This is the only time I’ve heard of open headphones bleeding into a mic. I would blame the mic setup running too much gain before thinking it’s a problem with headphones. Also maybe they’re playing the audio at expletive high levels.
Maybe a shotgun mic at a weird angle?
Maybe a a desk mic that’s set at some insane gain level when it should be tuned to about two inches from the subject?
This is something that, in most scenarios, is not a problem. And to think anything other than there’s something setup specific going on is going to create some really weird ideas.
I have only had this issue with the sundara in my collection. You have to do some strange adjustments and setting changes to make sure the microphone doesn’t pick it up. Modmics are finicky with it and condensors pick it up too. Didn’t have an issue with a dynamic microphone. I don’t recommend the setup not that it can’t be done it’s just a bit of a pain in the ass.
Don’t mean to hijack the thread, but what are your thoughts on the MM-5R? I haven’t been able to find any detailed reviews online about them but have been very curious how they preform. Any impressions you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
HD800 used
MMX 300
DT880 - which is not as open as you might think
For streaming you need a XLR condenser microphone, a stand and a XLR interface to amplify the microphone, not those tiny mics which come with a headphone.
Most headphones require two hands if you want to put them on or put them down, so you need to stop the job you’re doing with the hands and then put both hands on the headphones.
Not nessicarily a dynamic mic for most people can actually accomplish more for streaming. Especially for people with bad room treatment and those who like open backs.
Why someone would spend this much on a headphone for gaming and streaming is beyond me outside of studio use. I would not recommend this unless you have a lot of money burning a hole in your pocket.
Bassy, closed back, wide, exceptional for gaming just like the argons. Great recommendation for someone on the casual front.
It’s still open and leaks sound which can in some cases tip off condensor microphones. OP wanted a closed back due to multitude of reasonings. I don’t recommend this headphone for those on casual gaming due to it isn’t very bassy and it’s relatively bright. Good all rounder but better for competitives.
No, just no. Condensor microphones pick up a ton of background noise and are designed for musicians in a sound proof room. If you have any noise at all in the background chances are the condensor will pick it up. You want a Dynamic XLR as these are what musician singers use in live concerts that don’t pick up the sounds of the other instruments and are great for cancelling background noise. You also don’t need an XLR as you can use a USB dynamic or condensor microphone without an interface and it will work just fine…
The Focal Elegia have arrived and so far they’re great for work. They are blocking sound from the furnace and even from the lawn mower. They dont block all of it, but enough to make it less disturbing while listening to music at low levels. In fact it blocks way more than the Audeze Mobius, to my surprise. The 4xx cables I have are 2.5 and dont fit on the Elegia. The 3.5 ones I have, my wife is using on the m1060 so I’ve ordered some new balanced cables. I’m testing it now on the monoprice thx amp dac, on the loxjie p20, and on the thx888 sp200, the last two through an smsl m200.
I’m still curious about the mmx300. Wonder if the mic is any good.
In terms of mics I have a few different ones. One of the issues I often had was mouse clicks, keyboard typing and some headphone sounds leaking getting captured by the mic. I was able to remove some of the ambient noises through OBS to the point that it was serviceable.
Havent tried any xlr mics yet.
I think next up is an open back to complement the Elegia.
Options I’m seeing, Dan Clark Aeon Flow 2 Open, Aeon Flow X Open, Hifiman XX Edition, Hifiman Sundara, Audeze LCD 2C…
To comment on this it has one of the best gaming headset mics I have heard outside of modmics and the v moda. Definitely not one of those headsets that the company decided to half ass the microphone while making the headphone sound good. However, in streaming you can tell that your using a headset mic and not an condensor/dynamic setup
proper placement is a bit of a pain in the neck. One of the reasons I mention for a lot of setups to just grab a Dynamic mic instead of condensors. I have a few buddies who also stream and I don’t know how many times I have heard their mic break silence with keyboard sounds, if they are rustling something or eating, hell even breathing in some cases. They use the Condensor USB mics and one of the others uses a condensor XLR. I haven’t had those issues with dynamics
You will need an audio interface for these too which adds on the cost.
That’s a very wide selection of signatures there. Depends on what your looking for. I have experience with a few of those though. Aeon 2 is very expensive right now and I do not have the luxury of auditioning however I personally own the open x and I love it. It feels like a closed back yet being open with super thick deep pads accompanied by tuniing pads to alter the sound to preference. Does fantastic on my balanced liquid platinum though the cables are a seperate cost. It’s a Balanced-ish V signature with rolled off treble so no sibilance however you can make it sound pretty bright with certain pads from the tuning, the aeon 2 is said to sound similar but not as “compressed” to some people and more towards a neutral signature. As for edition XX this is a pretty balanced yet warm planar in comparison to the Ananda which sounds fairly bright to me I personally like the Edition xx much more in this case not much to say its one of those that you will have to sit and try personally to know if youll enjoy these products. Sundara I don’t recommend due to just how much sound it leaks neutral bright not very bassy but detailed and clean enough with quite a bit of sparkle on those highs however both the ananda and edition xx are both a step up from this in my opinion and they don’t leak as much sound to my experience. I wasn’t a big fan of the lcd 2c it sounds fairly dark at the same time balanced and wide. I already own a great dark headphone and this just didn’t cut it for me as I am not a big fan of dark headphones nighthawk carbons were a special exception to that.
