[Fl_Rob]

First off I am new here. I have been checking up here for about a month before my first purchase. First off thank you for existing and all the amazing wealth of knowledge I have come to read on here. Second I hate you all for my new addiction to headphones!

I was a total noob when it came to headphones and thought my skullcandy smokin buds sounded pretty decent. Little did I know they are complete and utter trash compared to my newest purchase. After much research I picked up the Klipsch S4 earbuds and they sound absolutely incredible through my iphone and even better on the PC w/ alittle eq'ing.

I am an avid Xbox gamer and find the klipsch s4's to be alittle harsh when gaming. The bass is pretty good but they lose alittle comfort after a couple hours and just sound kind of "claustrophobic". ( not sure how else to explain ) I am looking to pick up a good set of gaming headphones . Here is my setup....

I run my audio out from my xbox through my PC soundcard ( so I can EQ and use the 3-D sound positioning , though it doesn't work at all really with the earbuds). I don't have an amp and I don't know where to pick one up that doesn't involve going online. I live in south florida and the only place I know to get headphones/amps is best buy and guitar center. I don't use credit cards at all really so I want something I can purchase in cash. I know guitar center has a killer return policy so I will be going there.

I am thinking about the Beyerdynamic dt770/80ohm , dt880's . I never tried a good set of headphones before so I don't know exactly what to look for, but I know what I want. I want to be able to have decent positoning ( not perfect but decent ), good accurate bass ( not the distorted boomy kind I had from my skullcandy's ) , and comfort. I heard beyer's have the best comfort in existence heh

My questions: ( sorry it took so long I am just want to cover all my basics )

1. Will the beyer's sound better than my klipsch s4's ? Perhaps the quality of my new klipsch's doesn't really get any better , I don't know ...

2. Will I need an amp? If so , what amp do you reccomend that I could pick up in store at guitar center ?

3. I read that the bass on the dt880 is lacking ? Does that mean that its really poor sounding like a cheap set of headphones or just peopel being alittle picky? I just want my explosions and whatnot to feel immersive...not really recording an album for a professional artist

4. Which headphones are better ...the semi closed 880's or the closed 770's? I think I woudl prefer a headphone that sounds alittle more like speakers which I hear is an open/semi open design.... then again if the bass of the 880's sounds like a tin can then I'll pass

Thanks so much in advance for the answers to my stupid noobish questions!

 

[chinesekiwi]

Gaming? What type of gaming? FPS gaming? budget?

 

[Fl_Rob]

All different sorts. Anything I can get my hands on for xbox 360

 

[chinesekiwi]

Well for FPS gaming, there's one mega bang for buck headphone that comes to mind:

Audio Technica AD700

However, although it does have good quality bass (lacks bass impact), it is bass light but however it is defiantely the best bang for buck gaming headphone out there. It is open however so won't isolate too well from external sound. You can get it for sub $100 easily. I bass EQ my AD700's for fps gaming. You can EQ bass, you can't EQ soundstage or positioning.

 

[Fl_Rob]

They don't carry any AT headphones at guitar center and the ones they do carry online are severely overpriced. Are the Beyerdynamics good headphones? I am not worried about price too much , as long as its not insanely expensive like hd800's or something

 

[Fl_Rob]

Also , a friend of mine told me about his new sound card from asus that doubles as a headphone amplifier. Also has a line in so that would work with my xbox 360, though online it says there is a dealy on the line in ? Is this a noticeable delay ? Something like 500ms .... 1/2 sec. seems like you would kind of notice it , then again I could definitly be wrong .

 

[chinesekiwi]

There will be no delay unless you specifically set it to do so.
Anyway, I mean that the Audio Technica AD700 can easily be bought online for sub $100.

e.g. here $90 free ship.

Audio Technica ATH-AD700 Open-air Dynamic Headphones in Corded Headphones at JR.com

 

[Fl_Rob]

I don't have a CC...... plus I want to be able to return them to the store if they don't sound good. My local Guitar Center has beyerdynamics in store, though they don't demo them unfortunately. They also have a dt990 open headphone. My buddy ( who knows only a little bit more about this than I do ) said I would be in great shape going with the dt990 and the ASUS Xonar essence soundcard to drive them. My setup would be :

Xbox 360 ---> Asus Soundcard line in ----> Dt990's

Would that be a killer game setup for sound ? If not and the AT are far better than I guess I could find a way to pick them up .....

How much better would these sound than my earbuds from klipsch ? Hopefully alot better soundstage since even them dolby headphone demo online doesn't sound very open ( left and right are great , front and rear don't sound correct at all and everything sounds withing 2 feet of me )