[scndedition]

First post, sorry if I’m missing anything. If I am, just let me know and I’ll add a comment below.

I love listening to music, and I especially like the feeling of being enveloped in what I’m listening to. I’ve never been much on bass, as I prefer clarity and definition in what I’m listening to, but I enjoy it when it’s there and contributes to the experience.

That being said, the current Pandemic means I’m working from home for at least the next few years and don’t have a need for battery powered and Bluetooth setups. I sold a pair of Bose QC35 I used at the office and moved to an Audeze Mobius for gaming and music while I still had my laptop. I was using the Bose over Bluetooth and the Mobius gave me much better positional audio in games and a hi-res mode for music.

Now that I’m at my home office all day at a desktop again, I’ve purchased a Schiit Modi/Mani dac/amp stack and started looking for a headset to pair with it. I saw that the AKG 702 provided great positional audio in gaming but seemed to lack a bit of comfort and overall music quality compared to the AKG 712 Pro. I’m not tied to either of these sets, just looking for suggestions <$400 That give positional audio in gaming and quality sound in music.

 

[Allegro maestoso]

My first serious headphone was the Beyerdynamic DT880 premium 32 ohm. No mic if that's a deal breaker, but the sound quality is outstanding for the price. Their comfort is also pretty tough to beat. Not bass monsters by any means, but the bass is there when needed. A dozen headphones later and I still use my 880s from time to time. Your Schiit stack will probably do justice to the 250 ohm version - the 250s seem to get a lot of love from many critics and reviewers, being the sweet spot in sound quality between the 32 and the 600 ohm variants. Amazon currently has the 880/250 for $200.

Welcome to Head-fi!

 

[scndedition]

Thanks for the input! I’ve seen several suggestions for the 880s in other threads as well, I’ll have to look at giving them a try.

The mic isn’t a deal breaker for me, I’ve got a desk mic I just need to set up and get used to.

on a side note, I’m borrowing a Topping D50s, A50, P50 stack from a friend while I test out headsets. Any chance I’m going to end up doubling my budget and returning the schiit stack in favor of the topping setup?

 

[PurpleAngel]

Audio Technica ATH-AD700(X) or Sennheiser HD598 for FPS gaming (buy used off eBay).
Soundmagic HP200 open headphones for music and movies.

 

[Basmitokay]

sennheiser Hd58x, Hd600, Hd6xx, and Hd650 is a good choice for the price range, what i mean is the 2nd hand price, there are some that will sell for the price and still in good condition

 

[plmon]

Now that I’m at my home office all day at a desktop again, I’ve purchased a Schiit Modi/Mani dac/amp stack and started looking for a headset to pair with it. I saw that the AKG 702 provided great positional audio in gaming but seemed to lack a bit of comfort and overall music quality compared to the AKG 712 Pro. I’m not tied to either of these sets, just looking for suggestions <$400 That give positional audio in gaming and quality sound in music.

As with all second-hand experiences, take this with a grain of salt. But my friend plays a lot of CSGO and we recently did a shootout with various mid-fi headphones such as Sennheiser HD598, AKG Q701, Hifiman 4xx, Audio Technica AD900x, etc.

His top winner has consistently been the Beyerdynamic DT770s for positional sound (he uses the 250 ohm version). The others fared decently as well (except the 598s, which he said was too muddy), but my guess for why the 770s win out is they have boosted subbass and treble, but not as much in the midbass. So footsteps, gunshots, explosions, etc can be heard more cleanly even if the soundstage is not as wide as the open backs.

That said, the DT770s are not as good for laidback music listening as other sets imo. The mids are fairly recessed and the treble can sometimes be piercing (but this is relative to its competitors, they're still a very good quality set of headphones).