I’m thinking of grabbing a liquid platinum while they’re on sale. Does it work with all your headphones? Did you roll the tubes? What do you use to feed it? I heard it needs balanced input and, if possible, with a leveler to control the sound because the pot is very finicky and gets loud really fast (solid state amping I’m guessing). I have smsl m200 that has balanced output and can control some volume from there. Works fine for the loxjie p20, so I’m wondering what you’re using and what your experience has been.
In the headphones, I’m very intrigued about the Aeon X, although the “sounds closed” it’s a bit off-putting, maybe I dont understand what that means. Is that in relation to the bass being really punchy? Or in that the soundstage lacks?
Mmx300 might be an all-arounder to match with a schiit hel maybe? Can it run balanced?
The problem I have right is both Aeon Flow x open and hifiman xx edition are not available. Figures.
Thought about the Elex, but like you’ve commented before, might be good to audition other house brand signature sound. For a non-streaming, just enjoying music while working (at home) and playing 50%/50% what would you recommend? Would you day just 100% use separate phones for music and gaming because they require different aspects of sound that often are opposite of the other?
Balanced sounds great. Single ended input is good enough not the best but sounds good. It doesn’t sound as good as my asgard 3 in some very rare cases but its easily my best amp
Tubes on it sound good but I switched out to some NOS tubes I had suggested to me by M0N
My setup is just cabled to my Bifrost 2 to the pc which is used to power my T1, argons, Aeon open x, edition xx, among some others. Think that’s what you were asking? You get a single in and loop out as well as the balanced inputs on the back. Haven’t had any issues on my setup using my balanced cables. Though I will agree it does get loud pretty quick. Amp is pretty damn powerful on its balanced ports.
This made me chuckle. I mentioned it ‘feels closed’ not that it sounds closed. It’s a very isolating headphone that sounds wide and has a concert like vibe to it while immersing you in the headphone. Soundstage is fairly large and bass is punchy and present but nothing over the top or muddy or boomy. I should add that some people have found the bass to be compressed… I don’t get that on my aeons with their current setup might be an amp issue with people or something or maybe my ears. It’s a very unique headphone though
Schiit hel would pair nicely with it as well. No it cannot run balanced if I recall correctly its your run of the mill unbalanced connector.
Wait it out or find it used lol. One of the downsides to drop. Though flow x does pop up quite often it seems.
That’s relatively confusing. I don’t see any issues with listening to music with the same cans you stream with. Though different signatures comes with the hobby. Get into this hobby enough and you’ll find certain genres or even songs sound better with certain headphones. Comes with the journey and experience of trying the different signatures. I would only recommend headphones based on what signature your looking for. Only one I find real bad for streaming is mainly sundara due to the sound leak. If your wanting a seperate headphone thats fine I can recommend one but youd have to let me know what kind of sound your looking for as everyone has different tastes as well as budget, open closed semi-open back, balanced or unbalanced
Honestly, I would say to skip this unless you had quite a few of the hi-fi headphones that respond well to balanced setups. Quite a lot of money for an LP as it is. I would highly recommend an Aeon, T1, or maybe even the Focals on it though and argons sound great too on it when balanced.
Right now balanced I have he4xx, hd6xx, el-8C, m1060, Elegia, and whatever comes next. I’m not sure I can balance the k7xx. I just have been looking for something tubey to feel something different than the thx AAA amps
In regards to the different headphones, I had heard that for gaming something with less bass and more highs, with specific soundstage, detail, and separation to pinpoint enemies on fps games, whereas different needs for analytical music listening, or fun music listening.
I dont like sibilance and I dont do pro gaming and would rather play games more relaxed while listening to music. I like clarity and detail, I like some warmth, airy open soundstage. I think. I’m trying to learn the terms as I go lol.
I looked into darkvoice, ta-10, ta-20, lyr 3, the other one from schiit, the little dot, and the liquid platinum. From what I understand, if I want to use planars with tubes, they need to be either a hybrid amp, or the tubes used as a pre-amp, or not OTL.
Do you use DAC through USB? If so, the multibit or the 4490?
Liquid platinum I find nice for this honestly. Though I think a Darkvoice or the DIY Bottlehead crack + speedball are very nice too I don’t own them personally however, these are strictly tube amps while the LP is a hybrid.
