Headphones for verticality in gaming

Gaming Audio Competitive
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For music they are amazing I said just gaming not so much

I have it on order…

Oh the t1 are spectacular… I didnt like them much till all my upgrades on the amp dac and cable now they are one of my favorites. 1990 does have the more flexible sound though… hell you can make that thing dark sounding and be alright

22

Ah, totally misread that. That’s about what I have heard.

Keep me posted. Any expected arrival date?

I think after all of this discussion and once I test the HD800s and Arya I have a sneaky feeling I’m going to end up with the Ananda and keep the T1 around.

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Nope. Maybe next month? Not sure.

Nah arya replaces ananda in my books. T1 sits like permanently in my collection for now

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Usually, headphones at a similar price range have same imaging and soundstage performance. The sound range of footsteps is about 4k-8k hz as well as gunshots. That’s why the DT990 is so good for gaming. Why don’t you try the DT990 pro or the premium edition? To hear footsteps and gunshots well, the bass should be turned down and the treble should be boosted. The T1 has the strongest bass out of the three you mentioned. Therefore, I suggest that you EQ the T1.2 to reduce bass and elevate the treble range(That’s what the scout mode does). There’s no reason to go for an estat. It’s way too expensive for competitive games that usually have a bad sound engine…If you’re looking for other headphones, the DT990 is a great option for gaming since it has a very strong treble. The AD series is another solid choice, though the AD700X could be too flat. Still, the reason I prefer the T1.2 out of a lot of high-end headphones is that it is very comfortable for long gaming sessions(relatively light and soft pads) and performs well in most music genres thanks to its good amount of bass.

25

Err what? No this is quite inaccurate

95x is cheaper than t1 actually and performs a little better… I just hate its signature for like… everything lmao it doesnt suit me at all.

I really wish beyer would have more curved driver options… it’s so damn nice and comfortable that way as someone with larger ears. My ears touch the 1990 driver which does get so tiresome… 990 have those other silver pads so they feel like earmuffs to me personally which is just heavenly

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@Falenkor - are you running your T1s balanced? I’ve also considered upgrading my setup to either the monoprice or topping and going balanced.

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What kind of sound signature do you think is ideal for games like OW, where characters’ voices as well as footsteps matter? Could the T1.2 work?

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I can only speak for OW. Tl;dr: good mids, good lower treble, excellent imaging (working theory is smooth FR response and channel balance / driver matching helps), excellent detail & separation (so far, the faster the driver the better), non-elevated or even reduced bass / sub-bass are what I’ve found work well.

Below is a run down of the cans I’ve tried (in order that I’ve tried them).

  • X2HR - Hot garbage for OW due to poor detail retrieval / separation
  • Kph30i - Hot garbage for OW due to poor detail retrieval / separation
  • Corsair Virtuosso SE - This headset is ok after EQ. Before EQ it’s a hot mess in the FR. Sound is too congested to pick up audio cues mid-fight. Folks can and do play well with this headset, but it’s not the best choice. Wireless dynamics are better for convenience than actual performance.
  • 6XX - fine until mid-fight starts. Sound is too congested to pick up audio cues mid-fight.
  • DT 880 - better than 6XX until mid-fight (especially since Echo was introduced with her crazy treble audio cues). Sound is too congested to pick up audio cues mid-fight.
  • Argon Mk3 - Really fun. With lambskin pads MANY audio cues are gone. With protein pads SOME audio cues are gone. Way too much bass. While fun, a poor choice for comp.
  • 95x - fantastic for all stages of the game (rolled off bass seems to help). Switching to these finally let me start reliably doing 180 spins and delivering effective fire based on audio cues. Everything prior I could get to within ~30 degrees from audio and then would need to scan for targets visually before I could shoot. Once I got used to the increased speed of the drivers, sound became noticeably veiled (still superior to every non-estat I’ve tried, but it still feels like you’re missing some of the audio). Also, some (including mine) 95x develop a static squeal. It’s totally manageable, covered by the lifetime warranty, but it’s annoying nonetheless.
  • L700mk2 - Better than 95x in FR, detail, separation. Absurdly overkill for this use-case, but in quarantine land… well… I know I’m not missing anything audio wise lol.
  • Sundara - really like this. Not as easy to track fight from audio cues as estats. The Sundara has decent bass, which isn’t really helpful for OW (and probably other competitive FPS). Explosions are fun, but don’t provide useful cues for where to shoot. So reducing their prevalence in the soundscape is helpful (free up your ears / brains to pickup more useful sounds).
  • Elex. I love this headphone A LOT but it’s not good for comp. Too much bass. Sound is too congested to pick up audio cues mid-fight.

