Hello everyone, audio newbie here!
I’m about to complete my next gaming PC build and this is gonna be the first time I dabble in a proper audio setup (coming from a simple HyperX Cloud Stinger and some 10 years old Creative pc speakers), so I’m looking for some recommendations from you guys.
I’ve done some research on reddit, watched some youtubers like Z Reviews and BadSeed Tech browsed this forum, but the options and info seem daunting.
So, to start off, I mainly use my PC for gaming, music and movies. I play most genres, from competitive FPS (although not at a level where I’m gonna compete at any tournaments), open-world RPG’s, to turn-based and real time strategy. As far as music goes, my genres range from blues/blues-rock and country/americana to bass-heavy doom/sludge metal, mainly streaming Spotify (all guitar-heavy). If I had to rank these in terms of usage time, I’d go music and open-world expositional games first, strategy games second, competitive FPS third and movies last. I only explain these at length because from what I understood browsing this forum, usage matters when choosing headphones. I was looking at the BeyerDynamic DT 1990 PRO’s, but from what I read, while great for competitive gaming, they seem to be a bit too bright for prolonged music-listening.
So, what I think I need is a pair of all-rounders (feel free to correct me on that). I don’t see myself buying different headphones for different uses (for now), I’d like to have a single pair of headphones for all uses.
Now, as far as speakers are concerned, from what I understand, bookshelf speakers are far superior to any so-marketed “pc speakers” such as stuff from Logitech, Creative etc. I was looking at Logitech G560 before doing any research. Yeah, Lightsync is cool, but audio quality is what I’m really after and I can give up RGB for that 
. I’d love some recommendations on that department, too. The Triangle BR03 were the pair I was looking at last.
I’d love it if you guys could provide a DAC (if necessary) and amp to go with your recommendations for speakers and headphones. Side note here, although not a priority right now, it’s possible I’ll bring my turntable to the gaming desk in the future, so I’d love for the setup to be able to support that, as well.
My budget for the whole setup is about 1000€. While I’m looking for endgame stuff and could go above that, my endgame is not ultra-audiophile studio-quality, no-compromises sound, it’s daily driver stuff that gives me bang for the buck and doesn’t cross into the territory of diminishing returns on an imaginary graph of budget over sound quality.
Thanks for your time in advance and I’m looking forward to your responses! Feel free to ask me for any more info!
So ill preface this by saying I’m new to audio myself as well, so take this with a grain of salt (and if any of the regulars here say I’m being dumb, ill remove the post, so just tell me), but have you thought about starting a bit on the lower end? With a 1k total budget but wanting an all arounder (+dac/amp) i can’t help but feel you may be better served starting off with a pair of headphones significantly cheaper than the 1990s and upgrading later. The problem comes in that most of the headphones in your price rage with fantastic imaging are absalutely reported to be tiering to listen to for long periods of time. Given your ranking of importance you should at least entertain the idea of something like the TYGR300 (for now and upgrade to a higher tier later) or possibly even sacrificing a slight amount of imaging clarity to go for something more imersive/easy to listen to (less sure on this rec, but 6xx/660s or T60 argons seem to fit the bill)
Don’t get me wrong, I get wanting to dive right in since yoy have the budget. Hell, I’m fighting the same urge myself to not just buy like 4 headphones and an expensive stack off the bat when I don’t even know if what I think I will like is the reality ot not. Just after reading tons and tons of these threads all across different forums, it seems like if you dont want super analytical listening (and do want to listen to music along side FPS gaming), the 1990s aren’t exactly a good place to start even if they may be where you end up
EDIT: as for dac/amp. I’m sure mon will comment eventually and give good reqs.
@eskamobob1 Hi, and thanks for the reply and the recommendation!
Oh, I have no problem at all paying less for a satisfactory pair of headphones of course, though I’m worried that buying and trying many different cheaper ones will cost me a lot more in the long run, hence my post asking for recommendations according to my usage from people that have already gone through this process. Also, my 1k budget needs to include a pair of bookshelf speakers and a DAC/amp to support these two plus a turntable, so as far as individual components go, I’m not really going for ultra-top end stuff even if I wanted to.
This is what I’m gathering from posts all around as well, as I noted in my original post, but my question as a newbie is this: what exactly makes these kinds of headphones tiring? The fact that they’ve got great imaging, or the fact that they’re “bright” (boosted highs/treble)? I found a post in another forum from 2013 that stated:
I was told there was no correlation between analytical & neutral/balanced frequencies. I was under the impression that analytical simply means extremely detailed. A lot of treble-emphasizing headphones are not technically balanced, but are very analytical.
Fun/colored headphones also don’t need to be only boosted at the lower frequencies. Bass-boosted headphones are great for bass heavy music (edm, hip hop, r&b) but worse for guitars & vocals. Treble/mid-focused headphones can be great for vocals/guitars, but can’t get you to dance to the beat of techno. I think colored headphones naturally are more suited towards specific genres, but there are a lot more colored headphones out there than just bass-boost.
Sound stage & imaging is completely independent & unrelated to coloration or detail, though you’ll find that most great hi-end headphones have all neutral frequency response w/ expansive sound stage/imaging + amazing detail. You can have colored headphones with great soundstage/detail OR neutral headphones w/ horrible soundstage/detail
If that’s true, then I guess what I’m looking for is the best imaging possible(within budget limits of course) with a coloration that allows for enjoyable prolonged music listening sessions, so I guess on the warm side. Again, my knowledge is very limited and it might seem as if I’m just throwing terminology around ('cause I am 
), so I’d love some input from experienced folk.
Thanks for the recommends, I’ll take a closer look at those!
It likely will, but shouldnt be by much (especially if you buy used) and you should get real decent usage out of them before you need to swap out anyways
oh, got it. I misunderstood that part. Mind if I ask where you live? Honestly, you will be cutting it pretty close from what I have seen (and I am fairly certain the 1990s are just out of budget now). The main problem comes down to that all of the recommended starter turn tables are ~$300+, so they will eat a ton of your budget. You can go vintage for cheaper, but then you have to really know what to look for. The main problem with real cheap turn tables is that they degrade your records far faster than nice ones.
It is mostly their bright focus, but when you combine bright with high detail retrieval you get even more tiring.
lol, no worries at all. Yes, warm and v-shaped headphones tend to be the most (widely) enjoyable. Honestly, with the new budget realization though, ima have to take a step back and let someone else answer with a full setup to get the most for your money. Hopefully someone else drops in soon
EDIT: if you dont get any responses in the next day or so, yoy may want to make a new topic in a more heavily trafficked subforum. Make sure you include that you need a record player, speakers, headphones, and anciliaries for $1k as basicaly the first line and expand from there so its a bit easier to follow though
Oh, another misunderstanding here, I’m afraid. By “bring my turntable to the gaming desk in the future” in my original post I meant that I already own one, it’s just setup in a different part of the house with a crappy pair of speakers and amp. My wording failed.
So, I’m actually looking for a DAC/amp setup that can support all these three connections simultaneously.
I live in Greece. For reference, the DT1990s here go for ~440 €.
Got it. Thanks for the clarification, there!
I was actually thinking of that myself. I only posted in the casual gaming audio category because I was thinking of usage time and gaming takes up most of it.
Thanks again for your guidance!