[sponkular]

Looking to finally purchase a new pair for my PC gaming setup, the 2 that I have been narrowed my selection down to are the K702 and the HE-400i. Both are currently around the same price. This will be used on my home PC, which will be used for gaming 90% of the time. My biggest concern is to get the best competitive advantage in FPS games (I play PUBG, Overwatch, CSGO, BF1). I won’t be doing much listening to music or watching movies since I usually do those elsewhere. I have a dedicated soundcard so driving any of these headphones shouldn’t be an issue for me.


The 2 headphones I currently have are the HD598 and the AD700, both of which have gotten a lot of praise as great gaming headphones. My major gripe with the AD700 is that although it has great directional accuracy, close sounds and far away sounds don’t have great separation and often gets muddied together and hard to discern when there is a lot going on. I found the HD598 to be better for my purposes, although the directional accuracy was a tiny bit worse, the sounds didn’t get muddied together and it did a better job of painting an image of my surroundings. I’ve been using these for a while now, got the HD598 about 5 years ago, and the AD700 maybe a decade ago, looking to try something new.


Also how would those compare to their Massdrop counterparts (K4xx and HE4xx)? I wouldn’t be opposed to getting the Massdrop versions as well if they’re better for my purposes.

 

[sakujou]

Unfortunately I haven't had the chance to try the HE-400i, but in my opinion the K702 wouldn't be much of an upgrade over your 2 current headphone pairs. I am one of the few people I guess, who were disappointed by the K702. I tried them with a cheap Fiio amp and only with music though.

I had AD700 before and I know what you are talking about, even though they are great headphones in their class. After going through some other models, now I have the Fidelio X2 and I believe they are a bit similar to the AD700, but have better bass and more clarity, while still providing a very good sound stage, thus directional awareness in games is great.

If you have a chance to audition them, give them a go.

Weirdly imo the Fidelio X2 is more difficult to drive than I expected and require a low impedance (prob. high current) amplification. Through an AVR (like Denon X2000) they do not perform that great, while through a DAP like Cayin 3 on low or normal gain mode, they are very, very good.

I also have briefly auditioned the AT-AD900X and was quite impressed. They might also be a good and natural upgrade from the AD700 and give you what you are looking for.

 

[serman005]

I tend to think the K702 would be a significant upgrade over the two you now have. The HE400i, less so, IMO.

 

[Me x3]

K702 can be very good for FPS but keep in mind it won't try to make your music or games 'fun'.
K702 is a neutralish headphone with big and layered soundstage. Very nice for classical, acoustic and audiophile jazz.
With regards to competitive advantage in FPS games, I guess you should make your own experience as it can be quite personal.
You must get to know your headphone and how it portrays distance and space, things that are also game dependent.

Some very clean sounding (and isolating) balanced armature IEMs can work very well for FPS too. Not necessarily the most expensive ones.
For instance FiiO F9 can work very well for FPS as it's extremely clean, with big and focused soundstage.
The more expensive F9 PRO which most people prefer for music, is slightly warmer and more cohesive so it's not as great for FPS.
Same would apply to full sized headphones. Sometimes the one that's preferred for music is not the one that will give you the biggest advantage in FPS.

Sennheiser HD700 is a tad more expensive, but also very good in terms of soundstage (and also very comfortable)