I am thinking of buying some headphones for gaming and music, I will play casually esports only and I will listen most of the time to EDM and metal / rock. My budget is 200 for headphones + 100 for amp / dac.
My top picks right now are DT880 / DT990 Premium, Phillips Fidelio X2 and Fostex trp. I stretch my budget a little I can get some used HE400i at about the same price. But I am open to other proposals.
Since I live in europe massdrop is a little hard to get as it takes a long time before drops are available.
The 880 250 ohm is a good mix for both music and slightly comp gaming. The X2 is a wide, bassy headphone thats good for casual gaming fun and a fun sound signature for music. TBH the stock fostex RP’s are kinda not worth it unless you plan to mod them in the future. The HE400i is a great all rounder that can give you a taste of a planar headphone.
For a dac/amp combo around $100, the fiio k3 or for portable the Q1 II are great all in ones.
Edit: the X2’s might get a little muddy or lack seperation for metal though, so thats something to take note of.
if you only play games casually I think thew x2 would be the pick here they are really fun headphones for r and b , hip hop, and edm. you can always eq them for gaming if you want.
Seems like most of your choices have a lot of treble (well, precisely, sibilance, cymbals, hissing, that thing). DT880/990/400i’s. Try before you buy. Electronic music with treble peaks plus headphones with treble peaks = bad.
Nobody suggested the HD58Xs? Open-back and a bit bassy. Extended treble, but neutral all the way up.
For his taste the he4xx or the Fidelio X2 are definitely the pick imo the 58x is somewhat bass lite to my ears not that it’s bad thing it’s just not what would consider bassy
He also said he kinda wants to avoid massdrop since he’s in Europe. I don’t think the 58x is bass light, but I do think that it wouldn’t be as enjoyable for his type of music as the 400i would