Guide to competitive fps audio~

I have had many friends and people asking me for recommendations when searching for a gaming headset and or headphones. So I thought I’d make this guide for beginners.

[~] Toni’s Gaming Audio Guide [~]




Generally Headphones come in 2 types when it comes to the way they sit on your head:

  • On-ear, the ear-cushion sits on your ears rather than over the ear.

  • Over-ear, the ear-cushion sits around your ear instead of on your ears.

And three “systems”:

  • Open back, the cups are designed in such a way sounds from your surroundings can easily reach your ears. These typically have a flatter frequency response.

  • Semi-open, the cups somewhat limit ingress of noise from your surroundings

  • Closed back, the ear cups block most of the surrounding noise. Typically, closed back headphones have more bass.

Now, there’re both pros and cons with each system:

Open back headphones are designed so that the outer shell of the ear covering is perforated in some fashion, typically with horizontal cutouts. Closed-back headphones have a solid outer shell with no perforations of any sort such that the shell effectively cups the entire ear.

Now, while the terminology corresponds clearly to the physical design of the headphones, you can not know the way a headphone sounds based on its construction alone.

Closed-back headphones excel at isolating background and unwanted noise. Note, we’re not talking about active-noise-canceling technology, but just the very physical structure of the closed-back over-the-head design: there’s a big pad that cups your ear and an insulated shell of plastic that covers your ears. Headphones with a closed ear cup design that seals the ear and prevents sound from leaking or seeping into your audio. Now talking about competitive audio generally closed back headphones would be best for noisy environments for example, Lans and the place that you might be gaming at.

We will be looking at some options for both but generally it depends on you and what you need.

Comparison for open and closed-back headphones based on sound, leakage, noise isolation, and comfort.

Open vs Closed Headphones Correlation Open Closed
Bass Response Strong Good Great
Soundstage Strong Great Mediocre
Leakage Strong Poor Good
Noise isolation Strong Poor Good
Comfort Weak Great Good

Before we get into the recommendations I’d like to talk a bit on what you’re looking for when buying headphones or headsets for gaming.

The number 1 thing is comfort, if the headphones/headsets aren’t comfortable to be worn for a prolonged amount of time, it doesn’t matter how amazing they sound or how they image you will not be able to concentrate on the screen nor on the sound, so comfort is the most important. Now when talking about comfort the first thing that you should be looking at is the weight for example I can not wear my Focal x Massdrop Elex for a long amount of time because they weigh 16 oz aka 450 g. Second thing is the size of the pads and the clamp force, the bigger and softer the pads the better because you are spreading the clamping force over a bigger surface area.

The next thing is imaging, imaging is mostly important for gamers since accurate placement and localization of objects (voice, instruments, or video game effects like footsteps) in the stereo field is quite crucial. To explain it in a simpler way imaging is how well you can tell where the footsteps are, from which direction they are coming.

Gaming headsets under 100

  • HyperX Cloud 2 (99Euro/USD)

Right at 100 we have the ever so popular Cloud 2 from HyperX
The HyperX Cloud 2 has a balanced sound and its imaging is average for its price and for being closed back. They’re well-built, sturdy, and comfortable. With an impedance of 60 Ohms they are easily driven by your build in amp from your motherboard though as always a small amp DAC is recommended, but I will talk about that later on.
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They’re comfortable enough to wear for long gaming sessions even though during summer your ears will get hot because of the closed back design. Now like I mentioned earlier being closed back has its pros and cons first things first these are light, coming at 315 grams these are fairly lightweight for its build quality and with a clamping force of 450 grams they are very comfortable though the pads aren’t the best I could easily play for hours and hours without too much discomfort.
https://tinyurl.com/ycd8gr75 - EU Link
https://tinyurl.com/y7ekpns3 - US Link
(non affiliate links btw)

  • Cooler Master MH751/MH752 (85-100 Euro/USD)

