Upgrade from Hyper X Cloud II or get a new pair?

[Knight Tarkus]

Hey all,

 

So after nearly 2 years of use, my Hyper X Cloud II's decided to retire. I'm currently in the RMA process and I have 2 weeks to decided what I want for my next headphones. 

 

Firstly some general info:

 

Like most people here asking for advice, my main use will be gaming and music. I'm no audiophile, but I do appreciate good quality sound. My main source for music is Spotify, streaming at 320kbs. I live with people who do not necessarily appreciate my music taste (Playing: Toto - Africa and Snake Eater on loop is apparently bad   ) and my desktop is not so faraway from my head so during gaming it can get bit loud. As you might have guessed already, open headphones are no go.

 

When I originally chose these headphones, what made me buy them was the very good sound quality for "gaming grade headphones" and the attached microphone. I don't require attached microphone anymore, I can grab some ModMic or BoomPro to take care of that part. What i'm looking for here is good sound quality for music and gaming, and comfort, for a budget of an around 200€ max.

 

While i'm perfectly happy with the sound quality of Hyper X Cloud II, I have always wanted to take the jump to the entry level audiophile gear. 

 

So what are the headphones I have looked at so far:

 

Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro 32 Ohm or 80 Ohm (Still in the process of figuring out whats the difference): There will be no doubts about the comfort of these headphones, being the same style as the Hyper X II. However I heard that these are not so great for gaming?

 

Beyerdynamic DT 990: I said that open headphones were no go, but I have heard these being described as "Semi open" . However, I'm worried about possibility of audio leak to the microphone. Also, they are on the more expensive side considering. Sound would be amazing however.

 

Audio-Technica ATH-M50x: Its really hard to figure out these ones. I have heard that they are very good entry level audiophile headphones, but I have also heard that they are overpriced garbage meant to trap people like me who are considering jump from gaming level, to entry level audiophile.

 

Beyerdynamic Custom One Pro Plus: These are very interesting. I heard that they are on par with the ATH-M50x on sound quality, they have that fun bass switch which I think I might need in my life. Comfy factor is also guaranteed by being Beyerdynamics. However, seems like these are quite under the radar headphones? There isn't much talk about these. I wonder whats the reason for that?

 

Hyper X Cloud II or Hyper X Cloud Revolver: What can I say, I know it will work for me 100%. It would be very boring choice, but wouldn't be the wrong one.

 

Some last words: Amps. I don't have one, but in the future, I might consider getting one if the headphones I end up getting will benefit from them.

 

Feel free to suggest me headphones, share thoughts and ideas about the ones I have listed, anything really.

 

Thanks all, I hugely appreciate the help I have gotten from the LTT forums in the past 

[Mr.Meerkat]

9 minutes ago, Jaska95 said:

Beyerdynamic Custom One Pro Plus

Feel free to fire some questions at me regarding these as I own a pair (and cloud 2s so I guess I could give you a good idea comparison wise).

[Knight Tarkus]

11 minutes ago, Mr.Meerkat said:

Feel free to fire some questions at me regarding these as I own a pair (and cloud 2s so I guess I could give you a good idea comparison wise).

Hey!

 

1. So the obvious  question: Hows the sound compared to Cloud II's? I'm not an audiophile, so when people start saying how mids are slightly toned down but "V" shape'd compared to something, i'm at a loss. So if there is its possible to explain the difference simply, that would be appreciated. 

 

2. Is the bass switch a real deal, or a simple gimmick that you end up using once and makes you say "hm, that was neat I guess, I'll just set it at medium and never touch it again".

[Mr.Meerkat]

3 minutes ago, Jaska95 said:

Is the bass switch a real deal, or a simple gimmick that you end up using once and makes you say "hm, that was neat I guess, I'll just set it at medium and never touch it again".

Does it make a big difference? Yep (as it can make it something relatively flat to basically beats without it sounding muddy) 

Is it nice that you can tune it to something you like? Yep

Is it a bit gimmicky? Yep (as in you'll never probably touch it again)

Overall, is it a good feature IMO? Yes 

 

5 minutes ago, Jaska95 said:

So the obvious  question: Hows the sound compared to Cloud II's? I'm not an audiophile, so when people start saying how mids are slightly toned down but "V" shape'd compared to something, i'm at a loss. So if there is its possible to explain the difference simply, that would be appreciated. 

