Looking at High Quality low-midrange headphones.

[podkall]

I'm thinking of getting headphones that I could enjoy music and PC experience with more, that could last me a while perhaps too thanks to good quality.

 

My budget is approx ~140€ or 3500czk.

 

One criteria I have is that the headphones have to be closed back and that AMP is not required, I know this might make it trickier to look at better headphones, but if I want to blast music at late night my neighbors don't need to listen with me and can sleep.

 

I looked on Alza for all the possible headhpones and cherry picked probably 95% of the good ones:

 

HyperX Cloud II

Logitech G PRO X Gaming

Razer Barracuda X

Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO 32 Ohm

SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5P

Sennheiser HD 569

Razer Blackshark V2 Pro

Steelseries Arctis Pro Wireless

 

So far I am deciding between the Sennheiser HD 569, Razer Barracuda X. Because both have kind of price/performance stats.

 

Tricky with the HD 569 and few others because they aren't on the RTINGS website to compare.

 

Kind of biased towards Sennheiser here because of their positive reputation on mid and higher headphones.

 

I'm really posting just in case I'm too tunnel visioned and there could be something better I missed.

 

Thanks for any help.

[Agall]

4 minutes ago, podkall said:

I'm thinking of getting headphones that I could enjoy music and PC experience with more, that could last me a while perhaps too thanks to good quality.

 

My budget is approx ~140€ or 3500czk.

 

One criteria I have is that the headphones have to be closed back and that AMP is not required, I know this might make it trickier to look at better headphones, but if I want to blast music at late night my neighbors don't need to listen with me and can sleep.

 

I looked on Alza for all the possible headhpones and cherry picked probably 95% of the good ones:

 

HyperX Cloud II

Logitech G PRO X Gaming

Razer Barracuda X

Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO 32 Ohm

SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5P

Sennheiser HD 569

Razer Blackshark V2 Pro

Steelseries Arctis Pro Wireless

 

So far I am deciding between the Sennheiser HD 569, Razer Barracuda X. Because both have kind of price/performance stats.

 

Tricky with the HD 569 and few others because they aren't on the RTINGS website to compare.

 

Kind of biased towards Sennheiser here because of their positive reputation on mid and higher headphones.

 

I'm really posting just in case I'm too tunnel visioned and there could be something better I missed.

 

Thanks for any help.

I've had a few headsets over the years and have been really impressed with my HyperX Cloud II Wireless. I ended up buying the Cloud III Wired version for my Steam Deck/Ally X. The only caveat is that I tape over the built in volume rocker so that it can't move. Battery life on the wireless has never been an issue, even while wearing them for a whole day.

 

For me, a KISS approach is best. The more complexity to the headset, the more problems I'd run into. The Logitech pair I had before were an absolute nightmare.

[Cocococo]

Just had a look through Alza, The Rode NTH-100 and AKG K371 are the only good closed backs i saw on there, if i missed an AKG K361 or Shure 840/440 then whoops, consider those headphones too. None of the gaming headsets are any good, neither are Sennheiser or Beyerdynamic closed backs, if you need a headset then HyperX Cloud 2 is alright, but i would absolutely get a Rode NTH-100M over all the headsets (100M comes with a mic and mic compatible cable, Rode make good mics and the NTH-100 are really good closed back headphones)

[podkall]

2 hours ago, Agall said:

I've had a few headsets over the years and have been really impressed with my HyperX Cloud II Wireless. I ended up buying the Cloud III Wired version for my Steam Deck/Ally X. The only caveat is that I tape over the built in volume rocker so that it can't move. Battery life on the wireless has never been an issue, even while wearing them for a whole day.

 

For me, a KISS approach is best. The more complexity to the headset, the more problems I'd run into. The Logitech pair I had before were an absolute nightmare.

I'm actually gonna base my experience off of G342 Logitech I had, in short they were quite good for the price, and sounded quite excellent, so I'm curious to see what my next pair will bring me, especially since I'm no longer rocking them, but a pair of 20$ Sony headphones instead, though those have at least seemingly not that much distortion or trouble with sounding good either.

 

16 minutes ago, Cocococo said:

None of the gaming headsets are any good, neither are Sennheiser or Beyerdynamic closed backs

why not, many reviews, and some detailed ones actually find these quite good, and it's not like they're cheap either, I know some Sennheiser and probably Dynamic headphones are just straight up cheap and mediocre or worse.

