[Ovalidem]

Hello there,
 
I need a headphone for a very specific situation I am in. I recently got myself some casefans for my PC and I maxed the RPM for them in my BIOS. Now, all of these fans make one big racket and I switched from my HD598's to Shure SE215's to counter the noise.

Now, whenever I search "gaming headphone" on google or anywhere else there usually are recommendations for open headphones because of the soundstage (basically to determine where a certain sound source is in a game). While I get that recommendation I personally can't stand all the noise leaking in to my HD598's and had to turn down my fans (I plan on getting a fan controller to finetune when my fans are actually on max RPM, which still doesn't help if I have an open headphone to be honest).

My question is; is there a headphone which has the soundstage (sound location) of a open headphone but still can isolate noise coming from the outside?
 
I also noticed while listening to some songs I use to test my headphones that with the HD598's I could hear sounds which were not there before (I like to hear everything the artist intented to be heard), what influences how many different things you can hear with a certain headphone?
Just to note something, I usually play singeplayer games so the "enemy locating" aspect doesn't apply to me as much as it does to people who play multiplayer games.
Money is not an object, I can just save money to buy it later (within reason obviously).
 
So to summarize:

1 headphone for gaming                (closed, good soundstage and reproduction), fans blazing
HD 598         for listening to music (you know what it can do)                          , fans as low as possible
 
tl;dr: Closed headphone with good soundstage and sound reproduction
 
PS: I am still in the "new" stage of headphones and wanted to try some Beyerdynamic headphones, especially the DT line. If one of those fits, great! If not, no biggie.

 

 

[GREQ]

The Beyer DT770 will get you close to your goal, but I don't know if there is an closed-back that gives the same hint of 'space' as an open-back.
 
I mostly use the Beyer DT990 which is great for gaming, but unfortunately is also open-back.

 

[Ovalidem]

So if I understand correctly, the Beyer DT770 (pro?) will get me closest to my goals aside from it being closed backed and not giving soundstage that much?
If I do get the DT770 (pro), what ohm version should I get? For DAC/amp I have the Fiio E07K/E09K combo.
 
EDIT: I just realised something, what's the difference between the ATH M50 and the DT 770 soundstage wise? I mean, initially I was in the market for a new headphone because the ATH M50's weren't good for gaming because of their bad soundstage, if neither of them have soundstage then what's the point of buying a new headphone (aside from the satisfaction of buying it). In fact, if neither of those have soundstage why not go for an IEM altogether and eliminate the sound leaking in (from the fans) more than with a closed-back headphone?

 

[neopac]

maybe you´re looking at the wrong side of your problem. your aim should be to have a silent case.
-what kind of fans have you bought?
-and what are the temperatures are you aiming for, on what cpu/gpu?
 
i´d understand, that some -not so good- grafic cards will be to noisy for open headphones, but case-fans shouldn´t
 
i´d suggest:
- Use 2-3 premium 120mm-140mm fans in the 1200-1500rpm@12V class, i´ve got very good results with bequite SilentWings2 fans
- google for a "voltage divider" if you can´t provide lower voltage for your fans
- watch for a "logical" airflow in your case ... airflow should have one dedicated "entry" and one "exit" and you go premium if you can take account of the fact that warm air goes up
- do your best in cable management, to optimize your airflow ... cables hanging around in the middle of your case reduce the effect of the fan and produce noise. I got myself a case where all cables went behind a "false ceiling"

with everything taken into account, i can run my fans with 50% of their max. rpm and still get great results... inaudible...
 
- if you can't come up with a solution for your noise problem .... i have very good experience using Ultrasone headphones with s-logic tech in them, good 3D positioning with my Pro900 in Bf3/4 and Planteside2
- if your research didn´t lead you to good results, maybe that´s because you should have used the term "gaming headset" instead of "gaming headphone".. you get alot more results
 
cheers

 

[Ovalidem]

@neopac
 
I see your point. I have an i5 4670k (not OC'ed and stock cooler, which I plan on cooling) and a GTX 770. I also know a fair bit about everything you posted.
 
