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*TPU's Gaming Headphone/Headset Thread*

BumbleBee said:
the AKG K701 is a classical/orchestral headphone.
Click to expand...

I liked mine a lot, listening to anything but classical. If any headphone is classical only, that will be the Edition 10. It simply sounds crap on anything else.

On the SRH940, the sounds is very detailed and comfort is much better than the SRH840 I had before. It was made less clamp and far lighter, sound is less bassy and slightly on the bright side. However I bought the DT150 over it, having a more appealing sound, equal detail and far better build quailty. The silver finish made the plastic molding seams very visible.
 
AKG headphones are too bright for me.
 
That is my gripe with Shure ... Great sound, bad build quality and/or comfort
 
the SRH840 pads are much better than the stock SRH440 pads.
 
Yes but the headband is still uncomfortable, and I have found that all 3 of the Shure products I've tried (SRH440 SRH840 and SRH750DJ) NEED space inside the pads (foam or cardboard does OK, add some socks and the comfort is even better http://www.head-fi.org/t/470304/shure-srh840-earpad-mod)

I wish they made their headbands more form fitting to the head instead of flat. I lost sound in my right side speaker and my pads were cracked beyond belief after only a little more than 1.5 years for my SRH440, and the SRH750DJ don't feel like the most quality headphones either. I am addicted to Shure products though. My Creative Aurvana Live! had great comfort, were very light, looked good, and sounded practically on par to my SRH440 (albeit very different sound IMO). I've even tried Beats, M50s and a few other headphones (albeit only for a few minutes each) but there is something about the sound with Shures that I just prefer... I have no idea what exactly
 
let me play the role of captain obvious.

leather will crack!
 
And pleather cracks even quicker! All Shure are still using rather low quailty pleather pads.

I don't see my sleep skin leather pads going to crack any time soon on my STAX. The pleather pad on my DT150 however does not give me confidence.
 
Suggestion for new headphones

Hey guys !

I wanted to buy some good 5.1 or 7.1 headsets for gaming...as i am a hardcore gamer
i am gonna mostly use them for counter strike & other FPS games.

I was thinking of Steelseries siberia neckband
Steeleseries siberia v2 USB
Razer megalodon USB

These are my primary options and Razer Tiamat which claims to be first "True" 7.1 headsets due to
its 10 drivers (five in each cup) is my secondary option...
Which one should i buy or should i wait for razer tiamat to release ? Is the wait worth it ?

Ive done some research & saw some reviews on youtube for all above headsets & here are my conclusions
pls let me know if i am wrong

Steelseries neckband is awesome due to its design behind the neck..it looks stylish and it comes at top of
my list as i am a gamer who gives importance to fashion with respect to quality ..but its cons are that it slips
from neck when not in use ..u MUST keep it wearing to prevent it from falling

Steelseries siberia v2 USB - Most of reviews were positive about this headset & They said it would work great if used with astro mixamp or other sound card & most of gamers recommend it as ive seen it in action in WCG

Razer megalodon USB - As compared to other 7.1 headsets..these are great as compared to others in terms
of price, BTW i am just wondering would it be able to compete to Razer tiamat as Megalodon is virtual 7.1 & tiamat is True 7.1...will it make a difference ? these words "True 7.1" & "Virtual 7.1" makes me think in between these two..coz if it makes a great difference i am gonna wait for tiamat

Razer tiamat- Gamers are angry and frustated on Razer team due to delaying of this headset..but they say
the wait will be worth it..some experts say due to 10 drivers it may fall back in terms of clearity ,size ,they say megalodon is best compared to tiamat..its also gonna come in 2.2 version in which there are 4 dirves 2 dedicated for bass...have anyone used 2.2 for counter strike ? is it good ?

Sorry for sucha long post but i want the best of best headsets

Additional details : No i dont want to buy any other brand
pls advice in detail due to my weak knowledge about audio
 
you can buy replacement ear cushions for most headphones but the headband cushion can be tricky.

this headband cushion will fit Sennheiser, Beyerdynamic, Denon and maybe others.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sennheiser-...693?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c5b60d905

2862762580_d9c2639772_z.jpg
 
Sennheiser HD518- :respect: - Mini-review

Pros:
-Sound is the usual Sennheiser excellence.
-Audio cable actually detaches from the headset preventing it from getting broken if you are mobile, often. +++ triple bonus points
-Sturdy padding; I'm normally hesitant with the type of padding they used, since it usually tends to wear out quickly, but they have held up perfectly so far, and I'm currently in afghanistan :rockout:
-Audio cable is the big 6.3mm, which is inconvenient for laptops sometimes, but comes with an adaptor. Can't really complain since it only really adds versatility.

