[ShadowDK]

Hi,
 
I am currently looking for some new headphones or headset to replace my Steelseeries 5HV2 which has broken (only sound in one side). I'd like something with better sound quality as well, as I think these Steelseries has been quite bad - they sound extremely "flat" due to the complete lack of bass.
 
I am using the headset about equally much for gaming and music. For gaming I'd like a microphone attached, but if a stand-alone microphone can be used at a distance of say 40-50 cm's away from my mouth, it wouldn't mind me to have a stand-alone one on my desk. It's just a little annoying if I have to fiddle too much with the microphone each time I have to use it.
 
I am a little reluctant on going with a gaming headset again because I do not really see what separates a gaming headset with normal headphones besides poor bass and then the microphone.
 
However, I have been looking a little on the PC 360 from Sennheiser which is indeed a gaming headset, but I have heard so much good about Sennheiser so maybe the sound quality in these are good? It gets nice reviews overall, but i do also read that it might be a little low on bass - but I don't know how it is compared with my Steelseries. It's definately not like I'm very focused on bass in general, or only listen to music with lots of bass, but the Steelseries are just really really bad in this regard. All kinds of music sound quite bad with these.
 
I also looked at the RS 170, but I'm not sure if wireless works well enough, and since I will almost only be using the headset in front of my PC it's not so much needed right now. But of course wireless is nice to have if it works well.
 
As a third alternative I looked at the Sennheiser HD555 or perhaps HD595, as they are just regular headphones, but they dont got any mic.
 
I am not sure what I should go with - can you give me any advice?

 

[AndresVilla]

kk if i was you i would go for the hd555 with a zalman clip on mic, do not go for any gaming headphones there a marketing scheme, the ad700 are amazing for games as well but they have lower bass than the hd555 and since that bothered you with the 5hv2 it may bother you with the 700's aswell go for any good headphone preferably open since it will have more soundstage but for games liek source its between 555 and 700

 

[SoSpecial]

He wants something with bass, if he's willing to spend that much then he should go for something like a Denon D2000 which will give him about the best soundstage and positional closed headphones can provide and still have amazing bass.
 
Another fantastic choice would be DT880( for pure gaming) or DT990's( a mix of gaming and music.)
 
As for a mic  any desk mic will work or a velcroed on boom mic, even if it's from another headset( preferably something with a seperate mic cable) Just snap off the cup that has the mic and the wire and it should still work.

 

[AndresVilla]

yeah but i dont think hes willing to spend that much although those choices you gave him are good, and i have the problem is i have heard the 5hv2 and i dont think its that he wants alot of bass, its just theat the 5hv2 have no bass whatsoever they are extremely flat

 

[SoSpecial]

Quote:

yeah but i dont think hes willing to spend that much although those choices you gave him are good, and i have the problem is i have heard the 5hv2 and i dont think its that he wants alot of bass, its just theat the 5hv2 have no bass whatsoever they are extremely flat

 
Not willing to spend $200? but willing to spend the big bucks for this?
 
The PC360 is one of the more overpriced things Sennhieser sells, infact they are a terrible value when you take into account hey are an HD555 with a mic. Neither of which has nice bass.
 

 

[AndresVilla]

nvm i didnt think the 360 were so expensive lol, and btw do u think those headphones will offer a substantial difference over the 555? it seems like he plays mainly games so do u think the extra money is worth it for that? i have never tried those so i honestly have no clue

 

[ShadowDK]

Thanks for your replies. SoSpecial, the ones you recommend are a little too expensive for me - at least where I live they are approximately double the price, or a tad more. The limit is really the price of the HD595 or PC360 (they are approximately the same price here).
 
And yeah, It's not that I want loads of bass or something, I'm just very disappointed with the complete lack of bass and plastic sound of my Steelseries.
 
I'm not mostly playing games, I'd rather say its 50/50 in terms of gaming and music listening
 
Based upon your opinions on the PC360 I think I'll skip those too So right now I'm mostly thinking about HD555 and HD595. SoSpecial, you also say that the HD555 doesn't have nice bass - but is the HD595 any better in this regard?

 

[BeepBoopBop]

get the audio technica ath ad700. you can then use fragtalitys mic mod (google it) to attach a boom mic onto the side with velcro, so you can remove it and have headphones when you want to listen to music. the ad700 has a great soundstage for gaming. many pro gamers use it.

 

[SoSpecial]

Quote:

Thanks for your replies. SoSpecial, the ones you recommend are a little too expensive for me - at least where I live they are approximately double the price, or a tad more. The limit is really the price of the HD595 or PC360 (they are approximately the same price here).
 
And yeah, It's not that I want loads of bass or something, I'm just very disappointed with the complete lack of bass and plastic sound of my Steelseries.
 
I'm not mostly playing games, I'd rather say its 50/50 in terms of gaming and music listening
 
Based upon your opinions on the PC360 I think I'll skip those too So right now I'm mostly thinking about HD555 and HD595. SoSpecial, you also say that the HD555 doesn't have nice bass - but is the HD595 any better in this regard?

