Gamers, What's Your Audio Set Up?

iMacMart said:
Morning all

I have the headphones below but they are starting to fall apart, only play fps so nothing too crazy, any recommendations in the £100-£150 ballpark? I have a Creative A-E5 pci card - thanks in advance

Philips Fidelio X2HR Over-Ear High Resolution Wired Headphones | Open-Back Design | Double-Layered Ear Shells | 50 mm Neodymium Drivers | Deluxe Memory Foam Earpads​

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I think part of the answer will depend on whether you liked the sound profile. I thought the X2HR was more V-shaped than measurements suggest it is. But open-back in that price range, ignoring the 'do nothing' option and buy another X2HR:
  • Sennheiser HD 560S £99 - Feels like the obvious suggestion. Have a some brightness to it, but essentially a very neutral, very detailed set of headphones. Will have less bass than the X2HR. Bargain for what they are. I very much enjoyed them for gaming and they excel at FPS/competitive. However for music I was less enamoured with them (also the small bulges from the hinges on the inner ear cups rubbed my ears). But generally the 5xx line of Sennheisers is considered very comfortable by most. The newer HD 505/550 (& 490 Pro) are better tuned but are over £200.
  • Beyerdynamic TYGR 300R £139 - Came out similar time to the 560S. Very good imaging, albeit the 560S probably do some things better (separation, detail). Classic Beyer DT chassis so very comfortable. Downside of an attached cable. Will have more 'boomy' low-mids than the x2HR and 560S. Personally I prefer these to the above, but I might be in the minority there. These are much smoother than the classic DT 990 Pro in the treble region and to me a better tuned DT 990, albeit some people like those.
  • Audio Technica R30X (£80?) / R50X (£140) - I've never owned these, but both have been very well received. Might have some brightness like the X2HR/560S. Very lightweight.
  • EPOS x Drop PC38X - (£150) Headset, but fantastic tuning. Just a very nice sound, even if they aren't technically the strongest. Issue is they are a sod to get hold of at their RRP in the UK.
Beyond that I'm struggling. There are older headphones like the AKG K702 (loved these, but did have durability issues) that are well liked for gaming. And you have cheaper options like the Linsoul Kiwi Ears Ellipse (£76) but I don't think they will be better than the above. Also the new Fiio Jaded Audio JT3 (€80) incoming but again a more budget oriented model. I'm sure I'm missing something but sticking stritctly under £150 and that springs to mind. Going slightly over budget (but still not over £200) you have:
  • Fiio FT1 Pro (£180) - Planar, well received. Not sure how good these are for gaming, but imagine they should be solid.
  • Beyerdynamic DT 900 (£200) - Again smoother than the normal Beyer house sound. They often get recommended for FPS/competitive becuase they are again very neutral.
There are also a few closed-back options like the Fiio FT1.
 
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Regarding DX5ii vs K13 end of the day it depends on what headphones you are pairing it with, Ayra can sound very bright for some people so obviously a warmer amp with distortion may be preferable, the headphones being used will be the primary factor in the equation, it's not about one being better than the other really or needing prove that (as per usual), and as mentioned both have EQ.
 
To a point... The K13 has better stereo imaging and soundstage presentation.
 
So soundstage and imaging do not factor into this "equation" now?

I've only had both and used them extensively but what do I know.
 

NAD C325/C320 Bees to NAD D 3020 was a game changer back in the day, needed a shelf under my desk to house the old NAD, whilst the D 3020 needed no more space than a Nintendo Wii at the time and had an internal PSU.

It's been Class D ever since, though in recent times Class AB has become more of a thing in compact form factors and custom power supplies inside.
 
