Excellent write-up, Falenkor. I’m appreciative of the guides you linked to at the beginning, but honestly, the descriptions and rationale you offer for each set here is much needed and spot on. Really appreciate the time you took to write all of this. Not sure how much experience you have with different pads, but it would be interesting to have an explanation of preferred shapes/material specifically for competitive gaming.
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100% aggree at the end of the day its more important that you have a mouse thats good for your hand and mastering your ability to flick at lower dpi
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So, I think it really boils more down to preference here. I personally love open backs with Velour as it’s more breathable and since my preference is more towards bright headphones velour really stands to bring out that treble and is pretty nice for bass and mids as well it also provides the most open sound and the most soundstage typically which is real nice for larger fps. Issue with velour though is in a few headphones it can destroy the bass presence. I don’t have too much experience with angleds but I wasn’t a big fan, I have large strangely shaped ears. As far as suede I find these more evened out for tuning changes not as treble inducing or bass inducing and not as breathable as velour as well as not as hot as a sheepskin not bad but it takes a certain kind of suede to really make me happy about them. One of the ones I found very respectable as a suede headphone was HarmonicDyne Helios which is very pillowy for suedes. I don’t particularly like a lot of heat generation but suedes are really nice and well rounded in my opinion and in some cases you can get them with cooling gel like brainwavz sells in oval or XL size. I mainly use sheepskins or choice leathers if I want a bassier headphone, dial back the soundstage, or in some cases decrease the treble perforated is good for dipping bass and treble in some cases too. If your looking towards sheepskins Dekoni would probably be your best bet as they have a good amount of choices here with some great comfort Depending on the headphone and the pads you can get a pretty drastic change to the sound of a headphone and a great example of that was my explaination back on the dt 1990 where it can have 3 different sound signatures.
The general “normal standard” headphone for competitives is of course the closed back using a sheepskin or leatherette material. Mainly too have as much isolation as possible as suede and velour and other hybrids aren’t as isolating as the leather based materials. Never was a huge fan of it less it was very plush leather padding like my aeons which is quite a good exception to my preference towards velours.
If you want to know the pads I tend to use more often than not here you go. I use Beyerdynamics Velours practically any chance I get if they will fit on a headphone and not destroy the sound. Many different sound varieties here despite most being velour though I prefer the Tygr 300rs pads, EDT 990 VB, the most in the beyerdynamics. After beyers for velour though I definitely go straight to Dekoni Elite Velours these do so damn well at changing the signature of brighter headphones they are thick enough to dial in V signatures to a more respectable neutral not so much recommended for more neutral bright or dark headphones though. After that would be the Brainwavz gel Suedes in oval I like these as they fit quite a few of my headphones and they are pretty soft without too much heat issues really nice well rounded pad for suedes at a great price. Lastly, and I barily use these mind you, are the Brainwavz XL Perforated pads the only headphone I use these on are the dt 770 series, in this case the 177x GO, as it really helps the sound quite a bit and just makes it sound much better to my ears.
I would recommend first finding yourself a headphone with a signature that suits you more or that you really like and then looking into potential pad swaps as there is quite a few headphones that do well with swapping out their pads.
I just hope people reading this do realize this is more towards a more strictly competitive playstyle. You can still get away with using a more neutral or bassier type of all rounder headphone in competitive it just isn’t “ideal” or in gamer terms “meta”. I appreciate the kind words and honestly I could have wrote up quite a few more towards the more “all rounder” crowd of headphones
Most definitely agreed here. A headphone is only going to help you so much in competitive gaming. It’s your skill and how much you master your ability that will make you stand out. Mice that have extra buttons are nice and all but certain mice will be better for fps and others more casual oriented. Your mouse pad will also play a large role depending on it’s fabric as this is what allows you to slide your mouse around certain materials may slow your speed down or speed it up.
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What do you think of your beyer t1.2s for gaming? From what I’ve seen about their signature they sound like they’d be better than the dt1990s for competitive?
