Gamers, What's Your Audio Set Up?

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​


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.
 
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.
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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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.

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.
 
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