Next up from Cooler Master is the MH751, They have a reasonably comfortable fit, a well-balanced sound profile and its imaging is apart with other headsets at its price point, and a detachable boom microphone that is actually not bad. That said, they feel slightly cheaply made since they are made from plastic though its plastic isn’t the worse. Otherwise, if you’re looking for a pair of simple over-ear headphones with an ok mic.
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They’re a good option mostly because of how comfortable they are coming at 275 grams and with a clamping force of 315 grams and have plushly-padded ear cups, don’t squeeze your head too tightly but that means that they won’t seal too well, so I wouldn’t recommend them for LANS for example.
Amazon.de - EU Link
https://tinyurl.com/y8oj2yq8 - US Link

  • HyperX Cloud Stinger S (70Euro/USD)

Last but not least a bit of a more affordable option is the Cloud Stinger S again from HyperX, They have a neutral sound profile that packs extra boom and punch in the bass range, but their audio delivery isn’t very consistent. They aren’t very versatile or portable, and they have poor noise isolation performance. That said they are solid for the price, good feeling plastic (for the price) the cable is meh just like most fixed cables, the imaging is rather surprising for the price.
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Again for the price the ear cups are fine and with a weight of 280 grams and a clamping force of 400 grams they are pretty comfortable though not as much as the previous options, but again for the price they are decent.
Amazon.de - EU Link
https://tinyurl.com/y7g96z2u - US Link

I will not be recommending headsets for over 100 USD/Euro since for that amount of money you can get a very nice headphone and microphone for the same amount of money and that’s what we’re gonna talk about.

Headphones under 100 (Open/Semi-open Back)

First one up the Audio-Technica M50x, the headphone itself is… hah just kidding don’t get the M50x, seriously don’t.

  • Philips SHP9500 (75USD/80Euro)

I could not make a guide and not talk about the Philips SHP9500, these headphones are legendary and for a good reason. Can’t complain about anything. Comfort is great, especially since these weigh just shy of 300 grams with those big pads spreading the pressure of 315 grams for the clamping force.
Sound is balanced overall, Mids are very good and present as I said it’s a very balanced headphone. Highs are slight elevated and sometimes there is sibilance, but the headphone sounds very lively and dynamic because of that. Soundstage is good as well as imaging and amazing for the price. Because these are open back you will not be able to use them in loud environments LANS and or a loud room so keep in mind but at the same time these will let your ears breathe which allowed me to use them for a lot more time than the other headphones/headsets that are closed.
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Overall these are just amazing for the price, if you don’t have a noisy room I would highly recommend you to pick these up for their price.
https://tinyurl.com/y9cgb2v7 - EU Link
https://tinyurl.com/y7u58lvz - US Link

  • Superlux 668b/681 (40 USD/Euro)

These two headphones are honestly the best value, for 40USD/Euro you are getting some wonderful quality headphones for the price, always keep in mind that we’re talking about sub 50USD/Euro headphones. Even though they may feel a bit flimsy they are built alright, they are really light made out of plastic, not much to say just cheap plastic. That said they make up for it with amazing balanced sound, honestly using these even today shocks me a bit for their price, they sound very clear with good imaging and fairly decent mid-range.
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These are so light coming up at 230 grams they are decently well-padded but a bit too tight on the head as the clamping force is closer to 550 grams but because they are made out of plastic they can be stretched with a foam box.
Amazon.de - EU Link
https://tinyurl.com/yddlkykw - US Link

Now for the more serious gamers out there, for headphones I will talk only about open back ones and if you want to go to some LAN the only thing I will recommend is iems.

Headphones over 100 (Open/Semi-Open Back)

  • Beyerdynamic DT 880 (150 Euro/USD)