Sorry if I missed you saying about them before 
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Wanted to rewrite this comment. So the issue with the T1.2 not being on the list is that it’s more towards an All-Rounder sort of use. While the lower bass in it’s frequency is certainly more held back than the more towards neutral 1990 the rest of the bass is relatively elevated with some decent rumble and bass tones. T1.2 isn’t as surgical at picking out sounds and is more relaxed but still has a wider soundstage with a very pleasant mix. I have not gone around to try the Analytical pads on T1.2, it uses the 1990s balanced pads, so I am unsure if this could correct the issue and belong to this list. You could of course equalize it but the list is made without concern of generally additional cost with certain special exceptions
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Going to add on to this remark. Those headphones that have considerably more bass or rather more than neutral bass with a rumbling presence to the tone are not on this list. These headphones that have this slight elevation would be considered more for an All-Rounder or in cases of much more elevation a Casual Gamer headphone instead. Headphones that I would consider more all rounders are the two in the list above in the honorable mentions as well as far as beyerdynamic is concerned Amiron home, T1.2, T5P, DT 770, DT 990(don’t care if ninja uses this), DT 1770, DT 177x GO these are all headphones that have much more bass than the relative DT 880 and DT 1990. Audeze isn’t particularly on this list because of the fact that they generally have a relatively neutral treble or descending and rolled off highs making it not very ideal. M40X and MSR7 are more towards headphones I would rate in the all rounder section
I would have wrote up a general all rounder selection of headphones however there is so many headphones that would fit to that criteria I would potentially need a larger list and with more casual oriented headphone the preferences tend to change rather drastically as in that regard you can include audeze or nighthawks if you wanted to.
Those looking for a more “all rounder” headphone are free to open up a thread mentioning thats what they are searching for or you could message me directly as some have done and I can try to help you based on your preference in sound
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Section added involving ideal hardware for competitives with explainations along with what I use personally.
I know that guy. he’s pretty cool. can you edit this so people know its not bass lite?
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Ah right! Good point! Let me fix that description real quick. Thanks ant
@Antpage2 Fixed and now has a much more respectable explaination
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Hi @Falenkor, great post thanks for the info! Have you tried any sennheiser 598s? I have a pair and I’ve read they’re pretty good for gaming and I’m wondering if it’s worth it to try and upgrade past them?
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The sennheiser 598 are virtually identical to the 599 however, the 599 has a ever so slight treble advantage in competitive. Both are fantastic, but the treble advantage is why I placed the 599 on here and not the 598.
Depends on the use factor here. If it’s for an all rounder headphone and you mean just to an 58x Jubilee than sure as this headphone can be balanced though you lose out on the 2.5mm boom mic option. However, starting at the 58x jubilee and beyond that point you lose soundstage and quite significantly which can badly impact performance in larger scale competitive fps. Of course if you only play linear fps games then your fine and stand to gain a much better quality of sound from taking it a step further like the 660 S, 6xx, etc just keep in mind that the main issue there is the soundstage. You don’t gain back that larger soundstage till you reach the HD 800 series which is very expensive and has some of the largest and widest soundstage on the market right now.
I would also recommend different amps as the later variations of the sennheisers are said to perform better on balanced or tube amps such as the Bottlehead Crack + speedball. Though you can be fine with the IFI Zen Dac if you are in a bit of a budget crunch for an amp/dac but still want a balance port
Edit: Placed more indepth explaination into the Sennheiser lineup above going into the hd598, 58x jubilee, and models created afterward
@Kariak hopefully that was helpful information for you if you need more info please don’t hesitate to reach out and ask
Added Peace APO equalizer with download links to the write up
To others: If your wanting a more all rounder headphone or casual feel free to reach out to me with your sound preference(ideally sound signature will help a lot), budget, if you have an amp/dac/can purchase one/or want ampless. I will try to help if I can with what knowledge I have. You can also create a seperate thread on these particular subjects for recommendations here on the site. There is far to many to recommend all with different signatures and everyone has different tastes in sound.
Hey @Falenkor ,
first off thanks for the in-depth-guide!
Since you have mentioned the MH751 / MH752 , what do think about their new series MH630 / MH650 / MH670?
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Hey there, welcome to hifiguides and thanks for reaching out!
