phospholipid

Hello! So you're decided that you want to spend more money on gaming headphones and ditch ye olde sonys you've picked up from Walmart! Good choice! Lets get started! Here's a section breakdown:

Getting Started - Good things to consider.
Things to Avoid in headphones.
Gaming Headphones - No Microphone attached. - JUMP to this part of Guide
Gaming Headphones - Microphone attached.
Gaming Headphones - *gulp* USB connection.
Gaming Headphones to Avoid.
Audio Products to Avoid.
General Links to software/reviews/stores.

Getting Started - Good things to consider.
When getting started with which headphones you must weigh in the certain factors before making a decision, these include but are not limited to:

How much are you willing to spend?
This is an obvious decision maker, but it carries much weight in the quality of your future cans. It's always worth it to spend a little more.

How important is comfort to you?
Some headphones sound amazing, but feel like crap on your head. Most headphones that feel amazing, sound good [few exceptions]. You need to think about how long these bad boys are to be sitting on your head, namely on your ears. You can save some dollar if you only plan on having them on your head for 2-3 hours time.

Will these be used more for gaming, or music? What's the percentage?
40% Gaming, 60% music? If you listen to more music, but still want some awesome gaming headphones, let us know to help you better pick out a set of cans. Some headphones do fine in both categories, some more for music and vice versa.

Do you absolutely require the microphone to be attached?
Some of the best gaming headphones, aren't geared towards gamers. In fact, most "gaming" headphones sound like trash and are just gimmicks to get you to pay 70$ for a 30$ set with a microphone. At almost all times, OCN's audiophiles will suggest a separate mic that can be clipped onto your shirt, or sit on your desk. Plus, the mic record quality it usually far greater. But if you need a set of gaming headphones with a microphone attached, all in one cable, those are listed below.

Do you have a proper sound card/DAC?
Sound cards are very important. Like Soloz says, if you have trash audio going to awesome headphones, it's still going to sound like trash. If you have headphones, save your money for a new sound card, check out our forum on it [HERE]. Once you have a good sound card, than it's time to spend some serious dough on headphones. It's a night and day difference, the sound quality and impression a sound card makes, it's a worthy investment for the gamer and audiophile alike!

What kind of music do you listen to?
This one is also important. If you like tons of in your Face Metal, and want to game, we'll recommend you a set of headphones that are geared towards Rock/Mids. If you love hip hop/eletronica and want that bass slam, there are headphones for that too! Most headphones that aren't marketed as "gaming" headphones have signature sounds they bring to the table, as we'll discuss with each set of cans.

Do you prefer open backed, or closed backed headphones?
This is also VERY IMPORTANT. Open backed and closed back both have their pros and cons. The benefit of open backed headphones is the soundstaging. With most headphones you can hear footsteps and which direction they're coming from, but with opened back headphones you can hear to which degree of an angle when the sound is coming from [well, practically]. Down side, Open backed cans are very "impersonal". That means, people will be able to hear the explosions and sounds and music, pretty clearly. Also, this mean sound leaks IN. If you're gaming in the living room and your mom/roommate is vacuuming the house, you're gonna hear it.

As for closed backed headphones, they tend to be dynamic, more boom, and can range from normal isolation to EXTREME isolation. Sound doesn't leak in as much, and leaks out practically null. Theres no real"downside" to owning closed back headphones, just the level of sound staging is usually 3/4ths that AVAILABLE from open backed headphones. Also, closed back headphones tend to get MUCH warmer MUCH faster than open backed, especially after hours of long gaming.

What's the difference between the two types of headphones headphones, visually?



Open back tend to be just that, open backed. When you look at the back of the actual headphone, there will be no solid wall or casing. It will appear as if their is mesh, or grating behind the driver.
Closed back are the exact opposite, they have a full casing or no meshing to the back. A majority of headphones you purchase from local brick and motar stores such as Best Buy, sell closed back headphones. They're over 70% of what's purchased.

Things to Avoid
There are always bad things to avoid when making a purchase, this is the section where we discuss those bad things to avoid. Generally, they are gimmicks, or just wasting money. Other things aren't a waste of money, just not good for gaming with headphones.

USB Headphones

USB Headphones are generally any type of headphones that use a USB connection rather than the standard 3.5mm jack connection. The upside that most people like to these gaming headphones is that it offers a simple, easy USB connection that is typically avalible in the front of their computer or via USB hub. The down sides? Well for starters, you're using the USB's simply onboard drivers to create the sound, not a good analog sound. Plus, the USB has much electronic interference when traveling through a hub with other USB singles. USB connections also cause issues by hogging up system resources to power the USB drivers. Overall, the sound quality is just poor. Use the USB connection if you must [computer spacing issues] but avoid this poor sound quality choice if possible.

