[Yethal]

  First, let me say hello and that I am impressed by the head-fi community, just wow 

From time to time I read reviews here, but this time I need help in choosing headphones.
I am a gamer, competitive games mostly (like csgo, but love all games), so I want good positioning for sure, hearing footsteps etc.
On the other hand, I love music... but my priority is gaming.
 
Currently I have Asus Xonar DG with Plantronics Gamecom 367 (bought years ago).
My budget for the new headphones is ~160$
 
The basic question is, is it worth it for me to buy a new headphones? Will I notice a difference in sound quality?
 
I read a little and found such proposals:

Audio-Technica​

 ​

M50​

Audio-Technica​

 ​

AD700​

AKG K612 Pro​

Philips SHP9500
 
What do you think? Any suggestions?
 
PS If I made any mistakes, sorry, but english is not my native language

AD700 is kinda hard to find but it's supposed to be toptier.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

It's been replaced with the AD700x, which isn't, and has the same sound. Just different build quality and aesthetics.

I wouldn't suggest that if youre into music though. Its a bit too lean sounding.


For $160, I would suggests the K612 instead, though a Xonar DG won't cut it.

 

[ParityBit]

I picked up a pair of X2's from Amazon. Get them Friday! I hope I like them!

How long is the cable that comes with it? Good quality too?

 

[psychopab]

It's been replaced with the AD700x, which isn't, and has the same sound. Just different build quality and aesthetics.

I wouldn't suggest that if youre into music though. Its a bit too lean sounding.


For $160, I would suggests the K612 instead, though a Xonar DG won't cut it.

 

Both don't have detachable cable, right? Btw, it is a cool feature or I will not miss it?
 
In general, both headphones are similar to each other with terms of quality sound and I won't make the mistake of choosing one or the other?
Still have not decided, but I slowly tend to K612.
 
Maybe build quality and design? On pictures both headphones looks good, but how are they in reality?

 

[EliteSpartan03]

Great thread, lots of good info. I've had a few different headphones/headsets for gaming in the past: akg q701, Astro a40, and now a turtle beach stealth 500x. I love the wireless features on the 500x but they aren't too comfortable and I wish the earcups were larger. Sound is pretty good overall. Anyway, I'm thinking of a couple different setups. What are your thoughts on the sennheiser g4me ones? I like the large earcups and the flip up mic mute is pretty slick. Between those and the Phillips x2. I know completely different setups but curious what you guys would go for. I have the Astro mix amp and a v mods boom pro already so really could go with either way. I mostly would use them for gaming, I play a lot of different types of games on both ps4 and xb1. Battlefield, dying light, driveclub, forza series, halo mcc, assassins creed, etc

 

[catspaw]

Hah. I hate frustrating games. Didn't care for stuff like Demon/Dark Souls. That's just rage quit inducing.

I like hard and frustrating games (within reason, i tried angry birds for 20 seconds before turning off).

 

[Torian]

Hope i am not totally wrong when asking for a comparison in here (i made a thread about it already in the introduction section).
I have cut down my choices to 3 headphones, most i can read or watch about them is positive but to come to a conclusion i need them to be compared to each other.
Choices are,
1-Beyerdynamic DT880 250Ohm Edition
2-Philips Fidelio x2
3-Sony MDR-MA900
I would ask for a simplificated down comparison, maybe you could kinda rank them by the number in each category. Why i moved my question to here is simple: eventhough i want them as an all-purpose headphones, their crucial job will be in competitive Arena FPS games. So which offers the bigger Soundstage, the better Positional locating, Details and other stuff that take place in games?
 
Great Topic to get a general idea MLE, thanks for your hard work

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Get the X2. Done.

The 880s don't have excellent depth. The MA900 is great, but a bit smoothed over. The X2 is well rounded in every regard.

 

[Stillhart]

I have much news to report from Canjam.
 
First, the X2 is KILLER.  Easily the best headphone under $300 I heard at the show.  They really did fix the issues with the X1.  I prefer it to the K7xx, actually.  This get my easy recommendation for anyone looking to spend more than $200 on a gaming can.
 
