Open back headphones for gaming & music

Haggisman

Haggisman

Haggisman

Soldato
Joined
6 Oct 2004
Posts
18,808
Location
Birmingham
Currently have a pair of Philips Fidelio X2HR, which I'm actually quite happy with, but the earpads have started to disintegrate, making them very uncomfortable to wear.

I've tried looking for new earpads, but it's a choice of cheap and poorly reviewed, or 50% the price of a new pair of headphones!

I did order some Brainwavz ones (have had good experience with them in the past) which fit according to their compatibility charts, but they arrived today, and it looks like there's absolutely no way they're going to fit, they're about 8mm too small, which doesn't sound a lot, but looking at how much they'd need to stretch to fit around the clip on rings the original earpads have, it's not going to happen without a good chance of damaging them, so I've contacted Brainwavz to have a moan and send them back :mad:.

I've managed to temporarily fit a set of pads from a cheap and nasty set of headphones I had in the attic, so they're useable, but they sound like **** and I need a permanent solution of some kind! :D

Options so far:
  • Dekoni suede pads (which should be an upgrade from stock from what I can find online) - ~£45
  • New set of X2HRs - ~£97 (or a "Used - Like New" pair for ~£78)
Or another set of headphones, e.g.:
  • Hifiman Sundara - seem to be recommended as a good upgrade/similar sound to the X2HR - ~£196
  • Beyerdynamic DT990 - get good reviews, but harder to drive
  • Unknown option??

My use is mostly gaming & listening to music, although I do use them for music production as well.

Need to be wired, or at least have a wired option, as they will be running either through a Soundblaster GC7 (when connected to the PC), or through an audio mixer (Behringer QX1002USB)

Preferably open backed, so I can hear the kids/baby monitor/doorbell/cats being sick on the carpet/etc. while wearing them

No need for a mic, as I have a modmic (would be nice if the case was metal, one nice thing about the X2HRs is the mesh is magnetic, so I can just stick the mic straight onto them without the mount).

Removable/replaceable cable, as I use different cables for my PC and mixer

Budget wise... I wouldn't really want to spend more than £300 if possible, preferably closer to £200
 
Beyerdynamics 330 Pro Open Back if you’re doing any gaming.

Outstanding gaming headphones and very good for music listening too.
 
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Not too keen on those Beyerdynamics to be honest, they look OK, but seem a bit overpriced. Decided to go with the Dekoni pads for now, since there's nothing otherwise wrong with the headphones, and I'd be rolling the dice as to whether I'd prefer (or notice) any "upgrade"!

Looks like Brainwavz have decided their T&Cs trump any UK consumer legislation, and have offered me a £15 refund for the earpads only (not the £6 for the original shipping), after I post them back to China at my cost (£7.40), leaving me out of pocket by ~£14 because their website compatibility chart is inaccurate :rolleyes:.

Needless to say I wasn't impressed, and have sent them some excerpts from the CRA 2015 and CCR 2013, making explicitly clear I'm rejecting them for being "Not as described" and so they need to refund the full amount, plus reimburse me for return shipping. We'll see what comes of that!
 
Well, they initially "rejected" my rejection, insisting they must be compatible because some other customers had used them successfully, but another rather more strongly worded email along with some photos of measurements means I'm now getting a refund :)

Dekoni pads should be here tomorrow
 
To be fair the X2HR are incredibly hard to beat for the price you can pick them up for nowadays, I absolutely love them. I’ve had the 990 premium for about a decade now, I bought some 900 Pro X at Christmas but they weren’t a big enough jump, I preferred the 990 premium if I’m honest. If you want a clear jump in quality and like the Beyer sound, go for the 1990 Pro MK2, they’re amazing and none of my others headphones will get a look in for a while yet.
 
Worthy said:
To be fair the X2HR are incredibly hard to beat for the price you can pick them up for nowadays, I absolutely love them. I’ve had the 990 premium for about a decade now, I bought some 900 Pro X at Christmas but they weren’t a big enough jump, I preferred the 990 premium if I’m honest. If you want a clear jump in quality and like the Beyer sound, go for the 1990 Pro MK2, they’re amazing and none of my others headphones will get a look in for a while yet.
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Nice - those do look pretty tasty! A big jump in price as well :D

Maybe a birthday/christmas suggestion for the other half later in the year ;)
 
The Dekoni pads arrived today - they're certainly a big step up in quality from the Brainwavz ones (and even the originals), fit the headphones perfectly, super comfortable and sound great - not noticing a discernible difference compared to the stock pads (which is good), but they feel a lot better :)
 
Worthy said:
To be fair the X2HR are incredibly hard to beat for the price you can pick them up for nowadays, I absolutely love them.
Click to expand...

I've mixed feelings about them - I've used the previous version a fair bit and given the X2HR a whirl in the past and the impression was quite positive but bought a set of the X2HR on the Black Friday deal recently and on more extensive use I'm a bit conflicted - they are decently detailed and clear with a "high-res" sound which is more involving than the Sony "high-res" sound but at least in the 50 or so hours I've used them the positional reproduction is lacking which could be an issue for gaming and sometimes reduces the experience in things like movies with a well mastered surround soundtrack. Not sure if more extensive time they'd "burn in" and improve on that, or whether they are a [negative] characteristic of the "Amazon Exclusive" version.
 
