Headphones/Headset/soundcard for Gaming/Music?

[akmaggo]

Hello, I am a newb to audio, so I have quiet a few questions for those who can help me!

 

So, my story here:

I bought a new motherboard, Asus Z170 Pro Gaming (still waiting for cpu to get shipped to setup the new pc)

SupremeFX 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC 
- Supports : Jack-detection, Multi-streaming, Front Panel MIC Jack-retasking
- High quality 115 dB SNR stereo playback output
Audio Feature :
- SupremeFX Shielding™ Technology
- Optical S/PDIF out port(s) at back panel
- Sonic Radar II

I also bought G933 headset because it was on sale down to 115€

1. white noise static while using wirelessly (when nothing is played I can hear it, making me nuts)

2. The biggest downside, logitech thew their product out that needs Logitech Driver Software to work obv, and it messes up my G600 mouse so it has random input delay, I tried many things to fix, didn't work (they could literally list them as uncompitable, even tried on my brothers pc, the moment I plug them wirelessly on my mouse gets slow and unusable for games)

3. supposedly the audio isn't the greatest for the price of the headset (wouln't know, had only G230 so far, seem better than G230 obv)

- I am shipping them back to amazon soon

 

So I am now deciding and need help from you guys

Since I am into gaming, listening music and watching movies occasionally

*With gaming prioritize "footsteps and enemy location" over "bass and explosions"

*They must not be headset, I really don't care for the mic, I have one already

 

I've been thinking to get a HyperX Cloud II with 7.1 virtual surround

Now my questions are...

 

1. Is the 7.1 any good for gaming? Now with G933 I tried DTS and Dolby Surround, I didn't find it very usefull, for music it depended for what kind of music but it distorted it too much for my taste, as for Youtube for some videos it just added additional noises that made it worse (think I answer this for myself, but still want the 7.1 for some reason, idk :<)

2.Should I get a headset like HyperX Cloud II or Sennheiser GSP 350 that have soundcard in this USB thingy with 7.1 on/off button

or Headphones Sennheiser HD 559

3. How to tell which of those has better audio quality, frequency tells u how low(bass) and high can it go?

 -> example: Beyerdynamic DT770 PRO 32Ohm vs Sennheiser HD 559

are the DT770 better cuz 5-35k? what does sensitivity matter for, and what's the difference for using 32 Ohm, 80Ohm DT770 versions, which one would someone get for plugging for onboard or soundcard and does that affect quality aswell?

4. If Headphones is the onboard audio good enough or should I get a external soundcard?

5. Is the onboard audio from Asus Z170 Pro Gaming having virtual surround? DTS or something?

6. How to tell in what rang is the quality of the onboard audio vs DAC/AMP/External Soundcards, with examples from Amazon, cuz I've read that some people buy cheaper DAC that comes as the same their onboard already is

7. Would, lets say Sennheiser HD559 + Asus Xonar U7 sound any better than the onboard, or would I just get dolby digital surround and amp for that price

if if 8. which external soundcard to get, Asus Xonar U7 is quiet expensive isn't it, is it the best for the price or any other suggestions

9. ur choices which I should consider

Audio Technica ATH-A500X cheaper headphones maybe to consider?

edit: https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B01JP436TS/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3JWKAKR8XB7XF&psc=1

nice sale I guess?

now I ask myself, how are those supposed to be 250$ with 10-28k range and nothing special in specs from some other that are  half price

 

So what would be the best for me, "competitive fps gaming", music

should I stick to HyperX Cloud II / GSP350, get Headphones plug them onboard or Headphones and external soundcard

 

I know it's a lot of nub questions  but I don't want to fail again.

Thx for your time! Appreciate it!

 

[Dackzy]

Your noise problem is pretty common with that headset and headsets alike.

The best for gaming would be a pair of open headphones with a huge soundstage, sadly they don't really have a lot of bass, most don't even have a small bass boost if we look under 200$.

 

The clouds 2 offer great value compared to other headsets, but a pair of headphones + a mic offers a better value.

 

What kind of budget are we working with here? Do you have a store where you can test headphones and headsets? Do open headphones work for you or do you want/need closed?

[akmaggo]

1 minute ago, Dackzy said:

Your noise problem is pretty common with that headset and headsets alike.

The best for gaming would be a pair of open headphones with a huge soundstage, sadly they don't really have a lot of bass, most don't even have a small bass boost if we look under 200$.

