[Garzhad]

MLE describes the DT990 very similarly to how I hear them. They are really good for gaming, and don't give up much for competitive MP. The hard V shape can make music listening tough if you're sensitive to aggressive highs. I honestly don't mind them for music, but I think I'm in the minority there.

Differences between the 80, 250, 600 ohm I think MLE summed up very well. Differences, but very subtle. I only chose the 250 because it came in ALL black. No other reason.

Actually you may want to look into the Sennheiser/Massdrop PC37X. I still haven't gotten much head time with them, but at $119 with mic, they're a screaming good deal. Good bass, soundstage, and do equally well with gaming and music. Don't know if you need a mic. It isn't detachable, but if they don't leave the house that shouldn't be an issue.

Ahh. For me, as long as its black or a mix of black and grey i'm good. I generally prefer blacks and greys, so all the DT990's would fit me. Don't necessarily NEED a mic, but could come in handy, but since you can get cheap mics seperate its not really an option that makes or breaks something for me.
Far as music goes i'm mostly hard rock/metal/industrial/ebm/epic and quite like screaming guitars and violins sooo that might not be a problem for me.

How do the PC37x's compare to the DT990? ATM the 990's are $148 compared to $119. Are they as clampy as other Sennheisers? MLE mentioned some of their phones were waay too clampy, like a bear trap on your head lol. A version of the K7XX Annies are on mass drop for 69% off($200, or the price of a pair of normal k702s on amazon) as well; that is a maaasive discount. How do those compare to the other two? https://www.massdrop.com/buy/massdrop-x-akg-k7xx-red-edition
TBH, I only found massdrop like a few days ago and im starting to like what I see, Amazon has good sales and prices for the vast majority of things but something like 69% is virtually unheard of, especially on items that are $650+ MSRP

Might be worth mentioning too that, unlike MLE, i'd be using these with SBX Studio Surroud, not Dolby, using either a SoundBlasterX G5/E5 or a ZxR soundcard; still debating on which to get.

Funny thing ive noticed on sites with articles on 'the best surround head sets', they're almost all closed back. IME open back almost always has significantly better sound stage, and its sound stage that makes virtual 7.1 work the best for positional audio. Kinda strange.

 

[mashuto]

Hey guys, I apologize if this has been asked a million times, I dont unfortunately have time to scan through this entire huge thread. Basically, my PC died so I had to upgrade. My old setup for gaming was a xonar d1, set to 5.1, using dolby headphone. Optical out to a schitt modi 2 uber. The xonar does not fit in the new pc since I do not have any pci slots. I am hesitant to buy a pci-e version of the card since I know the xonar drivers were iffy, plus all I was really using it for was DH. For positional audio, what is my best bet now? I know that different soundcards have different virtualization options (I think my onboard does too, though I have no idea if its any good, asus rog maximus ix hero) but I know there are some software options as well.

I downloaded razer surround to tryout, but havent had much time to really audition it. One thing I noticed off the bat was that it definitely degrades audio quality. What about the new win 10 creators update spatial options? I know there is windows sonic and the option to buy atmos headphone. If it works anything like DH, I would be happy to spend the 15 dollars on it. Does it do the same thing? I remember with DH, I would actually set to it 6 speakers, then DH to a single headphone output. Is that how it works with atmos? BF1 is my most played game right now, but there is no direct speaker setting in the game, would I just set it to surround and let atmos work its magic?

Anything pointing me in a good direction here would be helpful, thanks!

 

[Rompe]

Hey guys, I apologize if this has been asked a million times, I dont unfortunately have time to scan through this entire huge thread. Basically, my PC died so I had to upgrade. My old setup for gaming was a xonar d1, set to 5.1, using dolby headphone. Optical out to a schitt modi 2 uber. The xonar does not fit in the new pc since I do not have any pci slots. I am hesitant to buy a pci-e version of the card since I know the xonar drivers were iffy, plus all I was really using it for was DH. For positional audio, what is my best bet now? I know that different soundcards have different virtualization options (I think my onboard does too, though I have no idea if its any good, asus rog maximus ix hero) but I know there are some software options as well.

