Advice on new headphones/audio set up!

[LoopyOrc]

Hi guys/gals,

I'm looking to get a new set of headphones for use exclusively with my PC. They'll be used equally for music and games but do not (in any way) need to be 'gaming' focused. Over the years I've owned several gimmicky gaming headsets and they either don't last or just have generally average sound quality. These headphones do not need to have a mic built in but it's a bonus, i'm open to suggestions regarding this.

Some information that might help you:

Budget: £200 (I'm going to be using these a LOT so i'm flexible depending on recommendations)
Isolation: I share a flat with my partner so some sort of noise isolation would be preferable
Music genre: A bit of everything really. EDM, rock, jazz, you name it.
Games: The only remotely 'competitive' game I play is a bit of Valorant every so often but mostly now I play Final Fantasy 14 which has a lot of great orchestral pieces which might sound really nice on a proper set of headphones.

I've seen people recommending things like the DT770's and similar. Would I need to buy any more external hardware like an amp/dac in order to get these up and running to their best? Treat me like an absolute newbie because I guess I am!

Any advice is much appreciated!

 

[EsaT]

Isolation: I share a flat with my partner so some sort of noise isolation would be preferable

That's mandatory closed ear cup design requirement there.
"Semi-open" stuff is semantics and for sound isolation ear cup is either completely closed or not.
DT770 is certainly capable closed headphone of its price for gaming.

For headphone gaming there's need for sound card really more from other reasons than needing some amp or "DAC":
Wish I could say game sounds have kept advancing like graphics.
But the truth is in average game sounds have devolved/regressed back to last millennium since WinXP era.
DirectSound and hardware accelerated sound output channel rendering in sound card has changed to software renderers...
With X+Y+10th rate amount of attention put into it usually.

And many games don't even have real own sound settings.
Hence if you have headphones/two channel stereo sound chosen in Windows, those games produce "dumb" speaker stereo mix.
And because of physics that doesn't even give proper left-right immersion with headphones.
Instead you'll get very artificial "sound inside left ear, inside right ear, or in center of head" immersion.
Without any binaural cues brain simply doesn't know where else to position sounds.
That's why also some music mixed purely for speakers doesn't sound good on headphones.

So sound card pretending 5.1/7.1 output for Windows (hoping game's sound renderer can produce proper surround sound) and using HRTF algorithm for simulating binaural sound from that is overall best for headphone gaming.

Creative is selling B-stock Sound BlasterX G6 for £70, which is darn good price for the package.
It has good enough headphone amp to drive most headphones you could find from shops.
Also it has button for enabling/disabling crossfeed/upmix processing if you want stereo music "raw".

 

[Marsman]

DT770's are probably the best bet. They are decent headphones for gaming and being closed back, they keep sound leakage to a minimum.

Just to expand on the DT770 and the different variations. 250 Ohm has a 3m coiled cable. 80 Ohm has a 3m straight cable. 32 Ohm has a 1.6m straight cable.

32 Ohm is best for portable device use. 250 Ohm or 80 Ohm will be ideal for use with a Creative G6, should you go for one of those. £70 is certainly a great price for B grade units on Creative's site. Unless you prefer a short cable; in which case the 32 Ohm version will be fine.

 

[LoopyOrc]

Thank you for input, both. Having looked at the DT770's extensively they look to be pretty much exactly what i'm after. Creative don't have any of the B-stock in at the moment but I can keep an eye on that. Are there any similar products you might recommend to the G6?

 

[Ryanr1987]

DT770 is a fantastic headphone if you like bassy, aggressive and gaming.


The soundblaster g6 is fantastic as well, it's one of the best buys I've ever made in audio/gaming for muli use. it's not going to compete with high end amps but it just does everything well and the amp section is weirdly powerful.

 

[EsaT]

Thank you for input, both. Having looked at the DT770's extensively they look to be pretty much exactly what i'm after.

If you have loose mic from broken gaming stuff Beyer's design is also very easy to DIY mic mod:
https://imgur.com/gallery/bKU4H
That 35 years old design isn't the fanciest looking, but it's very functional...

Are there any similar products you might recommend to the G6?

Nothing even remotely equal for that B-stock price.
Creative's new USB sound cards of that price level are even lower than internal sound cards in D/A converter quality etc.

 

[LoopyOrc]

Good to know, really appreciate the advice. I've pulled the trigger on the DT770's for now and can use them sans amp until they become available. Should be arriving Wednesday!

Will bookmark that loose mic guide, nice one.