Questions about a new gaming audio setup...

[algernaanGordon]

So my birthday is coming up in about a month and I had some questions regarding what would be the best possible setup for the money I will have. I will probably be gifted around $200 and will have an extra $100-$150 saved up, possibly slightly more. So let's just go ahead and say that I have a budget of $400.
 
I'm gaming on an Xbox One, I do not game on a PC. I'm currently using a pair of Audio Technica M40X's and while I really love them for music, they just aren't cutting it for the games I'm playing, which are mostly first person shooters. I've also tried a few different headsets specifically for gaming (Turtle Beach, PDP Afterglow) and the sound is mostly muddled together, especially at higher volumes. I haven't listened to a ton of different headphones so I don't exactly know all of the technical terms. Basically I'm looking for something that will pick up enemy footsteps, gunfire and movement. So something that is going to give me the location most accurately of the enemy. As far as open and closed back go, it does not matter as I do not have anyone that will bothered by sound leakage in my home. Also, I will not be using these headphones for music. I want a dedicated pair of headphones for gaming that I can leave at my gaming station.
 
A microphone is also something that would be necessary for me as well. A lot of my gaming is online with friends so I need something that works well. With the ATH-M40X's I'm using now, I also use a Sony Sony ECMCS3 microphone. It works fine, but I would like something a little higher quality. I've been looking at the Modmic 4.0 and it looks really nice. My main question with that is, if I do get a pair of open back headphones that tend to leak a lot of sound, is that something the microphone would pick up? I've had problems in the past with other players being able to hear the sound leak from my headphones, causing a sort of echo or "crosstalk".
 
In addition, the Xbox One controller has a built in 3.5mm audio jack. I'm not sure what the quality difference would be from using that audio jack as opposed to something connected directly to the Xbox. Would I need to use any sort of amp or dac in my setup? What kind of difference would those things make?
 
Any help or suggestions would be extremely appreciated. Thank you all.
 
 
EDIT: I did forget to add that comfort is extremely important. Sometimes gaming sessions can last hours at a time, so this is crucial.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Astro Mix-amp and Sennheiser HD558 headphones and any add-on mic you like.

 

[Wapencio]

Id say you should get a studio monitor, since you want sound clarity and to listen to everything that happens, and not really the bass and action sound out of gaming, like granades and stuff. You should look up to three AudioTechnicas: the M50X, the M70X, and the MRS7. I would get either the MRS7s or the M70x, I think  You should get closed cans, since the sound might leak to the mic. I would recommend the V-Moda BoomPro mic. You can also check on the AKG 550s. All of these headphones have an impedance of around 35 ohms. If you want better quality sound, you should get a DAC and an amp, I would suggest the Modi 2 Uber + Magni 2 combo from Schiit, both for 200 bucks. You should connect the Modi to your Xbox via optical fiber and then the Modi to the Magni, and then the Magni to your headphones.

 

[SeaWo|f]

I would also lean towards studio monitoring headphones. I had a pair of Sony mdr7506 great for for positional audio. There are a lot of options it out there for studio cans. Ib wish i could comment on which would be best, but my experience is limited to the pair i picked up by chance.

 

[obobskivich]

I haven't heard the newest crop of studio monitor cans, but all of the ones I've previously owned or listened to (ATH-M50, HD280Pro, Q40, various AKG and Sony, etc) have pretty poor imaging/staging compared to higher end hi-fi cans; they're usually pretty congested/flat sounding by comparison. That's fine if you need something resembling tonal accuracy, but not so fun or accurate for gaming, IMO. I would look instead at something like the Ultrasone PRO900/2900, AKG K7xx, Sennheiser HD 5x8, and similar. Since this is for dedicated gaming I'd also throw the Razer Kraken Forged Edition out there as an idea - they're not bad sounding in their own right, but they're on the dark side which just isn't to my taste for music; for gaming they're absolutely fantastic, and the build quality (at least on the pair I tried) is second to none. The darker voicing also helps with games that have less than stellar audio quality (and this is what I'd assume Razer's rationale behind that voicing was), but that isn't to say other headphones (like say the K701) are less competent or anything like that.

As far as hooking things up, I haven't tried the headphone jack on the XB1 controller, but my understanding is that it drains the battery faster, and doesn't offer much in the way of output power. When I'm gaming on my Xbox I just use the headphone jack on my receiver, and take the 5.1 digital out from the Xbox and let the receiver convert that to stereo. Without a receiver in the mix, something like the Mix-Amp or Recon3D would be equally suitable, and will offer an amplified headphone output and surround-to-headphone processing. Agreed on just adding a third-party mic - though I can't provide any specific suggestions.