I recently got me some Noctua fans. I got the 140mm airflow fans (not pressure optimised) and put them in my HAF XM. Two on the side (intake) and the other three on the top and back as exhaust, the front ones are just there because I am lazy enough to leave them there. I noticed a dramatic decrease in temps (which I am quite anal about. I begin freaking out when they even are in their 60's for instance) when I set them to 100% in my BIOS as I mentioned earlier.
 
It's a delicate balance between having hot components (or if you can convince me otherwise*) and my case being silent, and to be honest I prefer my case to be cool rather than silent as I want to prolong the life of my components for as long as possible. This is because I am not in a position to buy components very often. All of this makes me feel that the noise my case makes isn't neccesarily a "problem".

Still, I plan on getting a fan controller to control all noctua fans when I am not gaming and use my HD598's then. When I am gaming I would switch to whatever headphone I will use for that after this issue has been resolved (regarding my post before this about soundstage difference between ATH M50's and DT 770 pro's).
 
*Let me give you an example. I put my fans (all of the noctua's) on 100% and I get between 30-40°C in Deus Ex HR (maxed), when I put them on 50% I get 45-60°C (if I recall correctly) which I like more. I also want to avoid the 80°C cutoff because the card will underclock itself, this is to avoid the loss in frames which I get anal about too.

 

[neopac]

  @neopac
 
I see your point. I have an i5 4670k (not OC'ed and stock cooler, which I plan on cooling) and a GTX 770. I also know a fair bit about everything you posted.
 
I recently got me some Noctua fans. I got the 140mm airflow fans (not pressure optimised) and put them in my HAF XM. Two on the side (intake) and the other three on the top and back as exhaust, the front ones are just there because I am lazy enough to leave them there. I noticed a dramatic decrease in temps (which I am quite anal about. I begin freaking out when they even are in their 60's for instance) when I set them to 100% in my BIOS as I mentioned earlier.
 
It's a delicate balance between having hot components (or if you can convince me otherwise*) and my case being silent, and to be honest I prefer my case to be cool rather than silent as I want to prolong the life of my components for as long as possible. This is because I am not in a position to buy components very often. All of this makes me feel that the noise my case makes isn't neccesarily a "problem".

Still, I plan on getting a fan controller to control all noctua fans when I am not gaming and use my HD598's then. When I am gaming I would switch to whatever headphone I will use for that after this issue has been resolved (regarding my post before this about soundstage difference between ATH M50's and DT 770 pro's).
 
*Let me give you an example. I put my fans (all of the noctua's) on 100% and I get between 30-40°C in Deus Ex HR (maxed), when I put them on 50% I get 45-60°C (if I recall correctly) which I like more. I also want to avoid the 80°C cutoff because the card will underclock itself, this is to avoid the loss in frames which I get anal about too.

i see.. you´re suffering "how low can you go".. got my i7 3770@4,5Ghz with ~80+° Celsius under prime-stresstest, and i don´t care much ( onchip thermal shutdown is about 100-105° and i get ~65-70° with Games like BF4 for example). core temps won´t be such an issue, once you ditch the stock cooler, you can also try "undervolting".. i5s should run stock speed with "way" less voltage then default, that saves alot of temp also.
 
@...want to prolong the life of my components for as long as possible
so you are the one guy, who will still use a i5 4670 in 2024
 
@ fans in side panel
fans blowing rectangular at the mainboard are trubulence king imo .. tried 2x120 in my corsair an i ditched it because i had better results with one 140mm in the front
 
@ fan control
my mainboard (msi) came with a great software fan control, it adjusts the rpm according to the temperature, or started applications.... guess you should find something similar for your MB ... last time i checked stuff the freeware "speedFan" was an option for that
with the "msi afterburner" you have also a decent software fan control for your GPU, works also with non msi cards
 
@ sound-stage
have very little experience with the M50 ( auditioned him when i bought the Senn HD25 )and remember him as a very intimate/small-stage headphone, but good bang/buck product
 
cheers

 

[Ovalidem]

@neopac
 
I personally don't even monitor my CPU but mainly my GPU. I was talking about GPU temps before, I do realise now that I kind of got carried away with the temps and such. At least, expecting that low of temperatures is kind of being overprotective no? In any case, I guess the hardware can take a bit of a hit temperature wise. I think I will actually cool my CPU within the next two months though.
Anyway, I think I may actually go with the DT 770 pro and a fan controller (I do have built in fan controller software in my motherboard but I like having control as you may have noticed ) and leave the fans at a minimun when not gaming.