630: 3.5mm detachable, mesh pad material, uses regular 2.0 stereo. cable has a lock feature. Cord is relatively cheap and looks to be able to tangle up fairly easy, same build quality as others, Omni directional boom mic that is not adjustable, mic is of fairly good clean quality for a gaming headset,
650: USB attached cable with RGB. Uses mesh pad material, Has 7.1 Virtual surround sound, fairly good quality cable that doesn’t appear to tangle as easy and is stiffer, same build quality as others, Omni directional boom mic that is not adjustable, mic is of same sound quality,
670: Wireless has 7.1 virtual surround sound, uses leatherette pad material, 25 hours battery life, has a different headband material and design and appears to be more bendable(questionable may be the same as the others on this) uses the same material as pads, same build quality as others, omni directional boom mic that is not adjustable, mic is of same sound quality,
Let’s get the big things here out of the room. 7.1 is bit of a joke in my opinion(I know that sounds harsh just hear me out), its a way to bring up the price for really no reason and tends to create artificial sound environments as well as improper sound placements in game while it helps in some cases it can be a slap in the face in others. You can just buy a seperate cheapo dongle for 7.1 or download dolby atmos or hesuvi for practically nothing giving you the same software so for $30 more this isn’t worth it just for the 7.1 the other big one is that the 670 is wireless this also becomes relatively pointless as outside of the difference in pads the 630 can turn into a wireless headphone by using a 3.5mm bluetooth dongle which will run at a very cheap price point.
So, the biggest selling point on that 630 is not only is it cheap but it can make use of V-moda boom pro as well as a 3.5mm bluetooth dongle making it quite something. I haven’t gotten around to sitting with it myself and can only go based on what I hear. These headphones are still based on the Takstar pro 82, much like hyperx does with its brands of clouds. Comfort level is pretty solid across the board and people have subjectively said that the 650 is of a different tuning though I doubt this is the case since they also mentioned the 630 was too quiet which leads me to believe they just didn’t have enough drive power and were using a very bad codec. There does appear to be more emphasis on bass frequency with this cooler master making me more inclined to think this is more of an all rounder headphone instead unlike the mh751 which isn’t so much as a bassy but more of a neutral bright with a respectable soundstage. It appears to be a budget friendly option to the mh751 so I won’t rule it out as being bad as multiple people have said it’s very similar in sound performance.
So my thoughts on it? Not a bad choice if you want to really have a good sounding budget gaming headset with a fairly surprisingly good sounding microphone. I would skip the 670 honestly as it’s more expensive for $60 more for very little reasoning outside of niche extra options but the other two? Well, if you are okay with usb, want to spend a bit more due to the connectivity, want some rgb, and want to skip searching for external software or dongle for your 7.1 then I think its a safe option to go with the MH650 otherwise save the extra small bit of money and just pick up the MH630. These have a bigger driver than the mh751 too which is surprising that they are at a cheaper market in comparison.
As for adding it to this list? I will wait to get a more indepth look at it myself before I consider it. Gaming headsets as it is are already hard to even recommend in the more audiophile sense as they tend to have big drawbacks in sound quality, especially when you go wireless.
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Added Ananda and had to slightly restructure the post as I hit the character limit lol
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Recieved a couple questions about Vokyl Erupts. I have no opinion on a headphone that I have not personally tried. They are still in prototype stages and have quite the amount of complaints involving the sound you get from their pads, as apparently the pads kind of suck for the sound supposedly. If and when they come out of the prototype stages I do plan to pick them up to try them as long as they actually have a return policy. I would love to sit down with that headphone to gain some thoughts on it cause they look rather nice.
If you’d like to offer input as you have tried or own this headphone by all means. If you know a way I can try this headphone without risk of the not being able to return them hell by all means let me know. Otherwise, I am rather stuck waiting on that one. I have monitored the forum 🔶 Vokyl Erupts over there and heard some mixed things which puts me on the fence quite a bit since they do not have any return policies.
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Wow, I’m again as positively astonished by the length and quality of your response, thanks a lot man.
Did I understand this right? You would go for the 751 because it does have less bass and so less distraction. But for saving money the 630 can be recommended from the things you’ve heard.
The thing why I’m looking into a budget headset is that I would need this for gaming, I dont want to the hassle of a second cable like from an external mic and the most recommended mics like v-moda or ModMic are quite expensive in my area. So I need a coomplete package.
So to sum it up your recommendation for a competitive-budget-headset would be the MH751, right?
Or are there any other competitors you would recommend under 100$?
