[PizzaPwnPie]

Hey everyone,
 
I just read Mad Lust Envy's huge post about all of the headphone reviews (which was an excellent read btw) and, although helpful, I feel exremely overwhelmed. I know nearly NOTHING about headphones. Long story short--I desperately need everyones suggestion for some gaming headphones.
 
I was really set on those Astro A40's or the Turtle Beach XP500's, ultimately deciding on getting the A40's. At the last minute, I backed out and decided to do a bit more research. Through countless hours of reading reviews and googling, I came across Mad Lust Envy's review and was slightly disappointed regarding what was said about them. I decided to hold off and do some more research.
 
At the moment, I think I'm going to grab the Mixamp Pro along with a set of seperate headphones. My first question is...does the amp that comes included with the Tritton AX720 prove to be substantially better than the Astro Mixamp? Anyone had any experiences with both? If the AX720 is significantly better, is it going to be complicated to set up and configure? I read a couple reviews that claimed it was complicated to work with, but I'd be willing to try and learn it if it is worth it.
 
Now my second question? What headphones do I want? I play more for fun than competitive play, but hearing all different sound directions is very important to me. I really like to sit down on the couch and feel myself immersed in the game, almost as if it were real life. I love playing BF3, among many other games such as Forza...that game has amazing engine sounds (I'm an auto enthusiast

). I'd like headphones that are really going to give me the best 5.1 sound possible. I would like to be able to distinguish which direction the bullets or tanks or whatever will be coming from. I also want a bit of bass so I can really feel the explosions. I guess to sum it up, I really want to be able to distinguish all 5 (virtual) speakers and the different directions, as well as feel the punch of bass (correct me if I'm wrong, but I want a big soundstage, right?). These will solely be used for gaming and gaming only.
 
I read and researched all the headsets under Mad Lust Envy's "fun" list, but they all seem great, so I am not sure what to buy lol. I am leaning towards the DT990's simply beacause I found them for a pretty good price and he seemed to praise them highly.
 
Any sort of education you guys would like to provide as well will be much appreciated. Thanks everyone; I look forward to hearing your responses!

 

[chicolom]

You should post your questions in that thread instead of starting a new one. 
 
I would go with the mixamp over the AX720 box.
 
DT990s are OK, but they're not "balanced" sounding.  They have a big "V" EQ sound.  So be sure you want that before you get them.
 

 

[Dillont3]

What you want is a nice pair of open headphones that will give you the wide soundstage paired with a amp/dac that uses dolby headphone decoding if you are going to be using them just for gaming. Most likely purely gaming headphones are not going to give you the same sound quality as a decent pair of open cans paired with a Dolby dac. I use my Sennheiser HD595 for gaming with an Turtle beach Earforce DSS, which has been a great combo for me. The 595's are way overpriced these days since they have been discontinued. The 598's are similar, but even better, but are still often around $250 new. The HD555 wouldn't give you as good sound, but would have the same wide soundstage for a lower price.  The 555/595/598 are pretty highly reguarded by many people as great headphones for gaming. The DT990's would probably work really well too- being open cans that are also supposed to have a wide soundstage although I haven't heard them.  I have never used the amp that comes with the Tritton,  but I unless you need to have a mic when you are gaming I would recommend the Turtle Beach Earforce DSS2 (I have the older model, but I bet the newer model DSS2 is just as good) over the Mixamp Pro. I bought the mixamp Pro ($130) thinking it would give me better sound quality and it would be nice to be able to use a mic while gaming without the hassle of having to figure out how to run a mic through my DSS setup. However I found out that the sound quality on the Mixamp Pro wasn't noticably better than the DSS ($75) and i didn't need to game with a mic so I sold the Mixamp and kept the Earforce DSS. The only advantage of the Mixamp Pro would be if you have to have a mic when you game- easy to hook mic into mixamp setup and the mixamp give you independent volume control for the mic and the game sounds.

 

[PizzaPwnPie]

 
Quote:

You should post your questions in that thread instead of starting a new one.

 
I was actually going to post in that thread originally, but it seemed a bit cluttered and had a few different conversations going at once, so I decided to post my own.
 
Quote:

What you want is a nice pair of open headphones that will give you the wide soundstage paired with a amp/dac that uses dolby headphone decoding if you are going to be using them just for gaming. Most likely purely gaming headphones are not going to give you the same sound quality as a decent pair of open cans paired with a Dolby dac. I use my Sennheiser HD595 for gaming with an Turtle beach Earforce DSS, which has been a great combo for me. The 595's are way overpriced these days since they have been discontinued. The 598's are similar, but even better, but are still often around $250 new. The HD555 wouldn't give you as good sound, but would have the same wide soundstage for a lower price. The 555/595/598 are pretty highly reguarded by many people as great headphones for gaming. The DT990's would probably work really well too- being open cans that are also supposed to have a wide soundstage although I haven't heard them. I have never used the amp that comes with the Tritton, but I unless you need to have a mic when you are gaming I would recommend the Turtle Beach Earforce DSS2 (I have the older model, but I bet the newer model DSS2 is just as good) over the Mixamp Pro. I bought the mixamp Pro ($130) thinking it would give me better sound quality and it would be nice to be able to use a mic while gaming without the hassle of having to figure out how to run a mic through my DSS setup. However I found out that the sound quality on the Mixamp Pro wasn't noticably better than the DSS ($75) and i didn't need to game with a mic so I sold the Mixamp and kept the Earforce DSS. The only advantage of the Mixamp Pro would be if you have to have a mic when you game- easy to hook mic into mixamp setup and the mixamp give you independent volume control for the mic and the game sounds.

 
Well, seeing as how I will mostly be gaming on my 360, I don't think that the mic is really that big of a deal. If anything, when I do need the mic, I can throw it around my neck and just have the audio come through the TV...or the headset rather.
 