"5.1" or Multiple speaker Headphones

Basically, the 5.1 is a gimmick. Take it from the audiophiles here, who have done side by side tests, that a good 50$ set of headphones will beat out a "5.1" set of headphones any day of the weak. Just because there are 5 drivers, does not mean positional audio will be better. Typically, you're get 150% better sound quality and sound staging audio from standard stereo headsets than 5.1 headphones.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Djbigbear Using 5.1 headphones will surely give you exact surround, better surround than stereo headphones, even the best ones, but surround "5.1" headphones have one major weakness, they have to compromise most of the sound quality to get multiple drivers just to make that surround sound. On the other hand using stereo headphones won't give you better positioning than surround headphones, even with effects like dolby headphones or CMSS3D, but to compensate that, some of them have really amazing sound staging(imaging) that almost projects the same surround effects just like surround headphones and since they only have to make 2 drivers on each headphones, of course all the sound quality of each drivers will be far superior than surround headphones.

Things generally labled "GAMER"/"FPS"/"KILLER"

This should be a "no brainer". Simply avoid products as such, do your research, and we'll be able to help you out. Sometimes items such as Sound Blaster OEM X-Fi cards for 60$ will perform as well as the X-Fi PLATINUM FATALITY THUNDER F@CK card. Typically, anything geared towards gamers is being hyped up and is a gimmick. Read here, do research and over 90% of the time, performance and quality headphones will be from brands you've never heard of!

Front Audio Ports
This one is a biggie, say not to front audio panels [I/O bays] or front audio jacks. Why? The reason being is that because you have many eletronic components working at the same time in your computer, running an unshield cable through it all will degrade the audio quality. The cables alone as extremely cheap/low quality, and will degrade the audio quality substantially. Due to the Front Audio Bays cables being unshielded, they're open to interference as well as the front audio jacks. Your best bet is to run audio DIRECTLY from the sound card/sound jack in the back of your pc. Cable doesn't fit that long? Buy an extension cable. Switch between speakers and headphones? We'll discuss that at a later point and time.

Inner Ear Modules
IEM's are excellent headphones, and have they're place, mobility. But what they provide for isolation and analytical listening, they lack in soundstaging, heavily. If you're gonna spend some coin on some cans, be sure to pick up a full set of cans, no earbuds/IEMS.

Overall you want clarity in a pair of gaming headphones, soundstaging, and not one frequency that drowns out the rest of the frequencies, but some have btter signature sounds than others [warmer, more foward, analytical, dry, fun, crisp, etc]. The Next part of our guide will help you make your decision.

__________________

phospholipid

SECTION STILL IN WORKS - Sorry, still adding details!
Each headphone is first ranked in order of how much they cost, generally speaking. Than, it will be given further details such as comfort level, size, build quality, ability to drive, and signature sound. MY SCALE RUNS FROM 1-10.


Gaming Headphones - No Microphone attached.


Almost all audiophiles here or at head-fi.org will tell you, you sacrifice a lot of sound quality when you get a set of cans with the microphone built it, and versatility. We will almost always recommend headphones, with a Zalman Clip on mic, clipped to your shirt, or a random desktop microphone of your choosing, whatever you'd prefer. You always get better Sound quality from just a stereo headset, so here's a list of headphones that will do you proud.



1$-50$

Koss KSC75 - 15-20$

-Comfort [3]
-Size: Small, Portable
-Build Quality: Decent [4]
-Ease to drive: No amp needed [1]
-Noise Isolating? Not Really [3]
-Signature Sound: Rock
-Open backed.

There is a relative prominence of treble and bass over midrange with these little guys, bass thumps, treble is forward Tends to have "more exciting, placement of the upper and lower registers." They are your run of the mill clip on headphones you can pick up at your local Wal-mart/Best Buy/Circuit City. Cables are rubbery, and cable tangles. Comfort is called into questions, as the the headphones are clipped onto ears, so if you don't like weight on your ears, these won't be good for more than an hour on counter strike. Also, carries a lifetime warranty.