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Of course, I like to help others if I can and try to be as in depth as possible without going too overboard
So, I sat down and dug around a bit, even took out my own mh751 as I own a pair, as I wanted to find out more information into the MH630 series. So what I found caught me rather off guard with what I had thought about them just a little while ago. So the frequency appears to be more of a U shaped signature or bass is raised treble is raised and the mids are more neutral. The low bass is a bit below the neutral but the rest is raised quite a bit higher than the mh751 which is more neutral with an ever so slight bump in the higher bass. Due to this I can see mh630 series as most definitely more “fun” as it has a lot more rumble in it in comparison and the mh751 will better for competitive gaming while the mh630 will be a good all rounder. It’s not that the mh630 has a whole ton of rumble it’s just that any rumble at all completely gets in the way of competitive cue cards. In this case. Go with the mh751.
Understandable and unfortunate that v-moda so expensive as I would figure you could just pickup like a $50 shp9500 and grab the v- moda. But if you need a gaming headset I stand by the above mention that the MH751 would still be the better option in competitives.
Yes the mh751 would be best. SHP9500 + V-moda provided in the price range would be a very huge competitor there and would win if they were priced at the same margin of $100 max budget. As far as gaming headsets though? No, I firmly believe that mh751 in the $100 maximum range is a reigning champ in the gaming headset market followed by an immediate competition to the PC37X. PC37x on the other hand has slightly less than neutral bass but still practically neutral as well as more neutral mids with slightly raised highs with practically next to no rumble whereas mh751 has a little bit of rumble just not a whole lot however negatives can be seen in terms of comfort as the pc37x pads are very shallow and oval so larger ears may not work as well. Plus pc37x is an open back offering more breathability, better soundplacements, and more soundstage however the SHP9500 would still win over the pc37x due to versatility and better sound alongside a larger soundstage
EDIT: alright so, something I found out is that the new MH series has also a built in equalizer software and the wireless variation appears to have amps built into the ear cups. So, again while I won’t rate this better than the mh751 I will still give due diligence to this headphone that it is capable of being used just fine in competitive due to the adaptive sound that isn’t usually found in this price bracket. I do think the mh751 is still better in general for competitives due to it’s natural tuning but the newer cooler masters are a much welcome change of pace in the same budget but with some added software to make them a bit more flexible overall and you aren’t so much limited to just straight leather pads anymore from the looks of it which is a very nice change of pace. In the terms of the new wireless though it also appears to be able to be used in portable situations as the mic is detachable, it doesn’t look gamey, has proper isolation, and the headphone has portable swivel which is honestly pretty damn impressive considering all the options on this what I will now consider to be a gaming headphone at that point as that particular hardware and portability is something that made the audeze mobius so great but now you have an option like this at a hell of a bargain with good sound.
I will leave my final notes on this since I compiled my thoughts: Due to the natural tuning of the mh751 I feel this is better however, due to the overall versatility of the new cooler masters here I believe they can go neck and neck. While I do not know the true extent of the equalizer I think it should go without saying that you would be able to fix the rumble issue with that headphone as well putting them at odds with each other. I think if you want a softer plush material and a better looking headphone with fun capabilities that the newest cooler master is a fantastic choice and the wireless having portability just adds one more use to this headphone. I still stand by my statement that the headphone will lose out to the shp9500 and in the case of the pc37x it would lose out only due to open back and soundstage. I think it will boil on preference here in this regard entirely based on the person. Personally I like breathable pads and more flexible sound so I would sooner venture to the new cooler master but if your someone who doesn’t care for all the bells and whistles and just wants a straight good sounding gamers headset with the proper sound signature for competitives you would be good with mh751/752
It is due to this flexibility in the newer headphone that I am considering a personal purchase to sit down with the headphone myself with the potential to add to the list or potential to even replace the mh751
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If you can’t get the PC37X in your area just look for the Sennheiser Game One headset, they’re supposed to be similar.
They are but pc37x is generally considered better. I didn’t particularly like the Game one as much when I sat with both of them. PC37x had a more respectable low frequency and not as lacking in my opinion as well as slightly more raised in the treble while both kept the same neutral mids and soundstage.
Edit: something I forgot to add on the Game one though is that while trying to use them mid game at times the mic would pick up some sounds coming from the headphone at a moderate to high volume which was relatively annoying. I didn’t have that issue with pc37x.
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