[r1sh]

Hello, guys!

I need some help, choosing headset, desirable with microphone for pc gaming in cs:go, Battlefield, CoD and so on.

Closed type or open type - it doesn't metter.

The main points are: sound quility for gaming, positioning and scene width.

Soundcard CREATIVE Audigy RX

First question is about gaming headsets, do they worth buying or it's better to buy something like professional beyerdynamics insted of them?

And second question is if gaming headset worth buying, which ones of this list are better:

Steelseries siberia v2 6к
Steelseries siberia 650
SteelSeries 9H
SteelSeries Arctis 5

Razer Kraken 7.1 v2
Razer Kraken pro v2
Razer Kraken 7.1 Chroma
Razer Mano'war

Plantronics RIG 600
Plantronics RIG 500E

HyperX Cloud Stinger
HyperX Cloud Revoler S

Logitech G930
Cougar Immersa

Sennheiser GSP 350
Sennheiser GSP 300
Sennheiser Game Zero

Thanks for help!)

 

[r1sh]

I'll add some audiophile headphones to comparision, like:

beyer dt 770
senh hd 569 \ 589
v-moda m100
Sony MDR-1
Audio-Technica MSR7 and ATH-WS1100iS

The main criteria of comparison is the easy to determine the location of the sound source and sound effects quality

 

[haejuk]

I have been out of the audio community for a while, but last time I checked (few years ago) the all time king for competitive gaming was the Audio Technica ATH-AD700. These are open headphones that are weak on the low end. But that low end weakness combined with a very good soundstage allow you to hear and locate footsteps and other subtle sounds to give you an edge in competitive gaming. Throw on a mod-mic and you have a great open headset for competitive gaming.

I personally didn't like using them for anything but online FPS games and ended up getting AKG K-7XX. It has a bit more low end, but works great with games, music, and movies. It just doesn't give as big an edge in competitive FPS games.

Just my experience, though. I can't comment on any of the ones you listed though.

Edit: You should be able to find a used AD700 really cheap these days if there are any still out there.

 

[r1sh]

I have been out of the audio community for a while, but last time I checked (few years ago) the all time king for competitive gaming was the Audio Technica ATH-AD700. These are open headphones that are weak on the low end. But that low end weakness combined with a very good soundstage allow you to hear and locate footsteps and other subtle sounds to give you an edge in competitive gaming. Throw on a mod-mic and you have a great open headset for competitive gaming.

I personally didn't like using them for anything but online FPS games and ended up getting AKG K-7XX. It has a bit more low end, but works great with games, music, and movies. It just doesn't give as big an edge in competitive FPS games.

Just my experience, though. I can't comment on any of the ones you listed though.

Edit: You should be able to find a used AD700 really cheap these days if there are any still out there.

Thanks for your answer!

ad700 are open-backed, are there any good headphones with closed-back for that price?

 

[r1sh]

Summarizing all info from Internet I made such comparison:

ad700x > HD 598 = DT990 > DT 770

I wonder how MSR7, ATH-WS1100iS and AKG 612 can be compared to ad700x and HD 598

 

[banco-sg]

Thanks for your answer!

ad700 are open-backed, are there any good headphones with closed-back for that price?

I vote for AD700X as well. Just make sure that you change the earpads tho, your ears can get hot easily.
It can be had for less than $100 nowadays, but they are quite poor for music, unless you are only listening to some acoustic, classic, or maybe vocal.
Closed back is not that good for competitive fps gaming.

 

[r1sh]

I vote for AD700X as well. Just make sure that you change the earpads tho, your ears can get hot easily.
It can be had for less than $100 nowadays, but they are quite poor for music, unless you are only listening to some acoustic, classic, or maybe vocal.
Closed back is not that good for competitive fps gaming.

Yes, I understand what closed back are not as good as open, but unfortunatelly at my home many relatives and I don't want make them inconvenience.

And actually when I saw hd 598 I Loved it's colors.....)))

 

[haejuk]

The reviews I read at the time I bought a pair of AD700 claims that it is better than AD700x for games. I originally wanted the AD700x because the color scheme was very nice compared to the AD700, but the AD700 does exactly as advertised. Awesome for competitive games, not good for much else.

I managed to find the thread that I used to decide. It may be slightly outdated by now, but it is a great and very informative thread:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/mad...-18-2016-mrspeakers-ether-c-1-1-added.534479/

 

[GivenTheOkiDoke]

I am using the MSR7's. They are very versatile. May not be the best for competative gaming but a soild jack of all trades at their price point. I am by no means an expert but paired with the right amp these can shine. I am in a similar boat where using an open phone is a no, no.

