[Change is Good]

Not sure if this has been asked before somewhere in the 1661 pages of this thread, but does anybody have experience with IEM's for gaming? Specifically I play Counter Strike: Global Offensive competitively and I'd love to pick up a good set of IEM's that would still be good for positional audio, while being able to kill it with my music as well. I'd prefer it to have a mic, but that isn't necessarily a requirement, as generally I assume those are marketed toward phones, and would be lower quality. My budget would be hard capped at $200, soft cap at $150, and preferably something that didn't need to be amplified.

On a side note, are there any USB sound cards that aren't terrible for music listening? Possibly with a headphone amp built in? I'd prefer it had both mic and headphone port, but again, not a deal breaker. 

Change is Good uses Sony XBAH3 IEM for gaming and I use the 1964 Ears 1964-Q. Both have excellent positional queues (for IEMs) when gaming and they're both excellent when it comes to music reproduction. Unfortunately both come in over your budget. You could check out the Soundstage Head Club to find some IEMs with nice big soundstages that could work well for gaming and fall within your budget.

Unfortunately it seems Axel and I are the only regulars, here, that use IEMs. As he mentioned, we have ours that we use, but way out of your budget. The XBA-H3, however, is currently down to $250, just $50 above that budget of yours and well worth its price point.

Axel, didn't you used to own the Fidelio S2? I think that can be safe a go to IEM for gaming, to those who come around with that preference in mind.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Evshrug

I was about to say the same thing. Destiny became an obsession.

And hotdammit, I missed Saturday's Moon event. :'( I was asleep since I worked that night. DAMN YOU, OVERNIGHT SHIFT.

I've just been rewatching Sword Art Online but in english. The dub isn't bad, actually. I've been in an anime mood, so I'm considering Log Horizon, and .Hack, both which I haven't seen. Well, that is, until Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky comes out on Steam tomorrow. Then I'll be putting most of my attention towards that.

@Mad Lust Envy
 
Finally got around to reading the 15g review, awesome write up. Glad to see you enjoy them, I still use mine everyday. Just wanted to let you know that you can lightly heat up the earpads with a hair dryer or just leave them in a stuffy room and they can be peeled off quite easily. The adhesive is pretty forgiving and you can stick it back onto the cups with no problems, I've taken mine off a few times now to clean out stray hairs. You should have a spare pair of earpads in the HS15 box too

Thanks! Yeah, I guess I'll eventually try the blow dryer method. I've been using the 15G at work everyday, since my KSC75's started shorting out on one side. I guess the 75 just needs the right driver's wires to be secured with more adhesive or something. I know it's super easy to take the cover for the wires off, but I'm so bad at DiY. I guess I'll eventually ask one of you fools to fix my KSC75 whenever I send out a pair of headphones again or something.

 

[lenroot77]

Cant wait!

 

[Evshrug]

Evshrug

I was about to say the same thing. Destiny became an obsession.

And hotdammit, I missed Saturday's Moon event. :'( I was asleep since I worked that night. DAMN YOU, OVERNIGHT SHIFT.

I've just been rewatching Sword Art Online but in english. The dub isn't bad, actually. I've been in an anime mood, so I'm considering Log Horizon, and .Hack, both which I haven't seen. Well, that is, until Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky comes out on Steam tomorrow. Then I'll be putting most of my attention towards that.

I missed it too cuz I worked till 9, and my gf tried talking me into a party (was way too tired from the typical weekend rush/crowds). I did play a bit of the iron banner competitive event that night though, won two legendary guns and bought a sick wolf waist-cape-flag thing for my Titan. I was surprised at myself, mostly winning and most often the MVP.

Destiny competitive reminded me a lot of Halo 3 where opponents see eachother at the same time and shields make sure 1v1 gunfights are really close, you win by movement, dodging, and more consistent aim, BUT the shields are a bit squishier than Halo 3 so if I'm not immediately targeted I could take down two people at once. Audio is very good, but not as much of an advantage (unless you hear them jump) as in corner-rushing in CoD and SWAT mode in the recent Halo's, because you have a (approximate) radar and you know that your enemies will mostly be coming from their control points. Due to the approximate nature of the radar, however, Destiny + headphone surround setup + shotgun = BLAM!-ing pwnership.

It's cool to hear that you're watching SAO again, loved that. Let me know when you start one of the others, I'll Netflix it too and we can talk about episodes.

 

[Stillhart]

 
Unfortunately it seems Axel and I are the only regulars, here, that use IEMs. As he mentioned, we have ours that we use, but way out of your budget. The XBA-H3, however, is currently down to $250, just $50 above that budget of yours and well worth its price point.

Axel, didn't you used to own the Fidelio S2? I think that can be safe a go to IEM for gaming, to those who come around with that preference in mind.

 
How are the SoundMAGIC IEM's?  Anyone tried them yet?
 

@Evshrug

I was about to say the same thing. Destiny became an obsession.

