Headphones - In-ear any good for gaming?

[xPETEZx]

So I cant seem to get on with over-the-ear headphones for much over an hour.

I have the following 4 currently:

Logitech 650e - (work provided) - very light, basic headset for calls.
Plantronics Focus - (work provided) - wireless, noise cancelling
Sony XB900N - (came with phone) - wireless, noise cancelling
Sennheiser HD25-1 II - (10yrs+ old now) - wired

Even the 650e which is very light gets annoying after about an hour. The rest all get annoying even quicker than that. Especially now the weather has warmed up.

Due to the coil-whine from my GPU... I have been trying to game with headphones instead of my trusty Z-5500 speakers. I often play in the evening when I need the volume turned down. And the whine is just irritating. (once you focus on it... cant stop...)

I like the sound of the Sony headphones, and the noise cancelling totally eliminates the whine. Which is great!
But, I just find after about 45-60m, its uncomfortable to wear any of these headphones.

Which got me thinking, are there any in-ear buds people would recommend for gaming?

I see the Sony wf-1000xm3 get well reviewed, but never for gaming. So not sure how well they'd work?

Interested to hear from anybody that also really does not like wearing over-the-ear headphones.

 

[EsaT]

Inconfort isn't any wonder when none of those is proper circumaural headphone, which put all pressure on head instead of crushing ears.
Also closed design and (p/)leather pads are recipe for heating because of complete lack of breathing.

And that 1000XM3 would be just another one bathing ears in sweat.
Also sound is boom boom goes the bass and unlikely to be good for gaming.
While above neutral bass is needed for good "fun factor" in gaming, at least treble shouldn't be muffled to maintain clarity.

At least you should be looking at velour pad cans, like Beyer DT770 to have some breathing of pads.
Though to genuinely lower ear warming effect open design is needed, like in DT990.
Basically the more sound headphones isolate, the less they breath.


Again IEMs certainly avoid warming of outer ear.
But closing inner ears for longer time likely isn't comfortable either.
Basically they behave mostly like ear plugs.

 

[PieEater]

I find IEMs pretty intrusive and uncomfortable even with foam tips but I do still use them on occasion as they are convinient and less dorky looking when using them in public and can provide really good sound quality. I think if you are sensitive to pressure on your ears IEMs may potentially be a worse choice as the pressure is more focused and in potentially a more sensitive location but your best option is to try some and see how you get on with them.

I would recommend giving Philips Fidelio X2HR a go the ear cups are massive and don't touch your ears so the pressure is on your head instead also the design of the headband ensures more even pressure so it is less uncomfortable and the bit that touches the top of your head is really comfortable. The pads are fabric so don't make you sweat and they are open backed headphones so allow some air circulation which prevent heat buildup and sweating. They are really easy to drive so you don't need anything special to get the best out of them. I use mine for gaming and listening to music and am really happy with them so can reccomended them with the caveat that I haven't compared them with any other similar headphones.

 

[xPETEZx]

Inconfort isn't any wonder when none of those is proper circumaural headphone, which put all pressure on head instead of crushing ears.
Also closed design and (p/)leather pads are recipe for heating because of complete lack of breathing.

And that 1000XM3 would be just another one bathing ears in sweat.
Also sound is boom boom goes the bass and unlikely to be good for gaming.
While above neutral bass is needed for good "fun factor" in gaming, at least treble shouldn't be muffled to maintain clarity.

At least you should be looking at velour pad cans, like Beyer DT770 to have some breathing of pads.
Though to genuinely lower ear warming effect open design is needed, like in DT990.
Basically the more sound headphones isolate, the less they breath.


Again IEMs certainly avoid warming of outer ear.
But closing inner ears for longer time likely isn't comfortable either.
Basically they behave mostly like ear plugs.

Your 2nd person to mention needing "open back" headphones. My friend that suggested it has a set (cant remember the exact model) and they also had some different head-band to take pressure off the ears.
I only wore them for about 15m, and they did sound nice. However I could already feel theyd annoy me long term. Probably take longer than the headphones I have.

