[Cole Doe]

Hello
 
I am new to the forum and new to headphones. I found Mad Lust's guide to gaming headphones on this forum, which is incredible.
 
I already made this post in the guide thread but realized that wasn't the best place for it so I am moving it here.
 
I was hoping for a little advice to help choose my first set of headphones. I think I am currently torn between the M50's and DT770 80.
 
A little info about my situation: 
I have a pretty good 5.1 speaker system (Cambridge Soundworks, tower 300 mains) and an Onkyo receiver, which I have been using as my sole audio output for many years. I'm very satisfied with the sound and I live alone so I was never able to justify purchasing headphones. Recently I decided I wanted to add headphones for immersions sake, mainly when playing ps3/ps4 games (almost always single player campaign) but also for immersion in movies/tv, which I watch a lot of. On an impulse I bought the playstation gold headset but immediately realized the sound quality was not going to satisfy me, so I returned them. I'm now on a quest for proper headphones. I'm definitely on a budget as I never really intended to be doing this, but I quickly got a little ocd about getting the right pair. I realized that I will need a surround sound processor for the ps3/4, I will most likely be getting the mixamp pro. I posted a few questions in another thread re: the dss/mixamp here: http://www.head-fi.org/t/690663/ps4-with-3-5mm-x2-type-headset/210
As far as the headphones, I had all but settled on the M50's until I started to read about the soundstage (or lack thereof) even with the dolby headphone. That led me to the 770's which I think, I would enjoy but its really tough to know. I don't game competitively so, that is not really an issue. However, I do want to be able to pick out sounds I've never heard and also be able to have a good sense of direction. I just finished playing The last of us: left behind on on ps3. I definitely want to be able to hear where all the clickers are when they are surrounding me.
I guess my questions are essentially, will the m50's with a mixamp  be sufficient for me or will the lack of soundstage be too noticeable?  And re: the 770's, is the bass just too overpowering, will that be all I hear and become too frustrating?  I'm having a hard time choosing between these two situations. I also considered the the Mad Dog's. But I think between those and a mixamp it puts me too far over a price range I am comfortable with. I do want closed headphones. Also, I like the wire accessory situation of the m50x, that little detail makes me lean toward the m50's. I feel like due to the  extra short 3.5 cable I would actually use these at work sometimes as well, where the closed headphone, passive sound isolation would be so awesome. I do not believe I would do that with an attached long cable.
 
Thanks in advance for listening to to all this newb stuff for what I'm sure must be the 1000th time at least.

 

[cel4145]

I think the DT770s sound better than the M50s across the board. It's a step up in class, and no I don't think the bass in the DT770s is significantly more than the M50s.

If you are planning using these with your receiver, the 80 ohm impedance of the DT770s might be a little better choice than the 38 ohm of the M50s as far as the impedance match. Not sure about the mixamp, but probably either is fine.

Do you need to have closed headphones? Open headphones will give you a bigger soundstage, a plus for gaming. However, much harder to get the heavy bass emphasis of the headphones you have chosen in an open headphone.

Finally, what is your overall budget for the headphones?

 

[Cole Doe]

I think the DT770s sound better than the M50s across the board. It's a step up in class, and no I don't think the bass in the DT770s is significantly more than the M50s.

If you are planning using these with your receiver, the 80 ohm impedance of the DT770s might be a little better choice than the 38 ohm of the M50s as far as the impedance match. Not sure about the mixamp, but probably either is fine.

Do you need to have closed headphones? Open headphones will give you a bigger soundstage, a plus for gaming. However, much harder to get the heavy bass emphasis of the headphones you have chosen in an open headphone.

Finally, what is your overall budget for the headphones?

I would like to have closed. I've wanted the bose QC for years. I would just never spring for them. So now that I am doing this I thought having passive noise isolation would be a good compromise. I live on a main road and the traffic can get so loud. It would be nice to drown that out. Also, (and this is part of why I lean m50) it would be great to be able to bring them to work. I work in a cubicle within a sea of cubes and the people around me are on the phones all day, it can be pretty loud and obnoxious. So I was thinking if I am finally going to spring for cans, it would be nice if they could serve a dual purpose sometimes. But if it turns out that isn't going to happen I suppose I can live with it, even though I would rather not. The open sony m9000 (I think it was?) does look really good.
 
I guess I don't want to exceed $200 on the phones. I figure the mixamp will cost $130 on top of the phones and I don't want to go much over that, less if possible.

 

[cel4145]

I'd go for the DT770s over the M50s, since it's within your budget. Better overall headphone, and better soundstage, which is important for gaming.

AKG K550s are currently available directly from Harman refurbished for $130. The K550 has one of the biggest soundstages of any closed headphone. More neutral response than the DT770 and M50 (so no extra bass impact), but does extend very deep in bass response. Here is the discussion thread for it: http://www.head-fi.org/t/613707/the-akg-k550-appreciation-discussion-thread

 

[PurpleAngel]

I vote to get the Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 250-Ohm and plug them straight into the Onkyo receiver.
Hopefully you are using HDMI cables from the gaming consoles to the Onkyo.

