[IrisYuki]

There's a couple on the review page... like these...

Beyerdynamic MMX300
Sennheiser Game One
Audeze LCD-GX

Don't ask which is better. Please read the reviews and get the one you think sounds best for you.

Thanks a lot

 

[deadchip12]

I own a creative g6 dac/amp and 2 headphones: sony playstation platinum headset (closed) and phillips fidelio x2hr (open). With the platinum, volume at 16 is loud enough, but with the x2hr I need to increase the volume to over 20 to reach the same level of loudness, and still it doesn’t feel as visceral. This is tested in a pretty quiet room. Is it because of closed back vs open back? Both headphones seem to have the same impedance of around 30 ohm (not sure about sensitivity though). I’m surprised that the platinum actually has a really good stereo soundstage and clarity for a closed back gaming headset. I think the only thing the x2hr does better than the platinum is the sound is more airy with no echo and feels more natural.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Impedance =/= sensitivity.

You can have 32 ohm headphone that needs much more volume than a 600ohm and vice versa.

Headsets tend to be very sensitive, because they need to be about to be plugged in to regular things like laptops that don't have a lot of power.

So for your two headphones, it's mainly because the Platinum is more sensitive. Closed vs Open can also be a factor due to people wanting to drown out external noises with open backed headphones, where you won't need to with closed back.

 

[AppleheadMay]

I own a creative g6 dac/amp and 2 headphones: sony playstation platinum headset (closed) and phillips fidelio x2hr (open). With the platinum, volume at 16 is loud enough, but with the x2hr I need to increase the volume to over 20 to reach the same level of loudness, and still it doesn’t feel as visceral. This is tested in a pretty quiet room. Is it because of closed back vs open back? Both headphones seem to have the same impedance of around 30 ohm (not sure about sensitivity though). I’m surprised that the platinum actually has a really good stereo soundstage and clarity for a closed back gaming headset. I think the only thing the x2hr does better than the platinum is the sound is more airy with no echo and feels more natural.

Greatly generalized and simplified you can say that 2 specs are important for seeing how hard a headphone will be to drive: sensitivity and impedance.
But your Fidelio isn't hard to drive at all, 100db at 30 Ohm is pretty easy to drive, the Sony is just a little easier to drive still so it's normal you need to give the Fidelio a bit more volume.

If you would like to drive most headphones louder, better, properly, with more headroom, more visceral like you say without generating much distortion (which a G6 does do because the amp actually isn't that powerful, it just has high gain) and you are willing to invest a little (or better said you would like to get a full blown head-fi system for a real bargain price) then get a Schiit stack (Magni + Modi) either used or new. You connect the G6 via optical to the Modi.
Your Sony doesn't need it at all, your Fidelios will benefit from it (more visceral and detailed) and if you get cans like an AKG- K7XX (pretty hard to drive properly) which are what you could call "high-end" for gaming you will be able to drive them easily.
Your system will improve for gaming, music and movies.

I had a Schiit stack in the past (Magni 3/Loki) and will have a new one next week (Magni Heresy/Modi3/Loki).

On top of that, it looks almost as good as Lara Croft herself!

View attachment Magni Heresy-009-s.jpg

 

[Chastity]

Spoiler: Youtube Video

Can you guys kindly test your favorite headphone for immersive single player gaming on this short youtube clip? I need to know which headphone has more Rumble & Texture to the bass when I shoot the cannon and more Weight to the air when I do melee strike (whoosh whoosh effect). I have 4 open-back cans for competitive gaming, not fun and bass-anemic, and one closed-back Steelseries Arctis 7 which gives me the rumble and heavy, meaty whoosh whoosh when i do melee strikes, but it sucks in all other sound departments. I am craving a closed-back or semi-closed headphone for immersive gaming whose sound has RUMBLE, Texture, Resolution, & Relatively Expansive Soundstage strictly for single-player games. No Muddiness, clear separation when the scene gets congested with action.

Here's my shortlist so far, if you have any 2 of them, please do test the youtube video above for me and tell me which one ticks the boxes for you. If you believe any of those don't tick the boxes please help me eliminate them from my list.

- Argon MK3
- Fostex TH-900
- Audioquest Nighthawk
- Sony Z1R
- Sony Z7
- DT177X Go
- Your Favorite (No Mobius lol!)

Thank you very much!

