[SDA]

Thing about positioning is that any half-decent headphone can do it well enough for games. Your brain doesn't need an accurate representation of who's where, it needs a CONSISTENT representation; with that, it can adapt to anything. A lot of it's psychological in games, too.. I mean, once you know a certain map well enough, you'll realize that your brain is automatically classifying certain sound effects as certain behavior (e.g. a ladder climbing noise coming more or less from thataway becomes a newbie climbing the ladder to the tower that they'll almost certainly get shot out of; breaking glass from that direction means they're going through the back window, probably with flag). After a little acclimation, I can easily game with any of my headphones, even my ER-6 or MS-1.

The key phrase here is "half-decent," of course. A headphone that's so bad that it can't even give you anything even resembling positioning (where there are three directions: far left, far right, cubic centimeter in middle of head) is another story, but these are never talked about on these forums.

Anyway, I'd say that you'd be safe, gaming-wise, with any of the popular headphones on this forum. I realize that doesn't narrow down your choices too much, but it's the only advice approaching good that I can really give, sorry

 

[StrikerTek]

I really like my Shure E2c's for listening to music on my iPod. Haven't used them with gaming or movies yet, but I see no reason why they wouldn't work well for either of those tasks also. If you like a good, bassy sound, go with these over the Ety ER6i's. They will probably sound thin to you.

Best of all, the Shure E2c's can be had for only $65 shipped on Buy.com . I have yet to see the ER6i's for under 100 bucks, and they're almost always around 120-130. Not worth twice the price of the E2c's to me.

 

[skitlets]

I would not game with the e2. The sound is flat and lacks any front or rear space, meaning sounds come only from the left or right.

 

[goffer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by skitlets I would not game with the e2. The sound is flat and lacks any front or rear space, meaning sounds come only from the left or right.

Which 'phones would you recommend?

 

[deathBOB]

My Sennheiser PC150s have been great for gaming... Good mic, very light and comfortable, good sound.

 

[goffer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by deathBOB My Sennheiser PC150s have been great for gaming... Good mic, very light and comfortable, good sound.

ohh and right in my price range... has good reviews too. Thank you!

 

[geforcewong]

Quote:

Originally Posted by goffer Are canalphones good for gaming? These are my current phones Plantronics Audio 90. They were pretty good phones till today when the wiring got messed up so the left ear cuts in and out. They didnt bug my ears too much. Maybe i'm just nieve of these canalphones... to me they seem like normal phones for your ipod or something. I was checkings out the Panasonic HJE50 and they seem pretty nice... my ipod headphones bug me though and they are canalphones. THey are always poppin out and what not.

I had Plantronics Audio90 until the mic boke, and soon the drivers broke. It died after only 3-4 months and then the stupid warranty expired (90 days as I recall). The wiring for it is cheap, the drivers are cheap, the whole design is cheap. I don't recommend headphones with mics because honestly you rarely use them even in games(I've played Counter-Strike & Starcraft for several years). If, however your playing in a gaming league where communication is important, the standard in the pro gaming community is the Sennheiser PC-150.

 

[zaack]

more? (what a bad thing to say at head-fi)
Sennheiser HMD-280 (based off the HD280 + mic) and Sennheiser HMD-25 (same as HD-25 + mic.. Looks like the headsets of announcers on NBA games)

If you dont need the mic, and want it cheap, i think you're better off with the HD280 or PXCs when unamped, or the DT770 + amp (specifically for movies)...

 

[strokerace]

i've tried my hd280's with computer games and they do just fine. i tried my hje50's with counter strike last night, and they didn't sound too bad (but then again i wasn't exactly sober, haha. i'll test them again sometime). like a few other people here, i have a plantronics audio 90 (or was it one model lower?), but the mic cord ripped off so now i just use it at home with a mac that lacks speakers (until i learn how to repair it). i just use a cheap $10 headset for its mic when i need it to talk and i just use my speakers as output.

by the way, does anyone know if the noise cancelling of the sennheiser pc-150 affects the sound quality much? shouldn't really affect gaming, but just wondering. they seem like great phones, just wish they were a little cheaper, heh.

 

[deathBOB]

Only the mic is noise cancelling, not the headphones themselves. I dont know if it really works, but the sound from the mic is pretty good.