 

18 minutes ago, Cocococo said:

but i would absolutely get a Rode NTH-100M over all the headsets (100M comes with a mic and mic compatible cable, Rode make good mics and the NTH-100 are really good closed back headphones)

I see some slight criticism about these on RTINGS website, though we are all people of different tastes.

https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/rode/nth-100m

 

For example I found G342 Logitechs crystal clear sounding, since I haven't really had anything better to listen to before, then I had chance to try my friend's HyperX Clouds (idk which version maybe II), and they sounded similarly good, meaning they held onto their well received reputation.

 

For same reason I'd like to see if getting slightly more expensive than clouds, that have less emphasis on mic for example unlike Logitech, HyperX and Razer for example, and more on just the 2 things that deliver sound, like the few studio headphones that got mentioned earlier,

 

because I want to experience for myself if there's anything that can sound even better, than what I earlier thought sounded crystal clear.

 

This is one of the two reasons why I'm considering the Sennheisers, the second being very specific that Markipiler used Sennheisers, closed backs as well, and he used like several different models throughout his career, which just gives you the idea, if he is choosing Sennheiser multiple times, that has to mean they sound quite good to be buying them again right?

 

The only problem is the FOMO effect, that whatever I choose I won't get to experience much of the other stuff unless I'd be able/willing to buy multiple, since all the brands mentioned, Razer, Logitech, SteelSeries, AKG, etc. all have reviews filled with people 200% satisfied in the way they reproduce sound.

 

The only scary thing about Sennheisers is that their longer cable is 6,3mm jack, but apparently that's as easy to solve as by just simply buying an adapter.

[Agall]

6 minutes ago, podkall said:

I'm actually gonna base my experience off of G342 Logitech I had, in short they were quite good for the price, and sounded quite excellent, so I'm curious to see what my next pair will bring me, especially since I'm no longer rocking them, but a pair of 20$ Sony headphones instead, though those have at least seemingly not that much distortion or trouble with sounding good either.

Difference here is that I have fairly significant permanent hearing loss and tinnitus, so my ability to perceive sound quality isn't the best. Regarding the issues I had with the Logitech pair I bought, the battery life, overall functionality, onboard buttons created a poor experience regardless of the quality.

 

-The battery life was far shorter than advertised and wouldn't last a whole gaming session, even with the RGB turned off

-The buttons were easy to accidentally press that would change the sound profiles (and you couldn't just disable the buttons in the software)

-Speaking of software, it was effectively required to get full functionality, something I'd rather not have.

-It wasn't tye-c, so I had to have a micro-USB on standby just to charge the heckin thing, they might've solved this by now but the standard was type-c already since it was only like 2022 when I bought them.

 

Specific headset was a Logitech G935 purchased in November 2021 and replaced in April 2023, so almost 2 years I used these bloody things and dealt with problems every time I used them.

 

I take the same stand with all peripherals, less is more. Why my keyboard is simple, keep my headset simple, and the G903 is very simple once you're using an onboard profile that transplants to any PC with the proper settings.

[podkall]

3 minutes ago, Agall said:

Difference here is that I have fairly significant permanent hearing loss and tinnitus, so my ability to perceive sound quality isn't the best. Regarding the issues I had with the Logitech pair I bought, the battery life, overall functionality, onboard buttons created a poor experience regardless of the quality.

 

-The battery life was far shorter than advertised and wouldn't last a whole gaming session, even with the RGB turned off

-The buttons were easy to accidentally press that would change the sound profiles (and you couldn't just disable the buttons in the software)

-Speaking of software, it was effectively required to get full functionality, something I'd rather not have.

-It wasn't tye-c, so I had to have a micro-USB on standby just to charge the heckin thing, they might've solved this by now but the standard was type-c already since it was only like 2022 when I bought them.

 

Specific headset was a Logitech G935 purchased in November 2021 and replaced in April 2023, so almost 2 years I used these bloody things and dealt with problems every time I used them.

It's possible they used some new technology that just wasn't polished yet, and they slapped it into the headset and it drained power faster than desired/competition/expected, like a new tech for faster sound transfer, or higher Bluetooth version that didn't increase efficiency?

 

5 minutes ago, Agall said:

I take the same stand with all peripherals, less is more. Why my keyboard is simple, keep my headset simple, and the G903 is very simple once you're using an onboard profile that transplants to any PC with the proper settings.

