[Frank Jaeger]

I need a new headphone, I already searched on the web which one I should pick. This new headphone I will buy will only be used in the night for gaming: no music or things like that. 100% gaming.

my budget is 100$, I'll be buying my headphone on a internet store which sends the headphone international. (I'm from Belgium)

the only site I know is www.amazon.com you can get the following headphones for 100$ on amazon:

Sony MDR 7506 vs Sennheiser 280 HD vs Sennheiser SR80

Which headphone should I pick for 100$? (only for gaming)

 

[episiarch]

First suggestion: click on a few of the sponsor links at the top and bottom of this page, and you'll have plenty of places to buy online besides Amazon, and an extremely rich selection of options.

Moving on, how important is isolation to you? Will you be wearing this only at home, or in a shared venue with other gamers around...and if the latter, do you want to hear what's going on around you pretty well, or hear it as little as possible? If you're only going to be gaming at home, will leakage out of your headphones bother anybody?

Of the phones you mentioned, the SR-80 (I assume you meant Grado) will leak a lot of sound in both directions, and the 280 will leak nothing outbound and block quite a bit inbound. The 7506 will give you less isolation than the 280, but a lot more than the Grado.

There are quite a few models to consider besides the ones you listed. Do a search of the headphones forum for "gaming" and you can probably find lots of opinions, in all price ranges. (Personally for gaming I like Sony EX-71's driven by the nifty surround-simulating Turtle Beach Advantage Micro USB, well under $100 for both, but I might be alone in this.)

Sennheiser also makes a PC150 headphone that combines moderate isolation with a headset microphone, if that interests you.

 

[st3]

ath-a500s

 

[Frank Jaeger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by episiarch First suggestion: click on a few of the sponsor links at the top and bottom of this page, and you'll have plenty of places to buy online besides Amazon, and an extremely rich selection of options. Moving on, how important is isolation to you? Will you be wearing this only at home, or in a shared venue with other gamers around...and if the latter, do you want to hear what's going on around you pretty well, or hear it as little as possible? If you're only going to be gaming at home, will leakage out of your headphones bother anybody? Of the phones you mentioned, the SR-80 (I assume you meant Grado) will leak a lot of sound in both directions, and the 280 will leak nothing outbound and block quite a bit inbound. The 7506 will give you less isolation than the 280, but a lot more than the Grado. There are quite a few models to consider besides the ones you listed. Do a search of the headphones forum for "gaming" and you can probably find lots of opinions, in all price ranges. (Personally for gaming I like Sony EX-71's driven by the nifty surround-simulating Turtle Beach Advantage Micro USB, well under $100 for both, but I might be alone in this.) Sennheiser also makes a PC150 headphone that combines moderate isolation with a headset microphone, if that interests you.

thank you for your help, about that PC-150.. what about it's sound quality? does it match with the 7506 or 280 HD ?

I like to be isolated, but not too much I think. (some effect's you'll get when it's TOO isolated?)

 

[episiarch]

I haven't heard the PC150, but I have a PC140 and based on that (and on general experience with lower-cost Sennheiser phones) I would guess that the PC150 is probably not excellent, and probably nobody's first choice as a music headphone, but probably not bad at all for the <$40 you'd pay for it at, say, eCost.com.

As for too much isolation, the only effect is that you don't hear what's going on around you. Depending on whom you game with, I suppose that could be either a good thing or a bad thing.

 

[PachmanP]

I'm also assuming you meant the Grado sr-80's...

Anyway, the 280's are monster huge in my opinion and fairly heavy compared to the other two but for gaming that shouldn't be an issure since you're just chillin in front of a comp; but after my first 6hr marathon "testing" session playing America's Army my head was tired and my ears a little sore around the edges, but that hasn't been a problem since so it might have just been a stretching them out thing. Very good isolation, approaching that of some of my gun muffs I think. The sound effects where much clearer and localization was much better than my stopgap sony mdr-v150's (ie $20 us walmart phones but still not bad), but that should be expected. From what I understand the 280's bass drops really low which is always good when you're blowing things up.

The grado's are much lighter but they sit on your ear as opposed to over it so after a long time that could get to be a problem, but I don't know. No isolation.

The sony's where light and seemed comfortable, but I didn't listen to for a long period( well I didn't "listen' to them at all actually cause the demo unit was broken and they didn't have a nonbusted one that the guy could find.)

If you can't tell I ended up getting the 280's and only demoing the grado's and the sony's so let this serve as a cautionary precaution.

also if you like isolation and really, really, really like bass alot you might look at the Beyrdynamic (?sp?) dt770's in the same price range. And you might also want the look into some canalphones in the same range incase you ever leave you comp...

 

[brandoj]

Don't get the Grado's for gaming... almost no soundstage on those.

 

[spike33]

grados are as good as speakers for gaming

I've used sennheiser 212pro, pc150, and sony v6/7506. I can't recommend the pc150 because the positioning sux, it was almost as bad as the grados. Their open too which imo isnt good for gaming. You can't go wrong with the 212 or v6. I could hear exactly where my opponents were and their sealed so thats a big plus. Go with whichever you find cheaper.

 

[Frank Jaeger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by episiarch As for too much isolation, the only effect is that you don't hear what's going on around you. Depending on whom you game with, I suppose that could be either a good thing or a bad thing.

I don't need to hear what's going on around me, so I want a headphone that Isolats me. + I want some good bass too.

Should I pick the Sennheiser 280 than? someone who tested both sony V7506 and HD 260 so you can compare them about isolation, bass, .. ?

 

[fr4c]

the HD280 doesnt have "thumpin' vibrating on your head" bass, but the bass extension goes very low. its there, but you dont "feel" it like some other headphones.

 

[philodox]

You may also want to consider the AKG K240 Studio, great for gaming.

 

[450]

Get the V6. Its great for gaming, but get the KSC3/75 too just in the event you want something open.

 

[Joy Divisioner]

Some of the end result depends on what sound card you're running these out of. Personally, I own and use the HD280s for gaming (as well as music) and think they're a great headphone for the money. Keep in mind you'll have to burn them in for quite a while until they sound awesome, but the positioning and low bass levels are great for gaming. I've yet to hear them clip from anything I've thrown at them, highs and lows alike. IMO, go with the Senns (especially for gaming).

 

[Frank Jaeger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 450 Get the V6. Its great for gaming, but get the KSC3/75 too just in the event you want something open.

V6 = sony's 7506?

what about that sony's 7506 it's bass & for gaming?

 

[xlEnt]

I use my sony v6 for counter strike... pretty good sound positioning. I'm not cal i but at my prime i think i was in the cal m range hah (only im exp befor i quite)

I think some of the CPL peeps go over board running hd580's/600 off the onboard sound at the cpl i remember seeing some ATH500's used at the cpl from a couple euro's though.