hoo boy thats quite a lot to try to cover on. alright so I want to sum a few things up here real quickly without writing a book. Edit: I tried to cut as many corners here as possible… turned out to be a book anyway… my bad
First off, don’t sit and listen to every persons opinion on this not even mine. This hobby is extremely niche and subjective and only you yourself know your own personal sound preferences. We can try to recommend a audio set from what we hear however give you a good example. I love the dt 990… others despise it… scream to the heavens its too bright or its bad and yet its one of my favorites they hear sibilance and its pain to the ears I hear a lovely orchestra with very vibrant cymbals and violins. It’s due to these differences we don’t agree.
Secondly, Never use onboard audio unless you absolutely have to. It’s awful, it more often than not destroys the sound, changing from an amp to onboard audio is going to give you a completely different sound, lots of times the onboard audio just won’t have enough power behind it to properly drive that headphone.
Third, There is no true neutral headphone. Looking for the “best” or “perfect” headphone is futile and will not happen. Absolute neutrality is almost impossible just due to how things are and how we hear things differently however, there are some that get relatively close to good neutral tonality.
Fourth, the sound device you brought up is a set of earbuds of which you mentioned are too bassy… in their name it states they have “extra bass” and your not the only one who has commented that the bass on that item is very overblown you get that from time to time with this “extra bass” where its just muddy or boomy and it bleeds into the mids causing a pretty bad sound.
Fifth, trying to nail every single genre in a headphone is a horror show. Neutrality is nice such as 58x Jubilee(open back) however, for someone like me who likes bright and orchestra or for a basshead we would see neutrality as boring… theres a lot of genres where you just feel it could be better and its noticeable after a while especially after you sit with multiple pieces of audio equipment. This isn’t to discourage you from staying with a more balanced sound signature it’s just to let you know that more than likely you may need to consider the possibility of more than one headphone unless you are truly happy with that balanced approach.
Sixth, understandable but unfortunate when it comes to closed back. Open backs will yield better results in gaming especially something like battlefield.
Seventh, to explain precisely what you need considering what your gaming on. Battlefield requires a large soundstage(which is relatively hard to find in a closed back especially under $200 its actually almost impossible to my knowledge) and as accurate imaging as possible without killing seperation at the same time you need either a neutral or recessed bass in your case would be a neutral sound.
Eighth, The custom studio is by no means the same as the dt 770 and anybody who claims that, well needless to say I fully believe they have no idea what they are talking about… They are similar however The tunings are different, the slider alone puts it apart, the build quality is different, the clamping force is different, the sound quality is different. DT 770 is much bassier and has quite a lot more treble in comparison however, I will agree completely that the dt 770 has a much cleaner and higher quality of sound. The custom series is more of a budget friendly series without all that glaring brightness behind it and is designed simply for customizability for those who want a bit more adjustment in their soundwhile not breaking the bank. It’s by no means bad and still shares that larger soundstage despite being closed. Imaging isn’t as good as the dt 770 however. In the case of neutrality the studio is more balanced than the 770 due to the bass slider allowing you to pull out all that bass however on pc the 770 can do the same by using an equalizer making the 770 the better choice here. The biggest issue however, is the 770 is still bright and quite a bit so to the point it can cause a lot of discomfort if you are at all sensitive to treble. In comparison if you wanted neutrality however, CS over there is the obvious pick as it’s only a true V signature by pushing that bass slider. For both headphones however, I recommend a pad swap as it can clear up any potential issues with either the 770 or CS.
Nineth, I cannot stress this enough. Please, do not take anything you hear in this hobby for granted or as the “must be true because he said it” mentality. That goes for reviewers like zeos and all the others. Just like any of us here they too are posting what they think and how they hear things. Granted zeos and them do have much more experience with audio equipment it doesn’t mean they are always right. Hell I saw DMS rate DT 990 on his tier list as a bad headphone and zeos claimed you need a power plant amp to drive the dt 880 600 ohm both of which I extremely disagree with especially on the power plant claim.
Tenth, I think the best option here is to either have you go try multiple pieces of audio equipment or try to find you a flexible headphone as in something that can change its signature. There are a few but it tends to be a bit costly. Custom Studio is one such headphone as by a change in pads it can change signatures plus its bass slider making it more versatile dt 770 does not have this benefit and tends to stay a V signature however it does in my opinion clear up a bit when changing to a more perforated style pad it remains very bright regardless.
HD 598C while I do not like recommended this one its still pretty neutral and may be a bit up your alley here. Soundstage is still relatively accurate and average with its imaging as well however smaller than its open back brother.
Shure 840 probably the most “neutral” headphone I have ever sat with for cheap pricepoints. However, narrow soundstage is the issue here… This headphone is pretty damn clinical though.
Takstar Pro 82. Has a bass slider and a slight lower treble dip then a bit of a peak. Can go from a very slightly brighter headphone yet balanced out to a relatively warmer U like shape up to a V shape. This was the starting creation point of the MH751 gaming headset and still remains good even now. Close to sounding like a larger soundstage but still relatively accurate with its imaging Mids and highs are a bit of a focus point unless you use the bass slider.
Sennheiser 280 pro New version. Slight dip in the upper bass and could be better on its extensions. More mid centric and has more towards that natural sennheiser house sound. Treble has a ever so slight peak in it sounds like from the mid treble however a hard roll off in the upper treble. Average soundstage good imaging
Creative Aurvana Live: responds well to pad swaps. Starts out slightly warm with a lower treble roll off point. Has a narrow soundstage till you switch to thicker pads of which it becomes relatively average.
Audio Technica M40x: Absolutely demands a pad swap right off the bat. Starts as a subtle V signature. Imaging is good here. Soundstage becomes rather larger or more slightly above average after a thicker pad swap however it tends to keep that signature depending on the style of pads you choose. Velours will lean out the extra bass and make the headphone rather bright. Suedes are a pretty good balance of both. Leathers increase the bass dramatically.
Beyerdynamic Custom Studio: Largest soundstage of the list shared by the DT 770(it’s hard just in generall to find a large soundstage in closed backs but like I said at this price point it’s just not common like at all large even in this case is still relatively average if you compare it to an open back). Starts as a neutral bright headphone can turn into a V signature by using the bass slider. Pad swaps alter the sound pleasantly. Switching to something such as suede converts into more of a V signature and brings in the highs more however removes some soundstage.
Few notes. Switching pads out to an airy velour will usually increase the soundstage and depth and potentially make for better imaging this is due to the escaping sound and airy material… however this also will drain your bass out of the sound by a certain extent.
Sennheiser may have that clean sound your looking for more so than the rest on this list. Would probably recommend the HD 598 C in this case for you as I feel its better than 280 in comfort level and overall build. Plus it has a 2.5mm jack allowing it to have a boom mic for gamers. Otherwise still the beyer studios or audio technica m40x
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