[Impunity]

hey all,
 
as the title says i've been looking for a sub $200 pair of headphones for my gaming rig. 80% of what these things will deliver are voice, gunshots and special effects. I'm pretty sure i want opened back for better sound staging, but i'm having trouble finding good options to compare. 
 
so far the best option i've come up with are the Sennheiser HD 598's which, by all accounts is a great headset, but momma always taught me the value of comparison shopping, and i'm having a hard time finding a few good competitors, any suggestions?
 
Also as i mentioned i'm leaning toward open backed, but if theres some good rationale behind preferring closed back i'd be open to looking at the myriad of closed back options in this price range. As it stands, i live alone so, i'm not worried about pissing anyone off with sound leakage.

 

[MalVeauX]

Heya,
 
Fischer Audio FA-011 (bassy) FA-002 (neutral)
BeyerDynamic DT880 PRO (neutral) or DT990 PRO (bassy)
Sennheiser HD598 (neutral, bright)
AudioTechnica AD900 (neutral)
 
Very best,

 

[Impunity]

I suppose i should update this, as there are some factors that i need help with understanding. Currently h have Tritton AX720s and they're pretty decent, though there is definitely a lot of line noise on them. They come with a decent mixamp that is plugged into my motherboards optical out. This leaves me with some questions:
 
lets say i get rid of my Tritton setup (thinking of giving it to a friend), will a soundcard replace the need for a mixamp? is it preferable to have one over the other? 
 
for that matter, there seems to be a lot of back and forth between Dolby Surround and 2.1 Stereo. My AX720 uses Dolby surround, and personally, i think it sounds pretty good. But i dont see much out there that compares the two for the sake of gaming.
 
 
can anyone help me out here? i'm not looking for a straight "buy xxx" solution, i'm just having a hard time parsing what options i should be considering.
 

 

[Impunity]

Quote:

Heya,
 
Fischer Audio FA-011 (bassy) FA-002 (neutral)
BeyerDynamic DT880 PRO (neutral) or DT990 PRO (bassy)
Sennheiser HD598 (neutral, bright)
AudioTechnica AD900 (neutral)
 
Very best,

 
 
Thanks for the reply. i didnt notice it until after i added some other questions. Thanks for your suggestions. Do you have any input on the mixam vs Sound card thing or Dolby vs stereo?
 
 

 

[MalVeauX]

Quote:

 
 
Thanks for the reply. i didnt notice it until after i added some other questions. Thanks for your suggestions. Do you have any input on the mixam vs Sound card thing or Dolby vs stereo? 
 

Heya,
 
An inexpensive Xonar DG ($30) has an amp in it and does dolby headphone. Basically any sound card that can sufficiently power your headphones and has dolby headphone would be good. The fun thing is you can output from the Xonar DG's optical output with the dolby headphone still. So you can get an external amp that is more powerful later so that you can utilize higher impedance headphones. Works great as a gaming source and movie source. You simply set it to headphone output, with dolby headphone on, 7.1 virtualization, and it outputs so you just put it into an amp and then into your headphone. I have one and I do it for movies and games. Works great.
 
Very best,
 

 

[Impunity]

Thanks again for your suggestions. after comparing all of these headsets, reading reviews and doing a lot of head scratching, i've dropped some coin on the FA-011s it seems that while most people are surprised at the rich bass from these headphones, it doesnt come at the sacrifice of the mids and highs, especially after some burn-in. Seems like GD-audiobase is the only place that i can find that carries them.
 
beyond all that, they look absolutely beautiful, and i much prefer the cloth covers to leatherette. 
 
Do you think the Xonar DG will supply sufficient power? i've seen some comments indicating that these are "power-hungry" 

 

[MalVeauX]

Quote:

Thanks again for your suggestions. after comparing all of these headsets, reading reviews and doing a lot of head scratching, i've dropped some coin on the FA-011s it seems that while most people are surprised at the rich bass from these headphones, it doesnt come at the sacrifice of the mids and highs, especially after some burn-in. Seems like GD-audiobase is the only place that i can find that carries them.
 
beyond all that, they look absolutely beautiful, and i much prefer the cloth covers to leatherette. 
 
Do you think the Xonar DG will supply sufficient power? i've seen some comments indicating that these are "power-hungry" 

Heya,
 
I have the FA-011 and the Xonar DG. I didn't notice it being under powered to the point of detriment. Compared to Matrix Cube and Lyr in terms of power. If you're truly concerned and want to spend more money, get a Fiio E9. But I wouldn't.
 
By the way, I got my FA-011's from GD Audiobase, if you're in the USA, it will take a while to ship. Be prepared for a 4 week wait. Just letting you know in case you're the impatient type. They ship out of Russia. You'll get like 4~5 emails through the process to let you know when payment is received, etc, shipped, processed, etc. They're very communicative and they respond to emails if you have questions or concerns. But again, be prepared for a small wait time.
 
Very best,
 

 

[Impunity]

yeah, i'm on the east coast of the US, and when i saw they ship from St. Petersburg i figured it would be a wait. No worries. 
 
Also, thanks for the input on the card. I've been looking at cards quite a bit. I'm not wealthy by any stretch, but i'm a big fan of getting the best value for my money, and sometimes that means spending a bit more. Initially i was looking at HT Claro 7.1 till i realized that was way overkill for my needs. I'm just trying to spend wisely.

 

[derycksan]

Max beat me to it again   That set-up worked great for me for gaming/movies and fared rather well for music.  You should be very happy with it, I know I was.

 

[Impunity]

So i just got my FA-011's in today. They sound excellent! I'm hoping a little break in will fix this but they kinda press on my ears a little. The finish on the wood bits is darker than i'd have liked but other than that these things are pretty amazing. for open backed headphones, these things have stunning Bass, i'm not even a basshead but i can tell these things lov that 30Hz area. After a day or two of burn in i'll have to see how they sound with some opera to test the highs.
 
I dont doubt this will be killer for gaming.