Yo everyone! This is pretty much my first review of something so lets see how it goes!
So recently my trusty Asus Orion Pro ROG headset started to fall apart on one of the ear cups, so it was time to get a new headset. This lead to numerous posts on different forums requesting advice and much much much (too much) YouTube review watching. It was the YouTube watching that initially led me to check out the option of a non gaming specific headset, long story short there are literally hundreds of posts/threads/reviews stating that gaming headsets are overpriced for the quality you receive. Now this doesn't mean throw all of them in the bin it just means if you want to do a bit of research and don't mind an extra wire hanging about (more on a neat little fix for this later) then it seems an 'Audiophile' pair of headphones coupled with a good sound card with amp is the way to go.
On to the actual products themselves -
Arrival pic
AKG K612 Pro Reference Studio Head Phones
First off price - £100 +/- roughly a tenner depending on vendor. I paid £115 and that included a modmic v4.0 with inline mute and this was supplied by Overclockers.
Unboxing pics -
Nice little touch on the quote as you unbox
Build Quality - They really excel here, there are some great little touches like the leather embossed headband and brushed aluminium connecting bands. The velour padding is super soft and the can size is very large so should cover any ear comfortably. They are however very light, now this initially may seem like a bad point as for me a bit of weight generally equals a quality well built product. Except in this case it's a good thing, the build feels strong despite the low weight and when on your head there is no downwards weight, all you feel is the reassuring pressure of the pads against the side of your head. This means they should be great for marathon sessions giving little to no discomfort.
Also a nice little touch is, the included 1/4" jack is threaded so makes it feel like it is part of the headphone cable and not an adapter.
Sound - So onto the sound, by no means am I a hardcore audiophile so I won't go into whether I think they are bright or warm etc. What I will do is give you my thoughts on the direct comparison between what I have, so the Orions. First things the potential bad point, these are exactly as stated, reference headphones so they are designed to pick out all of the sounds and give a very balanced feel. This kind of means the bass/lows are not as obvious as most considered 'fun' headphones, I however like a good bass line and these deliver adequately with out being too low for my tastes. So on they went and wow, I strongly urge anyone too seriously consider a set of open headphones if you game/listen in a relatively quiet setting. The sound stage is unreal coming from only ever using closed headphones, this allows the directional positioning to be accentuated greatly. I had a quick blast on CS:GO and the difference is very noticeable. Listening to music is also a new pleasure as the different previously hidden notes came alive while listening to some of my favorite tracks. All in all I have to say I am very pleased with these headphones indeed and would happily recommend them to anyone asking about new headphones for gaming.
Modmic v4.0
Nice little carry case!
Build Quality - Pretty good, doesn't feel as sturdy as I thought a microphone costing roughly £35 would but I guess the proof will be in the way I sound! Also the inline mute feels quite 'plasticy' and cheap, given the option I may have declined it but never mind I guess it's the operation that is important. Having said that the actual boom feels nice and stiff
(ooerrr) and the magnetic holder is an excellent design which is more than adequate to hold the mic but won't interfere with the drivers.
Included accessories - This is in my opinion a well thought out product. Most peoples issue in my opinion will be the fuss of an extra cable, however supplied are some small 's' clips that essentially loom your mic and headphone together, a great touch! Next is the magnetic base of which you get two, possibly for if you have more than one head set or for when you get new headphones as the 3M sticky pad is errr vey sticky and I imagine a pain to remove, a good and possibly bad thing depending on your views. Also the carry case is a nice addition, not too sure that I will use it much but would be very handy for protection during moves/going to LANS etc.
A few pics of the accessories and the base attached to my headphones -
I guess the proof will be how I sound to others so time will tell on that but I consider this to be a great well thought out product that sits very nicely in a previous market gap.
ASUS Xonar U7
Price - Roughly £75, I got mine for this price from overclockers, which seem to be on par, if not cheaper than other vendors.
Build qulaity - Has a decent weight to it, is nice and simple so looks clean on your desk and the gold accents look good (I would have preferred brushed aluminium but that's a personal preference). The included USB cable also has a feel of quality about it that pleased me. It has some great features as well like the ability to run it as an independent DAC and use a separate amp to power larger headphones or speakers and still retain the processing.
Sound quality - Again I don't have a great deal to compare it too but against my on-board card and my ASUS Splitfire USB card it is head and shoulders above, probably in main due to the amp. Also the software downloads with a Dolby home theater GUI that is very easy to set up the sound with and has a very good effect on the sound characteristics as you click through the various settings. All in all a solid sound card with a decnt strength amp and for people like me running SLI/X-Fire GPU's it keeps the card away from any EMI as it sits well away from the PC (Also I had no space as an internal card would either touch my second GPU blocking the fans or short itself against my Phanteks CPU cooler).
Conclusion
So to wrap things up I am to say the least on the whole very very impressed and can see why there is so much out there on the web regarding the use of 'better' headphones with a separate mic. I am most impressed by the sound clarity which is phenomenal and the sound stage, it's a real difference hearing the sounds coming from the sides and actually getting a feel for the distance as they come towards you, very impressive indeed. Finally to finish things up if you already have a dedicated sound card with amp, then for £115 I wold say these far surpass the sound quality of dedicated gaming headsets at this price point.
Hope you found this informative and any questions just fire away and I will try my best to answer them.