Further... one of the reasons for looking to headphones is to isolate the annoying sound of the coil-whine. Im not sure that open headphones will help with that?
Maybe as long as I turn the volume up enough?

I have some cheapy in-ear wireless headphones (£15.. bargain basement) which I use to listen to podcasts when out and about. I can wear those for much longer without feeling discomfort. They also block out noise pretty well. But being £15 cheapos.... they sound trash of course.

I find IEMs pretty intrusive and uncomfortable even with foam tips but I do still use them on occasion as they are convinient and less dorky looking when using them in public and can provide really good sound quality. I think if you are sensitive to pressure on your ears IEMs may potentially be a worse choice as the pressure is more focused and in potentially a more sensitive location but your best option is to try some and see how you get on with them.

I would recommend giving Philips Fidelio X2HR a go the ear cups are massive and don't touch your ears so the pressure is on your head instead also the design of the headband ensures more even pressure so it is less uncomfortable and the bit that touches the top of your head is really comfortable. The pads are fabric so don't make you sweat and they are open backed headphones so allow some air circulation which prevent heat buildup and sweating. They are really easy to drive so you don't need anything special to get the best out of them. I use mine for gaming and listening to music and am really happy with them so can reccomended them with the caveat that I haven't compared them with any other similar headphones.

Appreciate the comments & recommendation. But dont think I want to take another gamble with over-the-head. The 650e I have is very light, and puts very little pressure on the ears, but I still find them annoying after 60m~

Was hoping there might be a gaming focused In-ear solution. I saw Razer has a couple of options. But I have kinda avoided there products over the last few years. Had too many fail. (Couple mice and a sound card many moons ago... maybe they are better now?)

 

[Rroff]

I use earbuds a lot for general gaming except some competitive games and/or when I'm on voice comms. Sadly the ones that are better for gaming due to separation/soundstage and sound quality, etc. seem to get phased out so I keep having to try and find new ones and/or keep a few spares - personally they last me a decent enough amount of time but some people seem to get through earphones ridiculously quickly.

Most in-ear (though there are exceptions) or full headphones I've never found comfortable for more than a couple of hours or so max (even with breaks).

EDIT: That is partly due to wearing glasses - I can wear my HD600s for instance for ages without my glasses but I can't really see well enough for gaming that way and don't get the same comfort with glasses - probably should sort myself out some contact lenses or something.

 

[xPETEZx]

I use earbuds a lot for general gaming except some competitive games and/or when I'm on voice comms. Sadly the ones that are better for gaming due to separation/soundstage and sound quality, etc. seem to get phased out so I keep having to try and find new ones and/or keep a few spares - personally they last me a decent enough amount of time but some people seem to get through earphones ridiculously quickly.

Most in-ear (though there are exceptions) or full headphones I've never found comfortable for more than a couple of hours or so max (even with breaks).

EDIT: That is partly due to wearing glasses - I can wear my HD600s for instance for ages without my glasses but I can't really see well enough for gaming that way and don't get the same comfort with glasses - probably should sort myself out some contact lenses or something.

Which earbuds are you using currently? They still for sale?

 

[Rroff]

Which earbuds are you using currently? They still for sale?

Sadly not - Sennheiser MX580 - before that I had some of the older MX4xx series which were better but again no longer available - the 375 isn't even close to the same quality sadly. I've been looking for replacements but finding it hard it is a bit niche.

I've also got a couple of sets of the Sony MDR-1 and 10RC which are folding and lightweight but I find the closed nature of them makes games a touch congested sounding.

 

[EsaT]

Further... one of the reasons for looking to headphones is to isolate the annoying sound of the coil-whine. Im not sure that open headphones will help with that?
Maybe as long as I turn the volume up enough?

In general open headphones don't isolate sounds at all and you hear environment almost normally, if you're not listening anything.

Though as coil whines tend to be at high frequrencies they would get muffled some.
Open headphones typically start attenuating noises couple dBs above 1 kHz and approach 10 dB attenuation around 3kHz.