renugaid
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jun 1, 2008
- Posts
- 293
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- 6
Ok so some may recall me making a thread earlier when I first joined head-fi regarding a good all around can that would also excel at gaming. It was taken down to the wire between the DT880 and the D5000. I chose the D5000 for being easier to drive, and also to cure my curiosity about the sealed "open can" killer. Thanks to Gu Sensei who was a wonderful person to do business with and gave me a stellar price on his <6 month old pair.
First things first, the set up and troubleshooting. My impressions here are based off running on what most people would on their PCs, the Realtek Audio integrated soundchip that comes with most decent modern motherboards. Now the major problem I've had with this onboard chip is that if you plug it into the front output jack, you are more than likely to get some interference from the motherboard signals that are within range of your front-out wires. These are not a problem when you are just sitting back and enjoying some music. But as soon as you scroll, or have popups or any other kind of movement on the screen, you hear the motherboard create a soft but generally annoying static sound. I have searched the web and this is a common problem. So I thought ahhh heck I've got myself a $400 pair of headphones and my speakers aren't getting their fair share of attention. So out they went to a friend of mine who is now enjoying them old faithful 5.1s. In doing so I freed up the rear audio jacks. So I went ahead and plugged them in. All was well! No motherboard twitching interference. The volume was slightly too low compared to the front jack but at least the interference was gone.... and then I played some music.
The intro to Modest Mouse's Good News For People Who Love Bad News was plagued with a static that made me want to throw them headphones down!!! (just kidding)
. So knowing that I had never heard such static in that track before, I went and plugged back into the front jack. NO STATIC. At least during music playback. So it was either, the twitching of the motherboard signals from the front jack, or the static plague of the rear jacks. So I went for the front jack. It does have some interference with games however the volume is MUCH louder and running the D5000s unamped out of the Realtek chip, I needed all the volume I could get.
Now to the gaming impressions. I loaded up my faithful Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare. Instantly I noticed a difference. In the main menu there is an ambient track playing. I used to game with Grado SR80s. Not known or touted for gaming, yet still 100x better than the headset that came with my PC. There was little bass reverb when I used those. Now with the Denons, I heard a reverb that scared me! And this was all just in the menu screen! Would this be a problem? Read on!
Loading up a game with a few mates and the battle was on. The great sound effects of separate battles going on apart from the situation you are fighting are one of the ambient audio effects that are present in COD4. They sounded distant yet clear and I could pinpoint which side of the battlefield those sounds were coming from. This was great! As soon as a shot was fired in our battlefield I could instantly differentiate it from the ambient gunshots and sounds of war. Not only because it was closer and clearer, but because I could tell exactly where it was coming from, i.e. a distance that I could aim my sniper rifle at. With the Grado's everything was clear yet I could not exactly tell where each sound was coming from. The Denon's are definitely doing their part to aid in competitive gameplay. The choppers being called in for back up obviously must fly into the map from some direction. The D5000s let me know when and where an enemy chopper was going to enter and would allow me to have my anti air missile ready to take it down.
One very outstanding aspect I noticed was the sound of footsteps. This plays a major role in any first person shooter as a footstep heard in any direction means a potential target and a potential threat to you. Footsteps were outstandingly clear. An equipable ability that is part of the game allows you to silence your footsteps to a level that would potentially allow you to bypass enemy aural senses. With the Grados I could not hear my own footsteps with this ability equipped. With the D5000s, I sounded almost too noisy. Each step was crystal clear and it made me cautious about whether or not my opponents are hearing it this loud as well. I had to double check that I had that ability equipped. That is a testament to the detail and clarity of the D5000s.
Now here comes the bad part. Whilst most guns in the game fired with a mid toned gunshot, certain selections of the more powerful guns in the game reverbed with a low frequency sound. The Desert Eagle and Barret 50 cal both had this effect. The bass response on these are soooo deep and powerful that it becomes scary to fire these certain weapons. Pulling out the Desert Eagle handgun I fired a few rounds as I usually do. At the end of the outburst I found myself quite fatigued at the unexpected pounding of my brain. Grenades and Rockets also had this effect yet only if you manage to survive the blast. If you die you are spared feeling the vibration that'll knock your noggin.
Yet I found my performance to be vastly better due to these. I even managed a 5:1 kill death ratio as the advantage the positional pinpointing this gave me was incredible.
So there you have it! The good and bad of the D5000s for gaming. However I must signify that I did Markl my earpads. I have yet to have Dynamat delivered so I shall perform that when it arrives. I cannot imagine what effect the bass pounding would have using the stock earpads.
I shall post updated impressions when I have fully markl modded the cups.
Thanks for reading and let me know if there are any areas you have questions about.
