Gaming headphones Recommendations... again

Just wanted to say hello, my first post.
Down to business.

I have been doing some research but I decided that sometimes its best just to ask the pros. :smile:

I am a PC gamer. Specially I play a lot of Hunt: Showdown.

Current setup is a Schitt Modi 2 and Magni 2 (schitt stack)
Philips Fidelo X2, I also have a AGK K553 Pros and Fostex Th-x00.

I have no issues with this setup for movies, music and single player gaming. The issue is with competitive gaming. The X2s have a great soundstage but lacks in imaging and sometimes I find its too wide and I have trouble pinpointing sounds. The AGKs are okā€¦ I am not a fan of closed back. They were an impulse buy for work. The Fostexs are really great for music/movies but not much else.

I would prefer Semi-open or open-back cans.
Budget is around 300 but fine with spending more or less.

Thanks so much for the suggestions.

RJ

If you like the sound stage and imaging(accuracy of where sounds are coming from), of the AGKā€™s, might I recommend trying an eq or two out before deciding that a closed back just canā€™t work. From my experience it can help a lot depending on how the drivers are tuned out of the box. Sorry I have no recommendations other than that, but hey this is one you can try for free. Hopefully someone else will be more helpful than me. Good luck!

i recently tested these three:


DT990 Pro

PRO

  • great positioning
  • bass

CON

  • pros are not very comfortable (keep in mind still very comfortable compared to other headphones like ATH Mx40)

UNDECIDED

  • lots of treble, good for footsteps, bad for sound imho ( gunshots will sound tinny sometimes for example, cymbals in music will be overkill)

DT880 Black Special Edition

PRO

  • great positioning
  • warmer compared to DT990
  • super comfy due to different earpads and less clamp

UNDECIDED

  • lots of trebleā€¦same as above but less. good for footsteps. matter of taste for music
  • less bass than the other two, matter of taste

Tygr 300r

PRO

  • great positioning
  • bass
  • tamed treble

CON

  • not as comfy as Black Special Edition (good enough though imhoā€¦also they are still new)
  • seemed a bit boomy since they are like DT990 with less treble to balance out the bass (not sure)

ones i read are good but i never tested:
Sennheiser PC38X, AKG K702

Thanks for you post. I am not sure why you withdrew it but thatā€™s ok. I still got to read it.

I have considered the dt880. I remember reading that the 600ohm version was preferred. Not sure if thatā€™s if that is my memory failing me or not.
Donā€™t the special editions have different tonality then the normal versions? I.E black edition and chrome edition.

Hey so the reason i withdraw it is that iā€™m slowly changing my mind and i didnā€™t want to give you bad advice. iā€™m still new to this. and as it turns out i might be or turn into an audiophile lol. iā€™ve been doing a lot of A/B-ing today. and the more i go back and forth, i realise that i mightā€™ve read too many opinions on the internet.

everything i wrote applies in terms of their properties. but after i just had a longer session with the Tygr i realised, while the bass is nice and thumpy that it actually becomes fatiguing and distracting after a while. i didnā€™t consider it, because you read mostly about treble when looking up beyerdynamics. so thatā€™s all i listened for. i might not be a v-shape guy after all.

the more i go through my library of music the more i fall in love with the DT880.

so bottom line: i canā€™t recommend one over the other right now. but for what you describe, competitive FPS with focus on footsteps, they are all really good. i can just tell you that the DT990 is intense and too intense for me. aside from that itā€™s probably better to test them side by side for yourself, if you decide that you are interested.

Donā€™t the special editions have different tonality then the normal versions? I.E black edition and chrome edition.

yea, i read that too. but from what i remember, itā€™s the ear pads only. and those are easy to change. i just loved the look of the black with the different headband and stuff. i might even try Tygr ear pads on these, if i end up with them and treble keeps haunting me. apparently they have more bass, which i donā€™t mind since normal DT880 are supposed to not have much. i donā€™t know. iā€™m mostly confused now.

sorry for the long posts and hijacking your thread. i guess iā€™m not done deciding lol.

PS.: i will edit the first post and remove the conclusion

Here is the thing, most headphones are great with positioningā€¦ for the simple fact that they are located on either side of your head, lol.

To help you better understand what youā€™re hearing you could try listening to something like this: LST 3D Surround Sound Test HD || Use Headphones - YouTube

Maybe that will help you test headphones in a repeatable fashion.

I have the HD660s and I improved the imaging a bit on those with some custom earpads: Dekoni Elite Fenestrated Lambskin Earpads

The updated pads move the headphones a littler further away which has the effect of increasing the sound stage and giving more of a sense of space.

Another headphone I like for gaming is the Fostex T60RP of course you can also update the pads on those, I recommend the Lambskin Alpha Pads. It has more of a straightforward and detailed sound than the HD660s which is probably better suited to most games. Both are great though for different reasons!

everything i wrote applies in terms of their properties. but after i just had a longer session with the Tygr i realised, while the bass is nice and thumpy that it actually becomes fatiguing and distracting after a while.

I totally feel you on that! That is how I feel about lots of high end headphones and that is why I still love the HD600 series, (currently have the HD660s). They have a nice full and detailed sound without being fatiguing. I really like my Fostex T60RPā€™s but sometimes that bass compels me to turn down the volume, even with the Alpha Pads. And the Fostex are not bass head headphones but can still be overbearing on some tracks because they are very accurate on the low end like many planar magnetics are.

@RottenJeeves Hey buddy welcome to HFGF :smiley:

Iā€™ve moved your thread to here the ā€œcasual gaming sectionā€ as itā€™s a more appropriate place for your inquiry :+1:

:beers:

Welcome to hifiguides!

