Headphone recommendations for £80?

[WU-TANG]GZA · 28 Feb 2010 at 15:20

Hi guys,

Can you recommend me some headphones for about £80 tops. If there is a set that is MUCH better that is £100 then maybe but trying to stick to around £80.

Primary use is FPS games - where I want to hear where ppl are on a map well.

I also will listen to music on i-pod occasionally and watch films on my PC.

Don't want mic/headphone combo.

Not sure if I want open or closed - I'm not worried about disturbing ppl with them more concerned about sound quality and hearing ppl moving around in FPS games.

On another note - I have onboard soundcard from my gigabyte UD3 mobo that I got with the Titan Goliath

Cheers

[WU-TANG]GZA · 28 Feb 2010 at 17:53

shameful bump

been looking at the Sennheiser HD555's - think I would see an improvement without a dedi sound card?

ojrules · 28 Feb 2010 at 18:15

sorry so do you want a mic at all? - do you mean headset by "mic/headphone combo"? .. i guess since you'r looking at the hd555's you'r not lookign for a mic.. the goldring dr150 and the hd555's are both rated v good..

C64 · 28 Feb 2010 at 18:26

With that budget in mind I'd short list the following

audio technica ad700 - probably have to import these to get them at £80 or below
sennheiser hd555
goldring dr150
goldring ns1000

The bargain of the moment definitely seems to be the goldring ns1000 at £50 delivered not sure on the mp3 player performance is all.
Having said that a lot of gamers swear by the audio technica ad700's as to whether they are £50 better than ns1000 is unlikely.

Marvin · 28 Feb 2010 at 19:00

I got some Sennheiser HD280s for exactly that purpose. Provided your sound card has Dolby Headphone/Dolby Home Theater (or similar) then you'll get positional sound - it's very good with my Asus Xonar DX card for both music and for FPS games (MW2).

Marsman · 28 Feb 2010 at 19:49

The phones mentioned by C64 are all great phones, but it would seem the OP is hoping that by buying some decent phones, he will get positional sound in FPS games, he will be able to locate the direction of other players. This will not be the case as Dolby Headphone is not present on his motherboard onboard audio, so he will only get plain stereo.

IKMS · 28 Feb 2010 at 19:56

Someone is going to disagree with me here, but the best headphones I have tried is the Creative Fatal1ty range. Even the H800s are good, and they are reasonably priced.

Frame352 · 28 Feb 2010 at 19:58

IKMS said:
Someone is going to disagree with me here, but the best headphones I have tried is the Creative Fatal1ty range. Even the H800s are good, and they are reasonably priced.

Well, given that the OP doesn't want the mic/headphone combo, they'd be right to disagree.

Fubsy · 28 Feb 2010 at 22:23

And he mentioned sound quality in his post as well, instantly ruling out the Fatal1tys.

I can recommend a pair for use with an mp3 player and that's the Audio Technica ATH-ES7's, lovely small compactish pair that are closed and I've been made up with them since I got them. I have used them on MW2 while playing on my 360 through an amp and I had no problem hearing noobs coming from behind me.

Uriel · 28 Feb 2010 at 22:33

IKMS said:
Someone is going to disagree with me here, but the best headphones I have tried is the Creative Fatal1ty range. Even the H800s are good, and they are reasonably priced.

Meaningless. What if the only other headphones you've tried are freebies that came with a cheap imitation walkman in 1987?

[WU-TANG]GZA · 1 Mar 2010 at 00:30

Thanks all for the replies.

So - gaming-wise you guys don't think that I would see much benefit from getting an upgrade of headphones without getting a dedicated sound card?

(No I don't want a headset just headphones)

I'm using Sennheiser eH150 atm - certainnly not brilliant but they are so cheap - price/performance they're awesome.

So - dedi sound card + new headphones then u guys reckon?

thnx

p.s. so when a mobo says '7.1 High Definition OnBoard Sound Card' as with my 'Gigabyte EX58A-UD3R Intel X58' - that's means nothing? I wudn't get proper surround with a good pair of headphones without a dedi sound card?

C64 · 1 Mar 2010 at 01:11

The onboard is fine just get headphones and if you need more get a soundcard.

[WU-TANG]GZA · 1 Mar 2010 at 01:20

C64 said:
The onboard is fine just get headphones and if you need more get a soundcard.

Ok thanks m8.

I think I'll go for the HD555's as I trust Sennheiser cos I've had 2 headphones from them and both have been excellent.

Thanks again to all for replying.

Marsman · 1 Mar 2010 at 01:57

Yes, nice choice of phones. I'd get those, see if you want to get a sound card for positional sound at a later date. The more expensive UD5 comes with Dolby headphone, but not the UD3, so you won't get positional sound without getting a sound card.

BigBruiserAl · 1 Mar 2010 at 11:14

IKMS said:
Everyone is going to disagree with me here, but the best headphones I have tried is the Creative Fatal1ty range. Even the H800s are good, and they are reasonably priced.

fixed

[WU-TANG]GZA;16056987 said:
On another note - I have onboard soundcard from my gigabyte UD3 mobo that I got with the Titan Goliath

Cheers

I though the onboard was fine untill i got my Asus DX makes a huge diff mate, if you get £80 headset get a soundcard when you have the money mate.