I’m deciding between dt770 250ohm, dt880 600ohm, and any other option there is that is closed back.
1 more triple driver over ears are supposed to be really good for gaming.
Are the 770 and 880 any good for competitive gaming?
I am going to try the Ether CX for this whenever they are done being manufactured.
I had also considered Audeze LCD2 Closed and EL-8C but went ahead with the Massdrop gear.
What are you looking for in sound signature, soundstage, imaging, and detail?
What game are you focused on?
Competitive fortnite so hearing footsteps is key. What would you recommend and are the 770 and 880 any good and what are some other good closed back?
I think you saw the other post already, but for reference:
The DT 770 and DT 880 both have good imaging and some boosted treble in the 4k Hz to 10k Hz range where footsteps usually exist in games.
Differences for the Beyerdynamics is that the DT 770 has more bass (V-shaped) which may distract depending on sound cues presented all at once.
One consideration for a closed back may be the Audio-Technica ATH-M50x. It is more of a 10k Hz spike than a treble bump so it may fall outside of the footstep sound range and the bass has a presence boost to some degree according to the graphs.
Imaging on all of these are good and the soundstage is smaller.
One consideration may be IEMs for even sharper imaging and more immediate soundstage. For competitive FPS I still personally prefer my Westone UM Pro 30 IEMs.
Also, the DT 880 are semi-open if that matters for not bothering others with noise or blocking everything else out.
Would open back or closed back be better for gaming my gaming area is relatively quiet? And what are some good open headphones for gaming?
If you are not concerned by noise in your area either bothering you or others, then open back headphones are more common. Sennheiser HD 660 S is an open back with a close-soundstage, well-imaging headphone that are highly regarded for gaming.
What is your price range?
they are great for gaming personally I use a 990 for gaming nice wide soundstage along with great imaging. I play a lot of seige and sound hoaring with them is grea. the 880 and 770 should be also great for gaming because they are both wide and have the same imaging qualities.
would not recommend the m50 x they lack any sound stage whatsoever anfd kinda throw every thing at you at once with barely any separation.
Why do you feel that wide soundstage is desirable for competitive gaming?
Yeah, the lack of separation is kinda an issue. For gaming you do want some compression to emphasize sounds, but the 50x is too much and can be confusing to judge distance. With too much compression you lose the benefit of judging how far away footsteps and sounds are relative to closer ones, and can cause distant sounds to appear closer, causing issues
a wider soundstage allows for more room and space to judge how far a foostep is bassically allowing for more room for more precise imaging… also allows for better separation. a headphone that is very narrow and not too well tuned like a m50 will have a tendency to blend sounds making gunshots and explosions harder to distinguish.it all comes down to preference though whether having a wider soundstage like a beyerdynamic is better from a narrower soundstage like a 660. personally I prefer a wider soundstage but I also like the 660 or the 58x for gaming as it is wide enough for separation and great imaging but the narrower soundstage give me a more immediate response as to what direction an enemy is it just doesn’t give the best idea as to how far they are .
I feel that my favorite comp gaming cans have to be the AD1000x. They have a perfect bend of excellent imagining and natural soundstage. With their naturally bass light, high frequency emphasis it’s super easy to pinpoint sounds and balanced enough to be enjoyable as well. Honestly, I’ve tried a ton of different headphones for comp gaming, and I can confidently say the ad1000x were one of the only headphones that I actually felt made a difference in my performance. For reference I am a long time CS player and pretty much all other valve games. This might not be what your looking for though, and in that case, the 880 I would say is the better gaming can because of the more balanced sound vs the 770. Although the 880 is semi open, so something to take note of. Both will do you just fine. I will say though that the 880 is slightly more amp picky than the 770
Edit: I should also say that what works well for me might not be ideal for you, so don’t make a large compromise off of someone else’s opinion
Probably 200 for headphones and 100 for dac/amp
Then I’d go with the 880 if you are planning on an amp over the 770 unless you need isolation
Edit: didn’t realize you were looking at the 600 ohm, yeah you might want to aim for the 250. The 250 will also have more of a treble emphasis
it’s pretty difficult to run a 600 ohm 880 off of a $100 dac/amp.why not the 250 ohm?
Is there a big difference between the 600 ohm version and 250 ohm version of the 880 and what would be a good amp/dac for both versions? Is one version better for gaming?
The 600 ohm is a more neutral sound, with a little more detail when powered correctly, while the 250 is slightly more v shaped with a slight emphasis on treble more than the bass. It will also be more forgiving on amp pairings vs the 600 ohm. It’s not a night and day difference between the two, but its enough to notice