[JdeFalconr]

So my gear has almost all arrived and I'm considering now how to go about testing to decide which headphones I'd want to keep out of the four. For music I think I have that covered (some FLACs I've ripped from CD played back via Winamp) but for positional audio and gaming I'm not quite sure how to do an apples-to-apples comparison. I mean yeah I can hop into a game and play for a bit but reproducing the exact same situations for each set of headphones won't be possible with a multiplayer game like BF2042. https://www.audiocheck.net/ has some interesting tests but I don't see anything positional beyond stereo tests. Any suggestions?

Oh and by the way, be very careful with shipping options when ordering headphones from Amazon. To me, at least, sitting on a porch the below picture screams "Please steal me!" There's a warning about this at checkout and an option to use Amazon packaging instead; I'd highly advise going that route!

 

[AxelCloris]

Oh and by the way, be very careful with shipping options when ordering headphones from Amazon. To me, at least, sitting on a porch the below picture screams "Please steal me!" There's a warning about this at checkout and an option to use Amazon packaging instead; I'd highly advise going that route!

Yeah, always look for that checkbox on Amazon. I ordered a rather nice pair of denims from them a while back and they legitimately just slapped a label on the plastic bag and sent them fully "nude," just like your headphones. I can sort of understand it with giant boxed items, like they did with my countertop convection oven, where they don't have a box large enough to accommodate it, but audio gear and clothing? The heck, Amazon?

Glad to hear your beyers weren't nicked along the way.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Yeah that's insane. I'd be miffed.

I don't think I've ever been sent anything not in a box except my PC monitor which DID miff me off. Like, really, you gonna leave an exposed $700 monitor in my front door while no one is home...

 

[Jcue]

Try setting your output to the GC7 to 48KHz

I have tried all different settings. i believe the 7.1 mode is just bugged.

 

[JdeFalconr]

Yeah that's insane. I'd be miffed.

I don't think I've ever been sent anything not in a box except my PC monitor which DID miff me off. Like, really, you gonna leave an exposed $700 monitor in my front door while no one is home...

A monitor? That's pretty egregious in my opinion. I'm kind of surprised Amazon even offers people the option to repackage stuff instead of just doing it, up to a reasonable point of course like @AxelCloris and the countertop oven. I get it from a business perspective but for the customer...not so great.

By the way, any thoughts on that other question from my post re: testing positional audio across multiple headphones? Given the amount of reviews you've done I'll bet you have a good way to accomplish that.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

By the way, any thoughts on that other question from my post re: testing positional audio across multiple headphones? Given the amount of reviews you've done I'll bet you have a good way to accomplish that.

I'm not exactly sure what you're asking. Can you reiterate what you need?

I normally just find a suite of games I'm used to playing and testing out their positional cues there. I don't do stock tests, as without personal feedback, they don't come across convincingly.

 

[Radio81]

I switched my setup from a double amped Turtle Beach TAC + Magni/Loki combo, to a single Creative SXFI amp. I gave up hardware chatmix, mic monitoring, mic boost, and background noise limiter. Great options for a wired mic, but I mostly use a modmic wireless. And I find chatmix in PS5 OS to be sufficient.

The SXFI amp along with the SHP9500 or X2HR is very enjoyable. I played the entire Godfall campaign (20 hours or so) and it really sounds like it's out of your head with SXFI enabled. I'm not a PC gamer, so I haven't tried the software options for 3D audio, but I'm impressed with SXFI.

The weird thing is, I can't get SXFI to sound right with the PC37X or Epos H6 Pro. Even the Koss KSC75 sounds great with it enabled.

 

[JdeFalconr]

I'm not exactly sure what you're asking. Can you reiterate what you need?

I normally just find a suite of games I'm used to playing and testing out their positional cues there. I don't do stock tests, as without personal feedback, they don't come across convincingly.

Sorry to be unclear. I have four headphones I'm going to compare for gaming suitability for myself. I think I have the music part figured out and it's the gaming and positional audio portion that I'm asking for help with. In that respect I'm looking for a way to test all four in an identical manner to the greatest extent possible - i.e. if I'm going to play a game then in an ideal world the same in-game events would occur for each different headphone test. A recording of some sort would work but I don't know if it would include the same positional details I'm after. Alternatively if there were some kind of test suite that does positions that would do it too. Of course I want to spend time playing with them as well. I'm just concerned with using identical tests to help expose the differences in each headphone. Does that make sense?

 

[Radio81]

You could play the same single player campaign level 4 times.

IMO, you don't need to hear the EXACT events over and over. Play a round of battlefield with one headphone, another round with the other, etc. You should be able to tell within a matter of hours what works best. I would actually suggest trying several different types of games with each headphone.