Yeah, pretty much, though it depends, I know that for gaming peripherals the sweetspot is somewhere in the middle, if you are really hardcore gamer,

 

but if you less than hardcore you can get competitive even with cheap parts,

 

membrane keyboard? not a problem, it's quiet, might bring less fatigue because the rubber cushions the strokes, it's milliseconds if there is some delay, they can still have anti-ghosting,

 

mouse? just a good sensor inside a cheap plastic chassis and you're done, bonus points if the material doesn't wear off and make a mess,

 

similar to headphone cushioning, mic doesn't have to be crystal, just good enough to hear your articulation and don't hiss,

 

monitor having 1ms advertised response time is already competitive enough,

 

office chair is comfy and perhaps gets more ergonomics done and fatigues less,

 

etc.

 

But my mid-tier purchases are justified, I'm hardcore competitive in nature, and for headphones, I practically listen to music all day at times, so having more quality would be nice.

[Agall]

1 minute ago, podkall said:

It's possible they used some new technology that just wasn't polished yet, and they slapped it into the headset and it drained power faster than desired/competition/expected, like a new tech for faster sound transfer, or higher Bluetooth version that didn't increase efficiency?

 

Yeah, pretty much, though it depends, I know that for gaming peripherals the sweetspot is somewhere in the middle, if you are really hardcore gamer,

 

but if you less than hardcore you can get competitive even with cheap parts,

 

membrane keyboard? not a problem, it's quiet, might bring less fatigue because the rubber cushions the strokes, it's milliseconds if there is some delay, they can still have anti-ghosting,

 

mouse? just a good sensor inside a cheap plastic chassis and you're done, bonus points if the material doesn't wear off and make a mess,

 

similar to headphone cushioning, mic doesn't have to be crystal, just good enough to hear your articulation and don't hiss,

 

monitor having 1ms advertised response time is already competitive enough,

 

office chair is comfy and perhaps gets more ergonomics done and fatigues less,

 

etc.

 

But my mid-tier purchases are justified, I'm hardcore competitive in nature, and for headphones, I practically listen to music all day at times, so having more quality would be nice.

See with my keyboard, I spent more to get less  WASD Keyboards custom that even has dip switches to change modes, so no software, no RGB, just basic mechanical keyboard that otherwise don't exist in today's market.

 

Yeah, I really can't judge accurately the quality of the sound from the HyperX II/III, but I'd say its good enough to not cause me any concerns. I don't listen to music with them since I use my speakers for that, which are no comparison to my truck's factory JBL speaker system. All about that bass (even though I listen mostly to rock/metal). 

[podkall]

11 minutes ago, Agall said:

Yeah, I really can't judge accurately the quality of the sound from the HyperX II/III, but I'd say its good enough to not cause me any concerns. I don't listen to music with them since I use my speakers for that, which are no comparison to my truck's factory JBL speaker system. All about that bass (even though I listen mostly to rock/metal). 

yeah, though curious, have you ever tried comparing II and III? The word around is that the II is mostly better than III in overall sound at least, at least out of factory.

 

https://www.rtings.com/headphones/tools/compare/hyperx-cloud-2-cloud-ii-vs-hyperx-cloud-iii/502/40554?usage=19&threshold=0.10

[Agall]

3 minutes ago, podkall said:

yeah, though curious, have you ever tried comparing II and III? The word around is that the II is mostly better than III in overall sound at least, at least out of factory.

 

https://www.rtings.com/headphones/tools/compare/hyperx-cloud-2-cloud-ii-vs-hyperx-cloud-iii/502/40554?usage=19&threshold=0.10

The Cloud III wired aren't as loud, which is the best I can give you, but that might just be from using a 3.5mm jack instead of wireless. I haven't used wired headphones in probably 8 years, so I might just not be used to the wattage limitation from that interface. I've only used the III Wired on my Steam Deck OLED and ROG Ally X, the II Wireless on several desktops, including my docked Deck OLED and Ally X

[saintlouisbagels]

I'm not gonna read through this thread.

I just want to say that the 80ohm version of the Beydynamic DT770 Pro are fucking excellent. They've been my favourite headphones for the past decade - and I have owned other headphones in the $800 and $1600 range since then. These are just the perfect sweet spot of price-to-performance AND OMG THE COMFORT. The 32ohm version has worse earpads. 80 ohm version is known to be bassier than all of the other models.

 

@Cocococo notoriously does not like the Beyerdynamic line-up on these forums, but he also makes excellent recommendations outside of this particular outlier opinion lol.

[podkall]

9 minutes ago, saintlouisbagels said:

I'm not gonna read through this thread.

