[MrMooshroom]

I want to get a pair of surround sound headphones for PC gameing. I have looked into the Astro A40's but I'm not convinced of the price. I heard that parting the AD700's with an Astro Mixamp will make a great pair of Surround sound headphones. Is this true and are they good for gameing?  I have heard good reviews about them for music but since they are audiofile headphones I am a bit worried the bass won't be there for things in games such as explosions. Any help here would be great!

 

[Sekka]

The Astro A40 is not an audiophile headphone...
 
Buy a pair of SoundMAGIC HP100 or Beyerdynamic DT 770 and use it with the mixamp.  Astro is terrible.
 

 

[MrMooshroom]

Quote:

The Astro A40 is not an audiophile headphone...
 
Buy a pair of SoundMAGIC HP100 or Beyerdynamic DT 770 and use it with the mixamp.  Astro is terrible.
 

I never said that the a40 is a audiophile headphone. I said that the AD700 is.   Ill look into your suggestion thanks. 

 

[MrMooshroom]

Quote:

The Astro A40 is not an audiophile headphone...
 
Buy a pair of SoundMAGIC HP100 or Beyerdynamic DT 770 and use it with the mixamp.  Astro is terrible.
 

 
The price on those headphones are  over what I was looking to spend. I want to keep under or around the price of the a40's ($250). I know the mic sucks on them so I have a external mic already. Can you vouch for the AD700's?

 

[Sekka]

Quote:

 
The price on those headphones are  over what I was looking to spend. I want to keep under or around the price of the a40's ($250). I know the mic sucks on them so I have a external mic already. Can you vouch for the AD700's?

Sorry about that comment then, I misread.
 
The SoundMAGIC is $200 and the Beyerdynamic is $180 or less, depending on the ohm rating, where are you finding these prices?  I personally think that you would be better off with the SoundMAGIC for gaming, as it is more neutral than the Beyerdynamic and has a slightly better soundstage.
 
If you are looking for open back (no real sound isolation), the Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro 250 Ohm (paired with an E9K) beats both of these in soundstage and will probably be better for gaming in general.
 
The AD700 is pretty good for competitive gaming, but the overall sound leaves a lot to be desired.  There is practically no bass at all, for one thing.
 
If you are using headphones purely for PC gaming/music, then you should look into a dac/headphone amp like the FiiO E9k instead of the mixamp.  I have tried virtual surround and it sounds a bit unnatural and doesn't really help in pinpointing sounds.  It's a bit of a gimmick.

 

[Zashoomin]

AKG K701/K702/Q702 would work well for you if you are concerned about sound quality as well as gaming.

 

[davidsh]

Also, why get a mix amp? You will probably get more for your money with a sound card

 

[MrMooshroom]

Quote:

Also, why get a mix amp? You will probably get more for your money with a sound card

 
what I've read is no Mixamp= no surround sound. 

 

[davidsh]

Quote:

 
what I've read is no Mixamp= no surround sound. 

A sound card can do the same. And more.

 

[MrMooshroom]

Quote:

A sound card can do the same. And more.

Is there one you would recommend from personal experience? I have plenty ports on my motherboard for anything. 

 

[davidsh]

The x-fi Titanium HD. Might be a bit expensive though. You could also get the non-hd version

 

[davidsh]

If you want something cheaper you could look into the asus dgx too.

 

[ilikepooters]

Mostly any open backed headphone with the Astro Mixamp will be a winning combination.
 
Here are some budget champions which might be great gamers, Somic MH-463
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/637699/50mm-driver-open-air-full-size-cans-pop-out-of-nowhere-sound-amazing
 
And they look absolutely amazing too, getting rave reviews so far.
 

 
If you don't want a Mixamp, you'd have plenty of cash left over after buying these to get a decent sound card.

 

[Sekka]

Quote:

Mostly any open backed headphone with the Astro Mixamp will be a winning combination.
 
Here are some budget champions which might be great gamers, Somic MH-463
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/637699/50mm-driver-open-air-full-size-cans-pop-out-of-nowhere-sound-amazing
 
And they look absolutely amazing too, getting rave reviews so far.
 

 
If you don't want a Mixamp, you'd have plenty of cash left over after buying these to get a decent sound card.

His budget for headphones is $250, he can do a lot better than the Somic.

 

[NamelessPFG]

The Mixamp is for console gaming. PC gamers can just get a sound card with higher quality and more PC gaming audio features at a lower price. I'm personally fond of the X-Fi Titanium HD, but if that's too expensive, the basic X-Fi Titanium model will do the job at $50 or less.
 
Quote:

If you are using headphones purely for PC gaming/music, then you should look into a dac/headphone amp like the FiiO E9k instead of the mixamp.  I have tried virtual surround and it sounds a bit unnatural and doesn't really help in pinpointing sounds.  It's a bit of a gimmick.

 
And I find it to help a lot. So does Mad Lust Envy. For us, going back to stereo is basically limiting ourselves to one-dimensional sound that's only distinguished by left and right; there's no front and rear, let alone high and low in the games that allow for such audio cues.
 
There is a chance that your personal HRTF deviates from the human average to the extent that they won't work, though, in which case the only solution may be the extremely expensive Smyth Realiser.