I downloaded razer surround to tryout, but havent had much time to really audition it. One thing I noticed off the bat was that it definitely degrades audio quality. What about the new win 10 creators update spatial options? I know there is windows sonic and the option to buy atmos headphone. If it works anything like DH, I would be happy to spend the 15 dollars on it. Does it do the same thing? I remember with DH, I would actually set to it 6 speakers, then DH to a single headphone output. Is that how it works with atmos? BF1 is my most played game right now, but there is no direct speaker setting in the game, would I just set it to surround and let atmos work its magic?

Anything pointing me in a good direction here would be helpful, thanks!

Onboard audio of your motherboard (latest Realtek ALC1220 codec, ESS9023P DAC, a Texas Instruments R4580I op-amp) seems to be excellent: http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...us-maximus-ix-hero-motherboard-review-12.html
So I would try it's virtual surround solution first and see how it compares to the Dolby headphone you had before. If you want to use Schiit modi 2 DAC instead, I tihnk you should be able to send the processed virtual surround 2-channel signal through optical out to modi 2.

 

[mashuto]

Onboard audio of your motherboard (latest Realtek ALC1220 codec, ESS9023P DAC, a Texas Instruments R4580I op-amp) seems to be excellent: http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...us-maximus-ix-hero-motherboard-review-12.html
So I would try it's virtual surround solution first and see how it compares to the Dolby headphone you had before. If you want to use Schiit modi 2 DAC instead, I tihnk you should be able to send the processed virtual surround 2-channel signal through optical out to modi 2.

Ill certainly play around with it this evening, but the software that was provided with the motherboard for the audio settings was... meh. There seemed to be a spot to select surround virtualization, but in my very quick test (with stereo audio) I couldnt hear any real difference at all, which I assumed it should sound like the audio was coming from the front two channels only (as it did with dolby headphone).

Also, that review says that audio quality is pretty good, but it doesnt mention the virtual surround at all, so I still dont know. I also guess worst case scenario I could simply try out the built in windows virtualization and with dolby atmos through windows since there is a trial. I am just not sure if it is supposed to work as I am hoping.

Biggest things for me are to be able to continue using my schitt stack (which I assume optical is the way to go) and that I can get good positional cues from my game.

 

[Rompe]

Are you sure you set your software/settings correctly? You can easily test if the surround "virtual" speaker works by using Windows own speaker configuration by pressing corresponding speaker icon. I think there should be something like that included also in the software provided. At least my 3 year old MSI has and the virtual surround works just fine. That Asus should have better solution by now.

That review actually mentions virtual surround on the software section. Motherboard reviews usually doesn't go indepth into software. But note that this was just the first hit I got from google, so you should find more info if you are willing to look.

Windows spatial sound/Dolby Atmos for headphones haven't had much praise for their quality either, quite the contrary.

Generally if the game already has inbuilt software HRTF for headphones (e.g. CS:GO, PUBG, Portal 2), it is recommended to use that instead of any other hardware/software virtual surround solution. You will generally get much more accurate/better results with that. I think most modern PC games should have the option.

 

[mashuto]

Are you sure you set your software/settings correctly? You can easily test if the surround "virtual" speaker works by using Windows own speaker configuration by pressing corresponding speaker icon. I think there should be something like that included also in the software provided. At least my 3 year old MSI has and the virtual surround works just fine. That Asus should have better solution by now.

That review actually mentions virtual surround on the software section. Motherboard reviews usually doesn't go indepth into software. But note that this was just the first hit I got from google, so you should find more info if you are willing to look.

Windows spatial sound/Dolby Atmos for headphones haven't had much praise for their quality either, quite the contrary.

Generally if the game already has inbuilt software HRTF for headphones (e.g. CS:GO, PUBG, Portal 2), it is recommended to use that instead of any other hardware/software virtual surround solution. You will generally get much more accurate/better results with that. I think most modern PC games should have the option.

Honestly not sure. I spent a rough 4 hours on Sunday night getting this new build together (after I accidentally bent some of the cpu pins on the motherboard) so I didnt get to check then, and havent had a ton of time to play with the audio settings yet, but what I am not sure of is whether the asus software will let me choose more than 2 speakers (or if I should) since I am using the digital optical out. I will search more. I guess I am just coming from my last builds (maybe 2012) where onboard audio was always pretty terrible.

