Best headphones for sound staging and imaging?

[Raymond Lin]

Hopefully the round earcups on the Fosi i5 will be fine, they look like 2 buckets on the side of the head rather than a mug. It should have enough clearance.

 

[fraps]

The Z review states they are pretty different:

I'm not saying the SHP9500 is perfect but for £30 it's worth trying before you spend triple (if not quadruple) the price. Maybe something like the 560S has better accuracy by a small margin but is that worth triple price? I would never say that I died because of these headphones lacking flawless accuracy so I'd rather put that saved money into making sure I got a top tier shape mouse and mouse pad which will make a bigger difference.

Ofcourse at the end of the day it's all subjective so in those times I tend to go cheaper when I feel like it's not holding me back. If the 9500 was like £70 I wouldn't and just pick up the 560S.

They’re probably quite good headphones as you say, but I think if I go for them a small part of me will always wonder how the HD 560s or PC38x would have sounded and I’ll eventually end up buying one of them in a year or so. Easier to bite the bullet once than twice at least for me.

 

[Rroff]

560S is a bargain for what you get (£99). Very detailed and superb for gaming. For music I didn't like it as much and I did have some minor gripes with the HD 5xx series for comfort, but I think these are great recommendations. The HD 550 is generally preferred in reviews vs. the 505 and only £20 more if going that route. Any of these will need a mic although there are boompro mic options that easily plug into the HD 5xx series. So you could build a 560S + Boompro headset for £120.

From what people have said the 550 is the better headphone for music but the 505 is better for gaming detail - I've ordered a pair of 505s to have a play with as I need a new gaming setup. The 560S is an absolute steal for the money.

I'm not saying the SHP9500 is perfect but for £30 it's worth trying before you spend triple (if not quadruple) the price. Maybe something like the 560S has better accuracy by a small margin but is that worth triple price? I would never say that I died because of these headphones lacking flawless accuracy so I'd rather put that saved money into making sure I got a top tier shape mouse and mouse pad which will make a bigger difference.

End of the day I've only tried their closest siblings which while great for music I had a lot of reservations when it came to positional audio, unfortunately the 9500 doesn't seem readily available any more to try them (outside of stuff like AliExpress).

 

[Dyson]

I still remember my old Medusa 5.1s with fondness, bet they'd sound awful now

 

[Timber]

I still remember my old Medusa 5.1s with fondness, bet they'd sound awful now

Ditto! Speedlink Medusa. Think I paid about £40 in early 2005 when I built a PC. Comfortable but that little interface box was a mess and they would pick up interference. They probably had a high noise floor tbh. At the time I didn't know any better either, but back then I didn't really use headphones as much.

 

[fraps]

This is the annoyance with Drop stuff from the UK. When I bought the PC38X in March 2023 they were being sold officially in the UK for £149.99, however they don't seem to have them any more. They do pop-up mint/unused sometimes in second-hand auctions.



560S is a bargain for what you get (£99). Very detailed and superb for gaming. For music I didn't like it as much and I did have some minor gripes with the HD 5xx series for comfort, but I think these are great recommendations. The HD 550 is generally preferred in reviews vs. the 505 and only £20 more if going that route. Any of these will need a mic although there are boompro mic options that easily plug into the HD 5xx series. So you could build a 560S + Boompro headset for £120.

If needing another option that is an all-in-one headset, although not as neutral, there is the Beyerdynamic MMX 330 Pro (£259). Recently released, open-back and will have great imaging and staging that all Beyer's have. That's readily more available in the UK although unfortunately more expensive.

How much outside sound do you notice with your PC38x compared to the HD560s and MMX330 pro? I haven’t had a pair of open back headphones so I’m a little unsure what to expect in that regard.

 

[Gray2233]

I still remember my old Medusa 5.1s with fondness, bet they'd sound awful now

They sounded awful back then , I bought a pair to test them out from OCUK as they had multiple physical drivers in them rather than running emulated surround.

The actual surround effect wasn't that bad, but the quality was so bloody awful I ended up giving them away after a couple of hours usage. Although in fairness I was running a well amped Sennheiser HD650 and Alessandro MS1i at the time (modified/tuned Grados) which probably made things worse for them.

 

[Timber]

How much outside sound do you notice with your PC38x compared to the HD560s and MMX330 pro? I haven’t had a pair of open back headphones so I’m a little unsure what to expect in that regard.

Currently own the PC38X, used to own a 560S. Unfortunately not had the pleasure of the MMX 330, although I've owned a few Beyers over the years; DT 770, 990 Pro & TYGR 300R.

When wearing my headphones I can hear a fair bit around me; noises in the house and outside. Potentially obscured by loud scenes, but nevertheless you can hear things around you. I'd have to A-B test them but of the open-backs I have at the moment (PC38X, TYGR, H6pro & a few HD 6x0s) I'd say they all let a similar amount of noise in. Maybe more so the 6x0 'phones.

Personally I don't mind hearing noises around me and am prepared to trade-off isolation for all the benefits that open-backs bring.

 

[fraps]

How would you say open back headphones compare to wearing nothing at all?

Currently own the PC38X, used to own a 560S. Unfortunately not had the pleasure of the MMX 330, although I've owned a few Beyers over the years; DT 770, 990 Pro & TYGR 300R.

When wearing my headphones I can hear a fair bit around me; noises in the house and outside. Potentially obscured by loud scenes, but nevertheless you can hear things around you. I'd have to A-B test them but of the open-backs I have at the moment (PC38X, TYGR, H6pro & a few HD 6x0s) I'd say they all let a similar amount of noise in. Maybe more so the 6x0 'phones.

Personally I don't mind hearing noises around me and am prepared to trade-off isolation for all the benefits that open-backs bring.