The number one headphones for serious competitive gamers would arguably be the DT880,
The DT 880 are just amazing, very balanced sound helping the footsteps sound crispy and clean, imaging is just superb I wish I could describe how well these work for gaming anything from CSGO to R6 to Squad to EFT these will do magic. There are 3 versions of these headphones the 32 Ohm, 250 Ohm and 600 Ohm, and you’re probably wondering which one to get and honestly its simple as do you have a good amp? If you do have a good amplifier then I would recommend you to go with the 250 Ohm, the 600 Ohm do not have a significant difference for gaming, and they are much harder to drive without a proper powerful amp.
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These are literally like a cloud on your head, i can wear these for days and i wouldnt care. With a weight of 300 grams and a clamping force of 420 gram (nice) outside of the box is just perfect, over time the clamping force will get looser, been using mine for a long period of time and the clamping force went down to 290 grams but honestly these are so light it doesnt even matter, because they are semi open they let your ears breathe so no problems in the summer. Generally these are the one to get if you dont have a noisy enviroment.
https://tinyurl.com/y9l7gef6 - EU Link (32 Ohm)
https://tinyurl.com/yap7zgby - EU Link (250 Ohm)
https://tinyurl.com/y7dftu4v - US Link (32 Ohm)
https://tinyurl.com/yaool9gg - US Link (250 Ohm)

  • Audio-Technica ATH-AD700X (150 USD/Euro)

Next one is the AD700x from Audio-Technica, these are also amazing honestly for the price you get a very nice pair of quality cans, good generally balanced sound with emphasys on the mids. But these where they shine is at the imaging and sound stage similar to the dt880s. Don’t have much to say these are solid for the price.
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Another pair of headphones that are as light as a cloud… literally, weighing at 250 grams and with a clamping force of 350 grams these are so light you could sleep with these on easily.
Amazon.de - EU Link
https://tinyurl.com/ybxe7lt6 - US Link

  • Beyerdynamic TYGR 300 R (200USD/Euro)

Last but not least the TYGR 300 R these are similar to the dt880’s in many ways and different in others, very clear sound with slight boosted sub-bass and bass but nothing too much, The soundstage is wide and these headphones image really really well, the comfort is the same at the dt880’s since they use the same design and pads. You may ask, how is it different from the dt880’s, the DT 880 has a very linear frequency response. The TYGR 300 R focuses on gaming and is based on the frequency response of the DT 990 PRO. A powerful bass and detailed accentuated treble go very well with gaming. However, the sound design of the DT 990 PRO has been further optimized for gaming, sometimes through the use of a special acoustic fleece and by optimized for gaming i mainly mean soundstage and imaging.
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TYGR 300 R: Open-Back Gaming Headphones|beyerdynamic - US Link
TYGR 300 R: Offener Gaming-Kopfhörer|beyerdynamic - EU Link

Going back to what i said about Ohms, to get the best out of your iems/headphones i would highly recommend an amp dac, something like the schiit Fula coming at 99$ or the FX-X6 DAC AMP for 65$.
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IEMs

Now here is where i excpect most serious gamers to come, due to LANS and loud envieroments IEMs give a really good value due to their noise isolation and price to performance when it comes to imaging.
Pretty much all the closed back headphones i have tried for serious gaming never worked, either my ears would get too hot or the would sound too bass-y or too V shaped and it just does not work for gaming at all but with iems i never had a single problem and we’ll get right into them.
But before we get to the iems themselves a very important thing is the tips.
There’s mainly 3 types of tips, Silicone, Memory-Foam and XELASTEC.
In my opinion you should try all 3 since they are so different between each other.
Silicone tips are what pretty much everyone is familiar with, my personal recommendation would be Spinfit Tips or JVC Spiral Dots.
For Memory-Foam either Comply Foam or TENNMAK Foam Tips. (KZ Foam tips are a great cheaper alternative)
And for XELASTEC there is only one option currently on the market which is the AZLA SednaEarfit.
Now to the IEMs.

  • TIN Audio T2 (50 Euro/USD)

The TIN Audio T2 have good neutral/balanced sound though the Tin T2 leans towards a brighter sound signature. It has a more detail-oriented tuning. But I wouldn’t call these lacking in bass, people who are more used to more common V-shape tunings with slightly elevated bass might find this set hard to adjust to. I won’t lie, it took me a while of listening before I managed to fully appreciate the strengths of the T2. It is quite a technically capable set, especially for its asking price. The soundstage and imaging is really good considering the price and that its an IEM. Highly recommended for LANS/Loud enviroments.
When it comes to comfort these are small, make sure to find some good eartips and these will be an all-day iem no problem.
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Amazon.de - EU Link
https://tinyurl.com/yaks5dsg - US Link

