[pooder]

i have been contemplating buying the astro mixamp and ath ad700's for months!
 
i play video games a lot so is it worth the $230.00?
 
what is your experience with this set up compared to a turtle beach?

 

[BotByte]

If you're willing to go for a boom mic mod, or no mic at all, it's worth it.
 
You have to ask that yourself, is it worth it?
 
How long to you sit and play?
Is the sound important?
Do you have the money to throw at it?
 
I PC game, and I just grab any headphone and plug it in. I don't multiplayer, so it's easy for me to decide.
 
In truth, any headphone over $50 will do what you want. The AD700 does have a nice soundstage , but I argue this with every one of these thread: It doesn't really matter. You won't know where the shots are fired from, you'll just be able to tell left, right and between.
 
So:
 
Gun shot goes off.
The headphone will register left, right or around the center of your head.
Left or Right?
That's about it.
 
I do like my MDR-V6 for the bass impact. Because it makes you feel explosions and gun shots.
 
But the "7.1 surround sound" can only be found through speakers. Headphones just dull everything down to make it more personal.
 
There are cheaper set ups, but counting without mics, it might not be worth it.
 
If your worried about money, just go for the cans made for you system with mics because they are cheaper and give you about the same. Just look up come reviews before buying.

 

[Elysian]

Sound effects are so compressed in computer and console games that a headphone setup which emphasizes detail is going to make most games sound pretty bad.  You fall into this category if things like 128kbit MP3 recordings and YouTube audio bothers you.
 
It's kind of like a bell curve.  I like $100-250 headphones with video games the most, but once you get past that, you'll start hearing all the deficiencies with video game audio.
 
Just get whatever has decent clarity and good bass.  I used to use the Sony MDR-V700s to game a lot, and the V6 would also be good, like BotByte suggested.
 
For convenience, if you do a lot of multiplayer or Skype/Vent, you might want to get one of the budget headset options, like the Sennheiser PC151.  The build quality is not very good, so the mic or one of the channels will probably die after 2 years, but it's only $40.  A Zalman clip-on mic is good too, and goes for about $15.  I've gone through two or three of them.

 

[koolkat]

You're not looking for quality of the gun shots or booms.
 
You want positioning. 
 
lol.
 
(assuming you're an fps gamer).
 
 
 
I think you want as little bass as possible to make gunshots sharper and footsteps clearer.
 
So don't go for bass heavy phones. 
 
 
 
Some forumers from wogl said that they liked Plantronics Gamecom 777. 

 

[NamelessPFG]

 
Quote:

In truth, any headphone over $50 will do what you want. The AD700 does have a nice soundstage , but I argue this with every one of these thread: It doesn't really matter. You won't know where the shots are fired from, you'll just be able to tell left, right and between.
 
So:
 
Gun shot goes off.
The headphone will register left, right or around the center of your head.
Left or Right?
That's about it.
 
But the "7.1 surround sound" can only be found through speakers. Headphones just dull everything down to make it more personal.

You do realize that the whole point of a Dolby Headphone DAC/DSP like the Astro Mixamp is to get around that mere stereo presentation you describe and present a simulated 5.1 surround speaker setup binaurally, right? If your HRTF is close enough to the generic HRTF used, you can tell whether that gunshot fired in front of or behind you.
 
Surround speakers just rely on the listener's own natural HRTF because there's no real brain trickery involved. But for binaural techniques that have personalized HRTFs for each listener (think Smyth SVS Realiser), the imaging (if not the sound quality) can be even better than what a mere 7 loudspeakers, all at the same height, can provide. CMSS-3D Headphone in DirectSound3D and OpenAL games already gives me a good idea of that, and it only uses a generic HRTF! (I guess my own natural HRTF matches its parameters fairly well.) I think the only way loudspeakers can compete in imaging terms is if you add even more of them, specifically above and below so that it becomes more of a 3D presentation instead of just 2D. Too bad that there's nothing made to use any surround speaker formats above 7.1.
 
Sure, any headphone worth its salt is generally only going to have two drivers, one for each ear, but that's all you need for binaural surround.
 
If you're talking sound quality, as in fidelity, when it comes down to loudspeakers vs. headphones, that is a different matter entirely.

 

[BotByte]

Quote:

 

You do realize that the whole point of a Dolby Headphone DAC/DSP like the Astro Mixamp is to get around that mere stereo presentation you describe and present a simulated 5.1 surround speaker setup binaurally, right? If your HRTF is close enough to the generic HRTF used, you can tell whether that gunshot fired in front of or behind you.
 
Surround speakers just rely on the listener's own natural HRTF because there's no real brain trickery involved. But for binaural techniques that have personalized HRTFs for each listener (think Smyth SVS Realiser), the imaging (if not the sound quality) can be even better than what a mere 7 loudspeakers, all at the same height, can provide. CMSS-3D Headphone in DirectSound3D and OpenAL games already gives me a good idea of that, and it only uses a generic HRTF! (I guess my own natural HRTF matches its parameters fairly well.) 
 
Sure, any headphone worth its salt is generally only going to have two drivers, one for each ear, but that's all you need for binaural surround.

