Good headphones for games AND MUSIC?

[LumbergTech]

Originally posted by: ourfpshero
what is your budget?
as a rule- anything with an inline volume control has lousy bass- and i've tried many! icemats, steelsound, sennheiser, plantronics, koss. the bass stinks on all of them!
the only headsets i can recommend are the koss sb40 and the steelsound 4h.
the koss has great bass (no inline volume control)but a lousy mic. (i soldered a different mic in mine)
the steelsound has decent bass- better than any other 'gaming' headset and a great mic

regular headphones are the way to go sound-wise but i understand the need for a boom mic. i have beyerdynamic dt770s with a boom mic i attached. http://www.head-fi.org/forums/...rd-times-charm-312405/

for a 100.00 budget get a audio technica ath-m40fs or ath-ad500 or ad700, equation rp-21, or a sennheiser hd555
for 150.00 get a beyerdynamic dt770/80

bass is only one aspect....i hope you arent recommending headphones soley on that

 

[ourfpshero]

of course not- all the headphones i recommended are full range and have different sound signatures
i mention bass in headsets because inline volume controls mess up bass signals

 

[SonicIce]

GE brand headset $15 :thumbsup:

 

[imported_spike99]

Originally posted by: you2
hd-555, at700, at900 all are good (in general folks recommend the a500 or a900 over the a700 but a700 isn't bad).

I currently have ATH-900 and I can say that they are very good... The only complaint is that after prolonged usage... Your ears can get a bit hot... When this occurs, I take them off for a couple of minutes and put them back on...

I terms of mic... I initially bought a clip-on mic and did not like the inconvienience of putting them on/off. I didn't want the hassle... Just so happens that I needed a web cam and I got a Logitech QuickCam Ultra Vision SE. Besides being a great web cam, it includes a mic... and the mic is awesome too...

If you happen to need a webcam & a mic... I highly recommend this..

For me... this has been a perfect set-up...

 

[Obsoleet]

Originally posted by: LumbergTech

Originally posted by: ourfpshero
as a rule- anything with an inline volume control has lousy bass- and i've tried many! icemats, steelsound, sennheiser, plantronics, koss. the bass stinks on all of them!
the only headsets i can recommend are the koss sb40 and the steelsound 4h.

for a 100.00 budget get a audio technica ath-m40fs or ath-ad500 or ad700, equation rp-21, or a sennheiser hd555
for 150.00 get a beyerdynamic dt770/80

bass is only one aspect....i hope you arent recommending headphones soley on that

Judging from the models he threw out there, I doubt it. Besides, I've seen him on Head-Fi before.

I'm on a quest for a new headset as the OP. I currently own Sennheiser PC150s and Koss KSC35 (same thing as KSC75 but tad more bass). It's true about the inline control, they are cheap and mess with the signal in a bad way. I'd suggest using keyboard controls for volume/mute as well as plugging directly into your frontport audio or soundcard.

I was between the Sennheiser PC161 and Koss SB40, but I think I'm going to pickup the Koss SB40 myself due to missing the inline control. I've had good experiences with Koss my whole life, at least if you do a bit of research on the model you're buying. Koss SB40 look cool too. :thumbsup:

KSC75/35 are as amazing as people say. Headphones usually naturally lack bass and the Koss stuff tends to have a sound signature that has stronger bass while retaining as good directional sound as my Sennheisers. A good way to describe my PC150's "lazy" sound is take a vibrant high impact speaker setup (my KSC35s) then put a pillow over the speakers.

I've owned Sony V6s, Senn 497s/555s and a few others. I like Koss the best, you just need to do a little reading about their individual models. Also lifetime warranty is nice.

Separate headphones/mic is the way to go if you demand certain headphones. Most people get this Zalman for a good clipon mic then clip that on a pair of HD555s.

If you don't get the Koss SB40s, I'd go the 555/Zalman route personally. Webcam mics you would need to research because I don't know much about those, but usually they are further away which will force you to speak up more and that gets old. I've used my MS webcam mic once on accident and ppl couldn't hear me as well at my normal speaking level.

I like unidirectional boom mics more so than the Zalman because omnidirectional mics pick up other background noise, which is why I'm going SB40. I think Sennheiser in general fits classical/live music and Koss fits rock/hiphop. I prefer a little more impact in my sound. Hope this info helps!

 

[iskim86]

ksc75

 

[Obsoleet]

Was doing a little research myself right now on this and the best deal for the SB40s is at buy.com. I found this review and found this kid funny at the end.

nothing touches the comfort these provide, and the skull banging bass response is priceless.

LOL glad to hear he's happily "skull banging" daily.