Cheers!
renugaid
UPDATE: With the rest of the markl mod (dynamat) in place, the booming vibrating bass in the ambient menu music had been tightened considerably. This also translated to the in game sound effects. ANYONE who would like to use this or the D2000 for gaming, it is highly recommended to get the markl mods done. Not only is there an increase in midrange detail and clarity, but the bass no longer reverberates viciously with low frequency sound effects giving you a cleaner, less fatiguing game experience. The soundstage and positioning also gets a thumbs up from the dynamat as the midrange sound effects are easier to pinpoint.
First things first, the set up and troubleshooting. My impressions here are based off running on what most people would on their PCs, the Realtek Audio integrated soundchip that comes with most decent modern motherboards. Now the major problem I've had with this onboard chip is that if you plug it into the front output jack, you are more than likely to get some interference from the motherboard signals that are within range of your front-out wires. These are not a problem when you are just sitting back and enjoying some music. But as soon as you scroll, or have popups or any other kind of movement on the screen, you hear the motherboard create a soft but generally annoying static sound. I have searched the web and this is a common problem. So I thought ahhh heck I've got myself a $400 pair of headphones and my speakers aren't getting their fair share of attention. So out they went to a friend of mine who is now enjoying them old faithful 5.1s. In doing so I freed up the rear audio jacks. So I went ahead and plugged them in. All was well! No motherboard twitching interference. The volume was slightly too low compared to the front jack but at least the interference was gone.... and then I played some music.
Now to the gaming impressions. I loaded up my faithful Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare. Instantly I noticed a difference. In the main menu there is an ambient track playing. I used to game with Grado SR80s. Not known or touted for gaming, yet still 100x better than the headset that came with my PC. There was little bass reverb when I used those. Now with the Denons, I heard a reverb that scared me! And this was all just in the menu screen! Would this be a problem? Read on!
Loading up a game with a few mates and the battle was on. The great sound effects of separate battles going on apart from the situation you are fighting are one of the ambient audio effects that are present in COD4. They sounded distant yet clear and I could pinpoint which side of the battlefield those sounds were coming from. This was great! As soon as a shot was fired in our battlefield I could instantly differentiate it from the ambient gunshots and sounds of war. Not only because it was closer and clearer, but because I could tell exactly where it was coming from, i.e. a distance that I could aim my sniper rifle at. With the Grado's everything was clear yet I could not exactly tell where each sound was coming from. The Denon's are definitely doing their part to aid in competitive gameplay. The choppers being called in for back up obviously must fly into the map from some direction. The D5000s let me know when and where an enemy chopper was going to enter and would allow me to have my anti air missile ready to take it down.
One very outstanding aspect I noticed was the sound of footsteps. This plays a major role in any first person shooter as a footstep heard in any direction means a potential target and a potential threat to you. Footsteps were outstandingly clear. An equipable ability that is part of the game allows you to silence your footsteps to a level that would potentially allow you to bypass enemy aural senses. With the Grados I could not hear my own footsteps with this ability equipped. With the D5000s, I sounded almost too noisy. Each step was crystal clear and it made me cautious about whether or not my opponents are hearing it this loud as well. I had to double check that I had that ability equipped. That is a testament to the detail and clarity of the D5000s.
Now here comes the bad part. Whilst most guns in the game fired with a mid toned gunshot, certain selections of the more powerful guns in the game reverbed with a low frequency sound. The Desert Eagle and Barret 50 cal both had this effect. The bass response on these are soooo deep and powerful that it becomes scary to fire these certain weapons. Pulling out the Desert Eagle handgun I fired a few rounds as I usually do. At the end of the outburst I found myself quite fatigued at the unexpected pounding of my brain. Grenades and Rockets also had this effect yet only if you manage to survive the blast. If you die you are spared feeling the vibration that'll knock your noggin.
Yet I found my performance to be vastly better due to these. I even managed a 5:1 kill death ratio as the advantage the positional pinpointing this gave me was incredible.
So there you have it! The good and bad of the D5000s for gaming. However I must signify that I did Markl my earpads. I have yet to have Dynamat delivered so I shall perform that when it arrives. I cannot imagine what effect the bass pounding would have using the stock earpads.
I shall post updated impressions when I have fully markl modded the cups.
Thanks for reading and let me know if there are any areas you have questions about.
Cheers!
renugaid
UPDATE: With the rest of the markl mod (dynamat) in place, the booming vibrating bass in the ambient menu music had been tightened considerably. This also translated to the in game sound effects. ANYONE who would like to use this or the D2000 for gaming, it is highly recommended to get the markl mods done. Not only is there an increase in midrange detail and clarity, but the bass no longer reverberates viciously with low frequency sound effects giving you a cleaner, less fatiguing game experience. The soundstage and positioning also gets a thumbs up from the dynamat as the midrange sound effects are easier to pinpoint.