 

[r1sh]

I've been to audio-store, listened to many headphones, and I liked soundstage and detalization on Pink Floyd's Time in:

Beyerdynamics DT 770 \ 880
Sennheiser HD 600
Audio-Technica ath-ad900x


Also I want to listen to gaming headstets:

Razer Kraken 7.1 v2
Razer ManO'War 7.1
HyperX Cloud Revoler S
HyperX Cloud II
Logitech G933


The mein problem for me is that audiophile headsets need DAC and amplifier for good sound. As I understand, all creative technologies that was used for X-Fi series are not actual because in Windows 10 all sound detalization is depends on game and sound "engine" that used in it. ASUS coundcards like STX, Phoebus and other are used only for amplifying, because they don't have good DAC for gaming, may be it suits only for audiophiles' music listening. Many ASUS users say that their soundcards are good for gaming, but I guess they sait it because didn't heard creative's sound.

Why I can't buy stx \ phoebus or X-Fi titanium hd? ASUS have troubles with drivers for Win10: STX have buggy sound, Phoebus doesn't no more support. Creative's best card X-Fi Titanium HD use custom sound drivers, they do work on Win10, but soundcard doesn't have a pre-amp, so DT 770 \ 880 with impedence more then 32om will not be burned. Adding point that the sound is processed by the game engine and as a result there is no point to buy X-Fi.

When I summarazied all info about soundcards I got stucked. What shall I do?!? I got lost....

So I came to idea that only Creative Sound BlasterX AE-5 worth buying because of built-in DAC, amplifier, good software "for gaming" but is costs abou $180. But it really gives good advantage for super natural surround sound. All users that switched to this card from any others: creative zxr, creative X-Fi Titanium HD, Asus xonar dx\dg and so on - mentioned that sound it terrific. Again, there are no sound test on youtube, only forum messages from cards' owners.

The other side I haven't seen any reviews of new gaming headsets from audiophiles. All reviews are written mostly for marketing. They don't provide amplitude frequency response, they don't say about dependence between impedance and sensitivity. There is totally no any other info. All I know i that HyperX headsets are based on Taskstar 80\82 series. I talked to users of Taskstarts and they say two things:
1. HyperX analog headsets soundd a little bith worse then Taskstar
2. Taskstar headphones have worse soundstage then hd 660 \ dt 700 \ ad900x

So for me gaming headsets are like Shroedinger `s cat: reviews say that they awesome but there is no addition information why.

My question is: Do audiophile headset $200 + Creative AE-5 $180 will worth buying for true-gaming or new 2017 year headsets will be good enough?

 

[GivenTheOkiDoke]

I've been to audio-store, listened to many headphones, and I liked soundstage and detalization on Pink Floyd's Time in:

Beyerdynamics DT 770 \ 880
Sennheiser HD 600
Audio-Technica ath-ad900x


Also I want to listen to gaming headstets:

Razer Kraken 7.1 v2
Razer ManO'War 7.1
HyperX Cloud Revoler S
HyperX Cloud II
Logitech G933


The mein problem for me is that audiophile headsets need DAC and amplifier for good sound. As I understand, all creative technologies that was used for X-Fi series are not actual because in Windows 10 all sound detalization is depends on game and sound "engine" that used in it. ASUS coundcards like STX, Phoebus and other are used only for amplifying, because they don't have good DAC for gaming, may be it suits only for audiophiles' music listening. Many ASUS users say that their soundcards are good for gaming, but I guess they sait it because didn't heard creative's sound.

Why I can't buy stx \ phoebus or X-Fi titanium hd? ASUS have troubles with drivers for Win10: STX have buggy sound, Phoebus doesn't no more support. Creative's best card X-Fi Titanium HD use custom sound drivers, they do work on Win10, but soundcard doesn't have a pre-amp, so DT 770 \ 880 with impedence more then 32om will not be burned. Adding point that the sound is processed by the game engine and as a result there is no point to buy X-Fi.

When I summarazied all info about soundcards I got stucked. What shall I do?!? I got lost....

So I came to idea that only Creative Sound BlasterX AE-5 worth buying because of built-in DAC, amplifier, good software "for gaming" but is costs abou $180. But it really gives good advantage for super natural surround sound. All users that switched to this card from any others: creative zxr, creative X-Fi Titanium HD, Asus xonar dx\dg and so on - mentioned that sound it terrific. Again, there are no sound test on youtube, only forum messages from cards' owners.

