Open Back Headset/Headphones for Gaming

MoDe · 5 May 2017 at 10:29

I currently own a pair of Hypercloud II's and they are brilliant at keeping sound from the outside out.

But I'm looking to get some open back headphones so that I can still here external sound (sounds daft but I have my reasons). I have also been finding my ears get quite hot under the leather pads of the Hypercloud's. So basically I'm after some open back headphones that are comfortable and airy that will still allow me to pin point directional sound.

Budget £60-80.

Happy to go the headphone and mod mic route if required.

MoDe · 5 May 2017 at 15:23

Marsman said:
Yeah £60 doesn't get anything worth buying in the way of open headphones. I was going to suggest around £80 would get you the AKG K612 which are fantastic value at that, but I've just seen they've gone up in price to over £100. Still very good headphones and a good balanced alternative to the more aggressive sounding DT990.

A downside could be that on-board audio might not offer enough power. They are rather insensitive and require more power than the Beyer's, which despite being higher ohms, are easier to drive.

Looking at the K612's now. What sort of dac/amp would you recommend?

Are these mod moc's worth the £40? Not keen on the idea of having a load of cables coming from the cans. Leaning more towards a stand alone if thats the case.

MoDe · 7 May 2017 at 00:23

Turns out I only have hyperclouds I's and not the II's. Don't think that makes much difference to my situation.

MoDe · 12 May 2017 at 10:44

I've managed to pick up some 558's for £60 so will let you know how I get on.

MoDe · 14 May 2017 at 12:05

So I've had a chance to test them with games, once I realised my windows sound settings where set to 7.1 and switched them to stereo the positional accuracy felt better.

I do however get a quiet buzzing sound through the headphones, I have had this with previous headphones so it must be down to the onboard soundcard.

I don't think I have room for an internal soundcard, so what options for external soundcard should I be looking at?

MoDe · 14 May 2017 at 23:33

Westie said:
if u got 558s go buy the sennheiser GSX 1000 its the best for gaming.. i use it with my old modded 558's and just recently upgraded to 599's.. and 558s worked very well with the gsx!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGX069Zo8kE&t

Marsman said:
If you can afford £200 for the GSX1000, then for positional sound, there is nothing else better. If £200 is a bit on the rich side, then if you want positional sound from Dolby Headphone, SBX, etc; then either a Creative X-Fi HD or Xonar U7.

If you want just stereo with no fancy positional effect stuff, then just go for a DAC/amp. SMSL SD793II or FiiO E10K are good inexpensive choices.

The GSX Looks very impressive, but I can't bring myself to pay £200.

Would the E10K and the likes get rid of the buzzing/interference sound I get when not listening to anything?

EsaT said:
Buzzing or some background noise would be quite normal for too cheaply done integrated sound card.
And actually lowish ohm headphones with high sensitivity (efficiency in making sound from electric power) are more demanding for clean signal than 100+ ohm headphones.
In worst cases you might even hear all kind of interference basingf to CPU load, from mass storage data transfers, or even moving mouse causing interference.

My same question applies here, would an external eliminate that buzzing?

EsaT said:
While not falling as much short from hype than echo chamber Dolby Headphone Sennheiser GSX is behind Creative's algorithms.

Sound Blaster E1 is basically equal to standard PCI-e sound cards like Audigy Fx/Xonar DGX.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/crea...portable-headphone-amp-and-dac-sc-101-cl.html

USB sound cards with similar class components to Sound Blaster Z again have lot higher price.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/crea...-card-with-headphone-amplifier-sp-183-cl.html

So I'm playing mainly PlayerUnkowns Battlegrounds at the minute which can require you to pin point where shots are coming from, which I seem to be able to do even with stereo, but would like to elimate the buzzing when things are quiet.

I've also picked up a stand alone mic, to add to the confusion that seems to pick up a lot of interference when using comms. I'm guessing this just comes down to the device though, and there's nothing that I can plug a USB mic into that will fix this?

MoDe · 15 May 2017 at 09:21

So I've whittled it down to the Xonar U7 or the FiiO E10K.

Which would be more beneficial in terms of positional accuracy? I'm aware one is an external soundcard and one is just a DAC/AMP.

I think my USB mic feedback is just down to the mic boost that I'm having to apply in order for people to here me over ventrillo/discord. Without it though people are struggling to here me, any way of increasing this without adding the feedback?

MoDe · 15 May 2017 at 11:29

Cheers Mars, I thought this would be the case.

Going to return the USB Mic I think and just get myself a clip on. This way everything will go through the U7.

Thanks for the advice chaps.

MoDe · 26 May 2017 at 11:05

So the U7 seems good. I no longer hear any interferance through my HD580's and the positional accuracy is spot on.

My only problem now, is that I'm trying to record gameplay and I'm unable to splt my audio. Ideally when recording I want to have, Gameplay, Mic, and then VOIP (Teamspeak, Ventrillo, Discord etc.)

The only work around I can think so to use some in ears and push the VOIP through them and in my recording software assign the audio to that port.