 

The clouds 2 offer great value compared to other headsets, but a pair of headphones + a mic offers a better value.

 

What kind of budget are we working with here? Do you have a store where you can test headphones and headsets? Do open headphones work for you or do you want/need closed?

I dont really know the diff between open/closed, I guess open ones are the ones with open cuffs and they possibly are louder around u? Think I prefer closed ones if that's the case

I don't really have a place to test them nearby

check the "edit" part, answer if u may

[Spuriae]

1. 7.1 is useless and free with any headphones anyways.
2. HyperX Clouds are good but get the Cloud Cores or Cloud 1's instead of the Cloud II's as they come with an extension cable instead of the worthless dongle.
3. DT770's are among the best for closed-back gaming if you need isolation; they have a good soundstage/positional audio and great subbass.
4. Depends what headphones you get. 
5. Doesn't matter.
6. Don't get super cheap stuff (<$25) aside from a handful of Chinese products and DIY projects; most of the time onboard audio will be better.
7. Don't get a soundcard, and those headphones don't need amplification anyways.
8. Don't get a soundcard; external solutions are virtually always better.
9. A500X's are a good choice for gaming.

What's your budget? Ideally for gaming you'd be looking at open-backed headphones as those have much better soundstage and imaging than closed backs. Which ones depends a lot on your musical preferences and budget. For pure gaming, the Audio Technicas are a great choice; if you like bass look at DT990's; for music as well as gaming probably AKG's or Sennheisers. Depends on you.

[Dackzy]

1 minute ago, akmaggo said:

I dont really know the diff between open/closed, I guess open ones are the ones with open cuffs and they possibly are louder around u? Think I prefer closed ones if that's the case

I don't really have a place to test them nearby

check the "edit" part, answer if u may

 

Open leak sound in and out, while closed will try and block it out and keep the sound in. 

The 598cs are good headphones and closed, there are mixed opinions about them (like a lot of headphones), but their sound quality is really good for the price and they are fairly comfy. They have a balanced sound, meaning a small bass/mid-bass boost nothing too special.

[akmaggo]

1 minute ago, Dackzy said:

Open leak sound in and out, while closed will try and block it out and keep the sound in. 

The 598cs are good headphones and closed, there are mixed opinions about them (like a lot of headphones), but their sound quality is really good for the price and they are fairly comfy. They have a balanced sound, meaning a small bass/mid-bass boost nothing too special.

so would u say that those 598cs are better than DT770 or HD 559?

so with open ones, others can loudly hear what you hear with them? 

my budget is indicisive, still figuring out wheather to invest into good audio equipement that will last or just not

[Dackzy]

Just now, akmaggo said:

so would u say that those 598cs are better than DT770 or HD 559?

so with open ones, others can loudly hear what you hear with them? 

my budget is indicisive, still figuring out wheather to invest into good audio equipement that will last or just not

 

the 559's are open. The DT 770's offers about the same audio quality, but they have a different signature where the bass is boosted more.

With open others can hear what you are listening to fairly well if they are close to you and you have to turn up the volume if you want to not hear things around you IRL which isn't a good thing, so only get open if you don't need to block out someone or something.

 

I personally find the AKG K550MKII or K550's to be my go to closed headphone under 200€, they also have a somewhat balanced sound, but a damn good soundstage for closed and the audio quality is freaking great. The down sides are: Big cups so they might not seal very well on your head, not that much padding on the headband and you cannot remove the wire.

 

I have this rule of thumb. If you lay your current headphones on your table playing music at your normal listening volumes then the audio you can hear is about what open would leak. This isn't accurate, but it would give you an idea.

[akmaggo]

11 hours ago, Dackzy said:

the 559's are open. The DT 770's offers about the same audio quality, but they have a different signature where the bass is boosted more.

With open others can hear what you are listening to fairly well if they are close to you and you have to turn up the volume if you want to not hear things around you IRL which isn't a good thing, so only get open if you don't need to block out someone or something.

 

I personally find the AKG K550MKII or K550's to be my go to closed headphone under 200€, they also have a somewhat balanced sound, but a damn good soundstage for closed and the audio quality is freaking great. The down sides are: Big cups so they might not seal very well on your head, not that much padding on the headband and you cannot remove the wire.