Timber said:
I think part of the answer will depend on whether you liked the sound profile. I thought the X2HR was more V-shaped than measurements suggest it is. But open-back in that price range, ignoring the 'do nothing' option and buy another X2HR:
  • Sennheiser HD 560S £99 - Feels like the obvious suggestion. Have a some brightness to it, but essentially a very neutral, very detailed set of headphones. Will have less bass than the X2HR. Bargain for what they are. I very much enjoyed them for gaming and they excel at FPS/competitive. However for music I was less enamoured with them (also the small bulges from the hinges on the inner ear cups rubbed my ears). But generally the 5xx line of Sennheisers is considered very comfortable by most. The newer HD 505/550 (& 490 Pro) are better tuned but are over £200.
  • Beyerdynamic TYGR 300R £139 - Came out similar time to the 560S. Very good imaging, albeit the 560S probably do some things better (separation, detail). Classic Beyer DT chassis so very comfortable. Downside of an attached cable. Will have more 'boomy' low-mids than the x2HR and 560S. Personally I prefer these to the above, but I might be in the minority there. These are much smoother than the classic DT 990 Pro in the treble region and to me a better tuned DT 990, albeit some people like those.
  • Audio Technica R30X (£80?) / R50X (£140) - I've never owned these, but both have been very well received. Might have some brightness like the X2HR/560S. Very lightweight.
  • EPOS x Drop PC38X - (£150) Headset, but fantastic tuning. Just a very nice sound, even if they aren't technically the strongest. Issue is they are a sod to get hold of at their RRP in the UK.
Beyond that I'm struggling. There are older headphones like the AKG K702 (loved these, but did have durability issues) that are well liked for gaming. And you have cheaper options like the Linsoul Kiwi Ears Ellipse (£76) but I don't think they will be better than the above. Also the new Fiio Jaded Audio JT3 (€80) incoming but again a more budget oriented model. I'm sure I'm missing something but sticking stritctly under £150 and that springs to mind. Going slightly over budget (but still not over £200) you have:
  • Fiio FT1 Pro (£180) - Planar, well received. Not sure how good these are for gaming, but imagine they should be solid.
  • Beyerdynamic DT 900 (£200) - Again smoother than the normal Beyer house sound. They often get recommended for FPS/competitive becuase they are again very neutral.
There are also a few closed-back options like the Fiio FT1.
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Thanks for taking the time to do a detailed response!

I’ll have a read and do some research, thanks again!
 
It is pretty hard to beat the 560S for the money - would be ideal with a wider soundstage for gaming but you won't really beat the overall quality you get at the price point. Beyerdynamic have several very good headphones around that budget but their best are a fair bit above and I'm a bit out of touch with the likes of the Beyerdynamic 300 variants which are supposedly very good for gaming.

Comfort wise though some people find the 560S not the best for longer sessions >1.5 hours.
 
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Rroff said:
It is pretty hard to beat the 560S for the money - would be ideal with a wider soundstage for gaming but you won't really beat the overall quality you get at the price point. Beyerdynamic have several very good headphones around that budget but their best are a fair bit above and I'm a bit out of touch with the likes of the Beyerdynamic 300 variants which are supposedly very good for gaming.

Comfort wise though some people find the 560S not the best for longer sessions >1.5 hours.
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I feel like the 560S is probably the one (or few) Sennheiser models actually under the price it should be, rather than too expensive. And in that sense is a bargain. Although I appreciate the RRP on their headphones is often much higher. It's an amazing headphone for detail and resolution at its price point. Where it fell apart for me was the tuning, it's too cold. At least for music. For gaming I don't think it matters. And it's interesting because at the time reviews and influencers didn't really pick-up on that, or flag it meaningfully (Zeos was the one I remember that did). I think it's only since years down the line where the likes of the 505 & 550 brought out more honest narrative from those same influencers. But that's kind of going off tangent a little bit.

Regarding Beyerdynamic ranges as I have been able to pick up on (and apologies if too much info) I understand the recent MMX 300 & 330 Pro use the same Stellar.45 driver as the DT 700, 900, 770 Pro X & 770 Pro X Limited Edition and 990 Pro X. However apart from the DT 770 Pro X LE (no longer available) all have the thinker foam disc first used in the Amiron and TYGR 300R. Which helps 'tame' that Beyerdynamic treble, albeit the 770 & 990 Pro X still try to mimic that 'classic' Beyer house v-shape sound and have more treble. Most reviews seem to suggest the Stellar.45 has better detail retrieval then the older classic driver (not sure if this has a name) although how much this matters for gaming is probably debatable. This Stellar.45 is much easier to drive and therefore I sense might be more consistent in how it sounds on different gear.

Then the DT 770/880/990, TYGR 300R and older MMX 300 Gen 1/2 use the classic Beyerdynamic driver. As I understand it the coil and how tighly wound it is in the manufacturing process can help alter the sensitivity all the way from 32 Ohm to 600 Ohm. And this means that certain models (i.e. DT 880 600 Ohms, or the 990 Pro 250 Ohm etc) probably experience more variation when plugged into higher impedance AMPs (i.e. tubes). Something that's quite interesting if you ask me, although the thought of driving an 880 600 is daughting. In theory the old classic driver isn't as detailed as the new Stellar-models, but Resolve did raise some certain aspects of the TYGR 300R being better in details vs. the 900 Pro X when he reviewed the TYGR. Whilst that reinforces my own personal bias of the TYGR, I'd imagine in reality they are very close in how they perform for gaming.

