[sokolov91]

Quote:

Erm I respectfully disagree completely.
 
Dolby Headphone  DSP with a pair of K701 is god mode. Basically almost being able to see through walls.
 
Just because you haven't used it long enough to get over the difference between stereo and virtual surround, doesn't make it less effective.
 
It takes a little getting used to, and then once you do, you'll never go back, IMHO.

Meh lots of teammates I had used that kind of stuff you speak of.
 
They all had the 5.1 headphones, the usb sound cards etc. All that stuff steel series, turtle beach, medusa 5.1 etc etc.
 
Yet I was the one with the proper soundcard, no DSP on and proper hi-fi headphones and I was always the ones to make the calls, count players rushing etc. No one else on my team could use sound as productively as I could. Some people I play with call me Ray Charles as a joke and it is an alias I use often.
 
Believe me I tried to use the DSP stuff, sounds like a great idea. I just found whenever I turned it on it was hard to distinguish in front, from behind and depth/accuracy was smeared. Who knows.. different ears different game...
 
We are talking high level gaming here too, though - not XBL. Playing at lans/online for money and sponsorships... none of that MLG stuff lol... kind of a different environment.
 
Who knows, maybe it just is that much better on consoles since a lot of those games have dolby and proper 5.1. IME it certainly isn't this way in the PC.

 

[sugarkang]

Alright, what's your K/D MW2?
Mine's 1.6 or so.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Lol, 2.88

(though that was on my ex's account)
 
I have 2.55 and 2.15 in CoD4... and I won't divulge how well I do in Black Ops.... that game is... hard.  XD
 
edit: Oh wait, you meant him...
 
and yes, most of that is very much thanks to Dolby Headphone with my headphones.
 
It's strange at FIRST. Stick with it, and you'll see... stereo does NOTHING for me anymore.

 

[sugarkang]

Dude, my xbox is all wrapped up ready to be sold on craigslist.
I have a serious gaming problem, so I stopped playing.
That turned into this friggin headphone problem.
Gaming is so much cheaper.  
 
How do you get DH using regular cans? 
I usually played with everybody muted, so no need for headset.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Then just get the Ear Force DSS, if you really don't need a mic. Any 3.5mm headphone works fine
 
Get the Mixamp if you want more inputs... and versatility.
 
And I agree.... my love for gaming literally got me into headphones... and BECAUSE of Dolby Headphone, I wanted so much more.... now I barely game, and listen to my headphones more, lol.
 
I use a mic like maybe .1% of the time I play, actually. I'm too focused to talk.
 
Oh yeah, you'll definitely want to use an open headphone for gaming. Something a little on the bass neutral to bass light side.

 

[sokolov91]

Quote:

Alright, what's your K/D MW2?
Mine's 1.6 or so.

I realize I am going to sound like a total snob but I generally dislike COD 4 and onwards for the following reasons:
 
It is the new generation of online games designed for people who really are not that good at games.
 
Killstreaks, deathstreaks, fully automatic weapons that are accurate across the whole map... horrid map designs... all in all it is not a game I would play competitively. Even the promod is not very enjoyable although it is much better than pubbing. Don't even get me started on perks.
 
Average KDR for MWF2 (don't forget this is on pc) in deathmatches is as high as 5:1 if I am playing well. I tend not to use the killstreaks because I don't think they are fair so in theory I could do much better. You have to understand that using a mouse is infinitely faster and more accurate than a gamepad so these scores are realistic. I am not even that good at COD and can pull off stuff like this. My friends who are good get nukes just about every other game. In PC gaming, COD4+ and its difficulty level is a huge joke.
 
COD actually plays much better on consoles because people don't have the precision of mice... so you end up dying much less and have a more balanced gaming experience on the console. I like COD4 MUCH better online on my 360  than my PC.
 
I like counterstrike for its barebones style and tight gameplay. In CS if you are better and smarter... you win, end of story. In MWF there are so many variables that anyone can do amazing.
 
In games like Quake 3/4/live, CS/CSS you have to be good, and real good. Not uncommon in counterstrike to see people in pubs that do not die... with scores of 43 and 5... this is all without killstreaks, perks, and with weapons that are much harder to control.
 
Now I guess all I really did is annoy some people and show how much of a nerd I really am.
 
Luckily I don't play anything other than SC2 now as league CS was taking over my life.
 
 
 
 
All this being said the sound design of COD+ is amazing and it is extremely easy to locate people with great accuracy. I enjoy this aspect of newer online games very much... that is unless the 4sshole you are playing against has silent footsteps