  • Moondrop Starfield (100 Euro/USD)

Moondrop Starfields are very neutral, ass is well extended and has great impact, clarity and slam. There is a single dynamic driver in this IEM, which can produce excellent bass response.
Mids are very good, have clarity, transparency and sound very natural.
Highs are detailed, well extended, never sibilant or harsh. When it comes to imaging and soundstage both are average for the price and the fact that its an iem, similar to the T2.
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https://tinyurl.com/ya66rtoz - EU Link
https://tinyurl.com/ycvfcpxp - US Link

  • Etymotic ER2 (100-170 USD/Euro)

The Etymotic ER2 are famous for their deep insertion IEMs, which provide the best isolations out of all IEMS. This comes at a cost of comfort for some individuals. However, I will say that for me and a few other individuals who tried my ER2SE, they fit surprisingly well and I was able to wear them for 4+hours without discomfort making them ideal for LANS. When it comes to the sound they sound very clean, neutral sound that is highly detailed. Mids are fantastic footsteps sound clear and crispy. Soundstage and Imaging is usable, nothing spectacular but they are fine i have used them in LANs previously and they worked very well, nothing bad to say overall.
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https://tinyurl.com/ycwtxtuk - EU Link
https://tinyurl.com/yb2vvzcf - US Link

  • Tin HiFi T4 (100USD/Euro)

The Tin HiFi T4 has a very balaced sound with a slight up in the sub-bass area and higher up in the mids and low highs, generally these sound very well for fps games the imaging and sound stage is really really good, overall these are a solid recommendation i dont have anything to hate about them and the imaging is really good for IEMs and overall clarity and neutrality is accompanied by very, very good layering and separation all over the entire spectrum.
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https://tinyurl.com/y8elmudc - EU Link
https://tinyurl.com/ycc2agco - US Link

And this is it, didnt want to make this too long but i hope that i helped some people make a decision!
Oh and a little bit about myself, i’ve been playing cs for the past 7 years, R6 for 4 and EFT for 1.
Have tried many but these are the only ones that worked for me and my friends that have been “testing” for years, to be fair i never thought i’d make a guide but looking back and how many headsets and headphones me and my friend went through to find the good ones its something i felt is good to do so you dont have to go through the same pain i did, anyways i hope you liked it and i hope you have an amazing day.
私はみんなを愛しています

7 Likes

More “introductions for the beginners” are good.

That passage looked rather familiar to me. Almost as if I wrote that 12 hours before you.


Formating wise, you might want to put a # or two before the individual models to help readability. Like so:

 ## this is a headline

this is a headline

2 Likes

Yeah, lol you put it in a very nice way thought I’d put it in my little guide haha, and okay ^^ I’m still new to reviews even though I’m not new to audio so ill try to improve! ^^

1 Like

which one would be the most accurate for CALL of duty multiplayer ?
i am looking to buy good headphone while i am running if someone shoot i know exactly where he is standing

using m40 now by the way

Well first are you looking for a closed back headphone or open back? Once you answer that just choose any of the ones that I put under 100, check what I wrote about them and select the one you prefer

these are actually brighter than the 250 ohms and have a respectfully difference frequency curve as such, due to this some sounds are more apparent and pushed even further forward making some sounds easier to place. There is also the black special edition of 250 ohm which is also a different FR curve strangely enough more than likely due to the difference of pads and dampener.

600 ohm(in red) vs 250 ohm ^

600 ohm (red) vs 250 ohm black

the pad design is different but to smaller degrees as the edt 990 vb are used for Tygrs unless you have the black variation of the DT 880s which comes with the same pad. The original stock silver pads are more curved on the inner portions of the ear while the edt 990 vb are more circular. As such black pads also can add some portions in the bass

I did not know that, never realize it when I was playing with the 600 vs 250, that’s why I said for gaming, I didn’t have much time with them to listen to just music I mainly played games with them and I couldn’t really tell much if any difference at all. But thank you for the feedback! I gladly appreciate it ^^ edit. Also regarding the comfort the pads felt very similar if not the same to me, but maybe it’s because I did not spend as much time with them as with the dt880s