Bottom line: Cheap, Easy to carry around. Clips can create issues, and be uncomfortable for long use. In a tight spot but need a pair of gaming headphones that will fair better than your dinky plantronics for 20$, these are it. [*1/2]


Sennheiser HD202 - 25$

-Comfort [5]
-Size: Average, Portable
-Build Quality: Average, Resilient [6]
-Ease to Drive: No amp needed [2]
-Noise Isolating? Can't hear the wife [5]
-Signature Sound: Drums/Hip Hop
-Closed back

Ah, the HD202's. Now they're not bad headphones, they're better than most walmart headphones for the price. They tend to be bloated with far to much bass, to the point where it's muddy, not the tight clean bass that is needed The HD202 is extremely warm, dark and bass heavy, with a recessed midrange and very subdued top end. If you like BOOMS and sudden explosions, not moving feet, these are the headphones for you [Looks at UT players]. These are good gaming headphones for RTS, extremely fast FPS, or MMORPG's. They get the job done. Comfort is average, but the headphones feel cramped at times. If you can find the HD201's though, pick them up.

Bottom line: Heavy on the bass, muddy, solid, gaming headphones. [**]

Sennheiser HD201 - 25$ [202's Non-bassy brother]


-Comfort [5]
-Size: Average, Portable
-Build Quality: Average, Resilient [6]
-Ease to Drive: No amp needed [2]
-Noise Isolating? Can't hear the wife [5]
-Signature Sound: All around sound
-Closed back

The HD201's tend to picked amongst true audiophiles more often, but are overlooked due to their availability. The HD201 to most ears much better balanced than the 202's, which means a much leaner but clearer bass, clearer midrange and a good top end without becoming overpowering or sibilant (given decent source material of course). These are considered to the best bang for your buck under 75$ , some might even argue under 100$. It's the cleaner, tighter brother to the HD202's, very good for any game you throw at it.

Bottom Line: Clean, balanced, extremely good bang for your buck. [***]

Koss Porta Pro - 35$


-Comfort [4]
-Size: Average, Foldable, Portable
-Build Quality: Average, feels dinky, Resilient [5]
-Ease to Drive: No amp needed [2]
-Noise Isolating? Kinda hear the wife [4]
-Signature Sound: All around sound
-Opened back

The Porta Props emphasize bass and they both roll off highs. They're good for all around gaming as well. There's not many reviews on the porta pros, but are told to be a decent performer. Good news about them though, you can modify/upgrade the pads to HD414 pads for cheap, for better comfort and so forth. Just, most people over look them as they are ugly as all get out. People love these cans over at head-fi and they are excellent for people with glasses, as they fit well.

Bottom line: Warm, fun, no sound leaking, but no isolation. Might as well call them birth control they're so ugly.


Sennheiser HD212 - 50$


-Comfort [5]
-Size: Average, Portable
-Build Quality: Average, Resilient [6]
-Ease to Drive: No amp needed [2]
-Noise Isolating? I have a wife? [6]
-Signature Sound: Electronica, Hip hop, heavy bass.
-Closed back.

These cans have bass, in LARGE amounts. For some people who aren't use to bass, or have it EQ'd to be tame, these cans are not for you. The bass is forward, dark. I like to "feel" my music, I want it in my ears, without being in my face, and I can feel the picks of the guitar in acoustics, and you can feel the bass just punch and flood your ears. Only on the heaviest electronica do the cans stumble, as they're not as tight as their older brothers the HD280s.As for the mids,they're present, but that's about it. The sit and let the bass take off. The highs are rolled over. People who don't like bass, would say it drowns out the mids. The soundstaging is excellent as out of any Senn's, letting instrumentals perform, although not letting them flourish. Comfortable, light,they can take a beating. The earpads sit on the ears, and do get warm after an hour or two of play,

Bottom line: Warm, dark, deep bass, a technolovers dream. Excellent for only 50$ or less.

50$-100$

AKG K 81 DJ - 70$ [no longer produced, now known as K 581 DJ's]

Sennheiser HD555 -100$ **** Highly Recomended, most OCNer's have these


-Comfort - Tight on my head, but soft [7]
-Size: Larger, Sitting.
-Build Quality: Solid, Resilient [9]
-Ease to Drive: No amp needed, benefits from amp though [4]
-Noise Isolating? Still hear the wife. [2]
-Signature Sound: rock, classical, blues.
-Opened back.

These headphones are the staple for gaming headphones. Often recommended and widely used by OCNer's, HD555's are very well balanced headphones, although the mid ranges have more life to them then the bass or highs, great overall headphones. Fell free to pick these up as an entry level headphone for gaming/music/movies. Beware of the noise bleeding though, not good for late night gaming in small spaces, as others in the room may hear you (dorm, apt.). This is because they are opened backed, so they bleed in a lot, bleed out a lot. As stated, these cans at first can be tight on the ears, but nothing a couple of hours on a tripod to stretch them won't fix. Soft on the ears once broken in. Easy to drive from iPod/Sound Card.

