Best High End Gaming Headset/Headphones

[S7ewie]

The 990 PROs would fit that description. They are open back and will leak sound though, meaning others around you will be able to hear what you are listening to.

That's one thing I'm really not worrie about with gaming. It's just me in my room. So won't be a problem

[S7ewie]

Pretty sure I'm gonna go for the DT 990 Pro then for gaming

But out of curiosity what would you have recommended for music? As in listening from MP3 player, out and about, where sound leakage is more of an issue.

[RazerZ]

You could get the DT 770 PRO, it has a decent soundstage for a closed back pair. Imaging is also great so it would work well for gaming. Should serve you well as a headphone for using on the go or at home since sound leakage won't be a problem. They have a v shape sound signature which is fun to listen to (emphasis on low end and treble). Very comfortable as well.

 

Depending on the version you buy you might need an amp for portable use. I have the 80 ohm version and I have to crank my phone/tablet all the way up unamped to get an acceptable listening volume. Sometimes it's not enough.

[S7ewie]

Well it will be pretty much 100% for games. I'd rather have a different more portable pair for music. So I'll probably stick with the DT 990 pro.

Do you think I need to consider getting an amp? It will be plugged into my PC

[Ryoku]

Well it will be pretty much 100% for games. I'd rather have a different more portable pair for music. So I'll probably stick with the DT 990 pro.

Do you think I need to consider getting an amp? It will be plugged into my PC

 

Depends on your motherboard most quality ones come with onboard sound with a built in amp/dac.

[Diederik_Gr]

Depends on your motherboard most quality ones come with onboard sound with a built in amp/dac.

Only if your motherboard is ancient or just garbage. My Asus B85M-G runs my DT990's just fine, never even use more than 40% volume.

I'd say try them out first with your motherboard, and get an amp if they are not loud enough.

[TheDudeWhoTriesHard]

You're making a mistake if you order the M50x, especially for gaming.

^^^

[TheDudeWhoTriesHard]

 

K7XX or K612 Pro would be my recommendation.


The M50X sounds like my gāowán if it was sentient. Trust me, its that bad.

[S7ewie]

It's an ASUS Maximus Vii Hero so I'd expect the onboard sound card to be sufficient?

I've ordered them, should be here tomorrow so we'll give it a test run

[Fluffinator]

It's an ASUS Maximus Vii Hero so I'd expect the onboard sound card to be sufficient?

I've ordered them, should be here tomorrow so we'll give it a test run

Nice, tell us how you like them.

[S7ewie]

Okay got um today and so far..

Very comfortable! Fit over my ears nicely, and could happily wear them for several hours. Very well built. They look a lot nicer than I was expecting actually. I like the springy cable too, really long reach.

As for sound (bare in mine I'm not audiophile so not very good at reviewing sound). I've only tested them out with music so far because I haven't had chance to fire up a game on my PC. Mostly it's great. The bass is really nice! Just what I'm looking for. Not overpowered but enough to give a good "thump". The only thing I have found is that on some songs the S's, V's & F's etc. as well as some of the higher pitched sounds like maracas and high hat (I'm sure there's a collective word for those sounds ) can sound quite sharp and harsh (Like air hissing out of puncture in a tyre). Enough to the point where it would probably give me a headache after a while.

That being said though they aren't for music .. They're for gaming. So I'll have a play later and see how they are in games

All in all though I'm pretty happy so far

[Fluffinator]

Okay got um today and so far..

Very comfortable! Fit over my ears nicely, and could happily wear them for several hours. Very well built. They look a lot nicer than I was expecting actually. I like the springy cable too, really long reach.

As for sound (bare in mine I'm not audiophile so not very good at reviewing sound). I've only tested them out with music so far because I haven't had chance to fire up a game on my PC. Mostly it's great. The bass is really nice! Just what I'm looking for. Not overpowered but enough to give a good "thump". The only thing I have found is that on some songs the S's, V's & F's etc. as well as some of the higher pitched sounds like maracas and high hat (I'm sure there's a collective word for those sounds ) can sound quite sharp and harsh (Like air hissing out of puncture in a tyre). Enough to the point where it would probably give me a headache after a while.

That being said though they aren't for music .. They're for gaming. So I'll have a play later and see how they are in games

All in all though I'm pretty happy so far

Yeah it has to do with the sound signature, theres a trade off in most headphones in this price range, determining what sound signature you want. For example good bass and treeble but poor highs and mids and vice versa. It's not until you get into the big dollar headphones that you can a really good balanced headphone in almost every aspect, and even then it's till preference.

[S7ewie]

What sort of price range is that?

[Fluffinator]

What sort of price range is that?

I would say around the $700-$1000 mark probably.

[SSL]

I would say around the $700-$1000 mark probably.

 

That seems high.

[Fluffinator]

That seems high.

Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but typically stuff in the $100-$500 range usually have some sort of a trade off for something else, which is fine. If you want something with very little compromises then you gotta pay the premium, of course this is personal preference and may not matter much because the compromises are often very small and hard to notice anyway for all the extra money being spent, with very low diminishing returns.

