[Avean]

Anyone have any experience using either HE1000 V2 or Stealth in games? I was thinking of buying the HD800S which is the holy grail for games but i don't like to spend that amount of money on something that doesn't "wow" me. I really like headphones with warmth and a bit of bass to the sound and every reviewer is really praising the HE1000 Stealth especially for music, and with the discount going on now you get a really high tier sounding headphone for the price.

But am i loosing out by skipping the HD800S? Would HE1000 be that bad for games? Hifiman themselves say its superior to HD800S cause Planer Magnetic drivers delivers much quicker response resulting in better sound effects, but that could be sales talk

 

[dunring]

I've had the HD800S a few times but would take the Hifiman Arya Stealth over it open box with warranty from Hifiman any day. It's great all around for music and gaming, plus the best build quality of the Hifiman line.

 

[Avean]

I've had the HD800S a few times but would take the Hifiman Arya Stealth over it open box with warranty from Hifiman any day. It's great all around for music and gaming, plus the best build quality of the Hifiman line.

Then HE1000 should definetely be up to the task. I see Arya is the little brother of HE1000 and then you got the big daddy HE1000SE. Arya is definetely nicer priced than the rest, need to do some more research first

 

[icnaiwhimor1975]

It seems to me that for games it is better to take something where the location of sounds in space can be clearly heard

 

[Brandfuchs]

I once tried playing games with the HE1000v2 Stealth, specifically, War Thunder. The bass of the hekv2 Stealth inherits the technology from the SE imo, which is stunningly good, when bombs and shells land next to my vehicle, it feels like a real explosion right next to me. I think the effect is very impressive!

Conversely, when compared to hek or you can even say all hifi headphones, the sound that gaming headphones produced is "selected", and they don't focus on tuning nor balancing that affect how good music sounds.
In fact, too analytical or having too resolution could have a negative impact for those gaming headphones. For example, when playing CS:GO, it's pointless for gaming headphones to reproduce various gun sounds in an realistic manner, guns don't sing. Gaming headphones prioritise extracting and amplifying the sounds that players need while filtering out the rest. Accurate positioning is what they should excel at. Therefore, they normally use EQ to boost specific frequency bands to enhance sounds like footsteps, gunshots, and reloading noises, making it easier for players to discern them. That's what gaming headphones are designed to do.