I heard the 1540's and they were pretty good.  SUPER bassy, not my style, but really nice.  Heard the TH900 too and didn't come away very impressed.  I feel like I'm missing something there.
 
Oh and the Smyth Realizer is flat out amazing.  I could have SWORN there was an invisible speaker on the wall 5 feet in front of me and when I turned my head, it stayed there.  It was so realistic that it weirded me out; I had this weird cognitive dissonance between what I was hearing and what I was seeing.  I had to take off the headphones for a second to make sure there wasn't actually a speaker like under the table or something that I didn't notice.  It was mind blowing.  
 
This tech in gaming would be such a competitive advantage.  Imagine hearing something from the side and turning your head just a little to zero in on the sound, instead of turning your character in game.  If you guess wrong, you don't lose those valuable fractions of a second to turn back the other way.  Not to mention just the improvement in overall immersion.
 
The problem, of course, is the price.  I had a very long, very interesting discussion with the VP of Smyth all about how gamers would pay good money for a cheaper, version of the tech.  I won't go into all the details of the discussion but he was very interested and asked me to contact him after the show.
 
I also had a very similar discussion with Jason Stoddard about the need for something in between the $100 Mixamp and the $3000 Smyth.  He was also very intrigued.  He told me that he talks to people all day and gets lots of ideas thrown at him, but this one really intrigued him.  He also requested that I contact him later to discuss it further.
 
Side note on the Smyth (before @AxelCloris comes in and says it):  Axel didn't hear it the same way I did.  The Realizer has to be calibrated to your specific head.  They used a saved preset for the demo, with the caveat that it won't sound nearly as good as getting it customized (tho it will still sound better than DH, etc).  Axel says he heard the speaker but it was right in front of his face.  I heard it 5 feet in front of me in a big open room.  This will be one of the challenges I'm going to be discussing with them.
 
Mad, have you heard it?

 

[Change is Good]

I'm going to have to hear the X2 again because I really was not that impressed when I had it. Soundstage was small for an open headphone, sounding almost closed, at times. The timbre was nice, though, I will say that. Maybe now that my ears have re-adjusted to the slightly more forgiving K7XX rather than the brighter HP200, I might can appreciate the X2 more than I originally did.

 

[Stillhart]

I'm going to have to hear the X2 again because I really was not that impressed when I had it. Soundstage was small for an open headphone, sounding almost closed, at times. The timbre was nice, though, I will say that. Maybe now that my ears have re-adjusted to the slightly more forgiving K7XX rather than the brighter HP200, I might can appreciate the X2 more than I originally did.

 
It might also be your source.  The NFB-15 is a little closed and definitely warm compared to most of the Sabre stuff I've heard.  The X2 is very bassy and not super open so the 15 would just exacerbate that.  The NFB-11 would be a better fit.

 

[lenroot77]

 

[Yethal]

 
The problem, of course, is the price.  I had a very long, very interesting discussion with the VP of Smyth all about how gamers would pay good money for a cheaper, version of the tech.  I won't go into all the details of the discussion but he was very interested and asked me to contact him after the show.
 
I also had a very similar discussion with Jason Stoddard about the need for something in between the $100 Mixamp and the $3000 Smyth.  He was also very intrigued.  He told me that he talks to people all day and gets lots of ideas thrown at him, but this one really intrigued him.  He also requested that I contact him later to discuss it further.
 

Just a simple HDMI passthrough device that outputs an S/PDIF digital signal to an external DAC perhaps? That would be cool

 

[Stillhart]

  Just a simple HDMI passthrough device that outputs an S/PDIF digital signal to an external DAC perhaps? That would be cool

 
The Smyth uses HDMI, so if they end up doing something, there's a very good chance it'd have HDMI (hooray!) pass-through.  And yes, I did discuss an optical pass-through device with Jason.

 

[Yethal]

Well, it would also be nice if it had more than one input. It would be a bitch to replug it everytime we need to switch sources. Part of the reason I'm typing this post on a 40" Bravia TV instead of a regular desktop monitor is that it has an optical output (which actually outputs a Dolby Digital Signal, not some downscaled absurdity). I can switch the X7 between my PS3 and my PS4 (And X1) in the future by simply switching the channel on the TV.