And hotdammit, I missed Saturday's Moon event. :'( I was asleep since I worked that night. DAMN YOU, OVERNIGHT SHIFT.

 
The moon mission was pretty cool.  If nothing else it was really refreshing to get into a new area type.  Beautiful as Old Russia is, I put 32 hours into it this last week... a change of pace was nice.  
 
It's funny reading about all these people disappointed that the game might not be as big as they had hoped.  I played 32 hours JUST in Old Russia and 2 pvp maps.  I'll pay $60 for 32 hours of entertainment, no problem.  This game is going to have way more than that... very excited!

 

[dedemouse]

I planned to buy AKG K712 Pro. But i wonder if it can work properly with my Xonar Xense sound card?

 

[martin vegas]

   
How are the SoundMAGIC IEM's?  Anyone tried them yet?
 
 
The moon mission was pretty cool.  If nothing else it was really refreshing to get into a new area type.  Beautiful as Old Russia is, I put 32 hours into it this last week... a change of pace was nice.  
 
It's funny reading about all these people disappointed that the game might not be as big as they had hoped.  I played 32 hours JUST in Old Russia and 2 pvp maps.  I'll pay $60 for 32 hours of entertainment, no problem.  This game is going to have way more than that... very excited!

I have the sound magic E10 I use with a portable dab radio for when I go jogging..decent sounding budget in ears that won't snag as easy as some..don't know about any of the others though!

 

[Change is Good]

How are the SoundMAGIC IEM's?  Anyone tried them yet?

Never tried 'em, sorry. I think Axel has?

I have a confession to make. I actually find myself reaching for my IEMs more often than not... even for gaming. Call me crazy...

 

[MC LeBron 23]

MLE...What would you go for to play single player campaigns for immersive gaming?

1. Dt 770 pro 80
2. Pro 900

I can get the 770s for around $100. The 900s are going to cost me $400. Is it really worth that extra $300??? I might be able to demo both, possibly both. Thanks.

 

[Evshrug]

MC,
In Mad's review of the Ultrasone Pro900, he basically said it's a good closed headphone with too much treble. I'm in the process of returning a pair of DT880 (600 ohm) because the smooth treble was nevertheless too strong and left my ears aching after less than an hour of music... The Pro 900 has even more, you'd have to have iron ears to be on the side of the fence that the treble doesn't bother you.

I haven't heard the DT770 myself (and it looks like there is a wide sample variation anyway), but I'd recommend pursuing that one and getting some demo time with it. $100 is a great price for that headphone.

 

[Fegefeuer]

I agree, forget about the Pro 900. That treble will harm your hearing over time. At first it can be exciting, explosive and very immersive but then fatigue will kick in. After a bit of browsing through your music catalogue you'll start to notice that voices don't sound very natural and have a metallic stain. 
 
There's a Kies Mod to reduce the highs if you wanna do that but imo there are very few basshead headphones done right and the Pro 900 while popular isn't one as that metallic character will never go away. The Signature DJ is the best basshead headphone if isolation is a factor. It's amazing actually but too expensive (like all Ultrasone stuff). 
 
The DT770 has a better soundstage, less piercing highs (smoothest by far were MMX 300 2013 Edition + DT770 LE AE 32 Ohms).

 

[Change is Good]

Yikezzzzzzzz... just reading about it makes me cringe...

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

I absolutely would not spend $400 for the Pro 900. For $100, the 770's are pretty good. N ote that the Pro 900 excels in mid bass and has very little sub bass, while the 770 Pro 80 is all about the sub bass, less about the mid bass. At least IIRC. It's been a LOOOOOONG time. I wouldn't go by grpahs when it comes to sub bass, as the D7000 graphs online would lead you to believe it has a severe sub bass roll off. ANyone who has heard the D7000 knows that is the farthest thing from the truth.

edit: Having gone back to headroom, you can see that 770s have a pretty noticeable dip in the mid bass compared to sub bass. No wonder I liked it's bass a lot. I much pretty sub bass over mid bass.

Problem with the 770 is that it can sound stuffy/muffled at times. It is very immersive though.

 

[Fegefeuer]

New Sony Flagship with 65mm Diamond Transducers.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/728006/sonys-new-flagship-2014
 
Evade the hype train until price, measurements and build quality.
 
On this note I want to point out again how awesome it is to have a customer service like Beyerdynamic and V-Moda. I wish more (looking at you Sony) would follow. Though Ultrasone isn't bad either with 5 years of warranty.

 

[Yethal]

  New Sony Flagship with 65mm Diamond Transducers.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/728006/sonys-new-flagship-2014
 
Evade the hype train until price, measurements and build quality.
 
On this note I want to point out again how awesome it is to have a customer service like Beyerdynamic and V-Moda. I wish more (looking at you Sony) would follow. Though Ultrasone isn't bad either with 5 years of warranty.

65mm drivers? Geez, somebody's penis must be tiny