[bthrb4u]

First you must understand that every headphone is different.

This website is full of suggestions on how different headphones sound.  Do you know what you are looking for?  Think again. Hopefully this will help you see that some headphones may sound awesome, they are not what you need.
In this thread here:
   http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/540191/new-to-head-fi-links-and-more-to-get-you-started-here-wanted-to-do-this-for-a-while-but-didn-t-know-enough#post_7284217 
 
You will find out that the less distortion a headphone has, the more it is capable of treating its owner to a true hi-def experience.  With that being said, each headphone is made to handle somethings better than others.(generally regarding music, but there are exceptions.)  Some headphones, such as the Denon's, and Sennheiser Hd's are aimed primarily at giving a blissful color to music.  While both sound completely different, the difference will usually be in what kind of music you listen to.  Some headphones like the akg k701 and other monitor headphones are given a very bland but truly hi-definition driver aimed primarily at people producing the music. I like to think of the k701's as a "mock up" of what most people with out hi-def audio equipment would hear.  Giving the producers the ability to hear what most of the listeners will hear (only hi-def.) Sennheiser HD-800 and other top of the line headphones, when graphed, show the most potential for distortion free listening.  These are aimed more for the people with tastebuds that are only satisfied when they hear a Saxaphone or violin through there headphones and they get the feeling of being there because of a set back sound stage, EVERY single detail of every instrument is seperated and has the most precise details.  These types of headphones generally are not colored and are balanced in every way.  I wanted to express this for the simple fact that i think some people are expecting great things out of headphones that aren't meant for what they are looking for. 
  This is where the title of this thread starts coming into place.  If i wanted to make a headphone for video games, i would start by expressing the needs of the hardcore gamers. 
 
1: Imaging and soundstage
      Every video game is the same as watching a movie.  When there is something making noise,  the ability to tell exactly where that sound is coming from will make you feel like you're right there in the movie or game.  You must get the perfect sense of depth and  angle for this to be acheived.  Once all the testing is done and the driver is placed where it needs to be to get the best imaging you don't move it to make it sound good for music too. 
 
2: Long gaming sessions are a part of every hardcore gamers life
      When some headphones like the k701's  are reviewed, it is usually stated that the highs are peaky( very much like a car speaker or cheap IEM and regular headphones only less distortion and a little higher highs)  This can make your ears bleed! lol   I wouldn't want that as part of my gaming headphone. That's one signature of that headphone that obviously stands out and is the complete opposite of what i would want. For gaming i would still want to hear the highs but i would probably want them to be recessed a little.  In fact  i think i would want all the highs and mids recessed a little because i don't want anything to keep me from playing my game.   By recessing everything and making it sound just a little further away it does a couple of things. I don't have the feeling of the sounds coming out right next to my ear and pearcing them like nails and now i feel like the sounds are away from my body and when i hear a sound my brain pinpoints it like my normal hearing would inside my head, and not like a nagging headphone driver  forcing sounds into my ear.  AWESOME!  I feel like i'm in the game.Now to mix in the fact that i need low distortion drivers that can seperate all the sounds. That is imaging.
3: Overall sound
      Now that i have this open soundstage, a little recessed analog along the full spectrum, and clarity I want to make sure that nothing is over powering anything.  I would graph the analog out so every hz this headphone could reach was generally equal to one another so nothing would be outdoing one another. Then Maybe, Maybe i would equalize them to have a little bit of an exciting appeal.
 
Now my headphone is ready. Is there ANYTHING i missed because i can always edit.  Oh and did i mention that this open and airy sound stage actually did a pretty good job with music.  Its clear, distortion free and almost has the feeling of some of the REALLY high end headphones because of this feeling that i'm on stage(Just not as clear obviously   That would cost to much!
 This is my ultimate headphone
  The Astro A40 headset!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Nough said.
EDIT: This is a headset for hardcore competitive gaming. If that is not your taste but you do want a little taste of it then maybe try something that has a good sound stage but not as much recessed analog. Maybe heavier bass. Unfortunately these things lead to less clarity and the depth is punished a little
  The Astro A30 headset!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ssavage]

the AD700s probably blow these out of the water

 

[Katun]

Quote:

the AD700s probably blow these out of the water

There is no probably...

 

[tibble89]

A40's are really over-rated and over-priced. Only positive about Astro is there customer service and they seem to be keen on giving customers want they want so they should eventually improve.

