Need help on deciding pc audio

[ace7]

hi guys so ive been looking to upgrade from my current headset (logitech g435) to something more studio like.

- i dont have a preference between wireless or wired too much and understand that wired gives a lot more options

- budget is overall to try be under 500

- if possible not to require a dac/amp

- have looked at beyer and hifiman but both have lots of negative reviews on forums and stuff putting me off 

any help would be appreciated

[Blue4130]

6 minutes ago, ace7 said:

hi guys so ive been looking to upgrade from my current headset (logitech g435) to something more studio like.

- i dont have a preference between wireless or wired too much and understand that wired gives a lot more options

- budget is overall to try be under 500

- if possible not to require a dac/amp

- have looked at beyer and hifiman but both have lots of negative reviews on forums and stuff putting me off 

any help would be appreciated

Define "studio like". What does that mean to you? Flat  Freq curve? Clinical sounding? If you want studio, why are you looking at hifiman? 

[Timme]

What's the intended use?

[Timme]

Just get the Sony WH-1000MX6.  

[ace7]

2 hours ago, Blue4130 said:

Define "studio like". What does that mean to you? Flat  Freq curve? Clinical sounding? If you want studio, why are you looking at hifiman? 

sorry i probably didnt use correct term, i mean a clean sounding detailed with wide soundstage and directional audio, i looked at what most people were reccomending such as hifiman xs, meze 105, dt pro, hd6xx

[ace7]

1 hour ago, Timme said:

Just get the Sony WH-1000MX6.  

intended use is 80% for gaming and the rest just for any media, ill take a look at them thanks for the rec

[jaslion]

1 minute ago, ace7 said:

sorry i probably didnt use correct term, i mean a clean sounding detailed with wide soundstage and directional audio, i looked at what most people were reccomending such as hifiman xs, meze 105, dt pro, hd6xx

So doez it have to be a headset again then or just audio?

[ace7]

Just now, jaslion said:

So doez it have to be a headset again then or just audio?

no just audio is fine, if it happens to have a mic great if not its no problem

[Timme]

22 minutes ago, ace7 said:

no just audio is fine, if it happens to have a mic great if not its no problem

Get the Sonys. I think you won't regret it, and that's not just my opinion. Outside commute, prolonged PC use, great sound.
For a better experience, I'd also suggest getting the Dolby Atmos for Headphones - it has awesome presets with Movie giving extra voice clarity for music, and Gaming Preset for surround and nice EQ tweaks for gaming sound.

If you fill an extra premium, you can later get a FiiO LDAC dongle for around 55$, and you'll have yourself a low-latency hifi sound.

[ace7]

1 hour ago, Timme said:

Get the Sonys. I think you won't regret it, and that's not just my opinion. Outside commute, prolonged PC use, great sound.
For a better experience, I'd also suggest getting the Dolby Atmos for Headphones - it has awesome presets with Movie giving extra voice clarity for music, and Gaming Preset for surround and nice EQ tweaks for gaming sound.

If you fill an extra premium, you can later get a FiiO LDAC dongle for around 55$, and you'll have yourself a low-latency hifi sound.

thanks i had a look and they seem good especially being multi purpose, any opinions on the maxwells (similar price and also wireless)

[Blue4130]

2 hours ago, ace7 said:

sorry i probably didnt use correct term, i mean a clean sounding detailed with wide soundstage and directional audio, i looked at what most people were reccomending such as hifiman xs, meze 105, dt pro, hd6xx

Audio is too subjective to get a decent answer. You are going to end up with 100 different recommendations. Each one with a users valid opinion. Everyone has their own listening preference. The best thing you can do is either go to a store and listen to a bunch, or just blindly choose from the list. 

 

With that said, most are so close to each other in performance, you really can't go wrong with anything in the "popular" list. A better decision to make is if you want open or closed back.

[jaslion]

I like the mezze 99 headset bundle a lot. You get a great set of headphones and great mic + dont have to worry about it being for the garbage when the battery is dead like in the mx6.

[Psittac]

As a solution, I honestly don't know how people pick a headphone.  As a hobby I say to get something that a lot of people have reviewed so you can put their description to what your ears are hearing.  In the end you basically just take a shot in the dark.  For some people like me that works, for others it doesn't.  An audiophile friend of mine is super picky and he disliked my Atrium, a headphone that is loved by many.  He prefers his Audeze and picked them over the other models in their lineup that cost multiples more.

 

IMO Audio is highly subjective and while there are some efforts to standardize inherently subjective thing's in the form of graph's, my brain doesn't work that way.  After 30 or so headphones and several dac's amp's and dac/amp combo's The three I go to the most have some thing's in common.  Comfort and durability.  My floor is tile over concrete, and more than one headphone has met its demise because of it.