The PC350/PC360/HD555/HD595 all have the same driver, believe it or not the only difference is the housing, and on the HD555 and the HD595 you can do a small( easy mod) to make it an HD595.
 
They are very bass light headphones, but if  you need good gaming cans and decent bass at a cheaper price the Creative Aurvana Live and the AKG K240 Studio will give you what you're looking for and still be top notch in sound quality in their price brackets respectively.
 
 
There's also a mod for the PC350 which gives it more bass but it and the rest of the sens I'm speaking about are bass light by defualt.

 

[misformatt]

Quote:

get the audio technica ath ad700. you can then use fragtalitys mic mod (google it) to attach a boom mic onto the side with velcro, so you can remove it and have headphones when you want to listen to music. the ad700 has a great soundstage for gaming. many pro gamers use it.

I know a lot of gamers find the AD700 to have some of the best positioning available in a relatively affordable set; however, they are fairly bass-light, even when compared to something like the HD555/595.  If the OP is going to be using these for music as well, he might be interested in something with a little more low-end kick.  From personal experience, I've found the Ultrasone PRO 900 to have the best performance when gaming.  If the S-Logic implementation in the lower models, say the HFI-780, or PRO 650 (which are in the PC360's price range), is anything like the PRO 900's, then you'd have an excellent can for handling both music and (especially) games.  If you'd like an open can, I don't have any experience with the open-back Ultrasones, so I won't comment on their performance, but the Sennheiser HD555/595 are great all-rounders, and I wouldn't discount them even though they're a bit lighter in bass than the Ultrasones.  As far as a mic is concerned, I was wary about switching to a desktop mic when I sold my PC350s a while back, but I picked up the Audio Technica ATR4600 desktop/lapel mic for ~$7 and it actually performs a bit better than the PC350 mic, even when stuck to the top of my monitor.

 

[AndresVilla]

if your gonna get senns i recommend the 555, like they said above theres a simple mod that u remove a cushion which makes them the 595, btw in amazon the 555 or like 90 right now. the senns have good bass its not bad at all just that its not very powerful same thign with the ad700 but the sound will be very clear and nice, u said u listen like 50/50 music, wut music u listen to?

 

[ShadowDK]

When you are saying they are light on bass - do you got any idea how it is compared with the Steelseries I have? If you know those by any chance. I'm a little confused because I see quite a few reviews saying the bass is good - but I really doubt anyone said that for my Steelseries for example.
 
I think the Creative one look a little too flimsy and not so comfortable with the quite thin connection-thingie-band between the cups, might be wrong though
 
Actually I may wait buying some headphones myself, perhaps I can be so lucky to get a pair for Christmas That still requires me to figure out a model though.. the Sennheisers are generally more easily available in stores here in Denmark. But if the headphones are not very good it would be a bad idea..
 
Edit:
Regarding the AKG, is the 242 HD or 272 HD similar to the 240 you recommend? The 240 seems not to be available around here, while the 242 and 272 HD are quite close to each other in price.
 
Edit2:
The above two posts got posted at the same time as this post so didnt see it before now Thanks for the additional suggestions. As for what music I listen to it's quite mixed, pop, world music, bit of classical, and the like

 

[ShadowDK]

Hi again I hope you are all enjoying the Holidays.
 
I got a pair of HD 515, but I think I will return them and possibly add in a little extra to get another model - the HD555 is quite similar in price but I don't know if it is available.
 
However, I just noticed that the local hifi shop got Goldring DR150 for the same price as HD555 - would you think these are a better option?
 
I also had an extra look at the Aurvana Live that was recommended earlier in the thread, and I might have to reconsider what I said because they do seem nice, however, they are closed. I don't think I would like having a very isolated pair of headphones removing all noise from the outside, how do you think the Aurvana Live are in this matter?
 
 
 

 

[ShadowDK]

Anybody?
I stumbled upon the Superlux HD 681 which is supposedly really good, and can compete against much more expensive headphones. Can this really be true? I see people saying they can perfectly compete against for example Sennheiser  HD595, but the Superlux are like 7-8 times cheaper - so I find it a little hard to believe. On the other hand I would feel incredible stupid spending so much money on expensive headphones if I the Superlux really is that good.

 

[obazavil]

I have read lots of reviews of PC360from ppl that have lots of gaming headphones (A30, A40, K702, etc) and they are that PC360 works fine enough for the price that can be get (~$180). They are an improvement over the PC350.
 
Now, for gaming headphones, K702 is cool for competitive gaming (FPS online, few bass, lots of details)
 
DT990 (i have the 600 ohms version) is pretty cool for immersion and single player.
 
I use k702 and dt990 with mixamp.
 
Razer Carcharias, AD700, Creative Aurvana Live... all are low buget cans too.