[marlonaviz]

I've done extensive research and the general consensus is to avoid "gaming" headsets and go for actual headphones. I read lots of posts on r/HeadphoneAdvice, r/headphone, crinacle's guide, head-fi.org, MadLust list, MajorHiFi and used the headphone assistant mk II.

• Main usage is competitive FPS gaming.
• Secondary usage is movie/music.
• I play FPS competitively (2nd job). I'm not a professional in the music or audio industry and I don't know much about DACs, AMPs, EQs, etc., but I can learn as necessary.
• No preference for bass/mid/treble, I guess I would say soundstage, imaging is most important because of my main usage.

I have a low budget and a higher budget list (based on what I can pay), I can buy one from each:

• Low budget: https://strawpoll.com/polls/NPgxkjQ3Kn2
• Higher budget: https://strawpoll.com/polls/e6Z2e0V5wgN

Please, help me decide on which should I buy, cause I really don't know which one would be the best as they all seem good for the price range.

 

[JamarlMcPooby]

Hey! I actually own a m40x, and it has pretty good imaging and details for the price point; however, personally, I find it to have a small soundstage and can be sibilant often (gunshots and such can sometimes be a bit painful). In other words, I find it to be more of a good, affordable reference headphone rather than a good, wear-for-hours gaming headphone (not the comfiest either).

But enough of that, and although I haven't heard many of the headphones you are looking at, I can recommend Sennheiser's stuff (such as HD 579 and HD 560s). Both I heard for limited amounts of time, but I thought the HD 579 was quite something in regards to comfort, soundstage and, last but not least, imaging for their price. They are discontinued though, so it'd take searching for a pair on the used market.

Anyway, whatever you decide on, I hope I helped and you land on a great pair of phones!

 

[dunring]

The best gaming headphones (out of the 160 I've bought and sold) was:
Audio Technica ADH1000X hands down every time one comes through the ability to hear behind me even in stereo mode is standout along with the soundstage. Easy to drive and the best female vocals I've heard.
Grado 325: gaming only as bass is weak, but fantastic imaging with the driver matching they do. Easy peasy to power, like on a gaming controller easy.
Beyerdynamic Amiron Home great soundstage and detail but not my first pick for music. Bass bleeds into mids but it's pretty tight sounding with stock pads so gaming explosions don't drown out other sounds.
Of course the Sennheiser HD800S on a Sound blaster AE-9 was the best combo with huge soundstage and channel matching and 5.1 mode doesn't even need SBX (or 12 percent max).

 

[Dimitah]

Hi there,

Thought I'd join the discussion w/ hopefully some useful info, but also mainly looking fo recommendations myself too! I hope OP would be okay with that!

marlonaviz, you seem to have done an extensive research on the options you have, and just based on that, you probably have more knowledge than I do! However, I will just share what I am currently using, though due to poor build quality, I am looking to replace.
I have been rocking a pair of Audeze Mobius for the past maybe 2 years. They are packed with useful features (e.g.: 5.1 and 7.1 Surround Sound audio w/ USB, Head Tracking and Room Emulation). So maybe depending on the title(s) you are playing, you might find some of these features useful, I personally have somewhat enjoyed using them while playing Warzone. But anyone who's played this title, knows the audio in it is broken anyway, and a lot of sound cues sometimes just don't exist.
Again though, the build quality is terrible and you might have noticed a fair few people complaining about it around this forum. Also, I am very annoyed Audeze never really integrated the option of EQ'ing the set yourself, as they did for their Penrose (maybe also look up Audeze Penrose, now thinking about!).

I have not personally tried the majority of the headsets you have in your poll, but based on my previous research, those sort of stand out from your lists:
Sennheiser HD 599, Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro, Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro.
I have also heard great things about the Sennheiser HD800S! But they are very pricey.


Hey, dunring!

Audio Technica ADH1000X

Did you mean Audio-Technica ATH-AD1000X as I can't find the model from your post? Also, what are you using to drive those (no DAC experience, but as OP, I am also willing to learn a bit and get one if needed).

I have also had my eyes on Sennheiser HD800S for years, but that price mark is just too much for me. While I can get Audio-Technica ATH-AD1000X for £250 second hand, HD800S' price never falls below £800.

 

[mildmannered]

I've done extensive research and the general consensus is to avoid "gaming" headsets and go for actual headphones. I read lots of posts on r/HeadphoneAdvice, r/headphone, crinacle's guide, head-fi.org, MadLust list, MajorHiFi and used the headphone assistant mk II.

• Main usage is competitive FPS gaming.
• Secondary usage is movie/music.
• I play FPS competitively (2nd job). I'm not a professional in the music or audio industry and I don't know much about DACs, AMPs, EQs, etc., but I can learn as necessary.
• No preference for bass/mid/treble, I guess I would say soundstage, imaging is most important because of my main usage.

I have a low budget and a higher budget list (based on what I can pay), I can buy one from each:

• Low budget: https://strawpoll.com/polls/NPgxkjQ3Kn2
• Higher budget: https://strawpoll.com/polls/e6Z2e0V5wgN

Please, help me decide on which should I buy, cause I really don't know which one would be the best as they all seem good for the price range.

Bom dia!

