What headphones to buy for my new rig

[MASTERMIND911]

Hi I am soon to be building a new pc and pretty. Much a whole new setup and would like to ask you what headphones are best and which ones I should buy, I don't care if they have a Mic or not, will probably not use it if it does and instead a standalone mic which I could use some recomdations aswell. Thanks

[rice guru]

Budget? And use case. Lik will you be monitoring and editing. Will you be listening to.music or gaming. If music what type of music do you listen to.

[MASTERMIND911]

12 hours ago, rice guru said:

Budget? And use case. Lik will you be monitoring and editing. Will you be listening to.music or gaming. If music what type of music do you listen to.

I will using it for gaming, chatting with friends, music and yes editingand recording. Pretty much all of the above

[rice guru]

1 hour ago, MASTERMIND911 said:

I will using it for gaming, chatting with friends, music and yes editingand recording. Pretty much all of the above

How much do you wanna spend?

[MASTERMIND911]

12 minutes ago, rice guru said:

How much do you wanna spend?

At the moment I don't have a budget and am going top quality stuff. 

[rice guru]

2 hours ago, MASTERMIND911 said:

At the moment I don't have a budget and am going top quality stuff. 

Headphones can go up to 50 grand ie the Sennheiser Orpheus so you better state how much you wanna spend so people can recommend setups

[MASTERMIND911]

28 minutes ago, rice guru said:

Headphones can go up to 50 grand ie the Sennheiser Orpheus so you better state how much you wanna spend so people can recommend setups

I dont have the money to go that big so I would say and max of £300

[MASTERMIND911]

Just now, MASTERMIND911 said:

I dont have the money to go that big so I would say and max of £300

Maybe even £500

[rice guru]

for around 300 to 500 pounds you have a good budget to have a nice full setup. 

for around a good entry level dac amp combo is $200  or 200 pounds for shipping and handling you can get a great amp dac setup. for 64 pounds from amazon uk you can grab a topping d10 which si a great usb dac for the price that is easily available to you . other alternatives are the schiit modi , and the grace design sdac. for around  80 to 140 pounds I dont live in the uk so I dont know you can import  headphone amps like the jds labs atom or the monolith liquid spark or a jds labs atom. The atom sounds better and a little bit cleaner but the build quality kinda sucks. the monolith liquid spark is among the best looking and built amps ever made very clean and is more powerful than the atom many would reccomend magni but as of recently due to the release of the other 2 amps it isn't the best sounding $100 amp anymore.  buy either based on availability.  leaving the rest of your budget on any headphone you want. for gaming and music I would reccomend grabbing open back headphones as they provide wider more open sound stages better for positional audio and makes music frankly more enjoyable. 

 

The amp and dac are essential to using any hi fi headphone around your budget. These are my reccomendations at a few pricepoints I tried to pick ones that you should be able to pick up  from amazon or massdrop but most of these companies should have EU or UK stores that you can probably buy from. 

 these are my reccomendations gor gaming and music cans some do gaming better than others and some do musc better than others it just depends on what type of music you like to listen to, how much you wanna spend, and if gaming is more of a priority to you. these are all quality headphones and they generally warrant the price relative to the quality of other headphones at their respective prices, 

open backs

sennheiser HD 58x : these are  $160 off of mass frop don't need an amp or dac to be powered  

 sennheiser hd 6xx  

hifiman he4xx 

beyerdynamic dt 990 and 880 

akg k712 

ath ad 1000x and ath ad 2000xs 

monoprice m560

monoprice monolith m1060   make sure you get version 2 if you plan on this

 

closed backs

 

fostex t60rp

dekoni blue

ath m60x

beyerdynamic dt 770

monoprice m1060 c

 

now you can definitely own more than one pair of headphones for different purposes I own a few generally though I keep one for music and one for gaming. I have a grace design sdac that goes into a monolith liquid spark  as my dac amp and dt 990's for gaming and hd 58x for music. which in total costs me roughly 380 british pounds

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MASTERMIND911]

11 hours ago, rice guru said:

 

[rice guru]

18 minutes ago, MASTERMIND911 said:

11 hours ago, rice guru said:

 

?