 

[ronfifer]

Sorry to be unclear. I have four headphones I'm going to compare for gaming suitability for myself. I think I have the music part figured out and it's the gaming and positional audio portion that I'm asking for help with. In that respect I'm looking for a way to test all four in an identical manner to the greatest extent possible - i.e. if I'm going to play a game then in an ideal world the same in-game events would occur for each different headphone test. A recording of some sort would work but I don't know if it would include the same positional details I'm after. Alternatively if there were some kind of test suite that does positions that would do it too. Of course I want to spend time playing with them as well. I'm just concerned with using identical tests to help expose the differences in each headphone. Does that make sense?

I would try to eliminate all possible variables other than the headphones and do this:

• Choose the right game and stick with it during testing: One with properly recorded sound cues (Example: BF1, BF5, Overwatch, Counterstrike) and Not games with controversial sound quality like COD Warzone and BF2042 (even the devs say sound updates are still on the way for BF2042 so I would avoid that)
• Choose the right VSS app: avoid any Creative surround sound processing, stick to the Windows built-in Dolby Atmos for Headphones (Enable Game Mode) or even Windows Sonic
• Make sure all of your four headphones are adequately powered. What are the output ratings (in mW or W) of your amp? If you only own the creative SXFI amp, make sure to use it as an amp only, disable all of its sound processing features.
• Make sure you set in-game audio settings properly: Surround output, Speaker type: home theater or Large Speakers. In BF1 and BF5 i choose headphones with Dolby Atmos for Headphones enabled.
• Play competitive matches using each headphone for at least 1 hour, and test for the following:

1. Soundstage: How far can you clearly hear sounds? How big does the battlefield sound? Do you hear distant gunfights, distant door slams, distant footsteps, clearly?
2. Detail Retrieval: How much details can you hear? Which headphones enable you to hear subtle sounds you never knew existed in this game before?
3. Separation: How clearly separated are the different sounds? Are they all congested or delivered distinctly? Pay attention to sound details in high action scenes.
4. Imaging: How accurate is imaging? Does it tell you the sound came from somewhere on the right or exactly at 1o'clock etc..?
5. Rear Cues: Can you hear rear sounds as coming from the rear? Don't fall for cognitive bias when testing, you have to be taken by surprise to truly test it. That's why play for 1 hour using each headphone.
6. Bass Bleed: is the rumble of explosions loud enough masking all other high treble sounds on the battlefield?
7. Optional: is there any verticality in sound cues? If an enemy is on the floor above you, do you hear them as above? Only a few planar headphones and the HD800 can do that.

I am really interested in your findings as I plan to pick one of the headphones that you purchased too, for the same application. It would be nice if you could give a score for each of the above 7 points for each headphone, it will facilitate communicating your findings later.

 

[deanorthk]

Just got the LCD GX Audeze, testing them with SB X7 right now. Going to test different type of game, FPS, rpg, and music/movies to see how they perform compared to the TH900. One thing is really clear : the confort is ver different compared to the TH900

 

[Chastity]

1. Soundstage: How far can you clearly hear sounds? How big does the battlefield sound? Do you hear distant gunfights, distant door slams, distant footsteps, clearly?
2. Detail Retrieval: How much details can you hear? Which headphones enable you to hear subtle sounds you never knew existed in this game before?
3. Separation: How clearly separated are the different sounds? Are they all congested or delivered distinctly? Pay attention to sound details in high action scenes.
4. Imaging: How accurate is imaging? Does it tell you the sound came from somewhere on the right or exactly at 1o'clock etc..?
5. Rear Cues: Can you hear rear sounds as coming from the rear? Don't fall for cognitive bias when testing, you have to be taken by surprise to truly test it. That's why play for 1 hour using each headphone.
6. Bass Bleed: is the rumble of explosions loud enough masking all other high treble sounds on the battlefield?
7. Optional: is there any verticality in sound cues? If an enemy is on the floor above you, do you hear them as above? Only a few planar headphones and the HD800 can do that.

My M1570 has all of that in spades, including vertical cues. Soundstage is a full circle with depth, and is wide, and the imaging within is perfect. Using Oratory1990's Harman Curve EQ, modified for my age and taste.

 

[deanorthk]

I would try to eliminate all possible variables other than the headphones and do this:

• Choose the right game and stick with it during testing: One with properly recorded sound cues (Example: BF1, BF5, Overwatch, Counterstrike) and Not games with controversial sound quality like COD Warzone and BF2042 (even the devs say sound updates are still on the way for BF2042 so I would avoid that)
• Choose the right VSS app: avoid any Creative surround sound processing, stick to the Windows built-in Dolby Atmos for Headphones (Enable Game Mode) or even Windows Sonic
• Make sure all of your four headphones are adequately powered. What are the output ratings (in mW or W) of your amp? If you only own the creative SXFI amp, make sure to use it as an amp only, disable all of its sound processing features.
• Make sure you set in-game audio settings properly: Surround output, Speaker type: home theater or Large Speakers. In BF1 and BF5 i choose headphones with Dolby Atmos for Headphones enabled.
• Play competitive matches using each headphone for at least 1 hour, and test for the following:

1. Soundstage: How far can you clearly hear sounds? How big does the battlefield sound? Do you hear distant gunfights, distant door slams, distant footsteps, clearly?
2. Detail Retrieval: How much details can you hear? Which headphones enable you to hear subtle sounds you never knew existed in this game before?
3. Separation: How clearly separated are the different sounds? Are they all congested or delivered distinctly? Pay attention to sound details in high action scenes.
4. Imaging: How accurate is imaging? Does it tell you the sound came from somewhere on the right or exactly at 1o'clock etc..?
5. Rear Cues: Can you hear rear sounds as coming from the rear? Don't fall for cognitive bias when testing, you have to be taken by surprise to truly test it. That's why play for 1 hour using each headphone.
6. Bass Bleed: is the rumble of explosions loud enough masking all other high treble sounds on the battlefield?
7. Optional: is there any verticality in sound cues? If an enemy is on the floor above you, do you hear them as above? Only a few planar headphones and the HD800 can do that.

I am really interested in your findings as I plan to pick one of the headphones that you purchased too, for the same application. It would be nice if you could give a score for each of the above 7 points for each headphone, it will facilitate communicating your findings later.

I like the way you approach this, i'll try to repeat those tests, except I don't own any of those games, neither do I play such games
The only things that I have would be Ghost Recon Breakpoint :/

 

[JdeFalconr]

Well the X4 finally showed up today after some Amazon delays. To get to know the thing a bit I busted out my old, old Siberia V1's, the only wired headset I own. Maybe it's the amp in the X4, but I turned off all the EQs and sound enhancements save for virtual 7.1 and just applied some EQ from Winamp and they sound excellent listening to Andain's Beautiful Things / Gabriel & Dresden Unplugged Mix and Daft Punk's Instant Crush. Looking forward to busting out the real headphones later this evening when the kiddo is in bed. All have arrived save the HE400SE's.

So besides the question of which device to get (I'm still leaning towards the SB X4 over the GSX 1000) I need some help narrowing down the headphones, please. I very much appreciate the list provided at the start of this post to begin narrowing down what feels like an ocean of them, so big thanks to @Mad Lust Envy for the help there.

From there I still feel like I could use some help further refining things. I'm looking for headphones in the $150-300 range that strike a good balance between competitive clarity/positioning and fun, perhaps leaning ever-so-slightly towards the latter as I play things besides just shooters. Based on the ratings (Yes I saw the warning about comparisons, I can't help but use them as an initial metric!) it would seem the Fidelio X2, Sennheiser 6XX or Beyerdynamic DT990 Premium 250ohm look like good starting spots but I'm absolutely open to suggestions. I like immersiveness so I was looking at closed-back headphones though I'm happy to entertain other ideas.

Thanks in advance for your help.

I would try to eliminate all possible variables other than the headphones and do this:

• Choose the right game and stick with it during testing: One with properly recorded sound cues (Example: BF1, BF5, Overwatch, Counterstrike) and Not games with controversial sound quality like COD Warzone and BF2042 (even the devs say sound updates are still on the way for BF2042 so I would avoid that)
• Choose the right VSS app: avoid any Creative surround sound processing, stick to the Windows built-in Dolby Atmos for Headphones (Enable Game Mode) or even Windows Sonic
• Make sure all of your four headphones are adequately powered. What are the output ratings (in mW or W) of your amp? If you only own the creative SXFI amp, make sure to use it as an amp only, disable all of its sound processing features.
• Make sure you set in-game audio settings properly: Surround output, Speaker type: home theater or Large Speakers. In BF1 and BF5 i choose headphones with Dolby Atmos for Headphones enabled.
• Play competitive matches using each headphone for at least 1 hour, and test for the following:

1. Soundstage: How far can you clearly hear sounds? How big does the battlefield sound? Do you hear distant gunfights, distant door slams, distant footsteps, clearly?
2. Detail Retrieval: How much details can you hear? Which headphones enable you to hear subtle sounds you never knew existed in this game before?
3. Separation: How clearly separated are the different sounds? Are they all congested or delivered distinctly? Pay attention to sound details in high action scenes.
4. Imaging: How accurate is imaging? Does it tell you the sound came from somewhere on the right or exactly at 1o'clock etc..?
5. Rear Cues: Can you hear rear sounds as coming from the rear? Don't fall for cognitive bias when testing, you have to be taken by surprise to truly test it. That's why play for 1 hour using each headphone.
6. Bass Bleed: is the rumble of explosions loud enough masking all other high treble sounds on the battlefield?
7. Optional: is there any verticality in sound cues? If an enemy is on the floor above you, do you hear them as above? Only a few planar headphones and the HD800 can do that.

I am really interested in your findings as I plan to pick one of the headphones that you purchased too, for the same application. It would be nice if you could give a score for each of the above 7 points for each headphone, it will facilitate communicating your findings later.

Appreciate the advice @ronfifer , looks like a good place to start.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

I liked the Siberia V1. I got one for my ex-gf. One of the most comfortable fullsized headsets there is. You swap out the pads? I remember the V1s being velour.

In other news, I finished the KPH40 review. I'll edit and post on Monday.