Am looking for a new pair of headphones, mostly for gaming. The two aspects I care mostly about are comfort and good audio. Therefore wondering about people’s recommendations and experiences with headphones. What’s been your best headphones so far and why?
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So what brand and model is this then haha
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I used Audeze Mobius for years until the yoke inevitably cracked. I exchanged it for a Maxwell which I’ve mostly left in the box since I also acquired a VZR Model One. It has a metal headband and is a passive, analog headset so very few digital parts to go wrong.
I’ve been running a pair of Sennhesiser PC 350’s for something like 10 years now? Not sure. I used to game a lot more than I do now and eventually the ear cushions started falling apart. I was dreading replacing them though, and ended up getting some replacement cushions from Amazon or something. Was super easy to replace and they’ve been like new for the last year now. I’m a hardwire all of the things type person, and generally a cheapass so yeah, overall happy with this purchase!
I recently got myself a Teufel Zola on a sale and am really satisfied with it. It has good audio (as far as I can tell), is comfortable and looks nice.
I’ve been using AKG Q701s for well over a decade. They’re hard to drive, but extremely comfortable and the sound quality far surpasses anything under $500. I like that they’re open-ear and breathable - I forget that I have them on. I’ve gotten to the point of buying several backup sets on Ebay any time a good deal pops up, just to make sure I’ll be able to use this same model for the rest of my life in case something happens.
The Q701 model is technically no longer produced, but K702 is identical other than the headband style. They retail around $150.
Steelseries arctics 7
Reasonably comfortable, reasonably priced (if you catch a sale about $100usd), good mic with monitoring, wireless, but most importantly: they just work. I’ve had the same pair for 5ish years and have never had to troubleshoot.
I wish they had USB C.
I have a pair of these and I absolutely love them, so much so I convinced a few others to get them too.
Two of us have since had mic issues over he last couple of years where the mic is garbled and not clear. Not sure if it’s a uemser error or issue with them.
Other than that they have good batter, good ange from base, easy to setup, good audio quality, good controls, don’t weigh too much. Would buy again.
I’ve had mine for years and I really like them. The stupid band thing is all stretched out, and the poorly designed power button snapped internally so I had to drill a hole in the casing to turn them on now but otherwise working great!
Arctis 7 was truly the best headset, I have three pairs at this point. None of them broken - all were purchased because the headset was so good I wanted one for the office and for my wife.
However, Steelseries seems deadset on making worse versions of the Arctis with every iteration. The 9 was altogether disappointing and they are really trying to force all the features like the chat mix into Sonar software instead. Really disappointing.
Yeah. I’ve got an Artist Pro Wireless, and Sonar stuff has screwed it up in weird ways
I miss my Siberia Icemats. Those things were great.
I had a Plantronics RIG I won in a drawing I didn’t even know I was entered in, but it wasn’t that comfortable. One of those over the ear styles, but the cups were small so it just squeezed your ears instead of sit comfortably around them. But other than that, they were pretty amazing. Even came with a DAC.
Currently I have a Sony WH-XB910N but it’s just headphones. It does technically have a mic for using handsfree with a phone, but even though it shows up on PC as an input device, it doesn’t actually pick anything up so I can’t use it as a headset when gaming 😮💨
Corsair HS70
i got the starfield xbox bluetooth headset. they work pretty well only complaint is having to charge it after a while
I just replaced my headphones with a set of these https://global.beyerdynamic.com/dt-770-pro-x-limited-edition.html
They’re so comfortable and sound incredible, they’re mostly intended for audio work which I do use them for but for gaming they’re so precise and clear too! Also incredibly comfy and loads of aftermarket stuff available for the dt700 pro x which are also excellent.
You’ll want a mic with these and I can also recommend this if you want a headset style mic rather than a standalone one on your desk: https://antlionaudio.com/collections/microphones
I would second getting a separate microphone/headphone instead of a combined headset.
All the headsets I owned over the years were significantly worse in audio quality and broke after a few years, usually something related to the microphone.
I went with a Sennheiser 598 with a Modmic for years, which was ok but switched to a beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro about 4 years ago.
So far my favorite out of all the headphones I owned. Very clear sound, comfortable, actually “Made in Germany”, and they still provide replacement parts on their website. Replaced my ear pads just a month ago or so.
The Modmic is decent but there is a lot of room for improvement, I was never able to find a proper alternative though.
+1 for antlion modmic wireless. It’s idiot proof, it sounds amazing, and it lets me use my Sennheisers.
I’ve been using my Sennheiser HD 598 s for over 10 years. I’d recommend anything the same shape/size: being large over ears means it doesn’t touch or squeeze your ears at all. Being open backed and velvet padded stop my ears getting hot and sweaty. Being wired saves weight, prevents lag/quality concerns and isn’t too big a deal in a stationary gaming situation.
I do need to use an external mic for chatting, which is not ideal if you’re gonna be always in voice chats when gaming. Dedicated gaming headsets tend to not sound as good for the same price, but can’t deny the convenience.
Here is a recent rundown of recommendations by audiophile youtubers for gaming headphones might be worth watching. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIwgVzSiZ68
I have a pair of HD 600. While I love them for music, I also am a bit sad for them to not have very good bass, which I think is very important for ambiance in a lot of games.
I’ve got seinheisser 598 that are quite good, but I understood seinheisser to have been bought and maybe quality went down. I also have byerdynamic 990s that I find uncomfortable for longer periods.
I also have hifiman sundara that are (except for the cable) far and above the best headphones I’ve ever had both in comfort and sound.
There’s a person on the bapcsales Canada reddit called lifelongcaboose who seems to really know their headphones that recommended them
I tried a bunch of different gaming headsets over the years but as I got older and gave up on online games, I grabbed a pair of AudioTechnica ATH-M50 and have probably had them at least a decade now. They’re closed ear studio monitor headphones so they sound great and are comfortable with long use. I’ve replaced both the cushions and the cable and they still work great.
I think the current variant is the ATH-M50x.
Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 DAC, then any decent studio headphones, I use a pair of Audio-Technica ATH-m50x’s. I use a separate mic connected with an xlr cable to the dac. I could never go back to a combined “gaming” headset.
I have a set of Hifiman HE1000s. A little overkill, but damn, Tetris Effect is so fun to play with these headphones.
On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, the Koss KSC75 are a favourite since they’re compact, comfy, and sound great. Also, $20. Can’t go wrong. Great for pretty much anything with a headphone jack, like the portable audio players that everyone has in their pocket nowadays, haha! Yeah.