 

[MASTERMIND911]

4 hours ago, rice guru said:

?

 

sorry, i asked a stupid question and tried to delete it. say i would like to buy 2 pairs of headphones, one for gaming, one for music. i would like to go with open backs (unless you think otherwise), would you be able to recommend me the ones better for each and think i going to use the grace design sdac and the monolith liquid spark unless you can recommend an amp with 2 outputs so i can plug both headphones in at the same type reducing future hassle.

[rice guru]

1 minute ago, MASTERMIND911 said:

sorry, i asked a stupid question and tried to delete it. say i would like to buy 2 pairs of headphones, one for gaming, one for music. i would like to go with open backs, would you be able to recommend me the ones better for each and think i going to use the grace design sdac and the monolith liquid spark unless you can recommend an amp with 2 outputs so i can plug both headphones in at the same type reducing future hassle.

for music what are your preferences? what type of music do you listen to? for gaming how competitive are you do you care about hearing footsteps while shooting guns? amp wise I dont know any that do that that are within your price range.what I ended up doing because I have a fiio e10k which is a dac amp combo I just have my hd 58x plugged in to that and I just switch between the 2 through windows. 

 

[rice guru]

but all of the headphones I reccomended are all great for both gaming and music. both my headphones I can use for gaming and music no problem. the dt 990 just has my prefered sound signature for games and I love using it for listening to hip hop songs where I want to hear a lot of detail in the highs like flutes and detail in the lows like drums and such. while I use the 58x for music where I want to hear vocals and clarity in the mids like guitars. so having 2 pairs of headphones might no completely be beneficial to you depemding on the type of music you listen to

[MASTERMIND911]

7 minutes ago, rice guru said:

for music what are your preferences? what type of music do you listen to? for gaming how competitive are you do you care about hearing footsteps while shooting guns? amp wise I dont know any that do that that are within your price range.what I ended up doing because I have a fiio e10k which is a dac amp combo I just have my hd 58x plugged in to that and I just switch between the 2 through windows. 

 

 

1 minute ago, rice guru said:

but all of the headphones I reccomended are all great for both gaming and music. both my headphones I can use for gaming and music no problem. the dt 990 just has my prefered sound signature for games and I love using it for listening to hip hop songs where I want to hear a lot of detail in the highs like flutes and detail in the lows like drums and such. while I use the 58x for music where I want to hear vocals and clarity in the mids like guitars. so having 2 pairs of headphones might no completely be beneficial to you depemding on the type of music you listen to

my music preferences include pop, rock, kpop and anime songs. i would also like to get into competitive game play once everything is all setup and i am back home. i also see what you mean, i was just asking as i am a complete novis in this area.

[rice guru]

what do you value in your music? do you like you bass, vocals and such. a great pair of music cans with nice meaty bass and great for fun music listening are t60 rp  they are pretty great for gaming but they have a fun sound signature so not really for competitive gaming. I would call them semi open as they let a lot of sound in but aren't completely open. he 4xx  and the m560 is also a option for this type of sound signature they are what you would call planar headphones. if you love vocals mids any of the sennheiser cans shine in that. the dt 990 ,770, 880 all sound different and have their own personalities. but what they all have in common are great for gaming they have very clear consise imaging and wide sound stages.  the sennheiser 6xx, 7xx, 712 all lean to what you would call a flat and balanced sound signature aiming to be just that flat not emphasizing anything. and The ATH cans are all a treat especially for gaming really wide incredibly open soundstages and airy highs. 

[MASTERMIND911]

32 minutes ago, rice guru said:

what do you value in your music? do you like you bass, vocals and such. a great pair of music cans with nice meaty bass and great for fun music listening are t60 rp  they are pretty great for gaming but they have a fun sound signature so not really for competitive gaming. I would call them semi open as they let a lot of sound in but aren't completely open. he 4xx  and the m560 is also a option for this type of sound signature they are what you would call planar headphones. if you love vocals mids any of the sennheiser cans shine in that. the dt 990 ,770, 880 all sound different and have their own personalities. but what they all have in common are great for gaming they have very clear consise imaging and wide sound stages.  the sennheiser 6xx, 7xx, 712 all lean to what you would call a flat and balanced sound signature aiming to be just that flat not emphasizing anything. and The ATH cans are all a treat especially for gaming really wide incredibly open soundstages and airy highs. 

