Headphone Upgrade

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Hey guys,

What would be a nice upgrade from my Hyper X cloud headset connected to an Asus Xonar DX 7.1?

My budget will be £150 and the main purpose is for Gaming.

What are your thoughts on the Asus Xonar DX card btw? I'm aware that soundcards aren't as great as AMPs.


Kindest Regards,
Stefan
 
The problem is that the DX has no headphone amp whatsoever, it's made solely for speakers so you would have to use very easy to drive headphones otherwise a lot of your budget would be eaten up by a suitable amp.

With that in mind I would say your best bet is something like the Soundmagic HP150 closed back which go for around £125 or the Soundmagic HP200 open back which go for around £140. Both will be driven fine by your sound card and you just have to decide between open and closed back.
 
Wouldn't say the DX is made solely for speakers, as it has Dolby Headphone. Without a headphone amp though, it does limit which headphones will perform well with the card without the need for an additional amp. There is a decent choice though of headphones that will work well without the need for an additional amp.

I keep forgetting about the Soundmagic's. Focusing solely on the sound quality you get for the money, they look like a very good choice. They come with a short 1.2m cable though, so the included extension will likely have to be used. Due the proprietary connector used on the cable, finding a longer cable without the need for the extension will be tricky as the brand is not so well known as Sennheiser and AKG, which probably have more choice of after market cables.

I don't know whether the build or design differs between the 150 and 200, but I've seen some negative comments about the 150 build quality, in particular the hinge cup design, which snapped on a couple. I haven't seen any similar negative comments for the 200 that I can see.

AKG K550 MkII are also easy to drive and might be worth considering. Need a good seal with these though, which is nigh on impossible if the user wears glasses.

There's also Sennheiser's new line of HD5** headphones. HD559 are within budget and 569 for £10 more. Not sure what the differences are between all 4 in that range, but assuming they are similar to the 558 and 598, they'll made decent gaming headphones that are easy to drive.

To throw another headphone into the ring, there's also Beyerdynamic DT770 80 Ohm, which will be more DX friendly than the 250 Ohm variant.
 
Hi chaps.I too was in this position a while a go and after taking some advice from some very nice people on here I did buy some dt770s, the 80ohm version. I personal run them through a xonar u7 and it smashes them no problem. If you like some bass with your games or music they will suit you down to the ground. Don't get me wrong I am by no means an audiophile but my ears tell me what I like and I like the beyerdynamics a lot. Just another little snipet I was give a pair of sennheiser hd 518s by a friend for nothing and I must say they are some of the most comfortable headphone I have ever put on my ears..
 
Yep, the Sennheiser HD 5xx range and the Beyerdynamic DT770 would be a good call too, I was just about to go through the door when I replied earlier, hence a rather rushed response :D
 
Sorry for the slow reply guys, I've been busy and I haven't had chance to check up on my replies :)

Thank you for all of your input guys, I had a feeling that I might be limited without an AMP. Would an AMP be more beneficial?

Obviously, I don't want to be held back by a pair of headphones which are similar price but an AMP is required to be run at its best. Also, an AMP would benefit my speakers too I suppose.

I've had my Xonar DX 7.1 for 5 years, so I've had my moneys worth out of it :).

I know I have a budget of £150, but that is headphones alone. I never thought about an AMP.
 
A headphone amp wouldn't affect the sound quality of your speakers, just the headphones.

A headphone amp or a sound card with a stronger built in amp would be needed for headphones such as the Sennheiser HD650 or AKG K702, which are either high impedance (the former) or low sensitivity (the latter).

The HD650 is probably the best headphone you can get for under £350 and maybe as far as £500 but they currently go for £250 on the rainforest and an external amp or stronger sound card would push that over £300, which is way over the budget you posted.

All of the headphones we listed that are not only easy to drive but also within or at least a lot closer to your budget will sound very good indeed and for gaming may well work better than the more expensive HD650s, which are more suited to music (I use mine for both :D )
 
Thank you for the advice Rids57 :)

I'm stuck in between the Beyerdynamics and the new Sennheiser 5xxx range. I'll be mostly using my headset for gaming. I barely listen to music on my headset, I always switch to my speakers.
 
I think the HD5** might be a better choice for positional accuracy, but they are quite laid back, which isn't what everybody wants. Some prefer just a fun headphone with a decent dollop of bass at the cost of some accuracy. DT770 are arguably the more fun.
 
The DT770 do have a lot more mid-bass but that's not necessarily the best thing for positional audio. They also have rather piercing highs, as do pretty much all Beyerdynamics.
 
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