Bottom line: well balanced, crisp, great performance and build quality. [Review by Hellscream]

Denon AH-D1001 - 100-130$*phospholipids favs

-Comfort - Lightweight, soft [7]
-Size: Little larger than average cans
-Build Quality: Light Weight [6]
-Ease to Drive: No amp needed, benefits from amp though [4]
-Noise Isolating? Average. [5]
-Signature Sound: Warm, Deep.
-Closed backed

The sound quality is very impressive at this price point. The frequency response is U-shaped. This means that there is very strong bass (particularly mid-bass) and well-articulated but not a very bright treble but the soundstage is small .You can still hear if someone is addressing you from about 20 feet away. Leakage, on the other hand, is more pronounced. I think someone 5 feet away could hear some sound leaking out, but someone 10 feet away might not hear anything unless the volume was turned up excessively loud.It seems like the AH-D1001 was specifically tuned to be used with these low-fi devices with no additional amplification -- partly because these devices tend to roll off the treble slightly and lack the juice to produce powerful bass. So paired with the U-shaped frequency response of the AH-D1001, the result is a very balanced sound. The pads are soft, and rest nicely, and the cans themselves are rather lightweight

Bottom Line elivers good SQ with a bassy tone and clarity all in an extremely comfortable package.

Sennheiser HD280 -100$

100$-150$

Audio Technia ATH-A700 -120$


-Comfort - Average weight, paddles rest on head and Pads are ultra comfy [8]
-Size: Very Larger, not portable .
-Build Quality: Solid, Resilient, feels flimsy though [7]
-Ease to Drive: No amp needed, benefits from amp though [5]
-Noise Isolating? Average. [6]
-Signature Sound: All around/Gaming
-Closed back.

These can's are excellent introduction cans to the Audiophile world. While they don't have a defined signature sound, they have great sound quality, and perform well in all avenues [rock/hip-hop/instrumentals]. The bass is on the low side in terms of quanity, but its punchy with good extension but nicely controlled. Midrange is well-rendered, coherent, smooth, and reasonably transparent. These cans make excellent gaming cans as they rest on the head for hours and and are discomforting, thanks to the padded paddles that push the cans away from the head.Soundstage is wide, and reasonably deep, so you can hear people creeping up in you in CS and other games where footsteps are important.

Bottom line: Clean, comfortable, big, and all around excellent choice. Better choice if you don't want the open back of the HD555's.


Audio Technia ATH-AD700 - 110$

-Comfort - [8]
-Size: Very Large / You look goofy in public
-Build Quality: Average, Resilient [6-8 debated]
-Ease to Drive: No amp needed, Benefits from being Driven [5]
-Noise Isolating? Still hear wife. [3]
-Signature Sound: Classical, House, Techno.
-Open back.

These cans are the most comfortable things you can place on your head, the wing design, and velvet ear liners, make these cans feel like they're not even there. For around $100 they're a great entry level headphone, great for gaming and music or movies. Well balanced although they have a more distinct bass compared to the HD555s, great for house, trance, techno, euro, and that sort of thing, although I fell in love with them when I heard Pachelbel's Cannon on them, so I find them great for the Classics as well.

Bottom line: Balanced, good performance, sooooooo comfy....... [Review by Hellscream]


BeyerDynamic DT770 Pro 80 -150$ [ebay usually, new in stores is 200$]


-Comfort - Firm, but soft pads[7]
-Size: Large / You look goofy in public
-Build Quality: Excellent, Resilient, Like a Tank [9]
-Ease to Drive: Can run off a Sound Card, Benefits from being Driven [6]
-Noise Isolating? Blocks out most sound [7]
-Signature Sound: Bass, Bass, hip-hop, things that go BOOM.
-Closed back.

The DT770 Pro 80's are typically what is suggested to bass heads. These cans pack tons of deep, deep bass that rolls over the mids and highs. The mids and highs are present by not as clean as other cans. The bass sounds excellent for Sub 200$ cans, and there's plenty of it. When gaming, you hear and feel the explosions in your spine. The soundstage is good, but not that of a pair of HD555's. These can's are excellent for movies and gun shots, hip hop, electronica music, but classical music/acoustic will flounder. Also, these cans are built extremely solidly, like tanks. The velour pads are comfy, but are firm at first. Recommend for the messy guy who drops his stuff all the time.

