Anglvd3th and fjosh,
Yeah, about 60-70% of this thread is made up of variations of your questions over the years, BUT the good news is that the guide in the first post is very helpful, and the thread kinda has gained a life of it's own where previous shoppers turn into people willing to share tips, like me.
Anglvd3th,
The general rule of thumb is that gaming-marketed headphones have problems with sibilance, refined and controlled presentation, and value for their price. Audio is not one of Razer's core competences, though they seem to be trying to learn and, even though their attempts such as their free surround audio processing sound inferior to efforts by Dolby and Creative, I give them kudos for trying to expand the market. Gaming headsets generally increase in quality with price paid, at least till you hit the wireless models which bump quality down to entry-level again plus problems with background hiss and less detailed DACs, but
at the end of the day, audiophile favourites around the $80-$170 price range will stomp over "gaming" headsets in sound quality and comfort.
Amusingly, when I went to check out the blackshark just now, I noticed that Mad (Lust Envy) commented on the Engadget "review" (more of a first look) of this headphone.
Good news is that many of the audiophile headphones look unique and cool as well. Take for example the
Beyerdynamic DT770 I just looked up for
Phol. Those actually HAVE been used for aviation in their headset version, with nicer materials (AND COMFORT) than the Razer, the sound has a lot of energy, clarity, and bass, and then the price speaks for itself. For more airy surround realism, look at the Sony MA900 (reviewed in the guide), or the bass-lite but god-mode gaming and less expensive AudioTechnica AD700 (or the new AD700x, if you prefer black).
I think the AKG Q701 headphones sound AMAZING, my current favorites (new version K712 Pro is in the mail for me though), basically they get the max out of gaming audio and work well with virtual surround processing (see the journal linked in my signature) and make music a more engaging and enjoyable experience (known for their balance and broad soundstage), and look so cool to boot. I love my kinda stormtrooper white ones, but they come in a green and black you might find cool, or a black if you want a serious look.
The slightly higher impedance helps dampen background hiss in an audio signal (silence between sounds improves clarity and is a hallmark of audio quality), but you'll also need a higher volume settings to get the normal level of loudness. Usually you get an acceptable volume at near max settings, but adding a discrete headphone amp makes things sound effortless while also providing the muscle to do things that you shouldn't tell your mom. LoL, but seriously, a good amp isn't about making sound too loud, they improve the impact, ability to "feel" the little detail nuances on your eardrums, and add control to the bass and highs to prevent distortion so you can hear audio as it was intended (which is very pleasurable, so much so that you shouldn't tell your mom, heh). This amping section applies to most headphones as well, to varying degrees.
fjosh,
PurpleAngel and I both use (or have owned and used) Yamaha receivers. I was in the middle of playing around with settings to perfect the surround audio, when I had to pack it up and box it in my basement until I move out T_T
So I don't EXACTLY know/remember the best settings, the manual said you had to have on a DSP and your headphones in the headphone jack to engage Silent Cinema (for virtual surround), what I was finding was that you could adjust the amount of the affects' effect, but perhaps you can even get surround with a surround audio source and the receiver set to "straight."
If you want the surround AND you want to use the vintage receiver as a power amp, you'd have to plug the vintage receiver's input into the newer AVR's headphone jack. Downside of that is you'll be very inefficient with your electricity bill, and, unless you're using a headphone with a very high impedance or a very linear impedance:frequency response, you may hear dB spikes at certain frequencies or distortion. But if you want to do it and it sounds good enough to you, you pretty much just have to use your AVR as a source and connect the vintage to the AVR's headphone jack to get virtual surround basically equivalent to Dolby Headphone.
Phol,
Check out
this gaming headset review of the Beyerdynamic MMX300, basically the DT770 I linked above is the same headphone he's testing there without the built-in mic for $160 new. Mostly, that guy has only had experience with gaming headsets, and he was quite impressed, though his line about "this headphone is so great that the compressed audio in games are the only things that hold it back, and actually sound even better when listening to high bitrate music" (paraphrase) speaks volumes about these headphones. Check amazon's used section too, these are pretty tough headphones. While the Q701s are
my favourite headphones (so far), I don't know if "balanced" and "reference" is the sound you're looking for
and the DT770 may be what you're looking for. Then, once you're used to it, you may want to pick up an E17 for amping and to EQ down bass and treble a smidge
