Hi, I’m quite new to buying headphones, buying generic ones in the past. I’m looking for headphones for competitive FPS gaming on Modern Warfare for example (hearing footsteps etc.) that are compatible with the V-Moda Boom Pro Mic. I know open back is what I’m looking for in that regard, and something with a detachable wire to plug in the mic wire. My budget is £200
I’ve done my own research and found:
Philips SHP9500
Sivga SV007
Audio Technica WS1100is
Fidelio L2
However, I’ve no idea which of these (or if there are any other options) that would be best for my needs. Any suggestions would be great, thanks!
9500 would more than likely be your best bet here… but you are limiting yourself quite heavily relying on the v moda… recommend looking into a dedicated mic or a modmic down the road so you have more options for your gaming…
Do keep in mind that headphones are also more demanding than headsets. If you do not have an amp and your headphone is too quiet it means your motherboard or console Is incapable of using that headphone without an amp.
You should be okay with a 250 ohm headphone but I’d encourage finding a way to test this through some form of return policies.
Considering your not in the USA I assume drop is out so I cant recommend 58x.
Toss up
Ad700x best budget next to shp9500
Akg k702 has some image issues and priced stupid so need to shop around. Works fine
Sennheiser hd 598 classic all rounder was discontinued but can be found
Beyerdynamic more than likely the best choice here… tygr 300r, dt 880, dt770, and dt 990 will all work I’m just concerned on the impedance. All of these headphones can be found on your price range some at only $100.
Yes, unfortunately drop is not viable with me being in the UK as I did look at the PC37/38X’s originally.
Similar to that, I did look at Tygr 300r but availability is also the issue. DT880 are available though for £150 ($205) here so I’m wondering if that seems reasonable. If impedance is an issue, I’m guessing I’d need something like an atom amp.
I think at the moment, while it is the lower end of my budget, I’m leaning towards the 9500 for the availability, no risk of impedance. Maybe a silly question but don’t they hold up well having first come out in 2013ish?
As far as I know it would add on customs fees, so tax and 20% vat to be delivered here, which you won’t see on that screenshot. Delivery would also be at least a month. Plus if I had a problem with the headphones or I didn’t like them, returning them would be a nightmare and cost more with postage
the motherboard you have should be able to use the 250 ohm 880, but I may be wrong… I would get absolute clarification on this with someone who knows how to read specs a bit more indepth just to be sure on this. However, an amp will always be better than the onboard.
$205 is pretty much the usual price for brand new here… so that sounds about right… though considering the age of the DT series beyers I would encourage trying to search on the used markets for a good working copy of the headphone… you can save yourself quite a lot of money while still obtaining the headphone in mint condition.
It’s not bad at all really, just not the most “ideal” in the sense of getting the best results if that makes sense… it can perform much better than say the headsets though.
Here are my two cents since I have a pair of SHP9500 and DT 880 Edition 250ohm.
I gotta say the DT 880 is hands down way more resolving than the SHPs. I blind tested a couple of friends with those two and they got right 9 times out of 10.
I keep coming back to the SHPs because of the convenience of the vmoda mic. A much much cleaner and simpler solution than a modmic in my opinion. A dedicated Mic is another piece of hardware and cables. modmic is an additional cable as well. Just not for me. That is sort of personal, I am a minimalist in that sense (even my pc case is an Ncase M1)
Regarding the above, I can guarantee you that motherboard will drive a DT 880 Edition 250 ohm with no problems whatsoever (my DTs connected to the front port of my gaming rig on the picture below). In fact, it’s the low impedance SHP9500 that would suffer more in terms of sound signature. Why? I made a whole post about it.
Now in terms of pure sound quality for competitive gaming
I couldn’t agree more here with @Falenkor, Beyers are the best choice in this particular case. I do enjoy the convenience of the SHP9500 + vmoda quite a lot. It’s really up to you what you value more.
Thanks for the input. My concern was the cost going up if I had to get an amp for the DT 880 Edition 250ohm (and purchasing the mod mic as well) so it’s good to know you’ve had no issues with the motherboard driving them.
I had a read through that post of yours as well, which was really useful to know. I did see a comment I’ve quoted below and was just wondering if that had any relevance? or is it that the DT 880 Edition 250 ohm are not low impedance like the SHP9500 that this point isn’t as important for them
I still would argue motherboards useable range tops out at 80 Ohm impedance headphones
@leteatea you don’t have to get an amp, it would be nice to have tho’ but not strictly necessary.
As for the argument about the “usable” max impedance with a mobo that is very relative.
The output voltage of a high-end mobo Amp is more than capable to drive high impedance cans. It’s the output impedance of the Amp that is too high for low-impedance cans (like the SHP), resulting on a change of tonality of the cans, so they won’t sound as intended.
You can read the conclusion of these measurements on a MSI Z390 mobo