 

[bthrb4u]

Wow i expected maybe a few comments about advantages that other headphones have to offer, but so far, with the comments i'm getting, it seems that my thread is only being read by children. 
Please only post to this thread if you have something to compare too and can make a proper analysis of your headphone compared to the a40. 
Also to those that are saying that the headphone is over priced, With the mixamp it is only 250 dollars.  That's 100 dollars.  It has a mic, it's way better than tritton and turtle beach. It folds down. It's comfortable for hours upon hours and it does exactly what it's suppose to do.  Plus it's bad ass looking.  "ad7000's probably blow these out of the water"  you've never heard the a40's.  One person (Mad Lust Envy) exploited many headphones and said that he didn't even really try these on.   So because the thread has thousands and thousands of post of people, people are believing everything he says.  From what i have seen people are pretty much leaving him to make the decision for them what to get.  What have you read that qualifies his suggestions as enough to leave you guys trusting him.  I'm not saying he's wrong about everything but  a scale of 1 to 10 definitely shouldn't be enough.  Fun/ competitive.....?  No offense MLE in anyway.  This is not xbox live and i don't feel like arguing with little kids.  In fact if that is what this thread  leads to then i will completely ignore it. 
  This thread is to help people learn about the headphones and what some are intended for.  Music, gaming whatever.  Hopefully this has helped a few people out.  Obviously the power of suggestion is what this website is based off of and when i look i see a lot of people unhappy with their purchases.  I am trying to change that with facts.  If anyone can appreciate what i am doing PLEASE leave a thumbs up.
Also i there has not been ONE comment on what the headphone is lacking or what traits about it make it over priced.  It IS NOT a musically oriented headphone.  No there's no bass.  Positioning is right on, they're super comfry and don't get overly warm.  They don't have any sound signatures that make them irritating and absolutely in NO way sound as cheap as turtle beaches.  (yuck i hate even saying those words) They have a quick disconnect cable and they look bad ass.  Those ad700's are just like the turtle beach hpx headphones and i think they are probably the ugliest thing i have EVER seen.

 

[ssavage]

Your 3 pts are: soundstage/imaging, long gaming sessions, and overall sound.
My friend has the A30s and although they were decent, they didn't offer what  the AD700s do. I haven't heard of the A40, no. But I also havent heard of an AD7000. Surely you havent heard the AD700 so you're being biased.
As for long gaming sessions, the AD700s beat the A30 by miles. The A30s dont even cover my ear entirely and get annoying after a while like my M50s did. 
Overall sound. Since you say overall sound, you include the headphones for gaming, music, and whatever overall in general. For music, the A30s are so garbage. Sure they have a mic but anyone can easily make a mic jack to their specific liking easily. What the hell is the benefit of a quick disconnect cable?  
Yeah the A40/30 looks better than the AD700 when you're gaming, is anyone really gonna see them besides a couple of friends? No. If people were after a good looking set they'd get beats

 

[dub Beatz]

Positioning is mediocre. Sound stage feels frail and fake. Imaging doesn't come close to dedicated headphones I've used. Mids and highs are too recessed. I want highs present for sounds like footsteps and guns reloading to be easily audible. Just because they're present doesn't mean they're harsh. AD700 does have better imaging, but the highs are shrill. Have you tried the AD700s? I'm almost positive you haven't. With CMSS3D turned on and the highs EQd down a bit I'm not sure there's any headphone that comes close to the imaging of this one for under $250. Of course there's the DT880, DT770, D2k, Hfi 780 and on and on, but none of them are as ridiculously accurate as the AD700, in my opinion. Now, I don't consider them my favorite headphones for gaming though because they're so boring to listen to. All in all, Astro makes a great mixamp, but a terrible headset companion that's priced nearly $100 too high. 
 
Edit: I bought the Tritton AX720 to bring to my apartment because I don't feel like risking having my home setup stolen (I'm on a college campus and there's always parties.) My Trittons sounded identical, if not slightly better than the A40s. Positioning seemed slightly better, but the A40s did have a relatively more clear sound. AX720 was by no means supposed to be a huge purchase for awesome gaming on my part. I know my stuff when it comes to game related audio. I just don't ever turn the xbox on when I'm at school, which is about 3 to 4 months at a time. So when I do, I got my cheapo AX720s to make due for me. 

 

[charli3]

Never used the A40's personally, but i would like to use them someday.
I remember watching an unboxing and impressions video, and caught my attention. How they compare with the PC360? 
 
Thanks for your approach on this. 