They always do this. 2 times a day
 
 
Binaural have to be recorded as Binaural. And after a couple hours of the sound, your ears permanently adjust to the audio. Each and every listen back to binaural results in a larger soundstage, but not as large as your first. Drugs....
 
Anything surround sound to a headphone gives you what you can replicate with a headphone wrapper. Not really the best experience, but the closest you can get.
 
I tested the SPL Phonitor and I was amazingly impressed with the wrapping. The closest possible way to speakers through headphones.
 
But headphones are still #2 behind speakers because of the problems with the imaging
 
Please watch THIS for more info

 

[Elysian]

Maybe the technology's improved a lot over the last few years, but I was never really impressed by the simulated surround sound on headphones vs. a real 5.1 speaker setup for Counter-Strike.

 

[NamelessPFG]

 
Quote:

They always do this. 2 times a day
 
Binaural have to be recorded as Binaural. And after a couple hours of the sound, your ears permanently adjust to the audio. Each and every listen back to binaural results in a larger soundstage, but not as large as your first. Drugs....
 
Anything surround sound to a headphone gives you what you can replicate with a headphone wrapper. Not really the best experience, but the closest you can get.
 
I tested the SPL Phonitor and I was amazingly impressed with the wrapping. The closest possible way to speakers through headphones.
 
But headphones are still #2 behind speakers because of the problems with the imaging
 
Please watch THIS for more info

You're thinking about it in terms of music, where everything is pre-recorded and pre-mixed, usually with loudspeakers in mind. I'm talking in terms of gaming, where there is a 3D soundfield running on-the-fly, within which sounds can play back anywhere, and the sound device naturally mixes everything in real-time as well. Think of it as possibly having a speaker anywhere and everywhere there would be a sound source. (Of course, XAudio2 and FMOD just have to ruin this by pre-mixing into 7.1 or stereo before it ever hits the sound device driver, but that's a different matter. Let's just go with the DirectSound3D and OpenAL approach for this one.)
 
If you don't understand why I keep going on about this, read this whole thread. It highlights nicely just what I'm talking about here. If you're too lazy to click and read through, have a quote:
 
Quote:

It doesn't render a soundstage, it renders the 5.1/7.1 speaker positions only. If you read up on why Xaudio and Fmod does this, they basically say that classic line: "It's not a bug, it's a feature" - that automatically mixing it to 5.1/7.1 is just there to save you time. (Which annoys me, because a lot of developers would dance naked through a swarm of bees to ensure that the eyelashes of their character is rendered in the best-looking way possible, but when it comes to sound, it's "Aw jeez, let's try to get it out of the way as quickly as possible.")
 
For those not following, here's how Xaudio/FMOD describes the position of a sound:
 
"It's coming from the front right speaker, fairly loud."
 
Here's how OpenAL/DS3D describes it:
 
"It's coming from 12 metres away, +64 degrees on your horizontal axis, and +37 degrees on your vertical axis."

 
See the difference? With the proper approach that OpenAL and DirectSound3D use, you're not constrained to some 7.1 format. The sound device can use this spatial information to mix and play back the sounds where and how it best sees fit. It will mix it binaurally for headphone playback on-the-fly if you choose, and the sound will have the sensation of coming from directions other than 7.1 speaker positions. This is exactly how CMSS-3D Headphone works with DirectSound3D and OpenAL games; it doesn't try to emulate being in a speaker room playing game sounds, it attempts to emulate actually being in the game environment where the sounds are playing!
 
It's just that for games that use audio renderers that pre-mix everything into 7.1 at best and stereo at worst, a binaural headphone wrapper has no more spatial information than that, and imaging is compromised. I don't think I need to explain whether an actual 7.1 speaker setup or a headphone forced to emulate a 7.1 speaker setup because the game audio isn't providing anything better is going to sound better.
 
If you want to use speakers, you wouldn't have to be limited to 7.1: you could place as many speakers as the sound device has outputs, tell the sound device's drivers where those speakers are placed, and it will decide which speaker is best suited to playing a sound in that position.
 
Soundstage obviously goes to loudspeakers since the drivers aren't right next to your head, but imaging is another matter. I'd certainly like to know how 7.1 conveys any sense of height without using any sort of binaural HRTF techniques. (Yes, I've been referring to binaural surround as being through headphones, but it also works through speakers...much less effectively, because now you have to worry about crosstalk cancellation and other such things since both ears will hear each and every one of those speakers. Admitted, binaural techniques rely on both ears hearing the same source, but it needs to be carefully controlled if it's to simulate what isn't actually there.) I'm not necessarily looking for the sensation of having the whole room drowned in sound; I'm just looking to know where all the enemies are without having to see them, and CMSS-3D Headphone does an excellent job of that for me without all the complications involved in a speaker setup, especially the room.
 
It's not a sensation I can easily describe on a forum like this, but I can hear almost exactly where people are in DirectSound3D and OpenAL games (somewhat less so in anything that's stupidly pre-mixed to 7.1 beforehand), including vertically. I can not only tell whether they're off to my front right or rear left, but whether they're above or below in addition to that. Those extra cues can make all the difference in a heated fragfest.