OK, considering all the info you have given me I think I am going to go for the dt990 as I believe they are the best for me and have a feeling they are. I would also like to ask what the difference between open and closed backs is as I have just noticed I don't know lol

[rice guru]

1 minute ago, MASTERMIND911 said:

OK, considering all the info you have given me I think I am going to go for the dt990 as I believe they are the best for me and have a feeling they are. I would also like to ask what the difference between open and closed backs is as I have just noticed I don't know lol

ok a few warnings from a dt 990 owner to one that wants to be before I answer you questions  

1. the highs area bit too sharp for many people they were a bit sharp for me so I eq'd them. 

2. they require a little maintainance hair can go into the drivers basically making you open them up to get rid of them it's a little scary and some risk is involved

3. the cable is non detachable you can mod it or find someone else to mod it for you but thats more money.

 

so the difference between open and closed are just that the back of the headphones are open allowing sound to come in and out of the headphones rather than completely isolated. the open back makes music sound more natural and airy. closed backs are like traditional headphones that you can see anywhere generally better for isolating for travel. they generally sound more narrow than open backs  and less natural.  most people that run multiple headphone setups have a closed and an open as they usually serve different purposes and provide very different sound experiences. 

[MASTERMIND911]

21 minutes ago, rice guru said:

ok a few warnings from a dt 990 owner to one that wants to be before I answer you questions  

1. the highs area bit too sharp for many people they were a bit sharp for me so I eq'd them. 

2. they require a little maintainance hair can go into the drivers basically making you open them up to get rid of them it's a little scary and some risk is involved

3. the cable is non detachable you can mod it or find someone else to mod it for you but thats more money.

 

so the difference between open and closed are just that the back of the headphones are open allowing sound to come in and out of the headphones rather than completely isolated. the open back makes music sound more natural and airy. closed backs are like traditional headphones that you can see anywhere generally better for isolating for travel. they generally sound more narrow than open backs  and less natural.  most people that run multiple headphone setups have a closed and an open as they usually serve different purposes and provide very different sound experiences. 

Ahh, I thought so and now I am second guessing myself as I have had closed backs up till now, just headsets really. Why is this so hard lol. 

I dont car if the cable is non detachable, I don't mind taking them apart to clean but I do ha e quite a bit of hair. And what do you mean. By sharp

[rice guru]

48 minutes ago, MASTERMIND911 said:

Ahh, I thought so and now I am second guessing myself as I have had closed backs up till now, just headsets really. Why is this so hard lol. 

I dont car if the cable is non detachable, I don't mind taking them apart to clean but I do ha e quite a bit of hair. And what do you mean. By sharp

the highs exentuated to the point where  when people say  sss sounds sibilant. or things sometimes sound piercing at higher frequencies. tthis can be good for gaming because  footsteps and such are easier to hear but in certain types of music it get's fatiguing to listen to 

[MASTERMIND911]

16 minutes ago, rice guru said:

the highs exentuated to the point where  when people say  sss sounds sibilant. or things sometimes sound piercing at higher frequencies. tthis can be good for gaming because  footsteps and such are easier to hear but in certain types of music it get's fatiguing to listen to 

OK, think I haveade my decision. Thanks for all the help

[rice guru]

53 minutes ago, MASTERMIND911 said:

OK, think I haveade my decision. Thanks for all the help

great what did you end up deciding on?

 

[MASTERMIND911]

17 minutes ago, rice guru said:

great what did you end up deciding on?

 

think i am going to go with the grace design sdac, the monolith liquid spark and the dt990

[rice guru]

3 hours ago, MASTERMIND911 said:

think i am going to go with the grace design sdac, the monolith liquid spark and the dt990

not a bad setup basically mine

 

[MASTERMIND911]

4 hours ago, rice guru said:

not a bad setup basically mine

 

Ha ye except I have got a sdac and amp combo and two pairs of headphones where I have got one pair atm and a separate dac and amp