Stuff I’m considering:

  • Audeze Penrose - Looks like it could provide sufficient performance for precision aiming with the convenience of wireless. I’d take this over the Mobius 100% of the time because faux 3D positioning sucks (outside of engines directly baked into games) are at best inaccurate to worse than stereo. Also headtracking audio seems counter-productive for comp; center sound image should always match the aim point of your shooter (i.e. the middle of your screen).
  • HD 800. Supposedly really good for games. I’m not sure if it can handle mid-fight sound congestion as well as a planar or estat.
  • Arya - Should be even faster than the Sundara with less impactful bass (a bonus for comp). Almost certainly overkill for comp.
    Edit: I’ve never heard the T1.2. I’ve heard folks like it (there’s folks that say it’s a baby HD800). I have the same reservations with it; I doubt it’ll handle the chaotic soundscape mid-fight as well as a planar or estat. (sorry, got so focused on doing a brain dump I forgot half of your question)
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yes. I have mine attached to a liquid platinum

30

What an awesome summary, thanks.

So while I started this thread I received the HD800s and Arya. Here has been my last two days.

HD800s arrives - immediately putting it on and listening to music I know I’m going to like it. I don’t feel like the soundstage is artificial, for me it sounds excellent. I don’t seem to suffer from any treble peaks so there is that. It does lack some bass but the bass that is there sounds really clean. Gaming. People were not joking, it’s a monster. Separation is unreal. I would say the T1 is very close but there just seems to be a slight veil on the t1 and the HD800s doesn’t have that. Is it double the price better? Probably not for almost everyone unless you make a living gaming or just don’t care about the cost difference. For verticality as mentioned in the thread title, it’s good. I can definitely distinguish footsteps above and below.

Arya. The very first song and it’s my favorite headphone for music by a large margin. It’s incredibly detailed, the bass is amazing, and the music just surrounds your head. I thought the HD800s was good for listening to music but this is unreal. Vocals are pushed a little further back but it sounds incredible. Gaming, tough to say. The details are there but something about it makes me like it less than the Ananda for gaming (which others have said). I definitely have more directional awareness with the Ananda. For gaming I wouldn’t go this route but if you listen to music all day every day, this is really hard to beat from everything I have heard. Just like the T1 with the HD800s, I think the Ananda is 80-90 percent there so it probably just comes down to how much money you want to spend (like everything).

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sounds about right yeah, I just feel it’s quite a bit over priced considering how similar T1 is at less than half.

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I think beyond the price range of the HD800s and the T1, it’s already overkilling for gaming… Thanks for the good information!

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Haven’t really read much of this conversation but I find verticality depends less on our gear rather sound design and the sound engine the game uses. Like no one really does close combat vertical sound than the generic sound engine but awesome sound design rainbow six siege.

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T1.2 is excellent for Overwatch. I think you are looking for imaging, detail, and separation. There is a lot going on in Overwatch and being able to isolate and pinpoint each audio queue is important. As Aldarrin mentioned, some headphones can bleed into the audio queue by being to forward in the bass. Everything I’ve played competitively pretty much benefits from a slightly bass anemic headphone. In my opinion the T1 straddles that line better than anything else I’ve heard as it still has solid bass extension (better so than the hd800s in my opinion, and assuming you still want some bass).

Yeah, R6 sound design is incredible. That being said, even in COD there is a noticeable difference for me going from something like the T1 to the Ananda for vertical queues so I do think there is at least something there (even though I have no idea what).