Cons-
-Cans let a lot of noise out, so if you are in a quiet area, others may hear a little bit of your audio, if you listen to it loud. With headphones this awesome, you must!! :toast:
-Long term listening can get you zoned out and unaware of your surroundings at times :roll:


So far, these things have stood up to the abuse of moving throughout my deployment, and still look brand new. The can rotational joins haven't shown any signs of problems yet either. Excellent buy, IMO. :)
 
Last edited:
JoeKkerr said:
Hey guys !

I wanted to buy some good 5.1 or 7.1 headsets for gaming...as i am a hardcore gamer
i am gonna mostly use them for counter strike & other FPS games.

I was thinking of Steelseries siberia neckband
Steeleseries siberia v2 USB
Razer megalodon USB

These are my primary options and Razer Tiamat which claims to be first "True" 7.1 headsets due to
its 10 drivers (five in each cup) is my secondary option...
Which one should i buy or should i wait for razer tiamat to release ? Is the wait worth it ?

Ive done some research & saw some reviews on youtube for all above headsets & here are my conclusions
pls let me know if i am wrong

Steelseries neckband is awesome due to its design behind the neck..it looks stylish and it comes at top of
my list as i am a gamer who gives importance to fashion with respect to quality ..but its cons are that it slips
from neck when not in use ..u MUST keep it wearing to prevent it from falling

Steelseries siberia v2 USB - Most of reviews were positive about this headset & They said it would work great if used with astro mixamp or other sound card & most of gamers recommend it as ive seen it in action in WCG

Razer megalodon USB - As compared to other 7.1 headsets..these are great as compared to others in terms
of price, BTW i am just wondering would it be able to compete to Razer tiamat as Megalodon is virtual 7.1 & tiamat is True 7.1...will it make a difference ? these words "True 7.1" & "Virtual 7.1" makes me think in between these two..coz if it makes a great difference i am gonna wait for tiamat

Razer tiamat- Gamers are angry and frustated on Razer team due to delaying of this headset..but they say
the wait will be worth it..some experts say due to 10 drivers it may fall back in terms of clearity ,size ,they say megalodon is best compared to tiamat..its also gonna come in 2.2 version in which there are 4 dirves 2 dedicated for bass...have anyone used 2.2 for counter strike ? is it good ?

Sorry for sucha long post but i want the best of best headsets

Additional details : No i dont want to buy any other brand
pls advice in detail due to my weak knowledge about audio
Click to expand...

the Sennheiser PC360 in my opinion is the best headset marketed towards gamers. the only thing better is the Sennheiser PC360 with the Astro Mixamp.

if you have a sound card go with the steelseries neckband.
if you don't have a sound card go with the steelseries siberia v2 usb.
 
BumbleBee said:
the Sennheiser PC360 in my opinion is the best headset marketed towards gamers. the only thing better is the Sennheiser PC360 with the Astro Mixamp.

if you have a sound card go with the steelseries neckband.
if you don't have a sound card go with the steelseries siberia v2 usb.
Click to expand...

Yep, I'm using the PC360 with an Auzentech Prelude and it is leaps and bounds better than pretty much everything else I've tried. I have come to the conclusion that virtualized multichannel is better than actual multichannel when it comes to headsets.
 
As always, good sound card + headphones will always be better than the crappy internal DAC DSP that USB headsets have. Most 7.1 USB headphones are virtual surround sound with bad USB convertor and the actual multichannel one... You wonder why there isn't any hi-fi headphones doing that... My current setups are outright overkill for gaming, so I won't recommend it here. However if you don't wanna stick with the gaming tag and paying a premium, you can always go Hi-fi headphones like Audio Technica AD700 or Sennheiser HD598, both are very capable for their price tag.
 
Hello everyone its been a while since I've been on here. I had a question (its kinda dumb) I was hoping to grab the AKG701/702 headphones pretty soon but Im pretty much just going to be using them for my PC (Games, Music, Movies) and I havent come across a review that says if its ok to use them with a sound card. However I have come across a lot of forums stating that I should use the headphones with an amp. Could anyone shed some light on this? I don't want the headphones to seem like a waste if I just buy them for games, music etc. Any comparisons to my AD700's? It has been about a good 5-6 months and I can't find anything on the subject nor do I know of anyone that uses them for gaming or just on the computer period.

I appreciate the help in advance guys!
 
