Headphone/headset impressions - ATH m50x, Logitech G933, Razer Tiamat 7.1 v2 and Kraken

[rondocap]

I'd like to share my impressions of the different headphones and headsets I have tried for gaming recently. Like many of you, I am always on the hunt for the "best" sound and experience, for gaming and music. 

 

First, the conventional wisdom is that a real headphone, like the Audio Technica m50x, will sound better as headsets are generally lower quality. I know the M50x are not ideal headphones because they are not open back for gaming, but they are very good all around headphones and provide a good comparison. 

 

For test purposes, I am running an X299 Aorus Gaming 3 motherboard, which has on board 7.1, but I also have a Sound Blaster ZX 5.1 card. 

 

Games tested include Battlefield 1 (Best audio experience IMO), Rise of Tomb Raider, CS:GO, Quake Champions, Doom, Witcher 3, Crysis 3, League of Legends, etc. 

 

I'll listen them from worst to best:

 

4th: Razer Tiamat 7.1 V2: This has just been released and is an update to the first Tiamat. Not much hype online or reviews about it, and I think I know why. Tested with onboard audio, which sounded terrible, and then used 2 recommend sound cards - Asus DSG 7.1 and Sound Blaster ZX. Messing with various sound and EQ settings did not produce any agreeable results. Positional audio seemed OK, but the audio quality was tinny, distant, and honestly very disappointing. Also the control unit it comes with is just a - big - mess - of - cables. 

 

Verdict: I returned this $199 headset for a refund. Other reviews from users also seem to indicate poor quality in audio, I suspect "real drivers" degrade actual audio quality while trying to boost positional audio. 

 

3rd: Razer Kraken 7.1 V2: For only $79 (Sale), I found this to be adequate and had decent (not great) sound for gaming and 7.1 virtual surround. 

 

Verdict: Can provide decent enough audio experience, but terrible for music. Gaming 7.1 is OK. Really dislike Razer Synapse having to be running in background. Build quality good, but decided to keep searching. 

 

1st and 2nd: Audio Technica m50x and Logitech G933: This is a tough one, why I have kept both. I have switched back and forth between both while playing a game, to test the difference. 

 

A few points: 

 

a:) For music, M50x is much better. G933 was surprisingly OK for music for a headset, though.

b.) m50x sounds best with SBX or similar virtual surround like from the Sound blaster ZX card in games, while G933 7.1 DTS sounds really good. 

c.) Positional gaming audio seemed better on G933, even if audio quality was slightly worse than M50x. 

d.) In open world games like BF1, tomb raider, G933 sounded better with DTS 7.1. In FPS games like Quake or Doom, 7.1 did not sound as good, where possibly the M50x may be slightly better.

e.) G933 is wireless, which is nice having that freedom. Battery life is only OK. RGB looks cool. 

f.) In terms of comfort, G933 can feel a bit tight after a while, but so can the m50x. 

g.) G933 blocks more sound than the M50x, but both are no where near close my Bose QC35 with active noise cancelling. 

[Andrewf]

Love the post! I couldn't agree more on the Tiamat, it's already over hyped as it is, discrete surround sound inside headphones is just a huge waste of money. Headphones will never come close to a proper discrete 5.1 surround system. Although I was hoping PuBG would be in the list because I use the same Audio Technica headphones for that game.

[SwiftXShadow]

On 23/08/2017 at 5:09 PM, rondocap said:

I'd like to share my impressions of the different headphones and headsets I have tried for gaming recently. Like many of you, I am always on the hunt for the "best" sound and experience, for gaming and music. 

 

First, the conventional wisdom is that a real headphone, like the Audio Technica m50x, will sound better as headsets are generally lower quality. I know the M50x are not ideal headphones because they are not open back for gaming, but they are very good all around headphones and provide a good comparison. 

 

For test purposes, I am running an X299 Aorus Gaming 3 motherboard, which has on board 7.1, but I also have a Sound Blaster ZX 5.1 card. 

 

Games tested include Battlefield 1 (Best audio experience IMO), Rise of Tomb Raider, CS:GO, Quake Champions, Doom, Witcher 3, Crysis 3, League of Legends, etc. 

 

I'll listen them from worst to best:

 

4th: Razer Tiamat 7.1 V2: This has just been released and is an update to the first Tiamat. Not much hype online or reviews about it, and I think I know why. Tested with onboard audio, which sounded terrible, and then used 2 recommend sound cards - Asus DSG 7.1 and Sound Blaster ZX. Messing with various sound and EQ settings did not produce any agreeable results. Positional audio seemed OK, but the audio quality was tinny, distant, and honestly very disappointing. Also the control unit it comes with is just a - big - mess - of - cables. 

 

Verdict: I returned this $199 headset for a refund. Other reviews from users also seem to indicate poor quality in audio, I suspect "real drivers" degrade actual audio quality while trying to boost positional audio. 

 

3rd: Razer Kraken 7.1 V2: For only $79 (Sale), I found this to be adequate and had decent (not great) sound for gaming and 7.1 virtual surround. 

 

Verdict: Can provide decent enough audio experience, but terrible for music. Gaming 7.1 is OK. Really dislike Razer Synapse having to be running in background. Build quality good, but decided to keep searching. 

 

1st and 2nd: Audio Technica m50x and Logitech G933: This is a tough one, why I have kept both. I have switched back and forth between both while playing a game, to test the difference. 

 

A few points: 

 

a:) For music, M50x is much better. G933 was surprisingly OK for music for a headset, though.

b.) m50x sounds best with SBX or similar virtual surround like from the Sound blaster ZX card in games, while G933 7.1 DTS sounds really good. 

c.) Positional gaming audio seemed better on G933, even if audio quality was slightly worse than M50x. 

d.) In open world games like BF1, tomb raider, G933 sounded better with DTS 7.1. In FPS games like Quake or Doom, 7.1 did not sound as good, where possibly the M50x may be slightly better.

e.) G933 is wireless, which is nice having that freedom. Battery life is only OK. RGB looks cool. 

f.) In terms of comfort, G933 can feel a bit tight after a while, but so can the m50x. 

g.) G933 blocks more sound than the M50x, but both are no where near close my Bose QC35 with active noise cancelling. 

 

 

I know u posted this a long time ago but i was wondering if u exclude the mic quality and just look at the surround sound capability with tiamat and  G933, then is the G933 still better? I have never been able to touch a true surround headset so i wouldnt know how good it is versus a virtual surround one.

[joseph_omary]

i just got my g933 i cant really say im so statistifed with the music 
is it worth getting the ath-m50x  

[Exaco]

Nice post, btw BF1 doesn't have best audio, it's kinda unrealistic and extremely unbalanced in BF1. 
I'd say Arma 3 has the best/most realistic audio system thats perfect for testing soundstage/imaging or like others say Squad. ( For me DayZ SA has best audio, because its the same from Arma 3 just with lots of additional ambient/weather/other effect sounds. )

Also M50X isn't rly good headphone according to many reviews ( e.g. M40X is alot better ). 
So im not surprised that these match G933.

@joseph_omary No. I would say keep the G933 until you can spend good amount of $ for example for DT770 Pro + Amplifier ( total mby 250$ ).
But if you can use Open Back headphones ( i mean ure not living in noisy family/environment ) you could pick something like Philips SHP9500, its cheap and its good ( best under 100$, but not perfect which is obvious for such price ).