[Who?]

If you go for the 600 Ohm versions you might need an amp that can drive them as well. I am not a believer of the whole 5.1 CMSS3D type of things. To be honest, a 2 channel stereo headphone is all you need. I have experimented with the above listed technologies but I never found them pleasent or improving.
 
Since you live in Holland, as where I live as well! You can audit various headphones as I did. I went to Hobo HIFI in Den Bosch. And then you have RAF where you can listen to some cans as well. I'd go for a Beyer or Audiotechnica. I have also listened to the DT 880 which is analytical, great for gaming! You don't need a lot of bass for pinpointing. Sound needs to be crisp and clear.
 
Good luck!

 

[Thompson]

I am very certain I do want either CMSS3D or DH. I've heard the difference between them on/off on my Sennheiser HD215 (Which I gave away to a friend...) and, for me, it sounded a lot better when either of them was ON.

Thanks for the tip on the stores where I might be able to listen to some headphones!
 
So for now it's either:
- 32Ohm or 250Ohm DT880 with Astro A40 MixAmp (depends if the amp can drive the 250)
- 600Ohm DT880 with .... amp that support DH?
- Something completely different

 

[11amaberry]

Anybody try these? They look interesting. http://www.psykoaudio.com/

 

[Thompson]

Quote:

Anybody try these? They look interesting. http://www.psykoaudio.com/

Yeah I have looking into those. They seem great for gaming but really NO-GO for music. And I want to be able to listen music in a decent way with them also. Furthermore they aren't being shipped for months already.

 

[wadec22]

I was in a similar situation.  I have an old x-fi platinum, bought an astro mixamp for dolby hp and the ad700's and i couldn't be happier. wanted teh dt880's but couldn't justify the price difference.  I nabbed the hp's used for 65 w/ a zalman clip on mic and a used astro amp for 77.
 
dt880's would work for sure with the mixamp in 32ohm version, as that is the resistence level of the astro a30/40 hp's themselves. if you nab the 250 or 600ohm version, you'll need something different.
 
one thing for sure, i MUCH prefer dolby hp over the cmss3d of my x-fi.

 

[stang]

I have owned AD700, DT880 and HFI-780. The HFI-780 is amazing with single player games, as the bass and treble emphasis makes gun shots very fun to hear. The AD700 is easily the best for multiplayer because it works so well with CMSS-3D. I know exactly were my enemies are with that cheap, yet amazing combo. The DT880 is somewhere inbetween, a lot more of an all around can for music and gaming. But what I recommend to people that want eh best in gaming (ime), is the AD700+CMSS-3D. I personally use the X-Fi Elite Pro.

 

[Flavio T]

I recommend the MMX300 by Beyerdynamic. It is the best headset I have tested with Call of Duty for sound, comfort and mic quality.

 

[Mr Joboto]

Quote:

The AD700's with a clip on mic are decent for my gaming needs. 

This.

 

[Slaughter]

If you want to enjoy the game, stay away from the AD700. Sure i could hear every detail, but I was bored in doing so. If I was getting paid to play I would probably use an AD700, but otherwise there has to be some amount of bass to give some level of realism to the game....and uh, fun. And last time I checked, an M16 shouldn't sould like cymbals crashing when it fires.

 

[Mr Joboto]

YMMV

 

[Vergex2]

I owned an Auzentech X-Fi Prelude and don't miss any of its features now that I don't use it at all any more in my setup. In my opinion, CMSS3D is merely a gimmick; it probably sounds better merely because of the SPL increase - and generally, humans always perceive louder as 'better'. This is simply false, and I found CMSS3D to be less accurate than having all the gimmicky features off and just running it vanilla.

 

[Slaughter]

I think you are confusing CMSS3D with another feature. CMSS3D has nothing to do with volume. It upmixes 2 channels into multiple channels to create a surround effect. The only volume changes would be if a sound is closer to you in the game it will appear louder to give you a sense of space and vice versa with sounds that are further away. You can read numerous articles from reputable websites verifying that it is not a gimmick. As Joboto said, YMMV.

 

[Mochan]

Hi Tom, welcome to Head Fi and a few things:
 
1. Be careful with the A700 and the AD700, they are two very different headphones. The AD700 is what you want, not the A700.
2. The AD700 doesn't have as much bass as a closed can like the DT770 or the HFI780, but this is a non issue to be honest, you can EQ the bass in and the AD700 can take it. It still won't sound as thumping as a bass monster closed can, but you are not going to miss the bass unless you are really looking for a bass monster set with bass head tastes in mind. 
3. There's a lenghty thread here that discusses the best gaming setup and it comprehensively tested the cans and said that Dolby HP is better than CMSS 3D for gaming. I fervently disagree with this view. I say CMSS 3D is the way to go.
4. I have not tried any of the 5.1 headphones but I can't imagine they would sound better than the sets being mentioned here... but I'm just assuming don't take my word for it.
 
 
I say get something like an Auzentech Forte soundcard, then pickup an AD700 since you are leaning more towards open cans.  If you're feeling really cool, though, get the K701 instead of the AD700. People tend to recommend the AD700 as the best gaming headset but I am not sure why, personally I thought the K701 trumps it. 
 

 

[Mochan]

Quote:

I owned an Auzentech X-Fi Prelude and don't miss any of its features now that I don't use it at all any more in my setup. In my opinion, CMSS3D is merely a gimmick; it probably sounds better merely because of the SPL increase - and generally, humans always perceive louder as 'better'. This is simply false, and I found CMSS3D to be less accurate than having all the gimmicky features off and just running it vanilla.

No offense but you couldn't be more wrong. CMSS3D has nothing to do with SPL increase. It mixes up a 2-channel stereo output and turns it into a 2-channel sound that "deceives" you into thinking it's full surround. 

It works *very* well for 3D gaming. Best option we have right now for getting 3D positional sound out of stereo headphones.  The 2 channel speaker version leaves much to be desired though but the headphone option is amazing.

 

[Head Injury]

Quote:

I owned an Auzentech X-Fi Prelude and don't miss any of its features now that I don't use it at all any more in my setup. In my opinion, CMSS3D is merely a gimmick; it probably sounds better merely because of the SPL increase - and generally, humans always perceive louder as 'better'. This is simply false, and I found CMSS3D to be less accurate than having all the gimmicky features off and just running it vanilla.

At this point, the only thing I don't use my HF2 for is for gaming, and that's because it's not plugged into my X-Fi card with CMSS3D, while my SR60i is. I think that speaks pretty favorably of CMSS3D's effect. Stuff sounds congested in stereo, and imaging is off. There's a reason why an X-Fi sound card is frequently recommended for gamers, and not because of the tiny performance improvement.