Which is better for gaming, AD700 or A700

[Joeway]

Hey folks,

For those of you who have owned these or still use'em, which can you say would be best for gaming (specifically for games such as: CS, WoW, racing games) and why?

 

[ashmedai]

Well, do you want open or closed 'phones? That's the biggest difference. The open AD700s should sound better, but they don't isolate. If you need isolation, get the A700s instead. They'll still sound great.

For gaming, it's usually one big whoopdedoo. The sound effects for some gun going bang bang don't really speak to the sort of equipment you'd want for listening to Bach.

 

[Joeway]

The headphones will never be leaving my room so i don't have to worry about exterior noise, so closed or open doesn't matter to me as long as i get the best gaming experience. I am going to be using either or, strictly for gaming as i already have other headphones for music.

 

[earwicker7]

How quiet is your computer? My super-fast rig is also super-noisy (it's way overclocked so it has mucho fans and water cooling) so isolation is more important than sound quality (although sound quality is still a major factor); therefor I use IEMs instead of headphones.

 

[Joeway]

My computer is very quiet. I do have a TV a couple of feet away from my desktop but its no bother at all.

 

[Moontan13]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joeway /img/forum/go_quote.gif so closed or open doesn't matter to me as long as i get the best gaming experience.

For gaming, I've pretty much abandoned headphones in favor of a surround sound 5.1 speaker system. A lot of games give auditory cues for enemies/activity from behind and the sides, and that spaciality (sp?) gets lost with headphones, IME.
Or it could be that I haven't found the right phones that can do that.

 

[carmatic]

its a pretty complicated relationship between which method of virtual surround , paired with which headphones are outputting that sound... for example creative's CMSS tingy sound goes well with the darkened sound of closed headphones, in my experience, as they cancel each other out...
a concept like this is hardly one which gets bandied around this forum very often, and its hardly ideal 'high fidelity' but trust me it does work out

 

[yepyep_]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moontan13 /img/forum/go_quote.gif For gaming, I've pretty much abandoned headphones in favor of a surround sound 5.1 speaker system. A lot of games give auditory cues for enemies/activity from behind and the sides, and that spaciality (sp?) gets lost with headphones, IME. Or it could be that I haven't found the right phones that can do that.

I'm curious, what headphones have you heard.

 

[carmatic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moontan13 /img/forum/go_quote.gif For gaming, I've pretty much abandoned headphones in favor of a surround sound 5.1 speaker system. A lot of games give auditory cues for enemies/activity from behind and the sides, and that spaciality (sp?) gets lost with headphones, IME. Or it could be that I haven't found the right phones that can do that.

also, which soundcard are you using
for gaming, the biggest factor isnt sound quality, but the effectiveness of the virtual surround technique in use, since immersion in games comes not from hearing the same sound sample again and again, but from hearing it positioned correctly in 3d space in games which support 3d sound

 

[ourfpshero]

ive had and have the ad500, a500, ad700, and a900-and i'm a gamer
all are great- but the closed models seperate the bass and treble a bit more- so i prefer the closed (i still have the a900)

and quality headphones matter as much for gaming as bach

 

[ashmedai]

If it's for gaming and only for gaming, and there are no isolation issues in or out...I dunno, I'd be seriously considering just doing the surround speakers thing. Failing that, comfort. If the fit on the 700s is anything like the A900s (and I assume it's more or less exactly the same) they're pretty comfy, as much as you can expect for pleather, but the cups are huge (CD-sized) which can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your head.

Meh...I liked the A900s a lot better for comfort before I replaced the pads on the Sony v6 with the Beyer velour pads. It's a pity that there aren't any velour/leather replacement pads for the A900s, I really like the sound...