 

[CP5670]

I've had three SB40s in the past. They sounded reasonable for the price (I don't remember exactly; hadn't seen any better headphones back then), but the cord connection always broke somewhere after a few months and one side of the headphone stopped working. Although pretty much anything at that price is going to be flimsy.

Koss will replace them, but you have to pay for shipping both ways. I did the RMA twice and had pretty much covered the cost of the headphone by that point, so when it broke the third time I just got a better one.

 

[Obsoleet]

Another option is the Koss UR40. They are not mentioned much, but are the exact same speakers as the KSC75.

Official UR40 page
HeadFi thread on the UR40s
Quote from that thread-

Great post on the UR40. The UR40 are my longest owned headphones out of many that I have had. There is an other great mod for them. Its the Volour pads that you can buy for them that are much thicker than the stock pads and gives a better sound stage to them. I always seem to come back to the UR40 after buying much more expensive cans. They are so light weight and comfortable for me. I again have bought the Senn. 555 for my TV movies listening but still find the UR40 just as good sounding for that purpose. I think the UR40 are great budget headphones that are tops in my book.

So in case someone is seeing all these KSC75 recommendations and wants the same sound quality for the good price without the clip-on form factor, check into the UR40s.

I'd go with one of 4 options depending on exactly what you're looking for.
[*]SB40 $30 (an easy solution but I can see why someone would be worried about quality issues or the lousy mic)
[*]UR40 + Zalman mic $40 (probably the best option for anyone that travels or LANs because the UR40s fold up nicely)[*]HD555 + Zalman mic $110 (I personally wouldn't want to worry about these at a LAN nor would I want to put them in a travel bag for a flight)[*]Beyerdynamic DT 290 $220 (Pricey for me, and I'm a Q9450 + X38 owner )

I use my KSC35s for my ipod while excercising, I find the clip-ons like KSC75/35 to get annoying after a while for home use. Since the UR40s use the exact same drivers as the KSC75s, I'm going to have to consider this more for myself. It is nice to have a separate mic/headphone setup so you're not held at mercy if one or the other fails on you.

edit- to add the Beyer option from CP5670, I think that's a great choice if you want to spend it

 

[Obsoleet]

Don't forget on the HD555's you do get to enjoy this, link. Might not be a big deal to you, but worth pointing out.

edit- not on the Beyers tho, my mistake

 

[CP5670]

That isn't a problem at least on the DT250/290. The cord ends in a standard 3.5mm jack, and there is an adapter to convert to the bigger plug. (the headphone in those pictures seems to have it the other way around)

 

[Mandin62]

Icemats

 

[Throckmorton]

Originally posted by: Obsoleet
Don't forget on the HD555's you do get to enjoy this, link. Might not be a big deal to you, but worth pointing out.

edit- not on the Beyers tho, my mistake

The 1/4" jack on the HD555 seriously sucks. I have to use a 3 foot inline volume control that I have to use in order to not put stress on my laptop's headphone jack. I have no idea why they designed it this way. Does anyone actually have a problem with a small plug that fits into a big adapter?

 

[NoStateofMind]

I own the icemats and they are great for gaming and music. They are $60 or less and should be fine. If you want to step up to something better I suggest these: Audio-Technica ATH-A700 $118.99

From reading reviews and people's experiences it seems these are the way to go and I'll be there soon

 

[TourGuide]

I'm not sure about mic (recommend the clip on personally), but I have a set of Grado SR-80 and no other headphones I have ever used have come close. I hear things in my music now that I did not know were there (the clarity of these cans makes this possilbe). I paid like $100, but if these ever died on me, I'd buy another pair in a flash.

Now the only bad thing about them is they are not sound sealed, meaning they have a bit of an open air feel. Other people can hear the music you are playing if you like it loud. I bought them for their clarity and balance which nothing else I have used even comes close. I thought I had some decent phones before, but these showed me how wrong I was.

 

[NoStateofMind]

Originally posted by: TourGuide
I'm not sure about mic (recommend the clip on personally), but I have a set of Grado SR-80 and no other headphones I have ever used have come close. I hear things in my music now that I did not know were there (the clarity of these cans makes this possilbe). I paid like $100, but if these ever died on me, I'd buy another pair in a flash.

Now the only bad thing about them is they are not sound sealed, meaning they have a bit of an open air feel. Other people can hear the music you are playing if you like it loud. I bought them for their clarity and balance which nothing else I have used even comes close. I thought I had some decent phones before, but these showed me how wrong I was.

You don't listen to bass heavy music do you? Like Rap/R&B/Techno? From what I hear those Grado's are good for metal type music.