I will try to keep this simple, I donā€™t feel like typing a wall but I definitely donā€™t agree with some opinions here lol.

If your looking for competitive gaming, I do want to clear something hereā€¦ bass is -not- a proā€¦ it is a con of which 990 has too much bassā€¦ The only shooter I have played with some amounts of bass was acceptable and more appreciated was rainbow six but only in small amounts, Hunt does have some of those similar sound frequencies so it can tolerate some bass as well.

I would recommend just trying out the beyersā€¦ if your at all treble intolerant, like whatsoeverā€¦ skip the 990s immediatelyā€¦ try the 880s or try the tygr 300r. Tygr 300r is a redone up 990 in low ohmsā€¦ it becomes boomy, uncontrolled, veiled, etc if you donā€™t power it correctlyā€¦ forewarning thereā€¦ just like the regular 990 can become hollow among other weird sound issuesā€¦ they use old yet very picky drivers that need an amp they synergize with to sound right. Regular motherboards for example make the tygr bassier than it really is on a normal clean amp.

In your budget I would say either the beyers or if your okay with some slight imaging inaccuracies you could check AKGā€™s k7 series such as k702, k712, drop k7xxā€¦ just depends on what signature your looking for in particular as I donā€™t seem to see what kinda sound you prefer.

any thoughts on HD560s for gaming?

Thanks very much for your responses.

I think I landed on the dt 880s. The trouble is which version.
My plan is to order a special edition and a standard edition and see if there is a difference sound-wise. Probably both 600ohm if available.
From my research there appears to be a difference in sound not just cosmetics, headband, etc. I know its a little lame to buy 2 with the intention of returning one. Unfortunately now days its tough to find a way to test multiple products any other way.

Is there a vendor who can modify the Dt880s with a removable cord? I could see that being an annoyance overtime.

Thanks again.

special edition black 250 ohm had a different tuning that is widely considered, from what I have seen, quite badā€¦ all others are just aesthetics. 600 ohm is the best sounding of the 880s provided of courseā€¦ you have a powerful amp to drive them

I wouldnā€™t bother with pro versionsā€¦ they have a coiled cable and more clampā€¦ I would just say go with the edition or premium(same thing) and go with whichever you think looks better to youā€¦

store wise? no, not to my knowledge but there are people who offer this as a service through like Etsy and some other placesā€¦

they are passable and similar to the pc38x in performance. Not bad, not the bestā€¦ better than 38x for music.

Thank you Felenkor.
I picked up the dt880 premium 600 edition. Standard grey. The only people who had it in stock was Sweetwater and newegg. I went with Sweetwater as I have ordered a couple things from them in the past with good results.
I think my setup has enough juice to for a 600ohm headset.
I will check on etsy about the modding. I am not comfortable doing it myself.

On a side note:
I had the pc38x and returned them.
My main issues were imaging, comfort, and the microphone. The biggest issue I had was volume. I couldnā€™t use them with my Schitt dac/amp because I would get feedback if I plugged in the mic. So using them on the motherboard alone they just were not loud enough. I thought about buying a Schitt Hel or equivalent but it just didnt make sense to me.

RJ

Should be fine, havenā€™t tried magni 2 but magni 3 can run them just fine.

yeah, I believe theres been a guy people use on here for that from etsyā€¦ he charges likeā€¦ I think $70 for the service.

I honestly, despiseā€¦ this headset. Itā€™s good for a headset, but everything else is just meh. It got shilled hard in my opinion which aggravates me to no end because itā€™s performance is just barely better than the other open back headsets on the line. Imaging is fine but it has issues at 9 and 11 oclock where it just falls apart, separation of sounds is horrible so heated gunfights or games of larger caliber it suffers due to around average soundstage. Mic is sub par as wellā€¦ I only recommend it if someone absolutely needs a headset in particularā€¦ but for me the headset doesnā€™t fit my ears properly like most sennheisers and I prefer AKG or Beyerdynamic over themā€¦ I just wish there was other options for great sounding mids like sennheiser

if your going to upgrade man, I would say save up and swing for the asgard or if you want a more measurement based cleaner amp from schiit just go to magniusā€¦ but I would absolutely sooner just say asgard and Modiusā€¦ You can get them off the used markets in very good condition for like $150 per unit so $300 for the setupā€¦ I wouldnā€™t say you really need more than that for a gamer

I have been trying to see if theres a chrome version or something for 600 ohmsā€¦ I believe there is but hard to find lol. Theres a lot of aesthetic variants of the beyersā€¦ but the black version vs the grey they do have different pads but only slightly

Demevalos on etsy, but heā€™s upped the price for single ended to $85 by the look of things. Heā€™s the guy with the guide people usually follow for beyerdynamic mods.

Iā€™d probably pay the extra money ($15) for balanced simply because it gives you more amp options if you decide to make any changes in the future.

Falenkor: Thank you for the write up. I will look into getting the Asgard. I have heard good things about it.

Givemebeer: Thank you for the imput. I will reach out him once my headphones come.

It really is a great amp in my opinion. For a gamer who likes a wider sound its pretty idealā€¦ the spatial abilities on the asgard are incredible

Hope you enjoy the setup man, if you have any other questions feel free to swing on by or just let us know what you think of your gear.

Can I use my Modi 2 for the dac portion or do I should I spend the extra to have it built into the unit?

you can use the modi if you want, but I would recommend an upgrade at some point or anotherā€¦ donā€™t really need the dac built in though as you can get a modius for the same price as the built in

Got my Dt880 600ohm today. I have to say they are pretty great. I noticed an improvement for sure when gaming. I actually think they are pretty nice music headphones to boot.

Thanks again for your recommendations. I will picking up a Asgard in the near future too.

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