Have a good one!
So recently my trusty Asus Orion Pro ROG headset started to fall apart on one of the ear cups, so it was time to get a new headset. This lead to numerous posts on different forums requesting advice and much much much (too much) YouTube review watching. It was the YouTube watching that initially led me to check out the option of a non gaming specific headset, long story short there are literally hundreds of posts/threads/reviews stating that gaming headsets are overpriced for the quality you receive. Now this doesn't mean throw all of them in the bin it just means if you want to do a bit of research and don't mind an extra wire hanging about (more on a neat little fix for this later) then it seems an 'Audiophile' pair of headphones coupled with a good sound card with amp is the way to go.
On to the actual products themselves -
Arrival pic
AKG K612 Pro Reference Studio Head Phones
First off price - £100 +/- roughly a tenner depending on vendor. I paid £115 and that included a modmic v4.0 with inline mute and this was supplied by Overclockers.
Unboxing pics -
Nice little touch on the quote as you unbox
Build Quality - They really excel here, there are some great little touches like the leather embossed headband and brushed aluminium connecting bands. The velour padding is super soft and the can size is very large so should cover any ear comfortably. They are however very light, now this initially may seem like a bad point as for me a bit of weight generally equals a quality well built product. Except in this case it's a good thing, the build feels strong despite the low weight and when on your head there is no downwards weight, all you feel is the reassuring pressure of the pads against the side of your head. This means they should be great for marathon sessions giving little to no discomfort.
Also a nice little touch is, the included 1/4" jack is threaded so makes it feel like it is part of the headphone cable and not an adapter.
Sound - So onto the sound, by no means am I a hardcore audiophile so I won't go into whether I think they are bright or warm etc. What I will do is give you my thoughts on the direct comparison between what I have, so the Orions. First things the potential bad point, these are exactly as stated, reference headphones so they are designed to pick out all of the sounds and give a very balanced feel. This kind of means the bass/lows are not as obvious as most considered 'fun' headphones, I however like a good bass line and these deliver adequately with out being too low for my tastes. So on they went and wow, I strongly urge anyone too seriously consider a set of open headphones if you game/listen in a relatively quiet setting. The sound stage is unreal coming from only ever using closed headphones, this allows the directional positioning to be accentuated greatly. I had a quick blast on CS:GO and the difference is very noticeable. Listening to music is also a new pleasure as the different previously hidden notes came alive while listening to some of my favorite tracks. All in all I have to say I am very pleased with these headphones indeed and would happily recommend them to anyone asking about new headphones for gaming.
Modmic v4.0
Nice little carry case!
Build Quality - Pretty good, doesn't feel as sturdy as I thought a microphone costing roughly £35 would but I guess the proof will be in the way I sound! Also the inline mute feels quite 'plasticy' and cheap, given the option I may have declined it but never mind I guess it's the operation that is important. Having said that the actual boom feels nice and stiff
(ooerrr) and the magnetic holder is an excellent design which is more than adequate to hold the mic but won't interfere with the drivers.
Included accessories - This is in my opinion a well thought out product. Most peoples issue in my opinion will be the fuss of an extra cable, however supplied are some small 's' clips that essentially loom your mic and headphone together, a great touch! Next is the magnetic base of which you get two, possibly for if you have more than one head set or for when you get new headphones as the 3M sticky pad is errr vey sticky and I imagine a pain to remove, a good and possibly bad thing depending on your views. Also the carry case is a nice addition, not too sure that I will use it much but would be very handy for protection during moves/going to LANS etc.
A few pics of the accessories and the base attached to my headphones -
I guess the proof will be how I sound to others so time will tell on that but I consider this to be a great well thought out product that sits very nicely in a previous market gap.
ASUS Xonar U7
Price - Roughly £75, I got mine for this price from overclockers, which seem to be on par, if not cheaper than other vendors.
Build qulaity - Has a decent weight to it, is nice and simple so looks clean on your desk and the gold accents look good (I would have preferred brushed aluminium but that's a personal preference). The included USB cable also has a feel of quality about it that pleased me. It has some great features as well like the ability to run it as an independent DAC and use a separate amp to power larger headphones or speakers and still retain the processing.
Sound quality - Again I don't have a great deal to compare it too but against my on-board card and my ASUS Splitfire USB card it is head and shoulders above, probably in main due to the amp. Also the software downloads with a Dolby home theater GUI that is very easy to set up the sound with and has a very good effect on the sound characteristics as you click through the various settings. All in all a solid sound card with a decnt strength amp and for people like me running SLI/X-Fire GPU's it keeps the card away from any EMI as it sits well away from the PC (Also I had no space as an internal card would either touch my second GPU blocking the fans or short itself against my Phanteks CPU cooler).
Conclusion
So to wrap things up I am to say the least on the whole very very impressed and can see why there is so much out there on the web regarding the use of 'better' headphones with a separate mic. I am most impressed by the sound clarity which is phenomenal and the sound stage, it's a real difference hearing the sounds coming from the sides and actually getting a feel for the distance as they come towards you, very impressive indeed. Finally to finish things up if you already have a dedicated sound card with amp, then for £115 I wold say these far surpass the sound quality of dedicated gaming headsets at this price point.
Hope you found this informative and any questions just fire away and I will try my best to answer them.
Have a good one!