Ah this okay. This explaination is for someone who wants competitive fps. In this regard you want Recessed bass or somewhere around neutral with no rumble with mids and highs being forward and highs being raised. Theres quite a few headphones that can excel in this area however, I would not recommend them for just the casual use. K702, AD700x/AD900x/AD1000x/AD2000x, DT 880, DT 990, and DT 1990 off the top of my head right now have this trait. Having a large soundstage with accurate analytical imaging and good seperation help a lot as well. the K702, AD-00x series, and DT 880 have less or recessed bass while the others are more towards neutral or slightly bassy(990). There’s a difference between buying a headphone strictly for competitive though and buying an All-Rounder so to speak and would change which headphones you use. For example some good all rounders would be like the 1990 and DT 880 like I mentioned but also SHP 9500/X2hr Fidelio, HD 598/599/58x Jubilee, Sundara, among quite a few others. This really boils down to if you want straight competitive, straight casual, straight music, or a hybrid of sorts.
As someone still new to even my own setups and the hobby as well it takes time to really pick up explainations of sound and other terminologies as well as how to explain things. I get confused pretty often on it lol so your not alone on that.
That remark of not liking sibilance I don’t think anyone likes ear screeching sibilance however, we all have our limits to what is just too much. This makes it hard for me to recommend bright headphones and why I will normally first recommend someone who doesn’t have experience with brighter variety headphones to audition a low or mid level of brightness before hand before going into something extensive like a dt 880 or the most extreme cases which is the dt 990. I have heard people tell me they find even my Tygrs to be a bit much on the treble despite barily being raised at all turns out they prefer strictly balanced or dark headphones. It really is a bit of a journey to figure out what we enjoy and what we need to look for. You have quite an extensive selection though most of those either are balanced or have a treble that falls off in its frequency. The only one in there out of the ones you listed is the Elegia which has if I recall correctly around a 7 db treble peak but it’s not a very “bright” headphone in comparison to a beyer. However, if you can tolerate the elegias and want to venture into bright perhaps Audition a DT 880 first this would be a step up and is pretty bright in beyers lineup if you wanted a closed back try the dt 770s instead both are bright. Try them for audition though not for keep especially if you have a larger budget this way you know what you will enjoy as far as treble goes. Personally, I love super bright headphones which is why I adore the dt 990 that ethereal treble is like nothing I have heard in any other I have tried.
Definitely the Multibit on the bifrost. It sounds better than the 4490, not that this isn’t an option. Better soundstage, more warmth, sounds cleaner. Use that with Nos tubes and good lord the warmth and detail that pops from this setup alongside the aeons if you use the same tuning pads like zeos has in his own review that also extend the low end makes them sound just wonderful.
Apologies if reviving this thread is not proper etiquette here, I just joined.
So I’m also considering a closed back, strongly isolating headphone (particularly one that will block out loud laptop fans) for gaming, music, and movies/TV, but rather than shooters I mostly play single player games, i.e. first-person and third-person RPGs, story games, puzzlers, etc. I also want this to be good for movies/TV with good spatial positioning. I am considering between the Elegia, the Massdrop THX Panda, and the DT 770 pro 80 ohm. I’ve been using this list mainly, along with rtings reviews since they report measurements on how well a headphone isolates. For music, I wanted an all rounder. Unfortunately, I just missed the Elegia going on sale at $400 here in the USA but I’m hoping it happens again. Are there other headphones I should be considering? What do you think of the above? @MrSprouts How are you liking the Elegia for gaming?
I use HeSuVi for virtual surround for some games and movies/TV and it seems to work quite well on my open-back headphones (DT 990 premium 600 ohm), so while closed headphones typically have smaller soundstages I’m hoping it won’t be too much of an issue. According to Mad Lust Envy it shouldn’t be if you have a good surround virtualizer.
My budget is ~$500. I have a Topping nx4-dsd for a source.
All good, but I would encourage your own thread for proper help. If the message limit hits or something you can reach out to the mods to have the restriction removed.
ah so your looking for a well rounded casual ended headphone thats good for isolation then. Plenty of those around.
hmm, I would say since it looks like you have a decent amp you should be alright. I am a bit iffy on the panda involving imaging but its not bad… probably the better use case for a wireless gamer headphone next to like… the penrose or a full blown bluetooth headphone setup but thats expensive
However, those are of difference signatures… Elegia are a more mid-high type headphone with good bass tones and fairly good isolation, DT 770 are awful at isolation imo less you change over to a leather pad but they are V signatured with recessive mids, and Panda… to be honest im not a fan of the tuning but its a weird W like nonetheless its an oddball but doesn’t sound all that bad. Between these 3 the 770 has the better imaging and its a toss on soundstage between 770 and elegia
absolutely, but there seems to be little information on your own sound preferences lol so it makes it hard to really recommend something. Things such as what kind of genres for music or what frequencies do you prefer… bass, vocals, treble, etc. What kind of soundstage do you prefer… large concert like or more in your head. Presentation wise relaxed sound or aggression which forces you into the music. That sort of thing.
Would be interesting to hear his take on this. Elegia aren’t bad at all for this.
eh, yes and no… hesuvi can solve some… but if you take headphones like for example the Focal Celeste or Meze 99s its not going to help much if at all because they are so extremely intimate. Meanwhile other headphones like beyers closed backs such as 770 do have a rather large stage as well despite being closed.