Rroff said:
I've mixed feelings about them - I've used the previous version a fair bit and given the X2HR a whirl in the past and the impression was quite positive but bought a set of the X2HR on the Black Friday deal recently and on more extensive use I'm a bit conflicted - they are decently detailed and clear with a "high-res" sound which is more involving than the Sony "high-res" sound but at least in the 50 or so hours I've used them the positional reproduction is lacking which could be an issue for gaming and sometimes reduces the experience in things like movies with a well mastered surround soundtrack. Not sure if more extensive time they'd "burn in" and improve on that, or whether they are a [negative] characteristic of the "Amazon Exclusive" version.
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Strange, I find the positioning on them excellent - I was making a bit of music yesterday; psy/ambient type stuff, with lots of panning reverb and delay, and could very clearly hear the sounds moving around. Never had a problem in gaming either, have used them for online games; PUBG, Valorant, Deadlock etc. and while I'm far from professional level, can definitely locate enemies via footstep sounds etc.

I'm sure a more expensive pair would be better, but these are certainly better than the Steelseries Arctis Pro "gaming" headset I had before! Maybe it's just what I'm comparing them with, and if I had a higher end set to compare them with then I'd notice the difference :)
 
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Haggisman said:
Strange, I find the positioning on them excellent - I was making a bit of music yesterday; psy/ambient type stuff, with lots of panning reverb and delay, and could very clearly hear the sounds moving around. Never had a problem in gaming either, have used them for online games; PUBG, Valorant, Deadlock etc. and while I'm far from professional level, can definitely locate enemies via footstep sounds etc.

I'm sure a more expensive pair would be better, but these are certainly better than the Steelseries Arctis Pro "gaming" headset I had before! Maybe it's just what I'm comparing them with, and if I had a higher end set to compare them with then I'd notice the difference :)
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I've been testing them against a range of headphones Sony, Sennheiser, etc. but I can't eliminate factors like needing "burning in" or a batch or individual defect, etc.
 
Rroff said:
I've mixed feelings about them - I've used the previous version a fair bit and given the X2HR a whirl in the past and the impression was quite positive but bought a set of the X2HR on the Black Friday deal recently and on more extensive use I'm a bit conflicted - they are decently detailed and clear with a "high-res" sound which is more involving than the Sony "high-res" sound but at least in the 50 or so hours I've used them the positional reproduction is lacking which could be an issue for gaming and sometimes reduces the experience in things like movies with a well mastered surround soundtrack. Not sure if more extensive time they'd "burn in" and improve on that, or whether they are a [negative] characteristic of the "Amazon Exclusive" version.
Click to expand...

No I agree with you here, for me it wasn’t so much the positioning as the “depth” of how things sounded. I mainly used them for music with my DT990 Premium for gaming, but we’re talking about a pair of headphones that are £70 now. Outstanding value overall.
 
Worthy said:
No I agree with you here, for me it wasn’t so much the positioning as the “depth” of how things sounded. I mainly used them for music with my DT990 Premium for gaming, but we’re talking about a pair of headphones that are £70 now. Outstanding value overall.
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Yeah you are right - one example I quite clearly can reproduce is in one of the LOTR movies where a sound is positioned in the middle distance forward and about 30 degrees right on other headphones but on the X2HR you can tell it is to the right but can't place the distance and even whether it is in-front or behind you isn't distinct.
 
Definitely interested in trying out those DT1990 Pro MK2 when these ones die properly (which knowing my luck will be tomorrow, now that I've just spent £40 on keeping them going :p)
 
Worthy said:
No I agree with you here, for me it wasn’t so much the positioning as the “depth” of how things sounded. I mainly used them for music with my DT990 Premium for gaming, but we’re talking about a pair of headphones that are £70 now. Outstanding value overall.
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Agreed here.

Given you can frequently get them for under £80 new, coupled with the fact they're fairly easy to run? They're amazing headphones, extremely premium feeling too in honesty even compared to some sets at three-four times the price. That said, for under £130-150 my go-to (assuming a semi-decent amp is available) would be either the DT990 32, 80, or 250ohm, or one of the entry level planar options from the likes of Hifiman. The Deva Pro with the wireless adapter is a cracking bit of kit as an example that can be had within that price range, can be run wirelessly or wired, but when using bluetooth you'll ideally want a bluetooth dongle with aptX unless your existing devices already support it.
 
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Something which isn't helping with the X2HR for me is wearing glasses - possibly depends on head shape as well - with my glasses on the sound is pushed quite a bit above my head, even without them it still sounds like it is coming from slightly above my ears, and that seems to degrade the ability to tell direction and distance with them.
 
Rroff said:
Something which isn't helping with the X2HR for me is wearing glasses - possibly depends on head shape as well - with my glasses on the sound is pushed quite a bit above my head, even without them it still sounds like it is coming from slightly above my ears, and that seems to degrade the ability to tell direction and distance with them.
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Unfortunately both of those things can have an impact on fit when wearing headphones, and the X2HR are on the bulky side to boot.
 
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