[Mad Max]

The soundstage depth has nothing to do with it sounding congested.  If too many sounds played at once within the midrange, the headphone became congested.  My SR225 and SR325 both have a literally flat soundstage (absolute zero depth), yet they never become congested even with very complex passages.  I heard the on-ear DNA at Office Depot before as well, same result.

 

[NamelessPFG]

Figures that other things I want are popping up for sale...something's gotta give if I'm going to have a chance at buying them before anyone else. Damn my general interest in exotic, expensive hardware...
 
I guess that means I'll have to part with the MA900, if anyone's still interested in it with everyone hyping the Fidelio X1 instead and all. They're a good set, but they honestly haven't seen much use ever since I got the MMX 300.

 

[Evshrug]

Mad Max,
Oh I meant it had some congestion AND the soundstage seemed flat AND it had a fun freq response... So I back you up

NamelessPFG,
What did you find? Another flight sim thingie, like a switch panel/dashboard to pair up with your joystick? Or... something STAXy? Probably not headphones tho... And I bet you feel authentic because weren't the MMX300 designed for aviation (control towers and pilots) anyway?



Mad and others with mixamps...
How do I hook up my own headphones and mic!?

I felt like trying the Mixamp's marquee distinguishing feature, but I realized it was designed for headsets featuring a mic channel integrated into the plug. Mine didn't come with a splitter... well it did, but in the other direction with male plugs for connecting to a PC. I thought "well OK, I can use the mobile cable that came with the A30s" (btw the A30s were mailed away for service), BUT the mic jack is 2.5 and I can't fit anything inside anyway with my fat AKG plug right next to it!

Do I really have to buy a TRRS smartphone splitter with female mic and audio jacks?

 

[NamelessPFG]

NamelessPFG,
What did you find? Another flight sim thingie, like a switch panel/dashboard to pair up with your joystick? Or... something STAXy? Probably not headphones tho... And I bet you feel authentic because weren't the MMX300 designed for aviation (control towers and pilots) anyway?

 
Beyerdynamic claims the MMX 300 is based on one of their aviation headsets, but authenticity isn't the reason I keep it.
 
The reason is, of all things, the microphone. It's much, much better than my desk mic, and I doubt that many have the ability to effectively filter out the noise of my Model M. Meanwhile, the headphone section is good enough for positional audio that I don't feel like I have to reach for the MA900 every time I want to start gaming, and the comfort's good enough for long gaming sessions. It's not perfect, but it's good enough.
 
The thing in question is a TM HOTAS Cougar...with a ton of mods included, most specifically the sought-after U2-NXT gimbal mod with a reputation for perfect smoothness. You could say it's like the STAX of the flight stick world.
 
It's been one of my goals to evaluate it, but the U2-NXT itself is naturally quite expensive (moreso than the HOTAS Cougar itself is) and has limited production runs (made by one man in Australia as a hobby, CNC-milled out of solid aluminum), plus it's made for a now-discontinued HOTAS setup which has only gone up in price by several hundred dollars since discontinuation. If I miss this opportunity now, who knows when I'll get another chance?

 

[miceblue]

It's off-topic from the current conversation, but is anyone here planning to get Metal Gear Solid V? I find it a bit of an annoyance that you need to get Ground Zeroes to know the backstory for The Phantom Pain...

I ask because this was announced today:
http://kotaku.com/metal-gear-solid-v-ground-zeroes-is-getting-its-own-ps-1524247799

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

I thought I was pretty thorough with the DNA Pro impressions.

I LOVE their sound (seriously, if they fit right and are more comfy, I could live with them as my only headphones).

As for the DNA On Ear, I'm using them as my gaming headset. Yes, it's not as detailed as the Pro, and yes it's tilting in bass, but because the mids and treble are generally even with one another, you only have to contend with the bloom in bass, which doesn't really swallow up the other frequencies when I'm playing games. I have been doing quite well with it, actually. The soundstage is small, but locating sounds isn't hard to do, and I like the small footprint.

Mad and others with mixamps...
How do I hook up my own headphones and mic!?

I felt like trying the Mixamp's marquee distinguishing feature, but I realized it was designed for headsets featuring a mic channel integrated into the plug. Mine didn't come with a splitter... well it did, but in the other direction with male plugs for connecting to a PC. I thought "well OK, I can use the mobile cable that came with the A30s" (btw the A30s were mailed away for service), BUT the mic jack is 2.5 and I can't fit anything inside anyway with my fat AKG plug right next to it!

Do I really have to buy a TRRS smartphone splitter with female mic and audio jacks?

Yep, gotta buy the female splitter that converts to one output. Dunno why your Mixaamp doesn't come with one.

 

[Evshrug]

Saaaaad face... It came with the A30 mobile cable instead. And a splitter in reverse, to hook up a smartphone headset to a computer with separate mic and stereo jacks. At least I have a PSN chat cable.