I just want to say that the 80ohm version of the Beydynamic DT770 Pro are fucking excellent. They've been my favourite headphones for the past decade - and I have owned other headphones in the $800 and $1600 range since then. These are just the perfect sweet spot of price-to-performance AND OMG THE COMFORT. The 32ohm version has worse earpads. 80 ohm version is known to be bassier than all of the other models.

 

@Cocococo notoriously does not like the Beyerdynamic line-up on these forums, but he also makes excellent recommendations outside of this particular outlier opinion lol.

Yeah I might just get the Sennheisers ngl, I know this might be biased because of someone else's preference,

 

but it kind of stacks you know.

 

Prestigious company,

big earphones and drivers,

23 Ohm impedance,

not the low-end garbage price range,

E.A.R. technology,

reputation of good Bass reproduction,

not to mention, their mid-range parts at least based on reviews, don't try to one up their previous version with something potentially screwing things up, instead they just remaster them and barely change anything and stay consistent.

 

And to me that just sounds like a solid consideration.

[Cocococo]

 

3 hours ago, podkall said:

I see some slight criticism about these on RTINGS website, though we are all people of different tastes.

RTINGS are absolutely terrible for buyers advice (they're equivalent to IGN for headphones) and a lot of their "objective" rankings like neutral sound are just straight up wrong and mis informative, the Beyerdynamic DT770 (popular headphone, i really don't like them but whatever) is given an 8.3/10 for neutral sound by RTINGS, there are many things wrong with this ranking, chief among them being that the DT770's are famously not neutral whatsoever, bassheads LOVE the DT770 because they're extremely bassy, and i hate them for the overblown treble that virtually all Beyerdynamic headphones have, below are uncompensated graphs for both headphones (i believe the rigs are slightly different, but not enough to give this vast a difference. I'm also going to show the DT770 graph RTINGS kept using for years, if you spot a difference it's because the RTINGS graph is heavily compensated, they couldn't be the furthest thing from neutral, why would RTINGS loudly claim so on their site?

 

Well, RTINGS makes most of their income via ads AND affiliate links, coincidentally one of the best selling "studio" headphones in the world are comparable in "neutral sound" to open back Hifiman headphones that cost DOUBLE the DT770 at minimum, and according to RTINGS they DT770 are closer to neutral than the Sennheiser HD560S, a pair of open back headphones that while not truly neutral, are SIGNIFICANTLY closer to it than the DT770. 

 

I've really been trashing the DT770 (because it's the best example that RTINGS are not trustworthy at all and are loyal only to affiliate link sales) and that doesn't seem fair, so now i guess i should trash the HD569 to be fair, they sound awful. Same flavour of bad as the overwhelming majority of closed back headphones out there, undetailed muddy bass, muffled and unclear midrange with wonky treble, basically 0 soundstage or imaging, i suppose the nicest thing i can say about them is they're not as bad as the overwhelming majority of gaming headsets (there is only one good "gaming" headset and that's the audeze maxwell) but again, the NTH-100 are so much better it's kind of unbelievable. 

 

Side note, the NTH-100 isolate noise extremely well, idk if that's why you want closed backs but the Rodes absolutely do the best job, plus they're actually tuned well (very closely follows the more recent harman targets, with a midbass bump and slightly reigned in treble that sounds great) 

[Pawer8]

I recommend the nth-100 with the foam removal mod or the k371

 

You can add a mic to the nth100 if that's of value to you.

 

[Pawer8]

Also have a look at the hd569

Not much about it but here is a review

https://headphones.com/blogs/reviews/sennheiser-hd-569-sennheisers-best-kept-secret

[podkall]

3 hours ago, Pawer8 said:

Also have a look at the hd569

Not much about it but here is a review

https://headphones.com/blogs/reviews/sennheiser-hd-569-sennheisers-best-kept-secret

yeah so I didn't just like blindly choose them, they are apparently quite decent, I saw this video,

 

 

[Pawer8]

On 8/29/2024 at 1:13 PM, podkall said:

yeah so I didn't just like blindly choose them, they are apparently quite decent, I saw this video,

 

 

Did you get anything yet?

[podkall]

3 hours ago, Pawer8 said:

Did you get anything yet?

yes I got the HD569, it's quite good for the price, the only caviat was quite considerably out of tune, so I had to change almost all EQ sliders on the basic Realtek EQ software, might get a more professional EQ software

 

as far as my ears sense sound, I hear basically no distortion in sound, and some of the sounds really opened up, like for example when song has guitar I can actually hear the "metal" sound of the strings.