Bottom Line: Tough, Bassy, and loud. Excellent for movie watching aand canon shots.

150$-200
Sennheiser HD580 - 150-200$ *[Extreme value, but rare/hard to find]
Sennheiser HD595 -180$


Ultrasone Proline 550 -180$


-Comfort - Firm, isolating pads, adjustable fit
-Size: Medium-Large
-Build Quality: very good, Simplistic, dont store them outside the box[8]
-Ease to Drive: Can run off a Sound Card, Benefits from being Driven initially ( for detailed positioning, higher end card highly recommended, x-fi+ ) [8]
-Noise Isolating? what did you say? [8]
-Signature Sound: tight bass from a decent soundcard, brings out bass in bass shy tracks ( brighter jazz, brings out rock-bass and the like, but not too far ahead of the rest of the spectrum )
-Closed back.

These cans are used widely in the recording industry for single source monitoring, they lack the detail required to mix tracks of audio together. They benefit gaming by the use of passive resonators built into the mounting plate for the drive, as wella s an offset driver, bass comes mainly from behind the ear making it sound a bit more omnidirectional, and the mids-highs seem detached as the driver isnt firing off micro waves into your eardrums. The S-Logic does have the ability to detach the sound from your head, but it does depend on how fast and strong the drive of your source is.

Bottom Line: Excellent for positional audio ( games, binaural listening, including 'binaural codecs' used in some games ) and just plain stereo positioning. not as accurate on distancing as the cans higher end bretheren, but if you want to be in the game, these will help considering the right source. [review by Xinoxide]

Audio Technia ATH-A900 200$
AKG 501 - 150-250$

200$+
Denon D2000 -210-300$
AKG 601/701's -250$
BeyerDynamic DT 880 -270$
Sennheiser HD600 -300$
Denon D5000 -400$

__________________

phospholipid

For Headphones/Audio Products to avoid.

__________________

phospholipid

For Links and other guides.

__________________

H3||scr3am

I hope you didn't want any more reserves but I'd love to help you in this guide, as I myself detest always telling people the same things, about 5.1 headsets.... If this gets stickied it will rock great idea phospholipid, when this is complete, I will read over it in full and make comments and additions

__________________

I am 91% addicted to Counterstrike. What about you?
OCN CS:S GG: overclock.nuclearfallout.net:27015
OCN TF2: 8.9.16.94:27015 (temporary)
[CSS GUN GAME ADMIN] Ban Hamma of Pwnage +5 skillz
[TF2 ADMIN] Ban Hammer of scouting + 20 scout powaz

Comp112

Win, I have been searching for a good headset for awhile! Now I am guessing the "closed back" headsets wrap completely around your ear (cover it), and "open back" wraps around your ear, but doesn't completely "cover" it. Is that right?

__________________

Shingetsu

Gonna Be a great guide. willing to contribute where i can.

Have A700s and AKG 701's

if you need reviews or pics on either.

H3||scr3am

nah comp, we're talking open and closed head phones, not head sets, but an open backed headphone will have a mesh grill(or some other breathable material) over the ear cups, so that the drivers get new air to push around, constantly, and closed backs have a solid enclosure around the drivers, recycling the air trapped inside..... generally closed backs will have more boomier bass, and let in less external sound (like your mom yelling chores at you), and opened back will have a niceer tonal balance across the mids to highs, and less punch in the bass, but will be more balanced overall, and will bleed in alot more external sounds....

__________________

I am 91% addicted to Counterstrike. What about you?
OCN CS:S GG: overclock.nuclearfallout.net:27015
OCN TF2: 8.9.16.94:27015 (temporary)
[CSS GUN GAME ADMIN] Ban Hamma of Pwnage +5 skillz
[TF2 ADMIN] Ban Hammer of scouting + 20 scout powaz

Namrac

Finally, someone did it. Let me know if you want any help, Lipid, I'd be happy to lend a hand.

__________________

Audio Setup:
PC: JRiver Jukebox ASIO > MHDT Constantine+ > Singlepower MPX3 SLAM > Sennheiser HD580
OCN Headphone Club. Because computers don't suck up enough of my money.

Black Magix

I beg to differ....
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16826235003

Bought those at quakecon for 50 dollars. GREAT set of surround sound headphones.

For a general rule of thumb though

Crap sound card = USB headphones

quality sound card = Analog headphones

Used these before as well
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16826235002

And I have NO idea where those reviews are coming from.

__________________

>SELECT * FROM tblUsers WHERE clue > 0
0 rows returned