lookin for a new pair of headphones

[Ruffleduffle]

OK, so yall probably hear this quite a lot in here, but i cant decide on which new headphone to get.

My old CloudX broke this night, in such a way that is not easyly fixable for me, the cable broke inside of the left earcup so that i have to angle ym head perfectly and keep it that way to get sound in the left earcup. 

I am already in posession of a modmic, so using that will be no problem. I mostly play with my friends when i am on the pc and got a small mixer so i could easily adjust the gain and plug in some other sources to have a little fun.

My problem is that i have to stay under 100 EUR since i am on a somewhat tight budget.

 

Getting to the point:

Usecase: Mostly gaming some light music while working/gaming, looking for a somewhat balanced soundstage.

Mic: Not required, but apreciated.

Budget: 100EUR (19% import fee if above ~30$ total)

 

Ive been looking at the recommended once in the sticky and the ATH AD500X grabbed my attention, allthough i would like to try open backed ones, i thing the noise of my pc could be a problem ( Is it enough to just turn them up som moe' to drown out light background noise? It is sufficient on ym current ones with just a closed back) Also ive been looking at the CloudX Alpha as a possible followup to my cloud, as i am very satisfied with espiaclly their comflort while still having a nice sound. Do you know if the Cloudx Alpha would eb a worthy succsesor?

 

Thanks to everyone in advance and pleasy excuse some mistakes in the spelling since it is quite late and English is not my first language.

[Ruffleduffle]

For referance, my CloudX 2 hold up for almost three years with severaly hours of use on a daily basis

[EsaT]

6 hours ago, Ruffleduffle said:

Ive been looking at the recommended once in the sticky and the ATH AD500X grabbed my attention, allthough i would like to try open backed ones, i thing the noise of my pc could be a problem ( Is it enough to just turn them up som moe' to drown out light background noise?

When not listening anything you'll basically hear environment's sounds mostly normally through open headphones.

(certainly with very open back mesh of that ATH)

Though with driver only few centimeters from ear, it doesn't take much volume to bury sounds of non-noisy environment.

But sounds of noisier environment will come through, unless listening at hearing dangerous volume.

Also if your keyboard is one of the noisier ones, that could be very noticeable over quieter music.

(especially MX Retro alias Blue switches)

 

But closed ear cup's acoustical behaviour certainly makes it hard to get sound anything close to good open headphones from them.

 

Though not sure if you would like AD500x, what I've seen in measurements ATH-ADs tend to be light on especially lower bass.

While that HyperX Cloud should have clear bass emphasis with its closed design.

AKG K612 should have little above neutral bass.

https://www.thomann.de/de/akg_k_612_pro.htm

Though for ~110€ there's Beyer DT990 Pro with good fun bass.

 

If you're willing to experiment (deciding later if wanting to get closed or open headphones) and you're not sure about background noise with open headphones, there would be also some affordable headphones from Superlux.

Of course if you have friends who could borrow you open headphones, that would be also good way to test if background noise bothers you with open headphones.

[Ruffleduffle]

1 hour ago, EsaT said:

-snip-

First of all, a huge thank you for your in depth answer.

Unfortunatly i dont have anyone to to loan a pair of headphones to see if open back is siutable for my application since i am the only person i know who actually goes out and spends more than 10 bucks on a pair of headphones.

I think i will just get the AT500x off amazon since they are currently 100EUR and if i dont like them i can just send them back. Ill definietly keep ur suggsestions in mind if I dont like them in the end.

 

Your comment was very helpful to me and highyl apreciated.

[EsaT]

14 minutes ago, Ruffleduffle said:

i am the only person i know who actually goes out and spends more than 10 bucks on a pair of headphones.

While likely those others have no problem with spending some 700-800€ to PC component, which loses majority of value in couple years and becomes mostly valueless in five years...

 

There are some very good open headphones for gaming little above 100€, so buying affordable open ones now to test sound leaking and saving little more could be one option.

 

Myself bought these just as experiment some years ago.

https://www.thomann.de/de/superlux_hd_330.htm

If their ear pads didn't feel like made for small Asian head and cable was better (rather stiff coiled cable) those would be for its price very good for fun gaming.

(reference points Beyer DT990/HD595 Sennheiser)

Though it's "only" semi-open even that doesn't make any real difference to sound isolation, except high frequencies.

HD-681 would be even cheaper.

https://www.thomann.de/de/superlux_hd681_b.htm

[Ruffleduffle]

2 minutes ago, EsaT said:

Myself bought these just as experiment some years ago.

yeh, ive been looking at the superlux ones aswell, but one of the key features i am looking for is comfort, i am going to use these for multiple hours a day

[Ruffleduffle]

On 17.9.2018 at 4:23 PM, EsaT said:

snip

I just wanted to give you an update, my ad500x arrived today and it is amazing, weighs next to nothing, slapped my modmic on the side. I am using my xenyx 502 to drive the whole contraption, i know it doesnt have the best amp/dac inside and i get some slight hissing when i turn all the dials up, but with my pc on about ~50% volume i can keep the headphone output nice and low while getting sufficient umpf to the headphones. I dialed a bit of extra bass in and thats it.

 

Huge thanks to you for recommending i try open back, it is amazing.

[Ruffleduffle]

allthough the headpads could be a bit stronger, but i can easily fix that with a rubber band