I thought I'd chime in with some thoughts -

If you are playing in a noisy environment or if you will be bringing these to a tournament you may prefer closed headphones vs open, depending on how open they are you may hear outside noises which may be an issue and if people are near you they may hear the game through your headphones which also may be an issue. I think for big tournaments they supply the gear and everything is very soundproofed so that may not matter as much if that's the situation. Additionally, closed headphones will generally have a better bass response while open headphones will generally have better soundstage.

I would personally stick with AKG, Sennheiser, or Beyerdynamic brands as they will likely have the most help available both online and in stores if something seems wrong and if you can I would recommend finding a local store that would let you wear the headphones to see the comfort on them.

Because your main usage is gaming what you care about is as you wrote; soundstage, imaging, and detail retrieval. These are areas where open-back headphones exceed vs closed unfortunately. With that I see you have the AKG K371 on the high budget list, it looks like AKG's pricing is random lately but if you can find the open counterparts to those K612/K702/K712 they should do what the K371 does but better.

I'm tempted to say just get the Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro as I think the build quality and comfort on them will be better than the other options but you would need to get the 80ohm version - otherwise you would want to get a headphone amp to power the 250ohm version which means more expensive. The Sennheiser and AKG options won't have the headphone amp requirement that a Beyerdynamic can have with their 250ohm versions so they may inherently be a better choice. Note that the AKG K371 and Beyerdyanmic DT770 Pro are closed so they should isolate you better from outside noise, prevent your sound from leaking out so others near you can't hear it, and have a better bass response than the Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro, Sennheiser HD599, and AKG K612/K702/K712 options.

I don't think you need to worry about DACs / Amps (unless 250ohm beyerdynamic) / EQ for your use-case. Of them, EQ has no expense associated with it as you can download a free EQ program to your PC and use that to change settings. I use Equalizer APO and you can find EQ presets for most headphones so I would recommend using someone else's presets instead of messing with it yourself unless you find you enjoy it, oratory1990 has presets for a lot of headphones.

Also you didn't mention microphones and stuff so I'm assuming you already have a mic - if your mic is connected via USB or bluetooth to your PC then this is irrelevant but if it's XLR and you have an adapter then that adapter may have a built-in DAC or Amp with a headphone jack so you should double-check that too!

 

[voja]

I've been using the @Sennheiser HD598 for at least 7 years. I've mostly used them for gaming, and I still use them for gaming. Be aware, I say this with HEAVY bias—I've been used to these headphone because I've relied on them for ~7 years—no headphone made me replace them. I also didn't try 99% options that are out there, and there likely is a better headphone, but I just had no reason to make the switch. All I am saying is that these headphone have been serving me well for over 7 years. For that, I think they deserve to be at least considered!

 

[Monsterzero]

AKG K701+ an amp pretty hard to beat the K701 for FPSers, especially at it's price point.

 

[pbui44]

If Amazon US can deliver to Amazon Brazil for cheap, then get a Philips Fidelio X2HR, V-Moda BoomPro mic cable, and Pyle 8 channel mixer:

https://www.amazon.com/Philips-X2HR-Fidelio-Headphone-Black/dp/B06ZZXKZ25

https://www.amazon.com/V-MODA-BoomPro-Microphone-Gaming-Communication/dp/B00BJ17WKK

https://www.amazon.com/Pyle-Interface-Bluetooth-Connection-PMXU83BT/dp/B0719BC5FS/ref=as_li_ss_tl

Also, get this Synth Player as a free download for various devices until the end of October, 2022:

https://www.kv331audio.com/synthmasterplayer.aspx

 

[rawrj]

DT 900 Pro X for me. I'm not as try-hard as I used to be but I find them to be pretty awesome for Valorant, CS, and Apex Legends.

Edit: Super easy to drive too

 

[iFi audio]

AKG K701+ an amp pretty hard to beat the K701 for FPSers,

Yup, the more spacious cans are, the better they are in FPS games and AKG K701 is solid in this regard

 

[marlonaviz]

EDIT: nvm guys, I found an adapter here and the volume is amazing already on my motherboard.

I was eager to get the 990 pro, but because of financial reasons I ended up getting the Hifiman HE400SE. Hope I didn't make a bad choice!

They have arrived already, but I'm not sure how to use them. I never had headphones like this. It came with a balanced cable (similar to this one) and I didn't even know this type of cable existed lol, and I don't understand much about audio connections/interfaces etc., but I want to use it with my desktop for gaming and the balanced cable is P2 on headphone and P10 on desktop, and my motherboard doesn't support a cable of 6.35mm.

Do I need to buy one of those dac/amp/interface devices? If yes, what would be a budget option?

After researching a bit, I found some suggestions like fiio BTR5, Topping DX3 Pro+ (but this way outside my budget), but how do they connect to the desktop exactly? Would I need some other cable to make the connection? Is the fiio BTR5 a good choice? It's has a good price where I live.

 

[tjl5709]

I have found my HD800s to be wonderful for gaming. The wide stage is excellent. They are very comfortable.

 

[iFi audio]

I have found my HD800s to be wonderful for gaming. The wide stage is excellent. They are very comfortable.

These are the best cans I've ever tried in FPS games. Spacious, pinpoint accurate, highly resolving, they had everything I wanted during my BF3 days.