Gaming headset

Matthew Sheridan

Matthew Sheridan

Matthew Sheridan

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Joined
27 Jan 2018
Posts
78
Hi,

i have just got into PC gaming and quite want a good headset as am just using JBL headphones at the moment, to start with i looked at HyperX cloud II's but then someone suggested the Beyerdynamic MMX 300 version 1's. I watch Jacksepticeye quite a lot and liked the look of his pair of headphones (Philips fidelio x1's) but have found the X2's used on ebay for £150 or best offer. Is that a good deal? The only thing with that is it doesn't come with a mic but i could always get something like the mod mic or a blue yeti snowball. Would the x2's with a mod mic 5 be a good setup? I would use razer surround pro which i have with them, would that give me good spacial awareness for something like rainbow 6? If you have a cheaper alternative which is equaly as great i would appreciate that as still need a decent monitor as well as i am just using crap one which someone gave me which is a square and has hundreds of dead pixels so not ideal.

Thanks
 
If you want fun above neutral bass sound with some compromising in details Fidelios are good, like pretty much similar Beyerdynamic DT990.
Which you can get as new for about £150 and studio use aimed DT990 Pro with less decoration and coiled cable is ~£100.
(~120€ Pro Black Limited Edition has straight cable)
And for Beyers you can get replacement ear pads easily (apparently not so for Philips) and Beyer doesn't charge arm and leg for those.

Again if you want maximum competitiveness for nitpicking details £120 AKG K701/702 are clear winners and among absolute top gaming headphones with step bigger binaural sound stage and neutral bass taking back seat to details.
~£100 AKG K612 would be near them. (OcUK has that as bundle with ModMic 4)
K702 with detachable cable could take also V-Moda BoomPro mic using adapter found with this:
BGS 3 Pin Mini XLR Female to 3.5mm Female Stereo Headphone Jack Adapter with AKG Wiring
But I think ModMic 4 is cheaper.


Razer Surround is certainly better stereo, but haven't found it that great in actual game videos.
It just doesn't do well in sense of space/distance sounding as much from some fancy equalizer as binaural sound.
Gaming garbages (for which it's likely made) lack sound stage, but with quality headphones that difference is very noticeable to Creative's algorithms.
Windows Sonic for Headphones is likely pretty equal to Razer.

First half of this is Razer stuff, other half Creative's:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDBSHNT5jWQ
SBX Pro, CMSS-3D, Dolby Headphone and Razer Surround in this.
First minute is excellent quick test for gaming fitness of headphones with sounds from different directions and distances:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1_20T8x_OI
Here's long BF4 gameplay with SBX Pro Surround:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8xZp0WPwxs

Fashion DACs as "stupid" single purpose devices lack binaural simulation which is pretty much the biggest advantage of separate sound cards over integrated for headphone use.

With high efficiency/sensitivity and very low impedance Fidelios are very easy load as long as output impedance is low. (to keep damping factor and bass control good)
Though they're also very sensitive to any interference if source device is prone to that.
250 ohm Beyers need some more voltage, but nothing that integrated Realteks can't deliver.
And impedance makes them insensitive to interference and output impedances.

AKGs have lowish impedance which makes them draw more current than Beyers for same power and hence they're actually more demanding load.


Sound Blaster Z has very good D/A converter (that's what DAC means) and average (not weakest, not strongest) for sound card headphone output. Though output impedance wouldn't be great for bass control of Fidelios.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/search?ssearch=sound+blaster+z
newer sound blasterx ae-5 has top level dac and one of the best headphone outputs of any sound card good for pretty much any headphone with near zero output impedance.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/crea...aming-sound-card-70sb174000000-sc-104-cl.html
 
If you want a GAMING headset then I'd go for the Corsair RGB. Amazing for gaming with all its features but don't expect studio quality when it comes to music.
 
EsaT said:
Again if you want maximum competitiveness for nitpicking details
Click to expand...
I want something that will be good all round, movie watching, music listening and gaming but i don't need the best of the best, i have around £100 atm so i could try and get the X2's cheaper from the ebay one and just buy a like £5 lav mic untill i have enough for something like a mod mic 4 or 5, would that be a good option? And then my birthday is coming up soon in may so i could probably stick with my crappy square monitor for a while and then get that for my birthday as think i want an ultra wide.

