[qlum]

I would like some advice about which headphone to buy.

My budget is around 100€.
I live in the Netherlands and choice is quite limited as shipping to the Netherlands in this price range is usually not a viable option(I may be wrong here) .
it needs to have an open back or at least let enough sound through to let me hear the phone and doorbell.
my main use for it will be gaming and rhythm games which is basically music.
It needs to be comfortable when wearing them for long periods of time as my current headphone hurts my ears after a few hours.

my pc has a xonar d1 as sound card which can run all of the stated headphones just fine I use the front port for the headphone I know its bad to use the front port but its the best option in my situation.
My current headphone is a Sennheiser px100 .I personally find it a bit lacking in detail and it hurts my ears when I use it for more than 3 hours.

Here are the most likely candidates
1. Sennheiser HD 518 (88€) only one of them that doesn't have to be imported and its the cheapest of the bunch
2. Senheiser hd 555 (around 108€) supposed to be a good on all fronts but not exceptional will most likely be imported from the uk which isn't that far away.
3. Fischer Audio FA-011 (around 100€ or 120€ if they charge me duties) most expensive of the bunch heard some great things about it however it still has a bit of a flavour of the month feeling.
and the Russian post used for the shipping where I would buy really remind me of deal extreme I ones had to wait 3 months for something to finally leave china when they used the china post.

Some other options that I still leave open but are most likely not going to be it are
1. Grado SR60i (€99) some say they are great others say they are not but the main reason I don't think I will buy these is that it may give the same ear hurting problems as I currently have with my px100
2. Audio-Technica ATH AD700 (97€) a lot of people say its great for gaming and not really good for anything else as I am not exclusively going to use it for gaming this may not be the best choice


edit: updated my list to make it more clear.

 

[MalVeauX]

Heya,
 
Would it be prohibitively expensive to have the Fischer Audio FA-011 come in from Russia?
 
Very best,

 

[qlum]

Price wise while it may be just a little over budget duties included. It would also really need more than my soundcard can deliver. The need to buy an amp for it would really make it too expensive.

 

[MalVeauX]

Quote:

price wise while it may be just a little over budget if I include duties it would also really need more than my soundcard can deliver. the need to buy an amp for it would really make it to expensive

Heya,
 
Your soundcard will push it actually quite fine, the 160ohm impedance is nothing to worry about. Most 10 year old soundcards can push 250ohm headphones without great issue. And if it's modern at all, even an onboard, it will do a 160ohm headphone with justice. And by that, I mean, 98~99% driver potential if I had to quantify a guess. Anyhow, I simply bring it up, as I would suggest that particular headphone over all the aforementioned you listed for overall package (comfort, sound, style, woodback, etc). Good luck on your journey!
 
Very best,
 

 

[qlum]

after some calculations of my brother I came to the conclusion that my sound card is able to run the thing but apart from that I am not entirely convinced that its going to be the one I will buy.
other options are still much appreciated.
I updated the list in my first post to include it.