Alright so I will chime in on this. While yes, technically by the more I am going to say extreme competitive gamers point of view this is a partial technically accurate statement. Too much bass gets in the way as it causes rumble which tends to hide sounds such as footsteps and the like therefore a neutral or recessed bass tends to be prefered this is however not mandatory and will depend on how serious of a competitive gamer you are. as far as imaging being more important than soundstaging this completely depends on the fps. If you are playing a big open battlefield game such as Arma, Battlefield, Planetside, etc then you definitely want a lot of soundstage however more linear games like COD, Rainbow Six, and others don’t tend to rely on a very large stage as much and you tend to want imaging more if this helps as imaging is good for your placements but you also want to realize that some headphones need a good seperation of sound too if they can’t properly seperate all that’s going on in the battle you will struggle to place the sounds correctly.
DT 880 is very good at competitive gaming but it definitely lacks a lot of bass presence in comparison to many other headphones. Tygr is more towards the casual gamer and you can read my review on that one here 🔶 Beyerdynamic TYGR 300 R - #303 by Falenkor I do not completely recommend it for strictly FPS but it’s a great all rounder with more warmth and body to it’s sound so I find it better for casual gaming and casual music listening and it’s not too bad in competitives either just not the most ideal
I don’t particularly think this is a bad amp but theres definitely better alternatives. they just don’t have the chat mix feature usually. I would immediately point you to the Schiit Hel instead as it has a mic input with a sound dial and a headphone input with a seperate dial for the headphones but it also can drive practically anything you throw at it making it really good as an amp/dac combo for gaming one of the best imo for straight gaming. Seperate units would be better though… and if you can afford them I would recommend a Schiit Magni 3+ Or Monoprice Liquid Spark alongside a Topping D10 dac as a budget starter a step up from here would be Asgard 3 and either Modius Dac(not modi) or Topping E30.
Well the issue here is that your competitive gaming is going to sfufer from wanting bass. Due to this generally you want a more all rounder type of headphone that isn’t horribly bassy but not so bass lite that you can’t enjoy your beats. In this regard you could also get a second headphone for straight music.
so good bass and vocals? Sennheisers then or Focals. Budget friendly sennheiser with good vocals and bass with nice soundstaging would be something like the HD 558/559 later versions will have more detail clarity among other things but they tend to have less bass and quite a bit less soundstage. Focals also have more linear soundstage outside of maybe the Elex and are more opened larger soundstage iirc but these are pretty expensive. The recommend Schiit Hel can work for both your music as well as gaming but so can the spark/magni3+ + E30/modius and Asgard 3 + E30/Modius as this is a very great all rounder setup.
So, lets start with just some headphones that are well rounded.
Philips Shp9500/Fidelio x2hr: Compatible with V-moda Boom Pro bright headphone and not as bassy is it’s alternative. One of the really good budget headphones for gamers sounds good, is comfortable, wide soundstage, smooth sounding, and has a respectable amount of bass. It’s alternative the Fidelio X2hr is much bassier and warm and while nice in competitive isn’t as strong of a contender regardless they are both all rounders. These both can use V-moda which is considered one of the best boom mics and is potentially better and cheaper than modmics
Sennheiser 558/559, 598/599, and later generations 58x Jubilee, 6xx Massdrop, HD600/650/660S: so Sennheisers tend to be more towards a neutral or rather balanced type of sound and are fantastic all rounders with lots of mid focus in their tones so this may be right up your alley for both gaming and your music. The 558 and 559 have more bass while 598 is more balanced and 599 has more treble to my ears these have more soundstage then the later generations these versions of the Sennheiser used a 2.5mm jack detachable cable allowing them to make use of a seperate detachable boom mic which is pretty cheap and much cheaper than the modmics. 58x Jubilee came in as an alternative to the HD 600 and Hd 580 it’s rather cheaper and very well rounded very balanced sounding with sided cables that became the norm for the later versions allowing this headphone to be plugged into amps via the balance jacks allowing them to sound a lot better in comparison this version has less soundstage though. 6xx and later revisions have some of the smallest of soundstages I don’t really recommend them for a lot of gaming applications but they are very nice, clean, and very detailed, some with more brightness than others
AKG k702/k612 and k712/k7xx: K702 is regarded as one of the kings in competitive gaming alongside it’s cheaper budget variation the k612 this is a very analytical headphone that is bass lite with mids and highs being pushed forward and an extremely large soundstage the issue here with the akg is the imaging… they have some bad placements from time to time in their sound. K712/k7xx are less analytical and more fun they have quite a bit more bass in comparison
Audio-Technica: AD—x Series and M40x. AD700x AD900x, AD1000x, and AD2000x respectively build quality sucks on these imo but recessed bass with bright treble and good mids make this a budget headphone thats great for competitives… I don’t like these for music however and the overall comfort and build quality is a bit lacking in my opinion it leaves much to be desired… proper seperation was achieved with ad1000x and best sound goes to ad2000x the closed back alternatives are the ad—Z series. M40x: Budget friendly, can be turned wireless, compatible with 2.5mm boom mics like the sennheisers, pad swap is a requirement, V signature. Bassy, mids aren’t too recessed, and highs are raised, also is portable which is nice.
Beyerdynamics: so the issue with beyers is you may not like them as they don’t tend to have the greatest mids and vocals honestly. DT 880 is probably the best bet here for the more budget friendly into competitive gaming but it lacks quite a bit on the bass. DT 1990 is stupid good for just everything both music and gaming but this is very expensive. DT 770 is very bassy and bright but more U shaped tune being closed backed while DT 990 is bass heavy and extremely sharp brightness with recessed mids I never recommend this to anyone less they like treble though and have a good setup to deal with it’s brightness. Alternatives to this is as mentioned the Tygr300r or the MMX300 which is a gaming headset closed back that sounds wide has quite a bit of bass to it and has some brightness too making it very good for well rounded gaming. Tygr on the other hand to avoid gushing on that one feel free to read the review I linked to.
Focal: Elegia and Elex would be best here probably but may be out of your budget as they are $450+ still elegia is more linear and elex is open back both are very nice with some brightness to them and wonderful detail.
Aeons: this is one of my absolute Go-To’s when it comes to all rounders. I use the Aeon open X but you can also get the RT from dan clark. They are typically however around $500. Very detailed, mids sound good rather clean with detail despite the headphone being a V signature, bass is raised, treble is raised, tuning pads allow you to customize your sound to your preference. Responds incredibly well though with higher grade setups of amp and dac that allow it to be balanced even more so towards tube amp hybrids it appears.
In terms of seperating the headphones I can definitely second the purchase of picking up the Fostex line with the T50rp or its modded counter parts of Argons or Dekoni blues this is an absolutely amazing headphone however, It may not be as mid centric as you would prefer and due to that I would still be more inclined to point towards a Sennheiser or Focal.
Other mentions here for just good beat warm headphones would be Meze 99, Fidelio x2hr, Tygr 300R, Argons, Aeons, Nighthawks/Nightowls(semi open/closed), Fostex TR-x00(purple heart, Mahogany, Ebony. Discontinued but can be still found more linear soundstaging though), KPH30i, Verum One mk2, Emu Teak
This should also help you out
https://www.reddit.com/r/Zeos/comments/9v45wr/zguides_dac_amp_combos/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Zeos/comments/97mi5s/zguides_headphones/