And for the inbuilt windows solutions, I dont know much about them so I figured I would ask.

I do know that using built in HRTF is the way to go, but the game I am most interested in getting good positional audio for is BF1, and nothing I have been able to find so far has been able to really tell me if they have an hrtf function built into the game. You can choose between stereo and surround (but not any actual speaker setups) and there is a headphone setting, but Im pretty sure that one just controls dynamic range of the audio and has nothing to do with channel output.

Either way, new video card should be arriving by the time I get home from work, so I guess I will be playing with settings this evening.

 

[Garzhad]

Question, is $199.99 a good price for AKG K7xx, and is it considered as good of an all-rounder(good soundstage, bass, ect) for gaming/movies/music as the K702 Annies? It says they are based on the Annies but not sure if that means they have the same all-round goodness or not.

Is it generally better than the Beyer DT990 and Senn HD598 SE?

 

[Helvetica bold]

I just dowloaded the Dolby App for my Xbox and I have Atmos enabled. Just wanted to try it out. I have my headphones connect to my AVR.
Im trying BF1 and I have that set to headphones, stereo. Is this the proper set up for the app? I know you're not supposed to be using any other processing.
Also I understand that BF1 doesnt support atmos on Xbox but I thought the headphone app may do something. Or in BF1 audio menu should I use Surround and headphones?

 

[lenroot77]

Question, is $199.99 a good price for AKG K7xx, and is it considered as good of an all-rounder(good soundstage, bass, ect) for gaming/movies/music as the K702 Annies? It says they are based on the Annies but not sure if that means they have the same all-round goodness or not.

Is it generally better than the Beyer DT990 and Senn HD598 SE?

199.99 is the only price they are ever sold at. If you check the classifieds here at headfi they can often be had for 150, sometimes even less.

MOST people here would choose the K7xx's over the dt990's. (Because they don't care for the Beyers spiked treble)

MANY would prefer the K7xx's over the hd598's.

Personally I'm be enjoyed all 3, if I had to pick one I'd go for the akg's.
All three work very well with SBX and for the most part comes down to personal preference as far as what sound signature your enjoy and which fits your head the best.

You'll find good descriptions of each sound signature on the first page here and more impressions in their appropriate threads on headfi.

 

[PacoTaco]

For a mix of gaming and music, I'd agree, I would get the K7xx's over both. Honestly though, I'd lean more towards the DT880. I found the K7XXs bass...a bit too weird for my taste.

Anyway, I just recently got a pair of HD800's with the SDR mod. They're surprisingly immersive. I came from the Atticus/Eikon, and I was surprised about deep and textured the bass was (even compared to the EIkon.)

 

[Garzhad]

199.99 is the only price they are ever sold at. If you check the classifieds here at headfi they can often be had for 150, sometimes even less.

MOST people here would choose the K7xx's over the dt990's. (Because they don't care for the Beyers spiked treble)

MANY would prefer the K7xx's over the hd598's.

Personally I'm be enjoyed all 3, if I had to pick one I'd go for the akg's.
All three work very well with SBX and for the most part comes down to personal preference as far as what sound signature your enjoy and which fits your head the best.

You'll find good descriptions of each sound signature on the first page here and more impressions in their appropriate threads on headfi.

Ahh, so the $650 MSRP listed is just a bit of misleading pricing to make you think you're getting a massive deal when really thats just the average? Kinda unfortunate, but, they ARE right at the limit of my budget, and not much pricier than the other two, so if they're generally considered 'better', or at least, lack the cons(trebel on the 990's, bass on the 598's) then they sound good. Still seems like its a pretty good deal considering its the same price as new k702's, and vastly less than any available set of regular annies.

For a mix of gaming and music, I'd agree, I would get the K7xx's over both. Honestly though, I'd lean more towards the DT880. I found the K7XXs bass...a bit too weird for my taste.

Anyway, I just recently got a pair of HD800's with the SDR mod. They're surprisingly immersive. I came from the Atticus/Eikon, and I was surprised about deep and textured the bass was (even compared to the EIkon.)

