so recently, my trusty old pairs of Plantronics Gamecom 780 broke. I wore them for almost 8 Years and they were my daily drivers for gaming and listening to music while on PC.
A friend of mine recommended z´s youtube Channel to me and since then i´m trapped in the rabbit hole. I´ve learned so much in the last couple of days.
Currently, i´m somewhat caught between the Audio Technica M40X, the Yamaha MT5 and the Monoprice Retro. I enjoyed the treble of the M40X in the sounddemo, but it seems like there are many people who do not recommend them in 2020 anymore. I stumbled over the MT5´s. Z recommend them over the M40X in 2020, however in the sounddemo i felt like they were super close to the Monoprice Retro. Both of them kinda lack in regards of the treble however and the Monoprice Retro has a fixed cable. Also, are they “recommended” for gaming at all? I´m not sure, based on his reddit guide.
I can´t decide which is the better pick in 2020, since the M40X are already very old. Maybe someone has a more deeper experience with those headphones.
I play mostly fun games like Elite Dangerous, Saubnautica, League of Legends, Battlefield etc. and every now and then a round of Apex Legends and other shooter.
Regarding the music i hear EDM, Metal, Rock etc.
Now regarding the DAC. I´m looking for a DAC/AMP combo with a mic port on it. The reason for this is that i need portability and i don´t want to have a huge mic on the desk at this point. Maybe in the future, but for now i prefer a 3.5mm mic on my headphones.
I was able to pinpout a Syba Sonic 1 for 70€ but it “only” has a 24bit and 96kHz interface. I found a creative soundblaster (130€) with a 32bit and 384kHz interface. I don´t know if this matters much. Also as far as i can tell the creative needs drivers, which could be a problem since i swap between linux and windows very often on a daily basis.
There are absurdly limited options in germany regarding DAC/AMPs with a 3.5mm mic port, besides the Syba Sonic and the Creatice XG6 (or 7?) there isn´t much on amazon as far as i was able to find.
My overall budget is 100€ to 200€(±50€), preferably the less. I already have a 3.5mm Mic.
Maybe someone has some idea, knows a product and can recommend it.
Thanks in advance
I would recommend taking z’s opinions with an extreme grain of salt. Guy likes everything and recommends a power plant of an amp just to drive an 880 at 600 ohms which led to a lot of confusion. Any reviewer in this hobby is speaking purely based on their opinion unless it is completely statistical fact of sorts.
I have to ask, does it have to be a closed back? Seems you may have a preference towards either a warm signature or a V signature considering the games and music you listen to less your big on vocals? due to you playing competitive shooters imaging should be considered a factor… battlefield requires a large soundstage so thats another factor.
as for dac amps… syba sonic is only going to be able to drive up to around 100 ohms - 150 ohms of power and that’s being relatively generous… it’s not very strong at all… comparing this to the g6 over there the hz isn’t what is making the big difference it’s the power… the unit g6 not only sounds better it has better hardware and can drive up to 600 ohm headphones which gives you much more options
In your budget though I would say this is extremely limited so it may be wise to find an ampless option for you less you can manage to adjust the budget a little higher…
as for the 3.5mm microphone do you mean like a v-moda boom pro microphone where it plugs into the headphone directly? These styles of microphones are extremely limited based on headphones as not all too many use a detachable 3.5mm jack.
Hi,
thanks for the replies so far.
Isn´t the Yamaha AG03 not a bit overkill? It´s the first time i´ve seen this kind of audio interface for gaming use.
I can expand the budget a little bit if it helps. I can stretch it to 250€ maybe 300€. But again i would like to keep it as low as possible but as high as needed.
I have to avoid open backs because there are sometimes other people in the room i play in.
I enjoy good vocals in EDM tracks, but i´m not into pop or something. Maybe some Slipknot but even then the focus are not the vocals i think.
A little bit of imaging would be nice i guess, but i don´t need to pinpoint every footstep on a super precise level. I enjoy having a wide stage in games like Doom or Battlefield for example with clear sound but not dominant bass which overlaps every other frequency so i don´t hear footsteps or anything else thats going on. Same goes with EDM for example.
The microphone i already have is a little 3.5mm konig CMP Mic8.
I prefer a detachable 3.5mm audio jack to be honest.
Maybe. Leaves you with expansion options down the road.
The other option to run your 3.5mm mic is something like the Rode VXLR+ running from an audio interface.
Using that, you have a lot more options than just the gaming-DACs.