My DT-1990 pwnz that video clip, so I'm sure the DT-177X Go will not disappoint

 

[ronfifer]

My DT-1990 pwnz that video clip, so I'm sure the DT-177X Go will not disappoint

Thank you so much for testing!! Did you compare the DT1990 with another headphone before concluding it pwnz?

 

[Chastity]

Thank you so much for testing!! Did you compare the DT1990 with another headphone before concluding it pwnz?

I only have the HD-580 and the MDR-SA5000 to compare with, and I already know how these sound, having used them over 15 years. The DT-1990 are gaming overkill, so you get those dynamics and visceral tonality you are looking for. The DT-1770/177X have the same Tesla v2 drivers, just in a closed back.

On the G6, I use a 12% Surround (to properly create HRTF positional cues) and Crystalizer 23% (dynamic range enhancement/restoration, and to offset the Asgard 3 dynamics signature).

 

[SierraMadre]

I own a creative g6 dac/amp and 2 headphones: sony playstation platinum headset (closed) and phillips fidelio x2hr (open). With the platinum, volume at 16 is loud enough, but with the x2hr I need to increase the volume to over 20 to reach the same level of loudness, and still it doesn’t feel as visceral. This is tested in a pretty quiet room. Is it because of closed back vs open back? Both headphones seem to have the same impedance of around 30 ohm (not sure about sensitivity though). I’m surprised that the platinum actually has a really good stereo soundstage and clarity for a closed back gaming headset. I think the only thing the x2hr does better than the platinum is the sound is more airy with no echo and feels more natural.

This may just be more a case of you having an individual preference for the sound signature of the Platinums than it is with choice of dac/amp. I own the G6 and both the X2s and Platinums too and while I am a fan of pairing the latter with PlayStation for wireless surround, horses for courses aside, I wouldn’t rate their analogue sound out of the G6 as anywhere near as good as the X2s.

In any case, the Fidelio X2s are so easy to drive that they’re not going to scale a huge amount beyond the G6 and if you get to the point where volume vs audible distortion is of concern for the G6/X2 pairing, then chances are you’d either be compensating for hearing damage, and/or in the process of causing it.

The X2s do sound better on my Massdrop THX and the budget but well regarded Loxjie P20 than on the G6, but not by that much. Same with the K7XX which although scaling more beyond the G6 than the X2s, still do not do so by enough to be worth writing home about IMO. More often than not I stick with the G6 by itself for the convenience and reserve the THX and P20 for the HD800S.

That’s not to say it wouldn’t be worth trying an amp with more juice but I wouldn’t expect miracles if you’re already unhappy with the X2s, and I would question the addition of another DAC like the Modi if the intention is to use the G6 as a VSS pre-dac and thus have 3 audio devices in the chain rather than just to replace it as sole DAC in a 2 audio device chain.

It’s not as if the G6’s Dac chip is particularly lacking and any benefits from a better DAC would be marginal at best with the X2s. Rather than creating a modi/magni stack I’d recommend just try out the Magni by itself first or an all-in-one like the Hel for more versatility. The Hel would be cheaper than the stack and sound just as good as the stack, maybe even more so and you could still feed it VSS to amp from the G6 via the G6’s line-out to Hel’s analogue line-in.

 

[deadchip12]

This may just be more a case of you having an individual preference for the sound signature of the Platinums than it is with choice of dac/amp. I own the G6 and both the X2s and Platinums too and while I am a fan of pairing the latter with PlayStation for wireless surround, horses for courses aside, I wouldn’t rate their analogue sound out of the G6 as anywhere near as good as the X2s.

In any case, the Fidelio X2s are so easy to drive that they’re not going to scale a huge amount beyond the G6 and if you get to the point where volume vs audible distortion is of concern for the G6/X2 pairing, then chances are you’d either be compensating for hearing damage, and/or in the process of causing it.

The X2s do sound better on my Massdrop THX and the budget but well regarded Loxjie P20 than on the G6, but not by that much. Same with the K7XX which although scaling more beyond the G6 than the X2s, still do not do so by enough to be worth writing home about IMO. More often than not I stick with the G6 by itself for the convenience and reserve the THX and P20 for the HD800S.