Well I listen to enough music with mids to talk about it's mids compared to the Cloud 2s nor am I an audiophile either however I can say this, in my personal opinion, the highs are clearer with the Custom one pros with the bass being more "defined" and "punchy" if you have it either in the second most bass or most bass setting with setting second least bass being comparable to cloud 2s.

 

First world problems when you're a electronic music lover where your favourite music consists of mostly highs with some bass and almost no mids  

[Lotus]

edit: nevermind, open back phones are out.

[Knight Tarkus]

12 minutes ago, Mr.Meerkat said:

Does it make a big difference? Yep (as it can make it something relatively flat to basically beats without it sounding muddy) 

Is it nice that you can tune it to something you like? Yep

Is it a bit gimmicky? Yep (as in you'll never probably touch it again)

Overall, is it a good feature IMO? Yes 

 

Very interesting, thanks!

 

I listen to Sabaton from time to time, and sometimes I wished that Cloud II's had more aggressive bass, so I just turn up the volume which will cause me to go more deaf than I already am. The bass switch ^tm  Will fix this. Custom One Pros  are my #1 option for now.

[kaisei]

Sorry to add onto your list, but look into the Custom One Studio as well.

[Knight Tarkus]

1 hour ago, kaisei said:

Sorry to add onto your list, but look into the Custom One Studio as well.

I  didn't find much about these. Seem to be 770's in COP casing? Tried to look around, but they are not that easily available.

[kaisei]

13 minutes ago, Jaska95 said:

I  didn't find much about these. Seem to be 770's in COP casing? Tried to look around, but they are not that easily available.

I think it was on head-fi.org that said COP is a slightly refined 770, COP+ refined COP, and COPS to be even more refined still. It's true that the COPS is much harder to find though.

[nicobombai]

Personally i would go for the DT990, i got to demo them for some time, love them alot, still on my wishlist this year.

Regarding sound leakage, yes there are,

Will it pick up to a mic? i don't think so, i used shp9500 + vmoda boompro, no sound picked up by the mic, open back are not loud enough to be picked up by mics if used at a normal listening level.

Once you pick up good headphones, no way you're going to go back to gaming headsets.

 

But with that being said, DT990 is a no go for public use. Like above mentioned, COP would be good if you're going to use them in public.

 

[Knight Tarkus]

Something interesting I found: Beyerdynamic has announced the "Custom Game" late last year, and showcased them at CES. These seem to be the next generation of Custom One Pro Plus. "Shipping February, at 199€."

 

I will wait and see how these turn out. Not much detail is being shared yet, but they look very promising. 

 

I'm still open for any and all suggestions .

[kaisei]

If you're getting into the $200 or 199€, you can also look into the Monoprice Monolith M560. I'm a little hesitant to recommend these as they are still very new, but so far the reviews have been pretty great. They are planar magnetic headphones, so they produce a very nice bass, but they're heavy (some reviews say it's so comfortable you won't notice until several hours of use). They can be used in both open back (better sound) or closed back (minor lowering of sound quality). I was looking into getting a pair of the M560 or the M1060 that are releasing next month depending on what the reviews say.

[Knight Tarkus]

23 hours ago, Mr.Meerkat said:

Feel free to fire some questions at me regarding these as I own a pair (and cloud 2s so I guess I could give you a good idea comparison wise).

Hey again,

 

Something that came up during my research: The COP+ needs "burning" for its soundstage to open up a bit. Did you have any experience with this? I have gotten really mixed reports about this, claiming its absolutely true to claims about it being placebo.

[Mr.Meerkat]

22 hours ago, Jaska95 said:

Hey again,

 

Something that came up during my research: The COP+ needs "burning" for its soundstage to open up a bit. Did you have any experience with this? I have gotten really mixed reports about this, claiming its absolutely true to claims about it being placebo.

Hmmm...I'm not too sure, wasn't paying much attention to the soundstage as I was admiring the better highs