[PancakeGiraffe]

Hi there, name's Kenneth.
 
First off, let me just start by saying that I'm not one of the biggest headphone enthusiasts in the world. To be honest, I just started looking into headphones a few days ago. See, my sister bought me a pair of Beats by Dr Dre Studio a couple of years back for Christmas, and I'm still enjoying it. Comparing them to cheap $10 earphones, I would have said that my Beats outranked everything else. Ignorant, I know. I found out that Beats weren't as good as they were when I was browsing online for a new pair of headphones.
 
Anyways, I'm looking for something to replace this overpriced accessory, and I would say that my budget is somewhere around $200.
 
I'm looking towards a headphone that emphasises on sound quality, and has a good balance between comfortability and design (Not really much on design). I would also prefer a pair of closed-back headphones, and one that doesn't require batteries or multiple cables to function properly.
 
I also looove video games. I guess you can call me a hardcore gamer. I have a desktop microphone, but I wouldn't mind if I had a headphone that included a clipped mic.
 
As for music, I'm the sort of person who listens to mainstream pop, hardstyle, house and a wide range of electronic genres.
 
I've been looking at the Audio Technica ATH-M50 lately, and as far as sound quality goes, I think it's the best in that category, as so many others have claimed. However, it doesn't emphasise on gaming as much and I'm afraid it won't live up to my expectations.
 
Headphones from Turtle Beach is another option, but I'm not familiar with that brand and don't think it's that great on comfortability after reading some online reviews.
 
I'm open to many other options, and I hope that the people here on Head-Fi can recommend me one that fits in the middle of both my preferences.
 
Thanks!

 

[johnp9723]

There are quite a few headphones that are good at 200. I'm pretty new to this too so don't have a whole lot of advice on which is a good closed back headphone for 200 but i will tell you that i bought my 2nd pair of good headphones (an upgrade from my first pair) just a couple weeks ago just to listen to music (they are made for HiFi music) and decided to try them while playing World of Warcraft and wow i didn't even know that world of warcraft could sound so good. 
 
So i would say if a headphone sounds good it will sound good with a game or with music.
 
But i am a beginner still and don't have a whole lot of experience.

 

[carlchip78]

The V-MODA M80 might be worth a look. For $230 you can get the headphones with a boom mic.

 

[Sonic Defender]

You totally need to look into the DT770 by Beyerdyanmic. It sounds like it will nail down almost everything (if not everything your asking for). I owned a pair for over a year and I was very happy with them, extremely happy actually. I thout the 770s were a nicer sounding headphone than the M-50.

 

[cel4145]

Are you looking for a lot of bass emphasis? Beats are very bass heavy headphones. Or are you ready to move towards more of a neutral response in search of best SQ?

 

[PancakeGiraffe]

I think I might have just found the headphones I was looking for. I listen to music often, but spend most of my time on video games. Sennheiser is a well-reputated brand, and I thought I might as well give it a go.
 
A Sennheiser PC 363D?
 
Keeping my budget out of mind, as well as the open-back style, I think these are pretty good. I don't tend to listen to a lot of bass, but I do like the idea of surround sound. Perhaps a little pricey, but what do you guys think?

 

[Sonic Defender]

Not sure how you can get any realistic sounding surround sound out of a headphone. However, I have no direct experience with that headphone or gaming for that matter, I'm a two channel audio fan, but I have heard some very impressive sounding surround sound material at my brothers house.