 

[Timber]

They sounded awful back then , I bought a pair to test them out from OCUK as they had multiple physical drivers in them rather than running emulated surround.

The actual surround effect wasn't that bad, but the quality was so bloody awful I ended up giving them away after a couple of hours usage. Although in fairness I was running a well amped Sennheiser HD650 and Alessandro MS1i at the time (modified/tuned Grados) which probably made things worse for them.

Forgot they had multiple drivers in! Yeouch. It's not as bad I thought in that I only paid £33 for them lol.

I remember also owning these Triton AX 720 headset which was hot garbage too. Had a similar breakout box (more aimed for Xbox 360) and multiple drivers in the headset. Thing was muffled and bloated to say the least.

 

[Timber]

How would you say open back headphones compare to wearing nothing at all?

Just put the HD 58X on and I would say nearly no isolation. I can clearly hear around me, pretty much as I would normally.

 

[Gray2233]

Forgot they had multiple drivers in! Yeouch. It's not as bad I thought in that I only paid £33 for them lol.

I remember also owning these Triton AX 720 headset which was hot garbage too. Had a similar breakout box (more aimed for Xbox 360) and multiple drivers in the headset. Thing was muffled and bloated to say the least.

I think I paid around the same, tried another couple of pairs with physical drivers and they all seemed to suffer from the same issues tbh.

I actually used to lurk over on the Guru3D forums many moons ago, there were a couple of guys on there that were obsessed with physical headphone surround. One would buy every set that came onto the market regardless of cost while arguing that they had better sound quality than decent stereo headphones, the other went so far as to make his own set using higher quality drivers etc, which was admittedly impressive.

The lad I gave the Medusa's to mainly played multi-fps titles and thought they were spot on for positional, he wasn't too fussed about anything else so they were ideal for him, QC was pants mind as they apparently broke after around six months.

 

[fraps]

Hmm, I might have to reconsider open back for the time being. I’m guessing beyerdynamic have the best closed back imaging?

Just put the HD 58X on and I would say nearly no isolation. I can clearly hear around me, pretty much as I would normally.,

 

[Gray2233]

I'm not overly keen on closed back so haven't spent much time with many sets, but I did find the DT770's to be surprisingly good in that respect. They do need a little bit of amping to shine though imo, even the 80ohm versions, and then you've the "semi-open back" of the DT990's which are one of my favourite headphones and one of the few I've kept over the years.

Audeze have some fantastic closed back options, but they don't come cheap.

Tbh a lot of closed back headphones will leak noise like absolutely crazy, the 770's certainly can if you crank the volume up.

 

[Timber]

Hmm, I might have to reconsider open back for the time being. I’m guessing beyerdynamic have the best closed back imaging?

Will be up there. Beyer do make the MMX 300 PRO which is the closed back version of the 330 if you need a headset. Otherwise Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro or 700 Pro X are likely to all be suitable. The MMX 300 PRO and 700 Pro X will be much easier to drive and not necessarily need an amp.

 

[fraps]

Will be up there. Beyer do make the MMX 300 PRO which is the closed back version of the 330 if you need a headset. Otherwise Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro or 700 Pro X are likely to all be suitable. The MMX 300 PRO and 700 Pro X will be much easier to drive and not necessarily need an amp.

Ah I’m flip flopping here a little. Part of me thinks playing audio will be enough to drown out any noises and the other part of me doesn’t. I guess the only left to do is actually try.

 

[qbazdz]

With the 770 Pro, what do you use to get the quality surround? Emulated from the audio card?

 

[Gray2233]

With the 770 Pro, what do you use to get the quality surround? Emulated from the audio card?

You can use emulation from a sound card/usb device such as Creative's offerings, but it's not strictly necessary.

It's ultimately all software of varying quality anyway, some games even have it baked in by default. Dolby ATMOS for headphones is something you can use with onboard or a non "gaming" dac/amp, Windows has its own free version called Windows Sonic but I wouldn't rate it, and there's also DTS X (I might be getting the name wrong) which is pretty well regarded. There are a few others out there but I couldn't name them off the top of my head, there was even one that tuned its software to specific headphones such as DT990's that you could select profiles for.

The Audeze Maxwell X-Box version costs more than the PS5 because it actually includes a Dolby Atmos Headphone licence, whereas the PS5 doesn't need one as it makes use of Sony's own spatial tech. Mind you if buying for PC you're better off saving the £50 and getting the PS5 version of that particular headphone as the Windows store often has Atmos Headphone on sale, I'm pretty sure I picked it up for less than a tenner.

I think Atmos has a trial going you could try with whichever headphone you bought.

You just select whichever by right clicking your sound icon in the system tray.

Atmos has profiles if you go into its control panel too, so you can switch between games/movies etc.

 

[Timber]

Ah I’m flip flopping here a little. Part of me thinks playing audio will be enough to drown out any noises and the other part of me doesn’t. I guess the only left to do is actually try.

Ideally yes, ultimately only you will know which you prefer. You do have some good options whether you do go open or closed back.

 

[fraps]

Alright, I’ve settled the list down to 3 candidates. I’ve got the PC38x, HD560s and TYGR 300R.
PC38X
Pros: All in one headset
Cons: Pain to actually purchase
HD560s
Pros: Some say it has slightly better imaging than the PC38x
Cheaper and more accessible
Cons: no mic
TYGR 300R
Pros: similar imaging to the Hd560s slightly better or worse depending on who you ask
Cons: no mic
£140 vs the £100 of the HD560s
Less retailers sell it

So I’m leaning towards the HD560s and a saharagaming microphone off the rainforest. Antlion modmic are £60 which is a little silly. Anyone got any thoughts on the selection?