[SSL]

Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but typically stuff in the $100-$500 range usually have some sort of a trade off for something else, which is fine. If you want something with very little compromises then you gotta pay the premium, of course this is personal preference and may not matter much because the compromises are often very small and hard to notice anyway for all the extra money being spent, with very low diminishing returns.

 

HE-500 B)

[S7ewie]

Hmmm, I see. Well I'll keep playing with the 990s, give them a try on some games and stuff today. For the most part they're great. But in certain songs those highs would end up giving me a headache Hopefully it's less noticeable for gaming.

[S7ewie]

Okay update time ..

Been playing around with them on my PC. Having the same problem with music or when there's a lot going on. The higher sounds get a bit distorted, Its actually really frustrating. I think I'm in the minority, and I guess everyone's different, but for me its really really noticeable. To the point where in some situations I just have to turn it off.

 

That being said though some games sounded really really REALLY nice .. until I did something like fire a gun ..

 

I also think I'm either going to need a new sound card or amp because I'm at 95-100% volume and its definitely not "loud". I went into the audio manager settings and enabled "sonic soundstage" which seemed to help a little for the volume but made the mids and highs even worse.

 

I'm hoping upgrading my soundcard or getting an amp will help the volume and clear up the sound a bit too? (Annoyingly I bought a decent sound card last year but after I upgraded my PC earlier this year I no longer had the slot for it.)

 

Do you think it will help or are these just not the headphones for me?

[Fluffinator]

Okay update time ..

Been playing around with them on my PC. Having the same problem with music or when there's a lot going on. The higher sounds get a bit distorted, Its actually really frustrating. I think I'm in the minority, and I guess everyone's different, but for me its really really noticeable. To the point where in some situations I just have to turn it off.

 

That being said though some games sounded really really REALLY nice .. until I did something like fire a gun ..

 

I also think I'm either going to need a new sound card or amp because I'm at 95-100% volume and its definitely not "loud". I went into the audio manager settings and enabled "sonic soundstage" which seemed to help a little for the volume but made the mids and highs even worse.

 

I'm hoping upgrading my soundcard or getting an amp will help the volume and clear up the sound a bit too? (Annoyingly I bought a decent sound card last year but after I upgraded my PC earlier this year I no longer had the slot for it.)

 

Do you think it will help or are these just not the headphones for me?

Interesting, if they are getting distorted there may be something wrong with your computer, try them on another computer and see if you hear the same distorted high pitches, or a different audio port if you haven't already.

[RazerZ]

Sounds like clipping to me... it's likely a headphone amp would solve your problem.

 

What soundcard did you buy? Have you tried temporarily freeing up a slot and trying the headphones with it?

[S7ewie]

Interesting, if they are getting distorted there may be something wrong with your computer, try them on another computer and see if you hear the same distorted high pitches, or a different audio port if you haven't already.

 

Unfortunately I don't have another PC to try them with but I've tried them with both my iphone and playing through the Hi-fi amp downstairs and its a similar problem. It's really frustrating for me because I'm not very good at describing sound .. I just know I don't like it haha. 

 

One song I was listening to for example all the S's V's and F's came out a really high pitched "hissssing" sound. Drove me nuts. And on another heavier song when it all kicked in, guitars, drums etc it was just like "static" in the background .. it wasn't clear at all. For music I generally use sennheiser momentum over ears and although they have less bass sound, they're a heck of a lot clearer sounding overall. I've tried these in my PC as well and no problem, they just don't really have that big soundstage that I'm looking for for gaming.

 

 

Sounds like clipping to me... it's likely a headphone amp would solve your problem.

 

What soundcard did you buy? Have you tried temporarily freeing up a slot and trying the headphones with it?

 

Its an Asus Xonar something. Unfortunately its PCI which I don't have a single slot for on my new mobo. Its all PCI-e.

[RazerZ]

The hissing sound might be a silibance issue due to the 990 PRO's sound signature. The clarity issue could be from your source or a poorly recorded/low quality audio file.

 

Was it actually static (i.e white noise) you were hearing, or was it hard to pick out the instrument separation?

 

What motherboard do you have?

[S7ewie]

Okay bit of an amateur mistake. I couldn't be bothered to download the music I was comparing to my PC library so I just youtubed it So yeah probably wasn't the best quality audio source.

 

I've uploaded the music now and it definitely sounds a bit better.

 

I guess static was the wrong word (bare with me .. newbie) .. the guitars in certain songs just sound very distorted. That combined with the high hat, the "hissing" and other high sounds and yeah I guess its just hard to pick out the separation between those (it creates a collective noise that almost sounds like static .. but I guess its not). Some songs are worse than others. And like on some games, noises like firing certain weapons was just "ear-piercing".

 

Its definitely not terrible .. but its noticeable .. and its annoying me (apart from that its brilliant).

 

Its an Asus Maximus Vii Hero.

[S7ewie]

To be honest the more I listen to it the better it starts to sound. I think I'm just getting used to it. The highs were a bit harsher than what I'm used to it and just taking some getting used to.. I think some of the songs I've been testing with may just not have been recorded and optimized particularly well, because some songs sound great. Its still the T's and S's that are coming across very sharp though. Not sure I'll get used to that. But for the most part its definitely sounding a lot better.

 

I still think I'm going to need a new sound card though, If just for the volume. 95-100% still isn't loud enough in some applications.