K701 are power hungry. I don't think your sound card even has a headphone amplifier.
 
BumbleBee said:
K701 are power hungry. I don't think your sound card even has a headphone amplifier.
Click to expand...

so would they destroy my computer? lol

Also Im guessing that my sound card comes with a built in amp since it was made for music purposes(making and editing) but it is old so I dont know

EDIT: from what im reading on headfi forum, the sound card and the dac it comes with BOTH come with a built in amp, but I dont have the dac, says its probably best to just plug it into the back anyways so it comes from the source

EDIT2: Am I really going to notice a big difference in sound quality if it turns out I need an amp? really wish this wasn't so difficult....
 
Last edited:
A hot rodded X-Fi card will still struggle with the K701s, most dedicated headphone amplifiers do not have the power to drive them well. Just use the line-out to feed a amplifier. A decent FiiO amplifier should do them some form of justice.

The K701s sound way leaner than the AD700s.
 
Frederik S said:
A hot rodded X-Fi card will still struggle with the K701s, most dedicated headphone amplifiers do not have the power to drive them well. Just use the line-out to feed a amplifier. A decent FiiO amplifier should do them some form of justice.

The K701s sound way leaner than the AD700s.
Click to expand...

I agree I heard a bit of them on my friends macbook pro and he was using them without an AMP so that kind of got me wondering if I actually needed an amp. Only thing is, if I am spending 250+ on headphones alone I dont want to have to spend 150+ for a decent amp, do you recommend a cheap one that won't burn more of a hole in my pocket?
 
Last edited:
Fiio is the bottom of the barrel so you don't have to worry about spending that much.
 
I use a pair of Sennheiser HD212 's I bought years ago, with USB Yeti Blue mic.


The good.

Hugely long cord, 10' to be exact.
Replaceable cord.
Replaceable leatherette cups.
Good sound reproduction, large on bass.
Deep powerful bass.
Closed design keeps it quiet for others, and blocks noise. (I also take hem with me when I travel, helps on airplanes)
Low power to drive, relative to buds and other headphones I have used.



The bad

Hugely long cord, you will run over it and you will get it tangled.
Tight on the head until they break in, and then rewrapping the cord around the bad makes them tight again.
No venting means you can get sweaty ears on long trips, or during long gaming sessions.
A bit of EQ tuning to prevent hearing fatigue is needed.
To reach full performance a lot of power is required.
Silver paint chips off plastic band easily.
No pressure adjustment.
Headsize adjustment is cheap feeling.


Overall

I like them, the have taken quite a beating on many trips, stuffed in my bag, worn on roadtrips, plane rides, and long gaming sessions.
If they would have included a 5' cord or even a 3' to trade out i would have paid the extra $10 for it.
Cord isolation isn't as much of an issue with these as the band rubbing against things and making noise.
The cord has endured much more abuse than I thought possible, I have ran over it hundreds of times with the wheels on my office chair, tangled it up, wrapped it up and it still works flawlessly.
You can EQ out the overabundance they built in of bass and have a great sounding set of phones, or if you are in the mood and have the power you can almost deafen yourself with these.


I would buy them again if given the chance. 8/10


Yeti Blue mic

The Good

Settings, settings, settings!!! For the price it is hard to beat, mulch-capsule control with a onboard switch.
Pickup, it picks up EVERYTHING, and it is amazingly crisp. I have been gaming and had the kids come in and try to sneak up on me, I heard their footsteps and them giggling clearly.
Headphone amp built in, and running off USB power it has more than enough to make you cry for mercy.
Its DAC/ADC can convert stereo at 24 bit depth.
No drivers are needed, it is supported as plug and play on Windows and Mac.
Direct mic input mixed in the audio stream, so what you hear is what you get.


The Bad

Its big.
Its heavy.
No pop guard or even a attempt at one built in.
The connectors are on the bottom and have no strain relief or any other form of dampening cord noise.
The base while sturdy and stylish provides a direct noise path for any vibrations, no real isolation for the mic itself.
No auto-leveling for inputs, you need to be sure that what you are playing or doing won't peak the capabilities of your mic or recording software, or else you need to re-record.


Overall

I give it a 9/10
Great value for the money, and many of the limitations can be overcome with a few good items added to your cart, or some ingenuity. A friend who does production recommended a wooden needle point hoop with pantyhose over it, and you can add fiberfill to dampen noise even more.
 
if you could edit your posts guys, that was a spammer. they just copy paste other peoples comments so as to not get noticed, and edit that .gif link later.
 
I must be really blonde.
 
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