Looking for headpohnes suited for rainbow six siege. Tired ad-700x, akg701 and dt 990 pro.
Results:
Ad-700x pretty interesting stufff, nice soundstage but lacking good separation. In the result there were mostly mixed feelings regarding positioning. After adding ifi zen dac it is even worse. Everything is mixed…
AKG k701 - very nice soundstage, even better than ad-700x. It was somehow too big for such game like r6 - when a lot of things is going on, hardly to function in this environment. Add some voice chat/discord and it is even worse…
DT 990 Pro 250ohm - it seemed to be perfect at first, really nice, detailed soundstage with great positioning and separation. Though, after a few days of playing, it is so hard to play with this treble My ears hurt, distract me etc…
So the question is: is there any better option for such game like R6 - not so big stage, detailed, less treble than dt 990? What about seinheisers? They should be warmer but never tried any. Is there a big difference between dt 990 vs dt 880?
Would appreciate some help here, especially from the ones familiar with r6 specifically. Cheers!
Dt880 600ohm are pretty fantastic for gaming and music.
However, before you buy more headphones, if you are gaming on pc them I’d try good eq program. I’ve used equalizer app with a skin before and it could tone down the treble some.
A cheaper option is maybe a warmer amp like the liquid spark. It toned down the Grado SR80e and atom HiFi T2 Pro. Both of those can get really sibilant really quick.
The new SR80X aren’t as sibilant… at all and would likely be good for gaming with a pass swap.
I’ve been using the Drop Panda with optional boom mic and don’t have any complaints.
250 ohm is presently brighter than 600 ohms(they peak in different locations of the frequency)… go to the 600 ohm or try tygr 300r if you are driving the beyers through an amp this can also make them appear brighter and potentially bassier. You can also try using EQ to push back the treble of the 990 or just pad swap it to a dekoni velour… hell even adding the tygrs filters works
880 is semi open back while 990 is fully open… 880 has a more mid centric bright signature while 990 is V shaped. 990 has better stage and imaging but 880 is no slouch to this either. Both are extremely detailed. 880 isn’t as bright as 990.
New pads + eq sound interesting! Next step (if this fails) will be checking the liquid spark Fun fact: (regarding what just @epic225 said) - when I use dt 990 with my pc onboard realtek - it is better, at least in r6.
SO, I found a few types od dekoni pads:
DEKONI Choice Leather
DEKONI Elite Fenestrated Sheepskin
DEKONI Choice Hybrid
DEKONI Choice Suede
DEKONI Elite Suede
DEKONI Elite Hybrid
Which one would be the best and why? Could you elaborate what are the differences? Couldnt find good info on Dekoni site…
interesting… yeah I would recommend the spark then if the onboard is better than what your using… the spark does a great job at taming the 990s back and can drive the 600 ohm 990 as well which the 600 ohm is much better in my opinion…
stay with velours… this sounds redundant but the key difference is the thickness of the pad and different kind of foam. Velours will keep the bass in its lane while taming the treble by a few decibels all others are going to heavily emphasize that bass tone and you definitely don’t want this for competitive… fenestrated can do this as well but to a lesser extent than the velour… the dekoni elite velour is about twice as thick as og edt 990 pads and comes with its own foam filter inside the pad. You can also order the tygr foam filters if you feel you want even more treble tame… these can be ordered through beyer directly, they are like $10, and go over the driver replacing the current foam piece… its pretty easy to do honestly but youll need like an ifixit thin plastic stick or something of that sort to pop off the ring holding down the filter(make sure this is done in a clean environment… no hair potential or anything as the driver will be exposed momentarily and be careful with it)
The 990s actually have a potential to even become dark headphones which is crazy all considering but takes extensive changing… I would recommend the spark, elite velour, and tygr filter but this could drastically change how you view the 990s current sound profile. .you may be better off with going the tygr 300r at this point instead but worth a shot anyway
image above is your frequency response of the 250 ohm 990… pretty easy to see where that treble peaks at so you can deal with it in your EQ… a simple pad swap alone is going to drop that peak a few decibels…
I’ve just ordered the elite suede pads. Regarding other things you mentioned:
I would love to try tygr300r, but there is some ridiculous problem with their availability in my country (PL) - can’t get them anywhere, it is marked as discontinued here and Beyerdynamic doesn’t send them to my country either.
So I will try with the new pads first. I also implemented some eq settings:
Peak at 6500hz, -6dB Q of 4
Peak at 8500hz, -5dB Q of 4
Peak at 13000hz, -8dB Q of 6
So just gonna test them in the following days.
As it comes to the dac/amp I am using, well, I spent some time testing headphones via my onboard card vs dac and the difference is there. Of course, remember we are not talking about sound quality related to listening to music (there is an obvious winner). I believe that ifi zen just doesn’t warm the headphones, rather trying to use their potential - in this case, dt 990 are just a bright piece of stuff. Using this dac during the game makes the sound more complex, I’d say. And the brightness is really there - after a few matches, it is overwhelming. Maybe it is an individual preference, idk. Ppl on the internet also claim that the sound from ifi zen dac is bright indeed (but not so many reviews of these two pieces paired tbh).
Looking forward to trying those new pads. I can keep you updated if you wanna.
suede are practically bass cannons… great for casual… god awful for competitive just a forewarning… I use the suedes alot for my beyers as they are my most used set of pads next to velour
discontinued? first I have heard of that… well alright then
zen struggles a little to really push the beyers less you use its balanced port… not the best choice but it does work fine as long as its only the 250 ohm beyer and not the 600… the ifi zens are warm amps actually… not as warm as the spark and definitely not as powerful but still warm nonetheless. Though yeah… 990 are extremely sharp
I am not sure who in the world is claiming a zen dac is bright… it absolutely without a doubt is not… I own that amp as well as bright amps… I would sooner say it swings neutral than I would say it swings bright… people should sit down with a thx amp, smsl, aune, or quite a few others before they go saying an ifi amp is “bright” sounding.
My ears hurt, distract me etc…
Fun fact: (regarding what just 