 

I have this rule of thumb. If you lay your current headphones on your table playing music at your normal listening volumes then the audio you can hear is about what open would leak. This isn't accurate, but it would give you an idea.

but how can I find out such things, to find the best that fit me, like, when I see 5-35k frequency I say wow, must be good, and then I look at 100$ more expensive ones and see 15-28k and then I am like.. hmmm

I would go with the open ones but there is a problem, I am in a flat with a monkey that shouts all the time and we have paper walls, also there's a stadium near that sometimes plays music loudly, also that monkey sometimes puts speakers on and his hizzing mobile phone speakers that's giving me some type of syndrome, anyway, think that's why I have to go with closed ones

but with G933 I can hear everything I do, when nothing is playing, typing, snapping, etc so if open ones would be the same then ok, but if I would hear a lot more then it would be really bad

I just played like 2h of BF4 on stereo and on dolby 7.1, and I have the feeling dolby didn't help at all with footsteps etc, maybe bf4 is a bad game to test on, just the explosions were awesome and so loud I got hit by other stuff cuz I couldn't hear it ;D so I'll definently stick to stereo and forget the 7.1

 

tell me this.. how do you now know which ones are better, I mean, both are "same price" one is listed under Hi-Fi the other Studio/DJ, they have diff freq etc, explain me what's the difference and how it matters

https://eu.audio-technica.com/headphones/hifi/ATH-A500X

https://eu.audio-technica.com/headphones/studio-dj/ATH-M50x

and then I get super confused when I see this...

http://cloud.akg.com/10881/k553pro_cutsheet.pdf

Audio Frequency bandwidth: 12 to 28000 Hz

Audio bandwidth: 20 – 20,000 Hz (± 3 dB)

...

 

Sennheiser HD 598 CS     230€ -> 125€

Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 32 Ohm     160€ -> 138€

Audio Techinca ATH-A700X     145€

Audio Techinca ATH-A500X     119€

AKG K550 MKII     160€

AKG K612 Pro     129€ - open ones, but 12Hz-39k5Hz ? are those priced apropriately?

or maybe the middle, semi-open?  https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B0024NK358/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3JWKAKR8XB7XF&psc=1

 

which ones to choose ;<, is sennheiser the choice cuz the price cut?

what would be the difference with DT770 32 and 80 Ohm, same price, why would someone choose 80Ohm over 32?

 

edit: I looked some graphs on HeadRoom and think either DT770 for bass or DT990 for soundstage

Think I'll go for the open ones, 990, should I go for the 32 Ohm or 250 Ohm? for plugging it into my motherboard.. would there be any difference? would the volume be just lower? and how much lower : <

[Dackzy]

9 hours ago, akmaggo said:

SNIP

 

You can only hear 20Hz-20KHz, most likely 20-18KHz or something like that, because of age and wear. Anything above or below is useless plus most music stay in frequency ranges most people can hear which is often only up to 14-15Khz.

Open are much more open than the G933, the G933 just doesn't isolate well but open don't isolate at all and semi open is kinda just BS might as well call that open...

 

I would stay the F away from M50x's they are overpriced and not that comfy at all, I have not tried the A500x so not sure about those.

 

For gaming a big soundstage and good positional audio is god, the K550 MKII, 598cs and DT 770 all have decent to good soundstage for closed and good positional audio, but they sound very differently. A good 2.0 headphone with decent/good soundstage without any surround sound software, will always wreck any headsets with the software and a poor soundstage.

 

If I was you then I think I would go with the 598cs's, removable cable, balanced sound and fairly comfy.

[akmaggo]

1 hour ago, Dackzy said:

You can only hear 20Hz-20KHz, most likely 20-18KHz or something like that, because of age and wear. Anything above or below is useless plus most music stay in frequency ranges most people can hear which is often only up to 14-15Khz.

Open are much more open than the G933, the G933 just doesn't isolate well but open don't isolate at all and semi open is kinda just BS might as well call that open...

 

I would stay the F away from M50x's they are overpriced and not that comfy at all, I have not tried the A500x so not sure about those.

 

For gaming a big soundstage and good positional audio is god, the K550 MKII, 598cs and DT 770 all have decent to good soundstage for closed and good positional audio, but they sound very differently. A good 2.0 headphone with decent/good soundstage without any surround sound software, will always wreck any headsets with the software and a poor soundstage.

 

If I was you then I think I would go with the 598cs's, removable cable, balanced sound and fairly comfy.

