AKG 712 vs DT 1990

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Hey I'm looking for a good pair of headphones for competitive + casual gaming. I generally listen to rock music.

I know for competitive you want little to no bass but I'm ok with it as I want an all rounder which is why I'm leaning towards these headphones.

I already have the ifi zen dac but I'll buy the zen can if needed.

Thanks,
 
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AKG has in general one of the widest sound stages and while not up K702 extreme level, K712 is still very good.
Beyer is notch behind... Or DT990
DT1990 goes another step smaller in sound stage, though positioning is excellent and details have "in your face" clarity.
Amiron Home kinda like between DT990 and DT1990.
(and little more extra "fun factor" on that Tesla driver's impressive bass over DT1990)

Though anyway if you feed them speaker stereo sound, all sounds will be positioned very accurately and very artificially inside your left or right ear, or inside head.
That's because no headphones can ever create binaural cues needed by brain to position sounds:
Shape of the head causes direction dependant changes to signal received by both ears from sound source.
And if those cues don't exist in signal either from binaural recording, or from mathematical simulating, you won't get any good sound positioning.


Then considering you would likey be wearing them for long durations comfort would be another important factor.

AKG is quite light, but relies also on headband's pressure to keep cups positioned.
That "automatically" adjusting head band simply isn't that good for different head sizes and shapes.
On smaller, especially downward narowing head cups would easily feel like they're creeping down.
And elastic strings in headband also wear and loosen over time.
Good old manually adjustable headband is more "flexible" for different size heads.

Though as studio use aimed and above average weight headphone DT1990 has quite hefty headband pressure to make sure it stays in place when turning head.
Beyer specs it as 6.6 Newtons.
While DT990 Edition is specced for 2.8 N making it extremely comfortable. (Amiron Home propably similar)
So DT1990 would take some practise and likely also bending of mid part of headband. (steel inside cushion)


Thanks for the detailed reply. If you had to pick one headphone out of the ones you've suggested for the best all rounder that maybe leans towards competitive gaming which would it be? The way you described the 712 and dt 1990 matches what I've read online.

As for a dacamp, will the zen dac ifi be more than enough? Sometimes I feel like audiophiles exaggerate how much power headphones actually need.
 
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