The more expensive MK 1770/1990 Mk.II use that Tesla.45 driver, which I imagine very much differentiates these, although it should at their price point. I think that's about it in terms of what I've picked up about these headphones. But I sense any of the DT Classics, TYGR, the Pro X and MMX 300/330 Pro models are going to be similar for gaming performance, with some variation in tuning. The one thing I like about most of these models is the comfort. Even with the round earpads you have my second favourite headphone for comfort, beating even the HD 6x0 line. The stock foam pads are lovely, some of the models are below that magic 300g weight (DT 770, 880, TYGR etc.) and everything is replaceable for reasonable prices. And for once Europeans get better prices.

I've been thinking about the 770 a lot recently and am still pondering whether to pick one up again, either a classic, or the new DT 770 Pro X. I know there are arguably better closed-backs out there but these were a bit magical for spoken-word content, and great for media and gaming (for a closed-back).

Beyerdynamic was bought out by a new owners this year. Hopefully they keep donig what they are good at and it doesn't impact them for the worse.
 
Never had a Beyerdyanmic, always had the itch, but other things took the spot on the basket each time a chance came up.


This popped onto my feed today and a casual browse shows it's £689 at RS. Yeah Denafrips are high end making their own boards and units in their own factory and using pro-end drivers for the DAC, but £689 for purely a DAC and no pre-amp functions is a tough ask when alternatives exist that are all-in-one, though yeah it is higher end R2R which I guess accounts for that cost.

The alternatives are things like the Xduo TA-32 with either one of the slot-in R2R DAC modules, that totals around £1200 but you get more for your money it seems.

Think I need to hear what the higher end of R2R is like, there is enough out there now in the growing sub £600 scene.

Edit*

KeEiUAJ.png


Unrelated to DACs :cool:
 
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mrk said:
Never had a Beyerdyanmic, always had the itch, but other things took the spot on the basket each time a chance came up.
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Can't own them all. The Beyer's tend to go against the neutrality I prefer in a headphone, but that said they still have something about them.

mrk said:
Unrelated to DACs :cool:
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Nice, I guess this could be a competitor to that Fiio Warmer? Btw what's a 'pro-end drivers'?
 
Oh yeah should have added a bit more info on that, Thesycon is the driver, they seem to do drivers for the pro end stuff mostly and advertise it as such too so I fully expect all the delay stuff we have been on about lately is well sorted with those products:

USB Audio 2.0 Class Driver for Windows 10 and 11

USB Audio 2.0 Class Driver and development Tool for Windows 11, 10
www.thesycon.de www.thesycon.de

In reality I bet it's just an ASIO driver like the rest with the more latency geared options available and enabled by default.

Not Warmer related, although I am looking forward to hopefully checking that out, just not sure where it will be placed as it's a bit of a massive unit from what I saw. I've ordered the Cambridge Audio MXW70 power amp. Did some cable routing changes below the desk and realised that external power bricks are super annoying, I see why @Raymond Lin dislikes them now so I think the PA7 is going back assuming the MXW70 is similar on how it sounds, it uses the Hypex ncore class D amp, should be pretty transparent with subtle colouration like the Topping from what I have read so far, though reviews are sparse about it.

www.richersounds.com

Cambridge Audio MXW70 (Lunar Grey)

Shop for Cambridge Audio MXW70 (Black) Stereo Power Amplifier with Richer Sounds for a 6 Year Guarantee, expert advice and Lowest Prices Guaranteed.
www.richersounds.com www.richersounds.com

It seems to match the other power amp I previously looked at but backed out of because of the price at nearly £1200 before I discovered the Topping PA7, the Quad 303, this seems to have equal or better power at 4 and 8 ohms than the 303, but then the Quad is Class AB, not that this matters nowadays.

The MXW70 gives me an easier path to monobloc in the future for 250Wpc and at £500, relatively inexpensive. I was also a bit bemused by the fact that when I got the PA7 it was £500, 4 months later it's £350!
 
mrk said:
Thesycon is the driver,
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I was going to pull you up on that :p

mrk said:
Not Warmer related, although I am looking forward to hopefully checking that out, just not sure where it will be placed as it's a bit of a massive unit from what I saw. I've ordered the Cambridge Audio MXW70 power amp. Did some cable routing changes below the desk and realised that external power bricks are super annoying, I see why @Raymond Lin dislikes them now so I think the PA7 is going back assuming the MXW70 is similar on how it sounds, it uses the Hypex ncore class D amp, should be pretty transparent with subtle colouration like the Topping from what I have read so far, though reviews are sparse about it.
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Yea, it looks a big unit from the dimensions. Nice looking though.