K550 MKII are closed ones, 598cs supposedly have low bass, DT770 supposedly are unbalanced with high bass, and DT990 supposedly have lower bass, so I checked the curves on HeadRoom and it all showed it there just like the reviews said

so I was thinking about DT990 250 Ohm and FiiO K10 DAC/amp, it's what they recommend and there's the bass switch that just makes them perfect I guess, but still thinking wheather FiiO or Asus Xonar U7 just for the sake :<, but playing now with G933 dolby was bad except for explosions, only good one was DTSx at FPS preset, it was just like stereo just better, now it's a question which soundcard would have a 7.1 that would actually be good, but 125€ for soundblaster would be too much (why not a good soundstage headphones + virtual surround ;D)

[Dackzy]

5 minutes ago, akmaggo said:

K550 MKII are closed ones, 598cs supposedly have low bass, DT770 supposedly are unbalanced with high bass, and DT990 supposedly have lower bass, so I checked the curves on HeadRoom and it all showed it there just like the reviews said

so I was thinking about DT990 250 Ohm and FiiO K10 DAC/amp, it's what they recommend and there's the bass switch that just makes them perfect I guess, but still thinking wheather FiiO or Asus Xonar U7 just for the sake :<, but playing now with G933 dolby was bad except for explosions, only good one was DTSx at FPS preset, it was just like stereo just better, now it's a question which soundcard would have a 7.1 that would actually be good, but 125€ for soundblaster would be too much (why not a good soundstage headphones + virtual surround ;D)

 

Yes K550MKII are closed. The low and too much bass is a personal thing, a headphone might have too much bass for my taste, but too little for your taste.

The DT 990s are open and have a very harsh treble that can annoy some people. 

 

You don't need a soundcard or a DAC and amp to drive any of the headphones I have recommended, they can all be driven off a normal smartphone and your mobo has more power behind its build in amp.

The thing with virtual surround sound is that it is very personal, I personally despise it I often think it just makes things way worse, I have yet to try any virtual surround sound that made things better for me. If you want free software then you got that razer surround sound software.

[akmaggo]

10 hours ago, Dackzy said:

Yes K550MKII are closed. The low and too much bass is a personal thing, a headphone might have too much bass for my taste, but too little for your taste.

The DT 990s are open and have a very harsh treble that can annoy some people. 

 

You don't need a soundcard or a DAC and amp to drive any of the headphones I have recommended, they can all be driven off a normal smartphone and your mobo has more power behind its build in amp.

The thing with virtual surround sound is that it is very personal, I personally despise it I often think it just makes things way worse, I have yet to try any virtual surround sound that made things better for me. If you want free software then you got that razer surround sound software.

ok good that u pointed that out, now are K550 MKII my choice ;D

ye if u tried razer surround it's nothing like the dolby or dts:X, dts:x was the only good one for FPS, dolby maybe if u play singleplayer destruction games, I did play BF4 to try DD and when a tank exploded infront of me, dude it was so epic, my g933 cups vibrated so nice and the bass, just dam, but ye, not good for tracking footsteps cuz it buts that behind

maybe I exadurated a bit but whatever ;D

[Dackzy]

2 hours ago, akmaggo said:

ok good that u pointed that out, now are K550 MKII my choice ;D

ye if u tried razer surround it's nothing like the dolby or dts:X, dts:x was the only good one for FPS, dolby maybe if u play singleplayer destruction games, I did play BF4 to try DD and when a tank exploded infront of me, dude it was so epic, my g933 cups vibrated so nice and the bass, just dam, but ye, not good for tracking footsteps cuz it buts that behind

maybe I exadurated a bit but whatever ;D

I have yet to hear virtual surround sound that doesn't sound artificial and muffled and I have basically tried everything....

If you like a good bass boost then go for DT770's, since they have a fairly big bass boost (not beats level baas boost) amd are pretty good for gaming.

[akmaggo]

5 minutes ago, Dackzy said:

I have yet to hear virtual surround sound that doesn't sound artificial and muffled and I have basically tried everything....

If you like a good bass boost then go for DT770's, since they have a fairly big bass boost (not beats level baas boost) amd are pretty good for gaming.

how much would FiiO K10 improve the sound? or not worth for 80€

[Dackzy]

41 minutes ago, akmaggo said:

how much would FiiO K10 improve the sound? or not worth for 80€

not worth 80€, better off getting a schiit fulla 2, but I would just use onboard if I were you.