 

[Cole Doe]

  I vote to get the Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 250-Ohm and plug them straight into the Onkyo receiver.
Hopefully you are using HDMI cables from the gaming consoles to the Onkyo.

I may use the receiver for movies, but the headphone jack doesn't have dolby headphone so I will need to go through the mixamp for gaming, I'm not sure how the mixamp handles the 250ohm, I know nothing about all of that. But I will also want to be able to drive them from my ipad and galaxy phone at times, unpowered...at least for now.  I think the 250s may be biting off a little more than I am ready to chew.
 
@Cel I will have a look at those K550s

 

[cel4145]

I'm not sure how the mixamp handles the 250ohm

Definitely best to research the mixamp with key term "impedance" to find out how it performs with different impedance rated headphones.

 

[Cole Doe]

I found this post by Mad Lust Envy in this thread http://www.head-fi.org/t/641250/astro-mixamp-impedance-question-double-amp-and-proper-headphone
 

The Mixamp is made for 32ohm headphones (i.e. A40s). It does it's best with low impedance. However, that isn't the only factor. It doesn't do a great job with harder to drive low impedance headphones like the Beyer DT880 and 990 32ohms which are known to be harder to power than the 250ohm variants, though they do get louder.

I'm not entirely sure what that means for the DT770 80s, but I find it hard to believe they would not work with a mixamp. I think it means the 250ohm's are out though, which I am ok with.
 
Btw @PurpleAngel

Hopefully you are using HDMI cables from the gaming consoles to the Onkyo.

Yes, of course.
 
 
 
 
I REALLY wish the DT770's had a removable cable and a short cable option. The more reviews I watch on them, the more sold I become. People seem to love these cans. I just saw a mod thread and that got my wheels spinning. Wondering if I should buy them, test them within in the return period and if I love them then pay to have the removable cable mod done. Ugh... why did I have to buy that gold headset lol.

 

[Cole Doe]

  I found this post by Mad Lust Envy in this thread http://www.head-fi.org/t/641250/astro-mixamp-impedance-question-double-amp-and-proper-headphone
 
I'm not entirely sure what that means for the DT770 80s, but I find it hard to believe they would not work with a mixamp. I think it means the 250ohm's are out though, which I am ok with.
 
Btw @PurpleAngel
Yes, of course.
 
 
 
 
I REALLY wish the DT770's had a removable cable and a short cable option. The more reviews I watch on them, the more sold I become. People seem to love these cans. I just saw a mod thread and that got my wheels spinning. Wondering if I should buy them, test them within in the return period and if I love them then pay to have the removable cable mod done. Ugh... why did I have to buy that gold headset lol.

hmmmm here is another Mad Lust Ency post re: dt770s +mixamp.... I might be sold.....
http://www.head-fi.org/t/492453/which-amp-for-beyerdynamic-dt770-pro-80ohm-headphones

To anyone who plays console games and has the DT770 Pro 80s.
 
GET THE MIXAMP, NOW.
 
The DT770 Pro 80s have become my fave headphone after playing Lost Planet 2. The Mixamp's DH and the DT770 80 = PURE GAMING BLISS. It's BETTER than a home theater, IMHO. The positional cues are as of right now, the VERY best I have heard from headphones, period. I played the game for 15 minutes, and my jaw was on the floor the entire time. What a way to showcase the strengths of the DT770 Pro AND the Mixamp.
 
I have been gaming with headphones for a LONG time, and this is the first time I literally felt like I was in a movie theater, with audio coming absolutely everywhere. Bassy explosions, crazy monsters flying about. I'm awestruck.

 

[iHelp]

The DT 770 is more detailed than the m50. (Not sure about the m50x.) The bass on the DT 770 is not overwhelming for me, personally, especially because the separation of the instruments makes it less noticeable. But, for jazz/classical, the bass 'boost' is really too much.
 
However, I have the DT 770 250 ohm version, which has less bass than its 80 ohm brother.
 
I don't mind the coiled cable, but some do. It's much more compact than the one on my Sony V6, but that be because of an aging thing.
 
Best of luck!

 

[PurpleAngel]

  hmmmm here is another Mad Lust Ency post re: dt770s +mixamp.... I might be sold.....
http://www.head-fi.org/t/492453/which-amp-for-beyerdynamic-dt770-pro-80ohm-headphones

I vote for the AKG K550s over the DT770s.
The AKG K550 sound will be much easier on the ears, allowing you to use the K550s for longer periods of time.
 
Sometimes HarmonAudio (AKG) sells factory refurbs with one year warranty on eBay.
But there are also several used K550s on ebay.