I always got the sense Warmer will be a four-figure price, something for the high-end.
 
Fiio reps said that Warmer was their way of showing the world what they can do when they just don't care about eco efficiency and just go all out and create something that is proper old school but with modern components. I guess that answers why it's pretty big and almost certainly will use lots of power. I was looking at other brands recently too where they outright state that there's no power mode regulation as the amp's architecture needs time to reach optimum temps so sleep modes and standby etc are alien to such models, so leaving it on uses max power draw at all times, these models drew 370 watts at all times when not manually switched off :cry:
 
mrk said:
Fiio reps said that Warmer was their way of showing the world what they can do when they just don't care about eco efficiency and just go all out and create something that is proper old school but with modern components. I guess that answers why it's pretty big and almost certainly will use lots of power. I was looking at other brands recently too where they outright state that there's no power mode regulation as the amp's architecture needs time to reach optimum temps so sleep modes and standby etc are alien to such models, so leaving it on uses max power draw at all times, these models drew 370 watts at all times when not manually switched off :cry:
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Ouch. That's a good point.

It so easy to forget about energy costs when they were cheap for so long. Tangent here, but it's always something that 99% of the time the people conveniently forget in those annoying console vs PC arguments. 'PS Plus costs $60 a year'. Sure but that 400W+ PC is chewing through that at UK energy prices. I guess it's an incentive not to leave the DAC switched on, something I'm guilty of doing from time-to-time.
 
The thing with PC is that whilst we may have GPUs that are rated 450 watts draw etc, it won't be drawing that amount at all times, even when gaming which typically sits in the 300-350W range for an RTX 4090 in most games, the idle draw is ~20W, with the CPU around similar. My PC is on 24/7 so these individual components do tally up to a bigger draw figure but it's still way less than 370 watts of course, only once I fire up a game does the GPU power ramp up whilst CPU doesn't really exceed 90 watts.

Having a DAC/amp alone using 370 watts just sitting there being "on" is quite amusing and eye watering lol. it got me checking, the X9 uses ~25W max with ~14W typical, whilst the PA7 draws up to 240 watts with the stock power supply depending on the speakers which is expected for such a power amp, meanwhile the MXW70 draws up to 300W likewise.

I do use the standby mode often though on the X9 which 12v triggers the power amp into standby too which is nice and convenient as they're under 0.5W consumption in standby modes so no need to turn off at the mains.
 
To be expected for an integrated system though :p A PC won't be far off that if not the same idle if set to the power save mode vs the default balanced profile.
 
Yeah - I have a mini PC (J4125 w/ 8GB RAM) which I'm using for local cloud, etc. type use, when idle with the drives spun down it is using sub 2 watt with a bit of tuning - stock it uses ~3.4 watt idle. And that is actual power draw at the wall including conversion losses from the power supply. What annoys me is that stock Windows 10 or 11 without tweaks will use over twice the idle power compared to using something like Ubuntu on it and/or taking the nuclear option to turn off background Windows features most of which don't actually do anything useful for the end user.
 
mrk said:
The thing with PC is that whilst we may have GPUs that are rated 450 watts draw etc, it won't be drawing that amount at all times, even when gaming which typically sits in the 300-350W range for an RTX 4090 in most games, the idle draw is ~20W, with the CPU around similar. My PC is on 24/7 so these individual components do tally up to a bigger draw figure but it's still way less than 370 watts of course, only once I fire up a game does the GPU power ramp up whilst CPU doesn't really exceed 90 watts.
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True the DAC is a constant energy drain.

But it's still something that no-one ever brings into the equation. So if you calculate playing 2-6 hours of gaming per day on a high-end PC versus a console the electricity costs, particularly in the UK escalate very quickly. A Bit like Raymond mentioned some of these very small PC's also use very little power albeit not super-efficient ARM architecture. The small Beelink U59 Pro I've had for a few years can be as low as 4W too. It's just something that came to mind with some of these recent PS6/Xbox PC spec leaks and Sony supposedly aiming for 160W.
 
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