 

[Vheissu]

I have been using the ATH-AD900 (which is supposed to have a very similiar sound to the ad700) for almost a year for gaming and it has done an excellent job.
 
It's very comfortable, even for long periods of time, and the earpads don't get too hot/sweaty like a lot of the pleather stuff you see out there. Regarding sound quality, to be honest most games don't have the greatest quality sounds or mixing. The wide open soundstage lets you hear every detail, and softer sounds don't get lost behind the more obnoxious beeps and overly bassy booms. If immersion is your thing, they will do a great job.
 
I got http://ncix.com/products/?sku=13863&vpn=ZM-MIC1&manufacture=ZALMAN%20TECH as a temporary mike two years ago and have used it ever since. Just clip it onto the headphone cord and you'll get excellent reception.

 

[NA Blur]

They will not make you a better player, but if audio is very important to you perhaps the leap is worth it.  What do you currently use if anything?  I actually find that I play better without any sound at all.  Sound in FPS games can be misleading.  Sight is so much faster.  The only time audio gave me an advantage was in Day of Defeat when I was playing on a CAL team.  Even then it really did not make me any better.
 
I know a ton of games that really like the Turtle Beaches because they have the mic built in.  If you get a pair of ATH-AD700's or AD900's you will have not improvise the mic which was a pain for me.
 
An inexpensive test might me:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16874502009

 

[koolkat]

Sometimes I'm better without the sound on. Gunshots and explosions can be a little loud and distracting at times.
 
I suggest OP get some cheaper Plantronics headset. If it's a big improvement over your PC speakers or no sound at all,
 
you know where to go from there. 

 

[EuphonicSilence]

I have the AD700 and Astro 5.8 Mixamp. This setup is really really good for FPS like CoD because of the AD700's massive soundstage combined with the greatly directionality provided by the Astro Mixamp. Not only can I pinpoint the enemy's location based on footsteps/reloads, I can tell how far away they are and if they are above or below me. The AD700+Mixamp easily beats any Astro/Turtle Beach/Tritton setup. Trust me cuz I have listened to: Astro Mixamp+A30/A40, Tritton AX720/AX Pro and Turtle Beach X41 and the AD700 outperforms all of these in terms of sound quality and directionality. If you are still hung up on what headphones to get, I recommend that you get the Astro Mixamp 5.8 if you use an Xbox 360/PS3 which will simulate 5.1/7.1 dolby surround. Then you can compare which headphones you like best.
 
Of course, this is all assuming you want directionality for online FPS.  If you have never used surround sound in multiplayer before, it will be like a night and day difference for games like Search and Destroy and Free for all. For team deathmatch it won't be so helpful, since it is sometimes hard to tell if the footsteps are the ememies of your own teammates. You will undoubtedly want to have dead silence on at all times when listening thru surround sound because it will help you hear other people better and you will get annoyed by the loud clanking of your own boots lol. I have been playing all the CoD games (even CoD1) for years and have gone in tournaments through gamebattles so I know what I'm talking about lol. PM me if you have any specific questions.
 
 

 

[Naked Snake]

inb4thead700basherrollsaround
 
+1 for the AD700 for multi-player competitive gaming. I don't know if any of the gamers here play MGO but these headphones will give you an almost unfair advantage in TSNE, RES or campy TDMs. While defending in TSNE I stalked a guy (he had stealth, basically he's invisible) entirely by sound before headshotting him from behind. You can even hear people equipping a box, which is a very subtle sound. In short, these will pick up the tiniest of the details and their direction, which is what makes them great for competitive gaming.

 

[pooder]

Quote:

Sound effects are so compressed in computer and console games that a headphone setup which emphasizes detail is going to make most games sound pretty bad.  You fall into this category if things like 128kbit MP3 recordings and YouTube audio bothers you.
 
It's kind of like a bell curve.  I like $100-250 headphones with video games the most, but once you get past that, you'll start hearing all the deficiencies with video game audio.
 
Just get whatever has decent clarity and good bass.  I used to use the Sony MDR-V700s to game a lot, and the V6 would also be good, like BotByte suggested.
 
For convenience, if you do a lot of multiplayer or Skype/Vent, you might want to get one of the budget headset options, like the Sennheiser PC151.  The build quality is not very good, so the mic or one of the channels will probably die after 2 years, but it's only $40.  A Zalman clip-on mic is good too, and goes for about $15.  I've gone through two or three of them.

have you heard anything about gaming with the harx700's or 900's?
 

 

[Elysian]

I've got no experience with JVC cans.  Reviews on the harx700 and 900 look good though, particularly for the price.  I'm always a bit leery of the quality on anything sub-$50, but that's personal bias speaking.  My general experience with $50-100 cans is that you get what you pay for, and each can in that price range generally does one or two things pretty well, and the other things not-so-well (like my recent experience with the ZM-RS6F, which is an atrocity of a headphone).
 
With whatever you'd spend on modding, you're probably better off just getting a better headphone.