Hi,
I’m looking for an upgrade open-back from my current SHP9500+V-moda Boom Pro. I’ve been using them for some time and would like to upgrade. After some research I made a shortlist of these (Bare in mind that I’m kind of a noob regarding headphones and those picks are based on Youtube and reviews - so if you have other bargains to recommend feel free):
HD560s - 148 € (not a fan of a design)
HD58x - 190 $
HD6xx - 240 $
HE4xx - 180 $
I mostly play Battlefield games and MMO’s semi competitively. I also do listen to music mostly Hip-Hop, DnB, rock and anything really.
My budget is 200$ so HD6xx is a kinda stretch already but if they are worth the extra I could make it work.
Now I don’t have any Amp/DAC so I would like them to run without it for some time. In future if required I would purchase an Amp/DAC eventually so if you could also suggest where to look for that it would be awesome! (up to 100$)
Oh and I’m located in EU.
If there is more info needed let me know.
Thank you for any advice and help!
Hm for your use case i would recommend the beyerdynamic tygr i you can find them
Should give you a good bit more bass and imo better soundstage for your games
Otherwise I would recommend @Falenkor gaming guide for audio to get a good overview for your choices
For amp DAC recommendations i think ifi should soon have the zen DAC air for sale and that should do the thing for beginner friendly HP
They tend to have the same design even going forward… if its not for you I would recommend skipping on the sennheisers.
since were talking fps… youd want 400SE or like a sundara instead these do however, require some power
Go with the tygr 300r from beyer… you should be able to get them quite easily since your in the EU as beyer has their main stores that way. Should be within budget… pair that to an apple dongle dac and call it a day less you really want an amp/dac with good sound qualities. This or the 560s from sennheiser will be potentially the best bet with 560 having a similar signature to your shp9500
You would need a rather beefy motherboard to do something like this and those are quite expensive usually in the around $400-$600 range for the board itself.
If you have an additional USB port available, the Fifine T669 has worked out wonderfully for me as a desk mic for gaming. SUCH an improvement over headset mics and similar products (Boom Pro or modmic). If you don’t like the swing arm, it also comes with a desktop stand, but the isolation mount for the boom arm is actually quite sweet for its price point. MUCH better sound than any mic I’ve used previously, adjustable gain, no interface needed, it just rocks for gaming. It’s not a professional XLR solution, but it doesn’t pretend to be one either.
Yeah basically what @Falenkor said. 560s are Sennheiser peak gaming outside of the 800s.
400se over sundara imo no matter what but they’re only a pick with some caveats. ONLY if you have the amp for them and a pad swap is an absolute must. Grill mod is debatable as a pro but I personally would recommend it.
The 300r are stupid good as an all around pick that is powered well off anything and has a nice balance of warmth without overwhelming bass and they scale surprisingly well for what they are.
I’ve oft said that the HE-5xx has some successor to SHP9500 qualities, in terms of fit/design and some of what it is good at. Not sure how they image for gaming, but the sound stage is certainly wide.
The trick is with a lot of these headphones, some will need amplification. TYGR are low impedance and come in at a sweet price.
