Looking for closed back headphones for casual/competitive gaming and music. 150 euro budget

[msponer]

I have done lots of research, but lots of videos and reviews kind of contradict one another, so I can't make a decision.

 

I'm looking for headphone under 150 euros, that sounds good when connected directly to pc/laptop, that is good for both casual and competitive gaming, while also being good for media.

From what I have read, the m40x and DT 770 pro would be the best, but I'm not sure. 

 

One final, question, how reputable is zeos reviews? I have seen his "Gaming Fidelity" video, and I just want to know if he knows what he's talking about or not.

 

Thanks for the help.

[ImWilly]

I don't really know about Zeos, but I recommend to use Audio Technica ATH-M50X

It may a bit more than 150 EUR, but a lot of my friends would prefe to add a bit more than purchase ATH-M40X since there are a huge difference (from their perspective anyway)

 

I personally use ATH-M50X, it is a good stereo headphone, I use it for mixer monitoring for live music, gaming on my laptop, and sometimes listen music with Spotify

 

And if you're concern about Surround capability, just use DTS/Dolby Atmos for Spatial Audio, since this headphone is well known, the app already has preset for ATH-M50X, and I really enjoy to use it on gaming for pinpoint location of each element in game

 

[ImWilly]

P.S. The downside of ATH-M50X headphone, is that the ear cup will break within 1-2 years of use, no matter how careful to keep

 

So unless you wanna peel the synthetic leather on the ear cup, you may try to buy replacement ear cup or use it without synthetic leather like I do

[Ripred]

Audio Technica ATH-M50XBT2 

[rice guru]

M50x and m40 not gonna lie suck for gaming their lack of any soundstage at all makes it sound too intimate and tracking footsteps or any overall immersion sucks. 

The 770 is pretty good for gaming wide soundstage for a closed back and very good imaging for tracking. I just think their tuned kinda bad but built like tanks. I would got for the 250 ohm.  Other alternatives are the akg k371 and k361 both are great sounding cans overall. In terms of soundstage they are not too wide but certainly wider than audio Technica as well as tuned better than 770 for music and overall enjoyability. If you can find a Sony mdr1 am2 for that duget I would pick that up over all of these as it is well tuned , soundstage is pretty ok still not as wide as 770 but has pretty good stereo imaging

[creesch]

46 minutes ago, rice guru said:

I would got for the 250 ohm

That's bad advice imho as they might not be able to drive them with whatever they have. The 80ohms dt770 pros are the better choice for the majority of people. 

[CTR640]

DT770 80ohm. Not only it's easier to drive it, the highs are also less harsh than the 250ohm version.

Comfort is excellent, it's built like a tank so you need to be as strong as a Hulk to break it. And Beyerdynamic provides plenty of spare parts to replace everything.

[Psittac]

I recommend the Rode NTH-100 every chance I get, and this is one of the times that it's a perfect fit.  The headphone sounds great on anything and is very comfortable.  It's great for all content as well.  The only downside to them is that the ratcheting mechanism can break if you're rough with them, it took me falling ontop of them while they were under a pillow on my bed for them to break, but Rode replaced them no questions asked.  I would imagine they will come out with replacement parts.  These are some of my favorite headphones.

 

Second to those I would recommend the DT770 80ohm for your use case.  Beyerdynamic is a great company with a great product.  One of the earliest headphones in my "head-fi" days was the dt770-80 that I got for a friend and with a couple hours of use on them I obsessed over getting the dt880-600 and love them, now I have the dt1990 and they're great headphones.

 

Oh and as far as Zeos, he's a take it or leave it person, some people hate him others love him.  I'm one that loves him because once I had a few headphones I started listening to different reviewers take on them and found that every time Zeos had the exact same opinion I did, so after that I went on his recommendations alone and he hasn't steered me wrong yet.  Well one earpad recommendation he made in his telegram wasn't my cup of tea but I've grown to enjoy them so half points.  Most people's complaints of him are that he loves everything.  And He does, but it's like someone that reviews cars every day.  You have to find what you love about the product while also bringing up its shortcomings.  When you're driving sports cars and luxury cars all the time it's difficult to just crap on one because they're all great for their own reasons.

[creesch]

8 hours ago, Psittac said:

I recommend the Rode NTH-100 every chance I get, and this is one of the times that it's a perfect fit.  The headphone sounds great on anything and is very comfortable.  It's great for all content as well.  The only downside to them is that the ratcheting mechanism can break if you're rough with them, it took me falling ontop of them while they were under a pillow on my bed for them to break, but Rode replaced them no questions asked.  I would imagine they will come out with replacement parts.  These are some of my favorite headphones.

 

I was recently looking into the Rode and what I noticed is that there aren't any longer term reviews for the thing, while I also see a lot of posts on various forums/subreddits about the adjustment mechanism breaking. They also have been out for over a year, so you'd think that is enough time to start selling replacement parts, at the very least earpads.

It is one reason why I recommend Beyerdynamic these days. As basically every single part of the headset is available separately as a replacement part, they are easy to repair to begin with but also rarely need repairing anyway due to the build quality.  

 

It's also what drove me away from Sennheiser years ago. While they have some replacement parts available their headphones in the same price category are less sturdy and much less repairable. 

To get back to Rode, I should say that part of my reservations here are also due to previous experiences with a few of their other products about general repairability and longevity. I had an entire wall of text written already about that, but frankly it isn't all that relevant to the point I am trying to make. 

 

Basically, these headphones seem awesome and I can certainly see people being very happy with them. I just am personally not sure about them lasting and being able to service them down the road. Even if the adjustment mechanism isn't a problem for most people at some point you likely do want to replace the headband or earpads.  It doesn't look like Rode will sell those and it very much remains to be seen if they stay populair enough to have good third party replacements available. 

 

 

[rice guru]

22 hours ago, creesch said:

That's bad advice imho as they might not be able to drive them with whatever they have. The 80ohms dt770 pros are the better choice for the majority of people. 

Yes your absolutely right. I just wish there was an alternative at this budget range with matching spacial audio qualities cause the longer I'm in the hobby the less I appreciate this particular headphone.

[msponer]

4 hours ago, TechlessBro said:

Closed backs suggest you either want to not disturb others or trying to block external noise?

Which one?
some block more incoming noise well, while all block sound leaking out.

 

 

To not disturb others, mainly.

 

Also thanks to everyone for your answers!