That’s not to say it wouldn’t be worth trying an amp with more juice but I wouldn’t expect miracles if you’re already unhappy with the X2s, and I would question the addition of another DAC like the Modi if the intention is to use the G6 as a VSS pre-dac and thus have 3 audio devices in the chain rather than just to replace it as sole DAC in a 2 audio device chain.

It’s not as if the G6’s Dac chip is particularly lacking and any benefits from a better DAC would be marginal at best with the X2s. Rather than creating a modi/magni stack I’d recommend just try out the Magni by itself first or an all-in-one like the Hel for more versatility. The Hel would be cheaper than the stack and sound just as good as the stack, maybe even more so and you could still feed it VSS to amp from the G6 via the G6’s line-out to Hel’s analogue line-in.

I really like the x2hr’s sound signature; very smooth, realistics and pleasing to the ears. I just think that the platinum sounds more powerful maybe, either because it’s closed back so it has more sub bass, or because it’s easier to drive so it sounds louder at the same vol level, or my mind is playing trick idk. I like both headphones honestly.

I definitely don’t want to buy another dac/amp. In the past I have tried the fx audio dac x6, fiio e10, and even the topping dx3 pro. My experience has been underwhelming. None sounds better than my 8-year-old dolby usb sound card (the x6 has very audible static noise, the e10 somehow reduces the x2hr’s soundstage considerably and the dx3 pro lowers the bass). Therefore, I stop believing in the benefit of more expensive dac amp especially with a rather easy to drive headphones like the x2hr. I just recently bought the g6 since it’s on sale, that dolby usb sound card was already too old and I wanted another 7.1 dac amp to have vss in games that don’t support dolby atmos for headphone. Power is not an issue as 30/100 low gain on the x2hr is already too loud for my ears (I usually keep it at around 20, of course depending on the game and movie, some movies just have very quiet audio). I don’t hear any distortion, only some audio roll off in busy scenes but I think it’s because of the in-game sound engine, not the dac amp.

 

[SierraMadre]

I really like the x2hr’s sound signature; very smooth, realistics and pleasing to the ears. I just think that the platinum sounds more powerful maybe, either because it’s closed back so it has more sub bass, or because it’s easier to drive so it sounds louder at the same vol level, or my mind is playing trick idk. I like both headphones honestly.

I definitely don’t want to buy another dac/amp. In the past I have tried the fx audio dac x6, fiio e10, and even the topping dx3 pro. My experience has been underwhelming. None sounds better than my 8-year-old dolby usb sound card (the x6 has very audible static noise, the e10 somehow reduces the x2hr’s soundstage considerably and the dx3 pro lowers the bass). Therefore, I stop believing in the benefit of more expensive dac amp especially with a rather easy to drive headphones like the x2hr. I just recently bought the g6 since it’s on sale, that dolby usb sound card was already too old and I wanted another 7.1 dac amp to have vss in games that don’t support dolby atmos for headphone. Power is not an issue as 30/100 low gain on the x2hr is already too loud for my ears (I usually keep it at around 20, of course depending on the game and movie, some movies just have very quiet audio). I don’t hear any distortion, only some audio roll off in busy scenes but I think it’s because of the in-game sound engine, not the dac amp.

Fair enough. Perhaps try EQ or some judicious application in moderation of SBX’s bass boost feature then? You could also try messing with the crossover (the part in the SB Connect control panel where you choose desktop, bookshelf, tower or custom). Last time I tried it, it affected not only the line-out speaker profile but also the headphone profile.

 

[deadchip12]

Does anyone know why whenever I enable Dolby Atmos for Headphone then after using turn it off, the volume becomes much quieter?

 

[Chastity]

Does anyone know why whenever I enable Dolby Atmos for Headphone then after using turn it off, the volume becomes much quieter?

Because the app reset your Windows Audio settings to some lame default. On my G6, it resets it to 32/48 stereo.

 

[deadchip12]

Because the app reset your Windows Audio settings to some lame default. On my G6, it resets it to 32/48 stereo.

I don’t see how this affects volume? And even when I go to sound settings and bring it back to 32/96 7.1 surround on my g6, the volume is still lower than when dolby atmos is enabled

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Is it that important? Probably just some minor bug. Wouldn't be the first. And certainly not the last.

 

[deadchip12]

Is it that important? Probably just some minor bug. Wouldn't be the first. And certainly not the last.

It is not a bug. It has always been like that. Do you notice the same thing at your end?