Help me choose some good FPS headphones

[Tacos4all]

Hey everyone, thanks for taking the time to check out my post and share your wisdom/opinions. 

 

For reference, I currently use the Massdrop Sennheiser HD 6XX paired with a Sound Blaster AE-5 Plus for everything. Love the soundstage and bass response is right up my alley. Sounds great for movies, singleplayer immersion, and racing games. However the main problem I have with them is directional audio, particularly in an arena shooter like Call of Duty. I have tuned an EQ to my liking and use the virtualization found in Sound Blaster Command to make it as good as I can (see image at the bottom), but it's just not cutting it. I also tried disabling the EQ's and virtualization to try out CoD's built-in virtualization and I found it quite disappointing. I am fully aware of my ineptitude with EQ's, any suggestions on adjusting that is welcome as well. I played around and what I came up with below sounded fine enough.

 

What led me on this mission to find some better headphones was actually playing the MWII beta on PS5 with the Sony Pulse 3D wireless headphones. Although overall audio quality was quite trash compared to the 6XX's, the directional audio was amazing, and without using the PS5's Tempest 3D audio. So when the beta started up on PC, I quickly found myself guessing a lot of the time where footsteps were coming from. I did not expect such a stark contrast, as I was probably giving too much credit to Call of Duty's own tuning.

 

So I watched a few videos, did some googling and found a couple options I was hoping you all could help me sort out. Though any other suggestions are greatly appreciated. Microphone not a concern as I have my own separate one.

 

Both from Beyerdynamic, the Tygr 300R and the MMX 300. I know that a big difference between the two are open vs closed back. I don't have a particularly loud environment so closed back is not a necessity. 

 

My sound card only has the one stereo audio out port which I will probably be keeping my Sennheiser's plugged into. A few things to keep in mind:

• Will either of these headphones be severely dampened with onboard Realtek audio?
  • If the soundcard would make a big enough difference, any suggestions on a "quick switch" setup of some kind where I can easily switch headphones without giving my PC a reach-around would be awesome.
• I am not looking for a price-to-performance decision, merely objective directional audio in shooters (other media will be handled by the 6XX)
• Budget is $300 for the headset (both clearly fall within this, but as previously stated, other suggestions are encouraged

Notable mentions

• Astro A40 +mixamp - I used to own this combo prior to getting the Sennheiser HD 6XX's that grace my ears now. No real complaints from them other than durability and price. They are still a VERY distant 3rd from the aforementioned headsets only because they can occupy the SPDIF on my motherboard and the mix amp eliminates the poor onboard soundcard. However none of the serious reviews I checked out even mentioned these. It seems the general consensus amongst the audiophile gaming community is that if the product is designed with a "gamer-y" aesthetic and marketed towards gamers, they're not that great.
• Sennheiser PC37x - I only mention them so you won't. I hated them and returned them after a day.
• Logitech G Pro X - See above ^
• 

[191x7]

Sennheiser HD 560S. Wallhack tier for FPS/TPS MP games.

Alternative: Byerdynamic DT 1990.

 

I'd recommend checking Fresh Reviews on Youtube, his videos about headphones for gaming and IEM-s for gaming.

[Tacos4all]

35 minutes ago, 191x7 said:

Sennheiser HD 560S. Wallhack tier for FPS/TPS MP games.

Alternative: Byerdynamic DT 1990.

 

I'd recommend checking Fresh Reviews on Youtube, his videos about headphones for gaming and IEM-s for gaming.

Funny you mention his channel. It was through his videos how I came to find out about the Tygr 300R!

[191x7]

12 minutes ago, Tacos4all said:

Funny you mention his channel. It was through his videos how I came to find out about the Tygr 300R!

I thought that, but wasn't sure.

 

What I can say is, turn off any equalization, custom sound software and such, especially the virtual surround solutions...

 

And get the 7Hz Salnotes Zero IEM for ~$25 just to test them out.

[Tacos4all]

On 9/23/2022 at 1:43 AM, 191x7 said:

I thought that, but wasn't sure.

 

What I can say is, turn off any equalization, custom sound software and such, especially the virtual surround solutions...

 

And get the 7Hz Salnotes Zero IEM for ~$25 just to test them out.

The DT 1990's were well outta my price range. I ended up trying out both the Tygr 300R and the 560S (thanks Amazon next-day shipping). I found that while the 560S were an improvement over the 6XX's for directional audio (with no EQ's or virtualization), it wasn't enough of an improvement to justify buying them. I could see the appeal for large scale games like a Battle Royale where it's less about footsteps, but more about determining a far off location from a sniper shot or something. The footsteps were certainly more defined, but when a target was real close, I did have a harder time pinpointing where they were coming from. 

Ultimately I have decided to go with the Beyerdynamic Tygr 300R. The imaging on those were far and beyond any other headset I have tried to date. While the overall sound quality was lesser than the 560S, it's a fair price to pay for the much improved directionality, particularly in close quarters. 

 

Thanks for the advice and your time, cheers!

[191x7]

5 minutes ago, Tacos4all said:

 

Thanks for the advice and your time, cheers!

Now, get the 7Hz Salnotes zero Dynamic and try them out.

[Psittac]

What you're looking for in a pair of headphones for fps gaming is called imaging and soundstage.  Find headphones that nail such parameters and they will make great FPS headphones.

 

Of all of my headphones the ones with the best imaging and soundstage are the Harmonicdyne Zeus, they are still my most expensive pair of headphones but if I played competitive FPS games these are certainly what I would pull out of my collection.

 

They are basically the exact opposite of the 6xx, which is an amazing pair of headphones and can't be compared to anything else I have for what they do (you need to try them on some kind of tube if you enjoy music).  But wide soundstage and imaging are not their strongest characteristic.  The Zeus is a little heavy and since I got a chair that can recline I find myself put off by wearing them so they don't get the head time they deserve, plus I have many options.  If the extra $50 ontop of your budget along with another $55 for an antlion modmic makes it a hard pill to swallow I can highly recommend the Phillips Fidelio X2HR or X3 as they have amazing sound stage and imaging.  I believe the X2HR can have a boom mic hooked to it as well.  Anything I have mentioned will work well with either your onboard audio or your soundblaster.

 

That Tygr is supposed to be, or was god tier but I've never had the pleasure, so out of what you've mentioned I'd go with that.

 

There are options to get input/output and volume control away from the back of your tower, but the cheapest and easiest way is to get an aux extension cable and right click the speaker on your taskbar to switch.