On another note which of these would be the best option for a monitor setup for future? (like max budget~£300)
A) 1 big 1080P 144Hz monitor

B) 1 big 29 inch 2560 x 1080p 60Hz ultrawide

C) 2 1080p monitors

Or any other recomendations you have
 
Last edited:
Matthew Sheridan said:
I want something that will be good all round, movie watching, music listening and gaming but i don't need the best of the best, i have around £100 atm so i could try and get the X2's cheaper from the ebay one and just buy a like £5 lav mic untill i have enough for something like a mod mic 4 or 5
Click to expand...
First of all start by removing those links: Forum rules forbid links to competitors.

Sound differences for gaming and movies are very small (both with strong bass and fun sound profile) and doubt you'll find Fidelio X2 for as good price as Beyer DT990 Pro.
Pro Black Limited edition with 3m straight cable is £120 as new and coiled cable standard Pro ~£100.
And for longer term there's eventual replacing ear pads thing, in which Beyer has good availability and very wallet friendly pricing.
("rainforest" doesn't even know any replacement pads for Fidelio X1/2)

Anyway Beyers design is very friendly for various DIY mic modding:
https://imgur.com/gallery/bKU4H
I don't think such 3,5mm plug mic would be much, certainly lot cheaper than ModMic, and 3,5mm extension cable and few zip ties certainly don't cost much.
So with little own work that would give full headset functionality for low budget.
Or then rigging some kind boom for this from some piece of metal wire:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/speedlink-spec-clip-on-metal-microphone-sl-8691-sbk-sp-037-sl.html


Though for more bass neutral sound this would be certainly very competent bundle:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/akg-k612-pro-modmic-v-4.0-discount-bundle-bu-006-ak.html
(AKG's own replacement ear pads aren't most wallet friendly ones)

Difference between ModMic 4 and 5 is that 5 has both omnidirectional and unidirectional capsule and you select between them using switch.
Omnidirectional capsule has better sound quality, but has equal sensitivity to all directions picking background noises like mechanical keyboard easily.
Unidirectional capsule again has high sensitivity to only one direction damping sounds from other directions.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/antlion-audio-modmic-v4-attachable-boom-microphone-sp-041-al.html


Unless having low end graphics card I would recommend going for 2560x1400 monitor which can be had for that budget.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/search/index/sSearch/2560x1440/sFilter_category/Monitors
That extra height makes any normal use like browsing web lot more comfortable with less vertical scrolling.
Super/ultra low screens (they're not wider, they're monitors which have been cut smaller vertically) or two monitors don't give anything to movie watching.
 
EsaT said:
and doubt you'll find Fidelio X2 for as good price as Beyer DT990 Pro.
Click to expand...
The X2's are on best offer so could try and bring them down to around £120 or something, would that be a good deal? I just think they look awesome.

What did you mean when you were talking about a mic? I don't need super details i'm not an expert i just want to know if what i said last time would be a good idea or not (get X'2 and cheap Lav untill i have enough for mod mic)
 
I own a Sennheiser Game One headset. It's a very good headset for the money but if I were to do it all again I would just buy some high quality headphones and something like a Blue Snowball mic.

Having a boom mic just irritates me no end. ImI murder for stuffing my face at my desk and obviously the boom mic feels the full force of my appetite.

Oh and the braided cable winds me up as much as it winds itself up. I can literally find myself hogtied to the chair after an hour of gaming.
 
Matthew Sheridan said:
What did you mean when you were talking about a mic? I don't need super details i'm not an expert i just want to know if what i said last time would be a good idea or not (get X'2 and cheap Lav untill i have enough for mod mic)
Click to expand...
For communication uni-directional ModMic4 certainly works well enough and isn't as sensititive to background noises.
But if you're constantly going to be short on money Beyer's DIY modding friendliness could save some money.
That 30 year old mechanical design has its advantages.

Anyway I'm now "off-line" until Sunday evening.
 
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