 

[bthrb4u]

First off, the a30's sound absolutely nothing like the a40. Yes they sit on your ears instead of being over-ear. I do not like playing with the a30's. They did sound alright for music but i definitely prefer the m50's.  I  guess the rest is all the power of suggestion.  Everyone hears different.  I have absolutely NO problem with positioning on the a40.  If you do im sorry.  I have a lot of friends that play competitively and don't have any problem with it either.  I also never said i had heard the ad700's so the remark that i'm being bias is out of the question.  I said that they were hideous.  Also how do footsteps and reloading have anything to do with highs being more present?Saying that footsteps and the sound of reloading are "highs" is completely outrageous. That's like saying that they are all one sound, one tone???? No no no no no.  Maybe the voice coil could be a little more expressive but that would leave the sound to be to over exaggerated (yuck turtle beaches)  The highs on the a40 are more recessed, leaving them very much present but in no way, not present. Just softer on the ears. wow. Also i really don't understand how a soundstage can sound "frail(easy to break or damage)" or fake.  It's there.  You know exactly where people are at.  How can that fall apart?  I will not say that the ad700 is a bad gaming headphone.  In fact it sounds to me that it is much like the a40 only much more ugly (personal opinion) and that the the sound signature of the headphone is probably faster and the voice coil is probably more present giving the sharper tones a little more kick.  Sounds good.  Also i play on consoles so i'm not even about to try and set up a rig to eq these with.  I use a mixamp not a sound card.  Do you? Cause it sounds like you do. Totally different story.  Also i have to consider the fact that you probably didn't ever even try the a40 judging by the fact that you use a soundcard. Computer gamers dont' buy a40's. I'm guessing that once again it is "the power of suggestion".  Im sure you'll tell me that you have.
One more quick note.  Sounds to me that your precious ad700's probably make the game sound fake because of the over exaggerated tone they put out(just like the 720's only instead of a bassy color it's an extended pitchy sound.  Just a suggestion.  I like my a40's because it feels realistic.
  720's:  Just like my girlfriend just stated, "you had those and sold those right?"yes.  They are not even worth comparing to the a40.  I've owned them and the ax pro's(worst headset ever.) They are extremely hollow.  EVERYTHING is exagerated with them.  Bass over powers everything and it's not even that strong or thumpy. It feels more cinematic.  It has a Hi-def sound to it but there is always the sound of bass(not the feel or sound of good bass) that extends over everything.(like there's a tiny little woofer in there constantly giving the sound of bass, but no true bass).  It feels very cinematic and fake.  The positioning on them is HORRIBLE compared to the a40's.  While playing with them i find my self turning constantly with my cod character to try and get a better placement of where the sound was coming from.  Like i was in stereo mode.  ( i wasn't, dolby was on)  Did i mention that i felt like i was wearing headphones and that i could hear the drivers instead of giving me a good headstage feeling like i was in the game.  Lame
btw:thank you as now i know i do not want the ad700's.  Soundstage and imaging sounds good but that exaggerating effect sounds like it will be just as annoying as the other headsets that i sold.  When everyone heard my 720's they were like WOW.  Then i sold my 720 and got the a40's and everyone was so mad because they thought the 720 sound was cheap compared to the a40's. 

 

[ssavage]

I'm kinda interested what headphones do you own & have demo'd extensively?

 

[dub Beatz]

I game on both the PC and consoles, which is why I said I bought the AX720. I have used the A40, and the A30 and all turtle beach headsets and all tritton headsets and some razer headsets and steel series headsets... I've tried them all. The a40 sound stage sounds frail because I feel like sounds get lost or distorted in the process of reproduction. The A40s don't sound natural to me, but of course sound is completely subjective. My AD700s aren't producing anything over exaggerated I just EQd them down a bit so the highs weren't as shrill. I would definitely consider footsteps and the sound of gun reloading / rounds hitting the floor as highs. If you want them less present, EQ down the high end, if you want them more present, EQ up the high end. I'll give you the fact that the A40s are comfortable, but you have no idea what comfort is until you've tried the AD700s. I'm not recommending them to you by any means. I don't even use them anymore, because like I said they're too boring for me. I play competitively but prefer a theater like experience. I don't want to be bored while playing. Last semester I played some MW2 when I had free time. I'm not praising the AX720 by any means, but I felt it was too easy to position enemies. I was the biggest sound whore on the planet. The best part was, I know for a fact it wasn't even 60% as accurate as my AD700s were. My K/D on CoD is about a 3.0, with about 12,000 kills and 4,000 deaths. Not boasting, just saying it was accomplished because of the AX720s. Well, part of it was. My ratio went up after I purchased the AX720s, which was about two months before the semester began. 