 

The two most comfortable headphones I own are the Audio Technica ATHR70x Refine and the Fidelio X3.  You can look at the non-refine here, I don't know exactly what the differences are but they're both extremely light weight and comfortable.  It's kind of a 6xx with sound stage.

 

The second one I wear the most is my Sennheiser HD6xx because it just does things right and there is a reason everyone swears by them.  They don't have much bass but the mid's are butter.  Not much for sound stage but imaging is good.

 

The third, and what was previously my favorite pair, is the Focal Elex.  It's imo the last step before hi-fi.  I prefer it to the clear mg and basically everything else I owned.  It does nothing wrong, is comfortable and durable.  Great soundstage and imaging.  I would call it mid-fi end game.  Though it's on its way out I believe, hard to say cause drop doesn't have it anymore and headphones.com says "final sale".

 

A general thought on headphones, there is the thing called the hedonic treadmill where your brain normalizes what you are listening to.  After a while it's just regular and not spectacular.  My way around this is multiple headphones so I can switch them up regularly and don't get overly adapted to one pair.  If you want a one and done solution I wouldn't worry too much about sonic performance because of this.  Whatever you get will become essentially as good as anything else after a while.  Just look for build quality, repairability and comfort.

 

Then there is EQ, I'm not one to do it but it's an option to look into.  You can change your headphone into a different sound signature every now and then to fight this.  For me, I don't trust the triad of brain ear's and equipment to be a reliable source to tailor the sound profile.

 

With all of that being said, if it were me and I had $500 to spend for a one time purchase and be done with it, The Sennheiser HDB 630 is without a doubt what I would get.  It's one of the best audiophile grade wireless headphones, has great EQ potential and is made by Sennheiser so it should have everything I mentioned earlier.  I actually really want these headphones but am showing restraint at not buying them. They have a dac and amp built into them, offer wireless functionality and are supposed to sound great, or can be tuned to fit your needs.

 

 

[ace7]

On 2/14/2026 at 2:00 AM, Psittac said:

As a solution, I honestly don't know how people pick a headphone.  As a hobby I say to get something that a lot of people have reviewed so you can put their description to what your ears are hearing.  In the end you basically just take a shot in the dark.  For some people like me that works, for others it doesn't.  An audiophile friend of mine is super picky and he disliked my Atrium, a headphone that is loved by many.  He prefers his Audeze and picked them over the other models in their lineup that cost multiples more.

 

IMO Audio is highly subjective and while there are some efforts to standardize inherently subjective thing's in the form of graph's, my brain doesn't work that way.  After 30 or so headphones and several dac's amp's and dac/amp combo's The three I go to the most have some thing's in common.  Comfort and durability.  My floor is tile over concrete, and more than one headphone has met its demise because of it.

 

The two most comfortable headphones I own are the Audio Technica ATHR70x Refine and the Fidelio X3.  You can look at the non-refine here, I don't know exactly what the differences are but they're both extremely light weight and comfortable.  It's kind of a 6xx with sound stage.

 

The second one I wear the most is my Sennheiser HD6xx because it just does things right and there is a reason everyone swears by them.  They don't have much bass but the mid's are butter.  Not much for sound stage but imaging is good.

 

The third, and what was previously my favorite pair, is the Focal Elex.  It's imo the last step before hi-fi.  I prefer it to the clear mg and basically everything else I owned.  It does nothing wrong, is comfortable and durable.  Great soundstage and imaging.  I would call it mid-fi end game.  Though it's on its way out I believe, hard to say cause drop doesn't have it anymore and headphones.com says "final sale".

 

A general thought on headphones, there is the thing called the hedonic treadmill where your brain normalizes what you are listening to.  After a while it's just regular and not spectacular.  My way around this is multiple headphones so I can switch them up regularly and don't get overly adapted to one pair.  If you want a one and done solution I wouldn't worry too much about sonic performance because of this.  Whatever you get will become essentially as good as anything else after a while.  Just look for build quality, repairability and comfort.

 

Then there is EQ, I'm not one to do it but it's an option to look into.  You can change your headphone into a different sound signature every now and then to fight this.  For me, I don't trust the triad of brain ear's and equipment to be a reliable source to tailor the sound profile.

 

With all of that being said, if it were me and I had $500 to spend for a one time purchase and be done with it, The Sennheiser HDB 630 is without a doubt what I would get.  It's one of the best audiophile grade wireless headphones, has great EQ potential and is made by Sennheiser so it should have everything I mentioned earlier.  I actually really want these headphones but am showing restraint at not buying them. They have a dac and amp built into them, offer wireless functionality and are supposed to sound great, or can be tuned to fit your needs.

 

 

thanks a lot for taking your time to give a detailed response and putting a lot of things into perspective and also mentioning a few things ive never come across before, ill be sure to check the hdb630 out as ive heard good things (latency my only worry with them), will let you know what i end up going for