Broken headphones and out of warranty.. what to get instead

BlackCoat2k10 · 7 Dec 2010 at 18:43

Hello all I was wondering if I could get your insight on an idea of mine.

This morning I got out of bed and heard a crunch as I realised I had manage to stand on my headphones (some gamecon 377?'s) completely breaking the right earcup. So that means I need new ones to go with my Asus Xonar DX.

However I have been looking into the roccat kave 5.1 set and reviews seem to say a lack of bass yet most say they are top quality. I used to own an old medusa 5.1 with desktop ampy thing which I thought was good but its sound was a bit merr at times.

A part of me misses 5.1 head phones as I do not have space for a 5.1 speaker system, couple the kaves with my Qacoustic 2020's and I seem to be telling myself I'm in for a winner!

Now what are your opinions on this?

go for the Kave 5.1's or just go for Siberia v2's and use my soundcard for the surround effect?

Uriel · 7 Dec 2010 at 20:21

Get something known to have good synergy with Dolby Headphone on your Xonar. Goldring NS1000s, DR150s or DR50s would be my suggestion. They're all headphones rather than headsets so you'll need a clip on or desktop mic to go with them.

Oh - and tidy your room!

BlackCoat2k10 · 7 Dec 2010 at 23:40

I've already got my self a nice desktop mic, which works brilliantly. Just the more I read up on several headsets / stereo sets I get confused as there is a lot of misguided views due to peoples hearing being subjective. I may be able to try the roccat Kaves at a friends house soonish so will see if they are just a gimmick or if they are something interesting for gaming. As for now I've fixed my Goldring dr100's which were always quite shrilley sounding, but will pick up some senheiser 201's tomorrow morning from my brother.

Marsman · 8 Dec 2010 at 01:41

DR100's apparently are the worst of the Goldring's for shrillness, if that is such a word. Too much treble. I have some DR150's, and they are superb, as are the NS1000's. DR50's are superb headphones for what they cost, but are too shrill for some, but certainly not as much as the DR100's.

Personally, I'm no fan of these multi driver headphones. Companies that make them, label them 5.1, which is nonsense really. 5.1 is in reference to speakers, not headphones. Due to the way surround sound works, multi driver headphones are never going to be what some people like to call 'true 5.1', no matter how many drivers they shove into each ear cup. They stick 'true 5.1' on the packaging, and people buy it.

Some people do prefer these multi driver headphones, which is fine. But some, prefer them just because they have a nice 'true 5.1' label on them. If you took 2 TV's, and both could do 3D equally well, but one had a 'true 3D' label stuck on it, which would sell more? People will buy the one with the label on telling them to buy it. It's not much different when it comes to getting surround sound with headphones. Gamers are told multi driver headphones are better because they are 'true 5.1' and not 'virtual' like what one would get with Dolby headphone etc. How many create threads saying, I'm looking for 'true 5.1' headphones. Hardly any have an idea about using Dolby Headphone from a sound card with stereo headphones, until it's explained to them. Why is that?

As I said, if someone does prefer these multi driver headphones, that's fine. But to say they are better because they are 'true 5.1' and not 'virtual' is just a load of nonsense.

Here is something to consider. Sennheiser are possibly the only company that makes gaming headsets, that also makes high quality headphones. Headphones and headsets are all they do, that's what they specialise in. How many of Sennheiser's surround sound headphones use multiple drivers? None. Why? Maybe because they know more than Roccat etc, when it comes to sound, and shoving a load of drivers into a pair of headphones is not the best way to go about getting surround sound from headphones.