I am looking for a pair of headphones that are good for both gaming and music. In doing so I have learned a lot. I know imaging is the most important element when it comes to being competitive. The ability to isolate directional sound cues (like footsteps or gunshots) within the soundstage.
I realize something like the HD6** line has excellent imaging but it doesn’t have a good soundstage. I am looking for a headphone that can deliver both. So far these are my contenders.
It is the most important yes, but there are other factors that need to be taken into account… For example, you could get a headphone with fantastic imaging but it could be very bassy which would practically kill your footstep placement.
Something to take note of is which fps your playing… there are limitations in each of the games due to the respective sound engines, and most of the current gen FPS are honestly pretty bad in regards to sound placements.
I really can’t make any recommendations as I am not sure which FPS you are talking about… theres quite a bit of a difference between say… Call of Duty Multiplayer to like… Escape From Tarkov, Warzone, or Battlefield.
While this is indeed very accurate, it depends on the game… smaller FPS these headphones do fine as a large soundstage really isn’t too necessary. These games being those such as Overwatch, CS:GO, some cases of fortnite, some cases of apex, etc.
bassier variant to the k702, not particularly recommended but it’s alright. These headphones do have imaging inaccuracies which can be deemed an issue. It’s not real bad but it is something to take note of. Regardless, they are good headphones through and through.
Yeah, no. This is a hard skip. This headphone, I am not sure why I see this one recommended for competitive gaming by others to begin with, is a warm signature and a bassy one at that with the bass bleeding into your mids and is muddy. At the same time, the imaging isn’t as sharp as you would want ideally. It’s soundstage is very large but that really doesn’t help here considering all the Cons you have to deal with going with this. You would be better off buying the SHP9500 and modifying it.
I am not a big fan of this one… it is good on imaging and soundstage but outside of it’s reference sound it’s nothing particularly too special imo for gaming. For music it’s great. It’s not a bad option and on the brighter side for a Sennheiser… it’s alternative would be 58x Jubilee which is a more balanced signature with a bit more warmer tonality to it. Both of these work fine and in just about any genre or game… however, they struggle in the larger fps that require a large soundstage or in cases where verticality is taken into account, then again trying to achieve verticality in gaming through your headphone is almost impossible to properly achieve due to the sound engine itself…
Definitely the best one you listed of the 4. Very large spacious soundstage, real good imaging, bright and may pose an issue if your intolerant to treble, lacking bass can be deemed boring, is a planar and comes with speed and texture to the sound, definitely needs an amplifier, quality control issues with the company are a big problem and makes this headphone a hit or miss. Regardless, one of the best bright headphones I have tried within the price range.
Few things would help myself, as well as others potentially make some recommendations… What games are you taking into account here?
Is it just competitive or is casual gaming involved as well?
Treble intolerance?
More than likely you will need an amp, do you have the budget for this? Under $400 more than likely removes the Sundara
Awesome reply, I really appreciate the detailed response. Let me try to answer some of your questions as best I can.
I game on the PC. Lately, I’ve been playing a lot of COD cold war and Doom. I also play some single-player games and CSGO on occasion. My game taste is pretty varied and I wouldn’t say I’m super into competitive gaming.
For music, I listen to a lot of classic rock and alternative rock. Maybe some RnB and hip-hop as well.
In regard to treble tolerance, I have no idea.
I’m currently thinking the Sundara’s are my best bet because they have a good soundstage and good imaging. Not the best at either but good. I’ve also heard they EQ well so maybe I can use them to nail down my preference in headphones.
alright, so unless you prefer that cinema or speaker like feel to the sound a smaller soundstage will work for you just fine. Average soundstages would just the more ideal so you definitely have options.
sounds like you would like a good beat then, so some bass would be nice I would definitely recommend the skip on the AKG then in this case as they are quite boring for that.
I would say, the Sundara will work just fine but if you wanted more bass… Try to grab something like IFI ZEN DAC as your amp and dac… it has a bass button on it so you can easily just push the button and get more out of the headphones. Zen Dac can make the Sundara balanced if you want to get a custom cable for it or you can get Zen Can to go along with Zen Dac, of which Zen Can is a newer product and is a dedicated amplifier that stacks ontop of the zen dac with alot more power, another bass button that isn’t as severe of a change, and an xspace button that adds some air and treble to the sound.
Others,
Tygr 300r: Warm signature… has a slight V shape. considering your music preferences and DOOM this should work for you just fine. Above average soundstage so a bit overkill… but I like future proofing incase one picks up a larger FPS
58x Jubilee: Would recommend this a bit more over the 560s considering your musical preferences… otherwise 560s is fine if you want to go this route. Otherwise you can also look into 6xx or 660s considering your playing a smaller soundstage FPS as these have very good sound quality… recommend the IFI zens for this as well
Nighthawk Carbons: a bit too bassy but nothing a slight bit of EQ won’t solve… This is a Dark headphone so it’s not the most ideal and quite unique. Discontinued but very nice sounding.
Amps: Ifi Zen Dac in most cases… if you want something at $200+ and dedicated JDS atom Stack, Schiit magni/modi Stack, or Monoprice spark Stack. Can also substitute in a Topping D10 or E30 as the dac