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So what is your recommendation between these 3, also there HD8xx coming out this. I play warzone a lot and I can’t decide which one to get.

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You really can’t go wrong with any of the following:

  • hd800s
  • ether flow 1.1 or ether 2
  • Audeze lcd-gx with eq
  • beyerdynamic t1 2nd gen
  • Hifiman Ananda
  • beyerdynamic dt1990 pro

I would honestly probably focus on comfort and make a decision from there. I found the top four more comfortable than the bottom two with the ananda riding the line as it kind of depends on head shape. The 1990 pro just has too much clamp for me.

That all being said, if I were buying something today it’s probably the ether flow, ether 2, or ananda. I really preferred the planar sound and the soundstage and imaging are fantastic. I sometimes found that the hd800s I would miss queues because it got lost (an example being a far away footstep) in the extra wide soundstage. I also don’t listen very loud so that may have an impact.

Out of all of these, the ether 2 was actually my favorite gaming headphone. Something in the frequency response just made footsteps pop in warzone, imaging was amazing, and soundstage had good width but not too much where things were lost. Obviously this is really expensive so if you can afford it and it’s not a stretch than great, but there are definitely diminishing returns with spending that much money. You are probably getting 90 percent of the performance with the cheaper options like the ananda or dt1990 pro.

For me personally, here are my favorites in order.

  1. Ether 2
  2. Ether flow 1.1
  3. Ananda
  4. Hd800s
  5. T1
  6. Audeze lcd-gx with eq
  7. Dt1990 pro

As I mentioned at the beginning, any one of these are incredible and will do the job exceptionally well. Hopefully that helps but it’s such a personal thing I can only throw out some options and ultimately you probably need to decide based on budget, comfort, and the sound for your ears.

37

Thank you akentosh,

I have some questions if you don’t mind:

  • What’s the difference between Ether 2 and Ether Flow, to be honest it’s my first time I heard about it and I saw the prices of these 2. I mean difference in soundstage, imaging, bass, good for music and gaming, etc…

  • I saw the ear-cup of ether 2 and it seems uncomfortable, what’s your opinion about them?

  • Are you using AMP/DAC and what are you using?

I discovered lately I have addiction which is collecting headphones (V-Moda, HD6xx, Tyger 300r and some other headphones, and I didn’t venture for the high prices headphones yet. Now I’m using Steel series Arctis pro wireless and it’s good for warzone.
I don’t mind paying an extra to reach my goal and find the perfect headphones.

I will look for Ether 2 reviews and if there is any advices from your side that would great.

Thanks Again,

38

Good questions:

  • I find the ether 2 to be warmer overall and it has a tad more resolution. The crazy thing about the ether 2 is that when you listen to it you just think “this is pleasant”. Then if you really listen and focus on something you notice the resolution capabilities and get kind of blown away how they were able to achieve that but still make a very listenable headphone, if that makes sense? That being said, the ether 1.1 is no slouch and has great extension and resolution but isn’t as dark as the ether 2. I found the comfort of the 1.1 better than the 2 due to the fact that the 2 only has one attachment point to the ear cup which caused some pressure behind my ears which the perforated pads helped reduce. Both of these are exceptionally comfortable headphones though.
  • I had zero issues with the ear cups on either. Not sure if that’s just the shape of the ear or what, but for me, they were great.
  • Monolith by Monoprice Desktop Balanced Headphone Amplifier and DAC with THX AAA Technology (Dual AKM 4493 DACs & Dual AAA-788 Modules) - Monoprice.com

I think the ether 2 could be a fantastic all-in-one and I was very tempted in keeping it for that but ended up getting rid of it. I may end up buying it again but I’m still exploring. That being said, I think the Ananda could also be a fantastic all-in-one along with several other headphones for far cheaper. I have yet to try the Ether CX from Massdrop but they may also be something to consider depending on if you want closed vs open.

Good luck!

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Thanks Again.
When you say ether 1.1, you mean ether c flow right?

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The Ether flow 1.1. It’s an open version. I don’t think it’s listed on their site anymore.