 

[bthrb4u]

I see where you're trying to go with this.  Now i'm making people angry because i know i what i'm talking about and this is the like a last effort.  Since you know so much, please make your own thread about your headphones and what you know about them.  Then without using my thread to go back and try to make it sound like you know what you're talking about i would like you to stand up against headroom.com's learning center and tell them that they are wrong.  It's really not even that advanced stuff.  People choose to try and put together what they they think they have learned reading about all these headphones from threads carrying on about how a headphone is this or that.  It's nice to have a general idea of what most people think about a headphone. Fortunately it's a lot easier to make a decision when all you have to do is look up the facts.  I don't like wasting my money and i'm not afraid to try and understand something by doing a little bit of research.  So before you try and out wit me with you general lack of knowledge and overal wacked up presentation of how you think a headphone should sound i would like for you to do some more research and prove me wrong.  Please i encourage you and EVERYONE who reads this to (don't doubt if i'm wrong about somethings.)  Then this website will be a lot less cluttered with absolute bs.  That didn't take as long as i thought it would either. sweet.
The rest is up to you guys to figure out what 's going on here.  Maybe a lot less of you will try arguing with me and realize  that i am only trying to save you guys money.  I will not try to compete with anyone based on what they expect out of a headphone and try to tell them that they are wrong.  If they truly understand the basics of headphones then they don't need anyone's opinion other than their own.  I see soooo many people on here with rediculous amounts of money put into headphones.  I understand why some would because headphones really are BEAUTIFUL and can make anyones day go from bad to good. 
 
                           :ilovelamp)

 

[bthrb4u]

Nice!!!!  Yeah i don't think you can get a better headset for the price of the 720s. 
Quote:

I game on both the PC and consoles, which is why I said I bought the AX720. I have used the A40, and the A30 and all turtle beach headsets and all tritton headsets and some razer headsets and steel series headsets... I've tried them all. The a40 sound stage sounds frail because I feel like sounds get lost or distorted in the process of reproduction. The A40s don't sound natural to me, but of course sound is completely subjective. My AD700s aren't producing anything over exaggerated I just EQd them down a bit so the highs weren't as shrill. I would definitely consider footsteps and the sound of gun reloading / rounds hitting the floor as highs. If you want them less present, EQ down the high end, if you want them more present, EQ up the high end. I'll give you the fact that the A40s are comfortable, but you have no idea what comfort is until you've tried the AD700s. I'm not recommending them to you by any means. I don't even use them anymore, because like I said they're too boring for me. I play competitively but prefer a theater like experience. I don't want to be bored while playing. Last semester I played some MW2 when I had free time. I'm not praising the AX720 by any means, but I felt it was too easy to position enemies. I was the biggest sound whore on the planet. The best part was, I know for a fact it wasn't even 60% as accurate as my AD700s were. My K/D on CoD is about a 3.0, with about 12,000 kills and 4,000 deaths. Not boasting, just saying it was accomplished because of the AX720s. Well, part of it was. My ratio went up after I purchased the AX720s, which was about two months before the semester began. 

 

[ssavage]

Quote:

Nice!!!!  Yeah i don't think you can get a better headset for the price of the 720s. 

 

if you believe that i got a bridge in brooklyn i wanna sell you

 

[dub Beatz]

I'm positive you've misunderstood me. I've been gaming since I was a kid, and I remember when CMSS3D was first released, and then the DH and then the Mixamp. I've done it all, and I've been gaming with hi fidelity audio for too long now. I'm not trying to out wit you in any sense, and I never said once in my previous posts that the AD700 is what should be in a gaming headphone. All I've done is state that your recommendation for the best gaming headphones being the A40 is a bit misguided. I also haven't seen a single article / chart that shows the A40 are better gaming headphones than the AD700, or any other headphones for that matter o_O. Also, I don't think it's fair to accuse this forum of being filled with BS, a lot of it is just new guys trying to find their way around. Also, I know what you're saying in regards to MLE, but you must understand this guy has gone through and rigorously tested more headphones for gaming than many head-fi veterans. If Kool Bubba Ice were still around, I would point you in his direction. He got banned some time ago, but was generally seen as the omnipotent in terms of gaming headphones. This guy has a wiki somewhere on the net that compared like 300 headphones for gaming. But please, I'm not trying to start anything with you. As stated before that's not my intention. Also, I wouldn't expect your M50 to come close to the A40, because I never really found the M50 to be all that great with the mixamp. There's plenty of other better headphones for gaming. I really don't like the M50 at all, or the SRH440 / 840, but hey thats just me haha.