Ok.. UPDATE! so I have now thoroughly tested atleast ADG1X and K701 and I will now share
MY personal experience. I would say the ADG1X were very good but they gave me a bit too much detail about everything. Things that you really don't need to care about like cars that are squeeking and the fire (the cars that are default on fire) and buildings squeeking. While being accurate about directionality I felt that the K701 is more accurate about the directionality. I could easily pinpoint where the enemy was while with the ADG1X it was kind of a sense of " he is over there somewhere". If I was to tell you where the enemy is I can tell you exactly that the enemy is 90 degrees while with the ADG1X it was more like.. He is between 80-100 degrees. The K701 has massive soundstage and things that are far away
SOUNDS FAR AWAY, which was said by prymotal in #8 I kinda like that, even though it might not benefit or give me an advantage for me to kill enemies who are close. Where the ADG1X was very good is, it will let you know everything, it is more up to you to determine what sounds to focus on, while the K701 was very selective. The cars on fire or cars squeaking isn't as forward and in your face with the K701 which enables me personally to better focus on what matters, however, I feel like the K701 sometimes can be a little late to give me enemy footstep cues compared to the ADG1X. The enemy kinda had to be closer to me to give me sound cues. Despite of that I ended up liking the K701 more due to the soundstage and accurate directionality. Don't get me wrong - The ADG1X far away activity also sound far away, but not just as far as the K701. To me the K701 sounds more realistic when it comes to that.
For music and movies I actually liked the ADG1X more. I think the ADG1X is a more all-around good (if not great) headphone while the K701 sounded very dull and boring for those purposes. K701 can tend to feel gritty and sandpapery if you know what I mean.. They were sometmes a little harsh to me.
Now for the Philips SHP9500... Considering that they are only around 70$ and cheaper than the other's, they are very good for the money. I enjoyed them a lot for Music and YouTube - the sound seem flat and is very pleasing. I am not sure if I enjoyed the SHP9500 or ADG1X more for movies and video genre's..
For gaming I would say directional cues were about the same as ADG1X, but sounds of everything was more pleasing to my ear while the ADG1X could sometimes often be harsh (not as harsh as K701 though). However I did have some problems with the SHP9500... When gulaggers came flying in with parachute the SHP9500 confused me a lot by not giving me any directional cues of where to look in the air. It sorta just made sound all around me playing in both left cup and right cup. It has happened several times. With the K701 and ADG1X I have had no problems to determine that and I get the direction right every time. It bugs me a lot with the SHP9500 because I die in the most noobish way hahaha xD
They were all powered by Behringer UMC204HD which seem to be enough atleast in volume for all of them without introducing noise. I did try the K701 with my friends Schiit Modi/Vali 2 which actually made the K701 not sound harsh anymore in music and videoes, so I am wondering if I should upgrade my sound output. I am curious to know if such a dac/amp would benefit me for gaming sound cues. If anyone knows please share your experience as I am dying to know
btw YJX94 - I have a AKG K712 Pro coming in tomorrow! I can't wait to test them out and "see" how they perform!
I will compare them with my friends Sennheiser HD800S in music
He is not much of a gamer, so he doesn't have that stuff installed so I won't be able to compare between the two for gaming :/