If anyone still has a suggestion for a headphone, I am listening! (pun intended).

 

[neopac]

  @neopac
 
I personally don't even monitor my CPU but mainly my GPU. I was talking about GPU temps before, I do realise now that I kind of got carried away with the temps and such. At least, expecting that low of temperatures is kind of being overprotective no? In any case, I guess the hardware can take a bit of a hit temperature wise. I think I will actually cool my CPU within the next two months though.
Anyway, I think I may actually go with the DT 770 pro and a fan controller (I do have built in fan controller software in my motherboard but I like having control as you may have noticed ) and leave the fans at a minimun when not gaming.

If anyone still has a suggestion for a headphone, I am listening! (pun intended).

you can´t go wrong with the DT770 ... it´s the headphone from a very(!) regarded gaming headset, the beyerdynamic MMX300... they just added a mic (bumped up the price) and that´s it.
the board is full about reviews about it...that´s just one of dozens...
 
first that came up in search... (it`s a vs to the also bang/buck custom one pro)
http://www.head-fi.org/t/633349/beyerdynamic-dt-770-80-vs-custom-one-pros-quick-comparison
 
enjoy
cheers

 

[Ovalidem]

Could you elaborate more on the DT 770, MMX300 and the custom one pro? I don't think I quite understand you.

 

[neopac]

MMX300 == DT770+mic == highly regarded for gaming
CustomOnePro = just another decent Beyer Headphone ... the thread i posted, was just one of many threads about the DT770 on head-fi and the first that came up... but the user praised the DT770s soundstage in his Review, so i thought you want to read that ... bringing the Custom on the table was not my intention
 
cheers

 

[loki993]

I'm going to go on the record here too and say your attacking the wrong problem. If you want a quite PC get a quite PC don't get headphones to cover up the sound. I have basically the same setup as you do 4670k and a GTX 770 I have the fan on the CPU cooler and a front fan in my case and I don't think my CPU gets over 60c at load..I honestly cant remember its been so long since Ive checked...I just checked BF4 57c max. Point is though I was nowhere near max, max temp for a 4670k is something like 105c or something crazy like that, get concerned when you hit 80 or 90...not 60. The card..don't know I never checked honestly but I play BF4 fine and it gives me no trouble. 
 
First off ditch that stock cooler...its terrible..its marginal at cooling the CPU..if that.your probably lucky to be getting the temps you are with that thing. .if you want air I use a Coolermaster Hyper 212 Evo..its not the greatest but it cheap and it gets the job done enough for me, there are better but they get expensive. Air will have its limitations though.if your that concerned about it, and you shouldn't be, find a reasonably priced water cooling set up. You computer will run cooler than it even could on air and as a bonus will be totally silent. 

 

[metal571]

DT770 Pro have an incredible soundstage for being closed. Stick a ModMic on them and you're set. Looks like you have some amplification so get the 250 Pro. I have the 80 Pro as I use them out of my work PC as my at work can.

M50 has ZERO soundstage by comparison. The 770 really is a surprising headphone that manages to somehow evade all the disadvantages of closed headphones at once.

 

[PurpleAngel]

  Could you elaborate more on the DT 770, MMX300 and the custom one pro? I don't think I quite understand you.

 
The Beyer MMX300 appears to be a Beyer DT770 Premium 32-Ohm headphone, with a mic added on.
 
Personally I prefer my Audio Technica ATH-A900X headphones, over my DT770s.

 

[Ovalidem]

Everything considered I have decided to go with the DT 770 Pro 250 ohm version.

I thank all of you (and especially @neopac for helping and thinking with me on the computer-hardware end) for the replies you made to my question!

 

[neopac]

  Everything considered I have decided to go with the DT 770 Pro 250 ohm version.

I thank all of you (and especially @neopac for helping and thinking with me on the computer-hardware end) for the replies you made to my question!

enjoy!
tv-networks and audio studios all over the world, use this can for professional usage, you can´t go wrong with this one.. would be something i`d get myself, if i hadn´t alot of others decent closed headphones... maybe one day
 
cheers.