1 Like

I think it really boils down to the game… like for example I don’t really notice those differences between the two ohms in something like call of duty modern warfare… but in games such as Tarkov or some cases of CS it appears much more present(especially tarkov), due to the limitations of sound engines it makes it hard to gauge really what headphone is good for which game. Not too many FPS can use something like the Elex or T1.2 when it comes to their soundstage and imaging capabilities. Makes DT 880 and Tygr 300r extremely appealing though for sure.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense especially in eft when I play with my Elex it feels so different, i think its best if i make a separate guide for headphones and iems tbh, and explain for each game, i should spend more time with each one. Thank you btw!

@Falenkor when I look at the comparison of the dt 880 600ohm (in red) and 250 ohm (in purple), other than the obvious peak at 8k in the 600ohm, I think the biggest difference is the roll off the highs, to me looks like the 600 ohms roll off much sooner, looking what some people would call “veiled”, whilst the 250 ohm is flatter and then just drops abruptely. That’s just based in that particular graph. Maybe I am reading it wrong. What’s your opinion?

pretty sure it’s just the measurement rigging he did in that regard, while yes it does fall off I definitely would not call it veiled at all. 250 ohm definitely has that more balanced tonality to it for sure

can i get a summary of the ending which dt pair of headphones is best and what is the difference in the black limited editon and is 600 worth it over for 250

there isn’t a best

only 880 has the differences for the black 250 ohm limited edition which is a weird tuning and I would say skip that variant… outside of that any of them work. All 3 are fine in their 250 ohms with 600 ohms being the more refined but different signatures. 990 at 600 ohms has it’s treble peak smoothed out more and the signature refined… 880 gains brightness in 600 ohms as well as some bass and much more detail. The beyers demand an amp

@Falenkor what does the DT880 Edition 250 Ohm do better than the SHP 9500 when it comes down to competitive gaming? I ordered the DTs and I have been testing them both side to side.

I am not sure if the DTs have better imaging, but I do I feel like they have more clarity or detail relative to the 9500s. I can’t really pinpoint what it is. More resolving?

All of the above though 880 isn’t the biggest on stage so they are a bit close on that. 250 ohm is alright not as good as 600 ohm but comparing to 9500, more resolving, tighter, detailed, better clarity, better timbre, subjectively better comfort, much much better build quality, capable of changing signature through pads, better imaging… though, picky as hell and demands power in comparison… the 880 250 ohm sounds a bit narrow or intimate less it’s on a bigger sounding amp from my experience

880s can gain stage from an amp such as asgard 3 and thicker pads such as dekoni without destroying sound capabilities

Look at the ETYMOTIC ER2SE literally the perfect earphone. There’s a neat effect with that dip at 10k hz due to resonace behind that dip it perfectly levels out the earphone to perfectly flat. It’s perfect

Don’t need to just get the ER2SE :triumph:

:thinking: not sure if trolling by posting ear buds like this on a year old thread. None the less, never tried them so I can’t say whether they are good or not… however for competitive gaming… ehhh doubtful considering like 98% of all the in ears I have tested have been trash in comparison to the performance you get out of regular headphones and speakers.

wouldn’t necessarily call that perfectly flat…

another test.

crins test against the harman curve… I mean I guess its fine then… neutral as hell.

The ER2SE has some of the best sound stage with no masking if you compensate that graph you’ll see it’s dead flat. Crin’s graphs don’t measure against Harmon. You would see a bass boost from 0 to 80 or 100 hz. He measures against flat.

In Crin’s graph he doesn’t fully deep insert that’s why you’re seeing a rise in 1-2k which looks like a mids boost that isn’t there if you insert the iem properly.

The earphone has no air masking for perfect treble resolution, no 6k driver breakup like every headphone has or treble resonance like planars get in their air region due to their almost massless transducer.

The 10k dip balances with resonances in the 8 to 9k region when you see a compensated graph its the highest res earphone on the market.

For $100 i have my doubts in it being the best, but its cheap and i can easily try it for myself ill throw an order for it.