Easy drive decent headphones with simple 3.5mm cable jack

Soldato
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I've been looking for a while at the Audio Technica ATH-M40X as the headphones I'm probably moving to next.

Having not seen them in the flesh though, I hadn't realized the cable... "port" is quite... odd. It's needs a cable with a fairly long thin barrel at the end.

My idea originally with these was to use them with an inline boom mic. (If you look for "KetDirect Audio Cable adapter with Boom Microphone" (you have to insist as google assumes you're spelling it wrong) you'll see what I was thinking. This...probably isn't going to work with the M40X's though.

I don't really want to go the whole route with the modmic. I find it quite silly and expensive for what it is. I'm just after basic fairly decent mic.

So: suggestions?

Is there another pair of decent quality low impedance cans (so a PC can drive em fairly well, I know the headphone amp will likely still help) that can take this boom mic idea?

Is there some form of inline but decent mic that'll work nice with the M40X's (other than modmic)?



I don't really want a separate mic, neither desk bound nor the zalman clip on which... I get is probably restricting me quite a bit now. I think the answer will be alternative headphones tbh. I just rather liked the idea of a single cable in the bottom of the headphones with a mic attached. Simple and tidy.

My other option is to sacrifice one of the leads that come with it, use a stereo extension cable and I've got a busted creative labs tactical wireless headset with a detachable mic. I might end up just bending it around and gluing it to the cable, plug into an extension then braid & heat wrap the 2 cables all the way down :)

Anyone know of brand name of simple detachable mic's like the cloud II and this headset use?
 
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Soldato
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Some headphone manufacturers like to use proprietary connections for removable cables, or something where a cable with a plain 3.5/2.5mm jack wont fit. Sennheiser, AKG and Audio Technica are prime culprits. Maybe they also make expensive after market cables ;)

V Moda have a similar boom microphone for use with their headphones. 3.5mm socket which looks recessed a bit, but no fancy plastic housing round the jack nonsense.

They could be an option, but their cheapest pair is 2x more than the M40X. Also no idea how good they are for gaming.

Going back to the M40X; if the body of the boom microphone jack were slim enough and long enough it might fit in, but it's a gamble. In any case M40X might not make a good gaming headphone. I know the 50X isn't particularly a good gaming headphone because of over bloated bass and small sound stage hampers sound placement. Some people do use them though and possibly aren't bothered about that. M40X might be a bit more balanced, but doubtful the sound stage is any bigger.

Philips Fidelio X2 come to mind as a headphone with just a basic 3.5mm inlet, but (looking at price) is very expensive at the moment! Damn they've gone up. :eek:
 
Soldato
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Sheffield, UK
To be fair, I haven't really auditioned the M40X for gaming... hmmm...

The idea with the mic+ extension would... basically get me in the same ballpark as one of the "boom mic on a cable" type efforts. Gives me some options at least.

What would folks suggest then for headphones with (any really, I can go the extension+braid route) detachable cable for gaming that come in under £90ish and don't 100% need a headphone amp.
 
Soldato
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18 Oct 2009
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Sennheiser HD558 have a detachable cable and will likely be a better choice for gaming than the M40X. Currently £80 on the jungle site.

Cable uses a twist type of lock; there's a cut out in the plug housing. Might able to fit a 3.5mm male/female adaptor in there if the housing isn't too fat, then connect a boom microphone to that.
 
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