Except for lacking the overemphasized treble, are the 880's largely like the 990's? I keep hearing about listener fatigue concerns with the 990s, so if the 880's are more or less just as good without that con, I might lean towards those, especially this pair: https://www.amazon.com/BeyerDynamic-Premium-Special-Version-717258/dp/B01MXR65M6/ref=sr_1_17?s=aht&ie=UTF8&qid=1496693738&sr=1-17&keywords=open+back+over+ear+-wireless&refinements=p_36:6000-25000 But MLE did mention the 880's had some significant issues with positional cues. which is somewhat concerning. I'm not sure if that problem could be corrected by adjusting virtual speaker positions in SBX though, but if it is, well, theyd be gold. My current YEARS old soundcard is a Xonar DG; using the Uni drivers you can definitely adjust how the virtual 7.1 sounds by playing in the software; ive experimented with it and artificially created the 'center sounding behind cues' MLE mentioned by moving them forward, but not sure if that would in turn also be able to alleviate a Natural problem with the set of phones.

For me, ~$200 is basically my soft limit on what i'd drop for a set of phones. Do the pricier ones sound better? I imagine so to justify the price premium, but significant enough to warrant it? To some, obviously, but AFAIC, nope. Particularly as a pc gamer when theres plenty of other money-demanding hardware necessary. That $800 premium for HD800's is equivalent to two GPU upgrades over the years or an entirely new system build, both of which are going to improve gaming significantly more for the price, albeit different aspects of it.

Doubly so considering in order to get the most out of even the sub $200 phones I need to buy a non-onboard audio solution. Still torn between getting a ZxR with the ability to tweak the sound with op-amp swaps, just getting a G5/E5(with or without an extra external amp as some have mentioned they need), or buying a Z-card for the features and using the optical out to an external dac/amp like Schiit or something. Figuring out the best way to get what you need is hard lol. I've heard some people say onboard these days is excellent... but thats only if you drop $200+ on some ultra-high end motherboard with tons of crap you'll never use. Most mainstream boards use ALC887/892, which are pretty crap; I know, because my 5 yr old mobo uses that chip, and even the xonar DG was significantly better..

As an example, which would be better suited for playing stuff like , electronic/industrial, metal and rock?

 

[mbyrnes]

You should REALLY look into the Monoprice M1060. I love them for gaming, and they have serious bass. The thread on them here is intense, with people modding them for different reasons. I've added Vegan LCS2 pads to mine for comfort. These are way better then my AKG K702 Annies. You lose some soundstage on the M1060, but it is still very good. The bass is really good, I really love planar bass.

 

[Garzhad]

You should REALLY look into the Monoprice M1060. I love them for gaming, and they have serious bass. The thread on them here is intense, with people modding them for different reasons. I've added Vegan LCS2 pads to mine for comfort. These are way better then my AKG K702 Annies. You lose some soundstage on the M1060, but it is still very good. The bass is really good, I really love planar bass.

Out of my pay grade, unless you got a pair for less than $200

 

[cskippy]

Find a used planar in the classified section. Planars beat dynamic headphones for 3D positioning in games, yes, even HD800. They create an equal sound sphere around your head such that turning around in a 360 with a constant noise in front of you will not get closer or farther away, it will just move around your head. With dynamic headphones the sound will get closer and further away depending on the specific headphone. Here is a video you can use to test:

 

[Garzhad]

Find a used planar in the classified section. Planars beat dynamic headphones for 3D positioning in games, yes, even HD800. They create an equal sound sphere around your head such that turning around in a 360 with a constant noise in front of you will not get closer or farther away, it will just move around your head. With dynamic headphones the sound will get closer and further away depending on the specific headphone. Here is a video you can use to test:

I'm currently using a pair of crappy IEM's, on my laptop, and even on them I can hear the position of the sound shifting as he turns. It doesnt sound closer or further away, just the perceived direction the sound is coming from changes.

Still, does anyone think the Fostex T20/T50's are better for soundstage, positional cues and fun than the K7xx or others previously mentioned? Seem like the only cheaply available planars that are in a style i find... adequate. 'Course, it seems I can get a pair cheap enough I might just get both and compare em myself.