I play cross platform Call of Duty with my buddy who’s been out of a job since COVID hit. I’d like to do something nice for him and buy him a nice audio setup for gaming and music. He currently has an old bose headset, but I’m not sure how he has it hooked up. He wears glasses a lot so it’d be a bonus if it’s comfy too! He mainly listens to rock music.
I was hoping to spend around $100-150. I’m happy to go over if it means better value / build quality / Footstep placement since I know that’s a pretty low budget for good quality cans and this would be his first nice audio setup.
Lastly, he’s on xbox so if it’s a more gamer centric headset it’d have to be compatible with that console. I have an xbox chat adapter I can send him already if that will work but if he won’t need it that’s even better.
I’ve been eying the Philips SHP9500 and a vmoda boom mic. They seemed to be a good budget recommendation and regarded as great value in the places I’ve looked. How do they fair for footstep placement? I’d be willing to step up to the x2s if it means better quality and general use too.
The X2’s soundstage is good but I’m not sure about imaging. Maybe something from Sennheiser’s 500 series would be better if footsteps are his main focus
Have to say i like SHP9500 more than X2.
The overwhelming amount bass on X2’s was just too much and ruined it for me in games.
If memory serves the SHP’s also has wider soundstage.
So it’s good option for budget gaming and i still use them + mic as second gaming set.
If your wanting a headset then grab him the MH751 or the newer models that just came out from cooler master MH630/650/670. Outright buying a takstar would work as well in this regard since the coolermaster headphones are based off the Takstar Pro 82.
You can generally pick up a shp9500 for around $50 and a V-moda for around $30 giving you about $20-$70 to spare. In some cases you will want a small sound card or something however to push the headphone a bit further in volume and is worth mentioning. Due to the signature they do pick out footsteps just fine with a large soundstage and fairly accurate imaging. The only downsides I could see is the needing of something to slightly drive it, though almost any amp will work provided it works for consoles, V-moda Boom Pro can be a bit “hot” or rather sensitive, and out of the box shp9500 may be seen as a bit boring in sound. You can of course modifiy the shp9500 by purchasing Modhouse’s 3d adapter rings which which let you change it’s pads though which is quite nice. You can use something like shure, Beyerdynamic, Brainwavz, Dekoni, or ZMF pads on the shp9500 and completely change up the signature while making it really comfortable as the pads out the box are really large but super thin. The new shp9600 looks like it potentially could be arriving here as of next month since its on aliexpress stating people can buy it in the usa and receive it in a month
As for the x2 its decent enough though I am partial to the shp9500 more due to the modification factor.
Some alternatives would be Sennheiser PC37x or something in the 500 series depending on the signature you are looking for in particular. 500 series will generally be right around $100 if you shop around and can make use of a detachable 2.5mm boom microphone. You can change the pads on them if you purchase the modhouse 3d ring adapter as well