The only reason I was really sold on the Mixamp was because of the Dolby Surround option, which is what Mad Lust Envy used for all of his testing. I also liked the bass booster option, but that is of less importance to me. As long as the DSS2 is able to provide that and give me the same audio quality, I'll be more than happy to save a couple bucks

.
 
Funny you brought up with the Senheisers and the DT990's, because after doing some more homework, I was trying to decide between these two; I guess I was on the right track. I was actually looking at the PC 360's, simply for convenience of it being a headset. Mad Lust Envy's review seemed to speak VERY highly of the PC 360's.
 
In regards to the HD555's, when you say they wouldn't sound as good, do you mean clarity? If so, how much difference in clarity are we talking? The difference in price is roughly $50, which I wouldn't mind saving, but I'd splurge if it was significantly higher in quality of the HD555 vs the HD598's.
 
As far as the DT990's, I found a pair of the 250OHM's for a pretty good price, but I know that in Mad Lust Envy's review, he had the 600OHM's...is there a big difference in the two?

 

[PurpleAngel]

Samson SR850 (made by Superlux) semi-open, very easy drive, great price.
I really like my DT990 Pro 250-Ohm, but you want to make sure whatever you plug them into can drive 250-Ohm headphones decently.

 

[PurpleAngel]

 
Quote:

Well, seeing as how I will mostly be gaming on my 360, I don't think that the mic is really that big of a deal. If anything, when I do need the mic, I can throw it around my neck and just have the audio come through the TV...or the headset rather.
The only reason I was really sold on the Mixamp was because of the Dolby Surround option, which is what Mad Lust Envy used for all of his testing. I also liked the bass booster option, but that is of less importance to me. As long as the DSS2 is able to provide that and give me the same audio quality, I'll be more than happy to save a couple bucks

.
Funny you brought up with the Senheisers and the DT990's, because after doing some more homework, I was trying to decide between these two; I guess I was on the right track. I was actually looking at the PC 360's, simply for convenience of it being a headset. Mad Lust Envy's review seemed to speak VERY highly of the PC 360's.
In regards to the HD555's, when you say they wouldn't sound as good, do you mean clarity? If so, how much difference in clarity are we talking? The difference in price is roughly $50, which I wouldn't mind saving, but I'd splurge if it was significantly higher in quality of the HD555 vs the HD598's.
As far as the DT990's, I found a pair of the 250OHM's for a pretty good price, but I know that in Mad Lust Envy's review, he had the 600OHM's...is there a big difference in the two?

 
The DT990 Premium 600-Ohm should be a little more comfortable and a little better sounding then the DT990 Pro.
But you need something that can drive 600-Ohm headphones.
 

 

[TMRaven]

DT990 600Ω gets to decent volumes out of the Mixamp, but you might like slightly more if you're having to use the mic/game knob on the mixamp at halfway.  You can always go above 60% volume on the mixamp to get the desired volume you want, but the mixamp tends to get noisy after 60% and easily apparent at 80%.
 
 

 

[Cheapy]

As for the beyer difference some people find it quite large (believe mad lust was one) but others carnt justify it for the rather large price increase of the premiums over the pros. I know the beyers are coloured but I still find them to sound great for my music and do justice to games and films, well worth the investment if you dont want a neutral pair.
 
Still worth asking in mad lusts thread about the differances in the mixamps as they can help more with that, im a pc gamer so no help there. Just remember at some point you just gotta buy it as you can do too much research when you could be listening to them .

 

[XxDobermanxX]

Beyerdynamic MMX 300 and the Sennheiser PC 360 are the best gaming headset on the market as of now 
http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-PC-360-Headset-Gaming/dp/B003DA4D2U
http://www.amazon.com/Beyerdynamic-MMX-300-Premium-Microphone/dp/B001BYMZ5W/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1335899286&sr=1-1
 

[size=1.7em]  [/size]

 

[Dillont3]

The Turtle beach DSS2 uses Dolby headphone surround just like the mixamp and the DSS2 also has a bass boost. As similar as the sound quality Is on the two, i couldn't justify myself paying almost twice as much, so if you are not going to be using a mic much or at all I would go with the DSS2 if I were you and save yourself the money. I couldn't tell you the difference between the HD598 and the 555. I only have the 595's which are somewhere inbetween the two. From what I have read the 598 will give you increased clarity and increased bass response. I always felt the 595's were lacking in the bass area, which I assume the 555 being the 595's little brother will lack a similar amount of bass as the 595's, so I would think it would be worth it to pay the extra for the 598's, but you could research or ask around.

 

[Dillont3]

Also you can mod the 555's fairly easily by just taking out a piece of felt from inside the can, which supposedly makes it sound almost as good as the 595's, but if given the option again I would probably buy the 598's over the 595's. The 595's are great headphones, especially for gaming, but I always wished they had a little bass when I am listening to rock, hip hop,etc. I love them listening to jazz, acoustic, etc. Just depends on how much bass you want and if you are willing to open up the 555's to do a simple mod if you buy them.

 

[chicolom]

Quote:

The Turtle beach DSS2 uses Dolby headphone surround just like the mixamp and the DSS2 also has a bass boost. As similar as the sound quality Is on the two, i couldn't justify myself paying almost twice as much, so if you are not going to be using a mic much or at all I would go with the DSS2 if I were you and save yourself the money.

 
The DSS2 actually uses a different algorithm than Dolby Headphone.  Someone asked a turtle beach tech and found that out.

 

[Dillont3]

Huh? Sorry I guess I am mistaken then. I have the original DSS - It has Dolby headphone, so I assumed that the DSS2 was just a updated an improved version of the DSS and also would have Dolby headphone.