 

[Stillhart]

Just saw that DNA on-ear is on sale for $99 at Office Depot (of all places) right now.  Seems like a pretty good price for those. 
 
You say you're using them for your main gaming set right now, but you only rated them a 7.  Is it just because you wanted a change of pace?

 

[Jason Bourne]

EDIT : Answered my own question!!

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Just saw that DNA on-ear is on sale for $99 at Office Depot (of all places) right now.  Seems like a pretty good price for those. 

You say you're using them for your main gaming set right now, but you only rated them a 7.  Is it just because you wanted a change of pace?

How did I give the DNA On Ear a 7, when I haven't even reviewed it yet? I reviewed the DNA Pro. Two completely different headphones.

I'm using the DNA because I don't have a headset on hand, and the DNA works with the Vmoda BoomPro. My A30s are currently at Astro for fixing or replacing. Again, this is only when I voice chat on CoD with my buddies. I use my MA900 every other time.

And this is why I wish I never went with a scoring system. ONLY a 7? A 7 is GOOD. Good =/= bad. Anything I rate good is good enough to use. If not, I wouldn't have said they're good.

 

[Fegefeuer]

It's the same with game reviews. People are often even dissapointed with an 8. A 7 is downright bad even. Ridiculous. 

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Like IGN. In big bold letters a 7 is GOOD.

People bitch and moan that a game got a GOOD score, by ONE person's opinion. It baffles me.

Nowadays, it's like most people only see 9-10 as good, and the rest is crap. I don't want to live on this planet anymore.

I will tell you guys, my reviews are obviously my opinion. You may agree nor disagree, and you can use it as a starting point, but I'm not a professional, and what I like may not be what you like. That's how all reviews should be viewed.


One thing we can almost all agree on is that Lghtning Returns is pretty mediocre. What a waste of $60. Square-Enix, I have no faith in you anymore.

 

[Fegefeuer]

Yeah, metacritic focus of publishers and idiot gamers wanting/expecting a "9/10 or will buy for 5$" (I understand if money's a concern or plenty of games that want to be played before) often leads to undeserved bad sales. 
 
I think you should get rid of scores and just do comparisons after the main review (like Project86 does in his amp reviews), based on the price range, like Q701 vs. X1, HE-500 vs. TH-600 etc.and even with headphones above so people might even go higher.
 
Will also make people actually read your review and not stare on scores which is a bummer since your reviews are well written.

 

[Stillhart]

How did I give the DNA On Ear a 7, when I haven't even reviewed it yet? I reviewed the DNA Pro. Two completely different headphones.

I'm using the DNA because I don't have a headset on hand, and the DNA works with the Vmoda BoomPro. My A30s are currently at Astro for fixing or replacing. Again, this is only when I voice chat on CoD with my buddies. I use my MA900 every other time.

And this is why I wish I never went with a scoring system. ONLY a 7? A 7 is GOOD. Good =/= bad. Anything I rate good is good enough to use. If not, I wouldn't have said they're good.

Okay dude, please don't overreact.  I apologize for antagonizing you with my poorly-worded question; it was late when I posted it and I can see how you'd misinterpret it.
 
What I meant to ask is why you'd use a headphone that, while good, isn't as good as many others you've reviewed.  I meant "only" only in comparison to your other cans.  You answered my question though.  It didn't occur to me that you don't actually have all of them sitting around on a shelf somewhere.  I was just confused as to why you'd be using them over something like the X1 which you seemed to think was better in pretty much every respect.
 
And yeah, obviously writing "a 7" was stupid as well.  I meant with respect to competitive gaming and I was sort of taking your score from the DNA Pro and then reading your impressions of the DNA and guessing.  Obviously, not a smart thing to do in retrospect.  My apologies.
 
With regard to your ranking system, I'm a practical guy.  This isn't like video games where I can get them all and I'm only limited by my time to play them.  There's really no reason to buy more than maybe 2 sets of cans, one each for music and gaming (maybe 3 if you split gaming into multiple groups).  I plan on getting one and I just want to make sure I'm getting the best bang for my buck.  While a 7 is good on an absolute scale, how good is it for the price?  A $100 headset that gets a 7 may be a smoking deal.  $200?  Maybe not so much.
 
Anyways, sorry for upsetting you.  I do appreciate all the work you've put into these reviews and all the help you continue to provide.

 

[TMRaven]

I think somewhere as disclaimer in his first post he writes that his ratings aren't on a relative scale, and are on an absolute scale. He insists to specifically 'not compare one headphone's scores to another.'  In other words a 10 in competitive for the AD700 might be worse than a 10 or 9 in competitive for an AKG-K701.  I'm not a big fan of that type of system, but it is what it is.