The other side I haven't seen any reviews of new gaming headsets from audiophiles. All reviews are written mostly for marketing. They don't provide amplitude frequency response, they don't say about dependence between impedance and sensitivity. There is totally no any other info. All I know i that HyperX headsets are based on Taskstar 80\82 series. I talked to users of Taskstarts and they say two things:
1. HyperX analog headsets soundd a little bith worse then Taskstar
2. Taskstar headphones have worse soundstage then hd 660 \ dt 700 \ ad900x

So for me gaming headsets are like Shroedinger `s cat: reviews say that they awesome but there is no addition information why.

My question is: Do audiophile headset $200 + Creative AE-5 $180 will worth buying for true-gaming or new 2017 year headsets will be good enough?

I am not a expert to be asking but you are asking the right questions. I can only say from my limited experiance which I got help from this site. My setup is an Asus DX which has a pretty decent DAC but does not properly power my headphones so I had to get an external Amp (Little Dot 1+). About a year a go I was asking the same questions and it seems that in general buying a gaming headset is not a good price to proformance since it is a lot of marketing. I spend a decent amout on time over on PCPartPicker and just like headsets you market something as "gaming" and use a lot of catch phrases like "True HD", "RGB", "7.1", ect... the average consumer will pay a premium. The one thing I can take from being a lurker and part time poster on this fourm is everybody is differant. So one thing might work and sound good to you be it a pair of 770's or a Sennheiser PC360 or whatever and if it does good. Buy it and get enjoyment out of them and dont regret it.

One thing to note is that my mothorboad actually has very good sound almost on par with my little set up and thy drive my MSR7's well. So if you were to go 32 ohm 770's for instance you may mot need a DAC or Amp. You could get the phones and a mod mic and download some virtual software which may help with things like positioning and gaming audio.

 

[r1sh]

I am not a expert to be asking but you are asking the right questions. I can only say from my limited experiance which I got help from this site. My setup is an Asus DX which has a pretty decent DAC but does not properly power my headphones so I had to get an external Amp (Little Dot 1+). About a year a go I was asking the same questions and it seems that in general buying a gaming headset is not a good price to proformance since it is a lot of marketing. I spend a decent amout on time over on PCPartPicker and just like headsets you market something as "gaming" and use a lot of catch phrases like "True HD", "RGB", "7.1", ect... the average consumer will pay a premium. The one thing I can take from being a lurker and part time poster on this fourm is everybody is differant. So one thing might work and sound good to you be it a pair of 770's or a Sennheiser PC360 or whatever and if it does good. Buy it and get enjoyment out of them and dont regret it.

One thing to note is that my mothorboad actually has very good sound almost on par with my little set up and thy drive my MSR7's well. So if you were to go 32 ohm 770's for instance you may mot need a DAC or Amp. You could get the phones and a mod mic and download some virtual software which may help with things like positioning and gaming audio.

thank you for your answer. kind man

you finally determined my choice to stereo headphones

now the main problem is to choose between Creative ZXR used and Creative AE-5 new for similar price....

 

[GivenTheOkiDoke]

thank you for your answer. kind man

you finally determined my choice to stereo headphones

now the main problem is to choose between Creative ZXR used and Creative AE-5 new for similar price....

If you have not already I would look at https://www.head-fi.org/threads/mad...-11-10-2017-sennheiser-game-one-added.534479/ there is a lot of helpful people around that know all the in's and out's. Good luck with your purchases.

 

[PurpleAngel]

thank you for your answer. kind man

you finally determined my choice to stereo headphones

now the main problem is to choose between Creative ZXR used and Creative AE-5 new for similar price....

My two cents.
Buy a Sound Blaster Z sound card (used, $65) and buy the Beyerdynamic T90 (used, $300?) headphones

 

[Smugsie]

For competitive gaming, if I had to rank my audio priorities from highest to lowest, it would start with:
1. Isolation (I hate distractions, external sounds are the worst)
2. Low fatigue for long playing sessions (No excessive treble, no excessive bass, no shouty mids)
3. Imaging (Accuracy is good)

If you want precise imaging, go with Beyerdynamic (I like the DT770 Pro over the DT880 for gaming because the DT770 are closed back).
I however prefer the DT880 for music over the DT770 Pro.
If you want a wide soundstage, go with Sennheiser (I like the HD598 over the HD600 for gaming).
I however prefer the HD600 for music over the HD598.

Pair them with a Monoprice DHA111567. Everything new shouldn't cost you more than $300.