[lilVaratep]

Okay, so I've given in to wanting to buy the Roccat kave headset and headsets in general, since the ad700's make me salivate. Can you guys help introduce me to good headphones?
 
What's the most noticeable difference between closed-back and open-back?
 
Looking for:
great sound blocking (loud asian family)
good bass and sound quality for music like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hbKGAVwSA4&list=PLvus0PIeZB62_nnSSOI56V4Edk8N-gh1Z&index=4 and many other genres
good surround sound for battlefield 3
good quality for: battlefield3, league of legends, diablo 3, starcraft 2 as main games. will also play all the recent games
comfortable for 8-20 hours of gaming
 
also looking for mic options that I have. I'd love to keep the mic cheaper-priced, but able to be heard. (heard that the zalman clips aren't good because they're under your chin).
 
Are the ad700 my go to for headphones, or will something else better suit my needs?

 

[MalVeauX]

Quote:

 
Are the ad700 my go to for headphones, or will something else better suit my needs?

 
This headphone is terrible for what you're looking for.
 
Open air headphones leak in/out. So this is not going to work at all for your situation. You need a fully closed headphone for passive isolation. Also, you want bass, well the AD700 has really shy, anemic, crippled bass, so it's absolutely not something you should look at. It's very, very unfortunate that this headphone comes up so often with "gaming" as it does have a purpose amongst the competitive foot-step-listeners, but for all other purposes it's just such an over-hyped and over-priced half-a-headphone as far as I'm concerned. But I'll get off my soap box now.
 
Suggestions for your needs:
 
CAL! + AntLion ModMic
SuperLux HD661 + AntLion ModMic
Cad Audio MH310 + AntLion ModMic
JVC HARX900 + AntLion ModMic
 
Or just look at something like the Corsair Vengeance 1500?
 
Very best,

 

[lilVaratep]

would going with my original choice of the roccat kaves be best? also, how good do the corsair vengeance 1500's sound compared to roccat kaves? I'm really looking for sound that will give me footsteps, but can also provide bass when listening to music. i'm guessing this is very difficult to come by, as surround sound sacrifices quality?
 
 
also, to note, i have
 
Chipset integrated by Realtek® ALC898
- Flexible 8-channel audio with jack sensing
- Compliant with Azalia 1.0 Spec 
 

 

[PurpleAngel]

Gemini HSR-1000 (Takstar Pro 80) closed headphones, $88 on eBay.
Asus Xonar DG sound card, $25.

 

[lilVaratep]

Do I need a sound card or will mine work fine? I will definitely upgrade the sound card later, though. How are the HSR's for the before mentioned things i want in a pair of headphones?
 
edit: i also don't have a regular pci slot.
 
I have: 
 
 3 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slots
• 4 x PCIe 2.0 x1 slots 
 

 

[Supertoaster]

Quote:

would going with my original choice of the roccat kaves be best? also, how good do the corsair vengeance 1500's sound compared to roccat kaves? I'm really looking for sound that will give me footsteps, but can also provide bass when listening to music. i'm guessing this is very difficult to come by, as surround sound sacrifices quality?
 
 
also, to note, i have
 
Chipset integrated by Realtek® ALC898
- Flexible 8-channel audio with jack sensing
- Compliant with Azalia 1.0 Spec 
 

surround sound is a gimmick with headphones.

 

[lilVaratep]

Quote:

surround sound is a gimmick with headphones.

Ahh okay. I've recently looked into surround sound reviews and how they sacrifice sound quality and I started steering away. Are the gemini's a great pair of headphones? Do they provide the balance between benig able to hear foodsteps to having nice bass and blocking outside sound?
 
 
or am i asking for too much and not to get the best of all worlds?

 

[Supertoaster]

If you can dig deep enough you might be able to find a used Beyerdynamic DT770 for around $125.
 
If not, I would go with the CAD MH310.  Thomanne sells the Superlux HD662 which is similar but is more bassy, if you can handle the slightly more complicated buying process.

 

[lilVaratep]

Will the CAD MH310 go around my ears or on them? Do they have good surround sound/soundstage or whatever you call it to hear surroundings/footsteps? what about the build quality? looking for something that will last me a long time. Not to be picky, but I love how the akg 701/702's look as well as the roccat kaves i mentioned earlier. How is comfort on the cad mh310?

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

Do I need a sound card or will mine work fine? I will definitely upgrade the sound card later, though. How are the HSR's for the before mentioned things i want in a pair of headphones?
 
edit: i also don't have a regular pci slot.
 
I have: 
 
 3 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slots
• 4 x PCIe 2.0 x1 slots 
 

As I'm assuming your currently using built-in audio?
Adding a sound card like the Asus Xonar DGX sound card, PCI-E, $40,
Comes with a half-way decent headphones and Dolby headphone 5.1 surround sound.
Should improve the audio quality of any headphone you get.
 
The Gemini HSR-1000 (Takstar Pro 80), $88, come with soft leather ear pads and do sound nice.
 
What is the make and model # of your motherboard?

 

[lilVaratep]

I have msi gd65 z77:  http://www.msi.com/product/mb/Z77A-GD65.html#/?div=Detail
Other than sounding nice, does the hsr1000 have good sound stage as well as bass? does it block outside sound pretty well?

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

I have msi gd65 z77:  http://www.msi.com/product/mb/Z77A-GD65.html#/?div=Detail
Other than sounding nice, does the hsr1000 have good sound stage as well as bass? does it block outside sound pretty well?

I would call the Gemini a well balanced sounding headphone, fairly decent bass.
Sound blocking about average
I've only had my Geminis for about a week, so have not tested the surround sound....yet.