I switched from earbuds to headphones and I'm disappointed. Help?

[Defame]

My long time $30 apple earbuds went dead recently. I needed a mic anyways too so I opted to kill two birds with one stone and buy a gaming headset. I didn't want to spend more than a $100, and of all the budget gaming headsets I looked at, the HyperX Cloud Alpha was highly praised. Some people said it was even decent for music which was a plus since I wanted something I could listen to music on too (I listen to a lot of music). It showed up today and after listening to a few songs and playing a few games, I'm reeeally disappointed. It sounds empty and flat, like the speakers are far from my ears but they're not. Is it likely that's just because I've used earbuds for years? I'm not kidding the old apple earbuds sounded so much better. The difference is night and day. I'm not really sure what to do. Has anyone been in a similar experience making the switch?

[BLCT]

Few different factors. The HyperX Cloud Alpha are gaming are intended for "gaming". Now I use that term loosely because usely games especially FPS, there are a lot of explosions, gunfire, and footsteps. They all use (for the most part) bass, or sub bass. That's why a lot of "gaming" headphones are bass heavy. They tend to focus more on those noises. Now you might prefer your airpods becuase they are more "neutral" sounding than your hyperx. Snice they're more neutral, they will have more mids and highs, which will compliment the rest of the frequencies more better. Leading to a sound thats more pleasing to listen to. Bassy headphones tend to lack mids, with harsh highs. They just dont compliment each other.

[Defame]

3 hours ago, BLCT said:

Few different factors. The HyperX Cloud Alpha are gaming are intended for "gaming". Now I use that term loosely because usely games especially FPS, there are a lot of explosions, gunfire, and footsteps. They all use (for the most part) bass, or sub bass. That's why a lot of "gaming" headphones are bass heavy. They tend to focus more on those noises. Now you might prefer your airpods becuase they are more "neutral" sounding than your hyperx. Snice they're more neutral, they will have more mids and highs, which will compliment the rest of the frequencies more better. Leading to a sound thats more pleasing to listen to. Bassy headphones tend to lack mids, with harsh highs. They just dont compliment each other.

I thought it was going to excel in games being that it's advertised as a gaming headset but it's worse than my apple earbuds in terms of sound quality and even how much of an advantage I have over opponents. Footsteps are fainter and can't be heard from as far and it feels like there's little to no bass in these things. Explosions and gunfire sound harsh and kind of empty. Even worse is the mic isn't working! The comfort and build quality aside from that is superb but I feel like I've made a mistake buying these because of the sound.

[S.S.Dragon]

im planning to buy a headset with a mic too. and ive used nothing but earbuds all my life. so im really worried on what to buy. 

i also listen to alot of music. sure i could just switch from buds to headset, but i dont want to do all of that every single time i swap. plus i have ear problems, they get warm from time to time. so an open back would be nice, but i live in a small house. i dont want sound leaking out and everyone hear it at 2 am. 

 

i have money to drop $100 on a set, but if i dont like it, im screwed, im not dropping more money into headsets and probably wont even use the one i buy, if its that bad. i live in a small town, so the only places that have display models is walmart. and ive tried those on and dont like them at all. 

 

i got 2 co-workers thats hardcore gamers and they have suggested what they think is the best option for me, but again. not dropping more than $100 just to be disappointed and end up not using them.

 

what 3-5 brands thats hard to go wrong with headsets and i can start from there. for both music and gaming

[jonathancccc]

On 12/31/2018 at 4:27 AM, Defame said:

I thought it was going to excel in games being that it's advertised as a gaming headset but it's worse than my apple earbuds in terms of sound quality and even how much of an advantage I have over opponents. Footsteps are fainter and can't be heard from as far and it feels like there's little to no bass in these things. Explosions and gunfire sound harsh and kind of empty. Even worse is the mic isn't working! The comfort and build quality aside from that is superb but I feel like I've made a mistake buying these because of the sound.

As an audiophile, just saying, apple earbuds have the worst sound quality I've ever heard in my life and you could have just gotten use to the really bad and weird sounding nature of it 

 

Sure music on cloud alpha might not be balanced as it's more bassy and the soundstage might not be as wide 

 

But it.may just be your settings in the hyperx app and your EQ things 

 

If you're using windows 10, u have to go to settings to change your mic input to cloud alpha mic for it to work 

 

So check before you get mad