Siberia 800s upgrade?

[rawuk]

I have had the Steelseries Wireless H and moved onto the Siberia 800s just before my warranty ended (going 3-4years now). I find the headset is good but had a comparison to a few mates headsets and found that they lack in volume and bass while also not really providing much noise cancellation.

Looking to upgrade to gain better sound quality / immersion as a priority - Gaming and Music. I rarely watch TV at the PC.

I am not fussed on Wireless while it's great I would rather have better sound / invest more money into sound quality than £100 to be able to talk to the guys while washing up.

Budget is ~£500 for the setup although I would prefer keeping it at a high end of good value however from reading the stickies realise I have no idea what that is.

 

[rawuk]

I vote for the Hyper-X Cloud II, but it is massively under your budget. Friend has your headset and the Hyper-X one is better sound quality wise etc, IMO.

I'd never described myself as an audiophile but with headsets it's a buy once in a blue moon! So the budget is probably a little OTT.

 

[rawuk]

Beyerdynamic MMX300 can be had on a well known auction site for £100. Bargain really for what once was a £250 headset. It's cheap enough that you could add a DAC/amp or sound card if need be.

I was looking at the DT 770s which from my understanding is the MMX300 but without a microphone?

My main confusion is over the 32ohm, 80ohm and 250ohm and what implications it has in regards to a MSI Z170A motherboard. Ha. So complicated.

 

[rawuk]

Is there any true advantage to higher Ohm? The reviews stat that the 80ohm provides a slightly better base than 32ohm and the 250ohm is more refined at mids. As I'm going for immersion the bass seems the best option. Although if I can get away without an AMP then I may do. I'm just not sure on the diminishing returns and whether the 250 is worth it when I'd need an amp (est £50) nearly adding 50% cost.

I found the MMX 300 on an auction site. I am tempted to buy The 770s as I can use them outside gaming too.

Thanks for the replies so far Masman.

 

[rawuk]

I'm fairly aware of trade offs on design specifications. The reason I'm leaning to closed is because I want noise isolation both inward and outward. From the reviews I've read the DT770s offered a sensible compromise on that front. Don't really benefit from open headphones in a lan environment and my current 980ti is like a wind tunnel under full load.

If you fully read my post you would realise my current headset are the Siberia 800s. I have zero idea where they fall on the audio quality scale. I used to love wireless as I lived in a small flat and could talk on Skype with people all over the place. Moved to a bigger house and it simply doesn't cover the ground anymore so it's rather meh.

I'm not overly fussed in competitive play. I can comfortably (lazily) play at master level on overwatch with my current setup but beyond that it's just for fun as you get people recommending EQ adjusting to make certain sounds harsher / easier to pick out which is just OTT for my situation imo. Plus I don't have the time Ha!

Can open cans handle busy rooms? Is the soundstage that much better that you'd argue to use two. One for lans one for home? You have argued against the 80ohm but not really recommended an alternative.

 

[rawuk]

All gone.

Wow those went fast. Shame as I am mighty tempted by the DT770s and those wear a slightly older model? 700 Premiums?

So many considerations and compromises. Do I go open back as it's better sound? I imagine if I make it loud enough my wind tunnel would be irrelevant.

Do I invest more and get a good AMP / DAC alongside and go higher ohm?

I'm a little dubious if a £400 setup is really that much better than simply a lower ohm headset and a lot of reviews on internal soundcards worries me as Windows 10 seems to be a bug haven.

I suppose I would also prefer an external I could use with a console too for a little future proofing.

 

[rawuk]

Do what I did and ask for headphones to be your Christmas gift, I have list to my gf and that's her problem now. I could not decide myself.

Hahaha that is evil. I'd prefer the option of sending it back without a judgement stare.

Going to spend some more time looking into it before taking the plunge.

 

[rawuk]

Interesting. On the 840’s I had to turn the low end of the bass down and several clicks of the high end as I found it too heavy. I still have the volume limiter on as disabling it I find it too loud. Maybe I just have sensitive ears?

Left treble alone as I found it too piercing?

What are your EQ settings on? I just don't know enough about them to confidently muck around with them.

The 800s don't have a volume limiter beyond the EU legislation. I have fixed my volume issue for home use. Embarrassingly I didn't realise a mate had turned live chat on while at iseries which dampens the volume significantly... derp.

 

[rawuk]

Seems like they dropping them in batches of 10. I ma not sure if I should take a plunge and order those.

I'm not totally convinced as they use a 2005 model version of the DTs. Seems a little ambitious in my case replacing a headset which is far newer.

100Hz is 1 down, 300Hz 2 down, 900Hz 2 down, 2.5Khz stock flat and 8Khz stock flat. I don’t use the Dolby setting on PS4 or PC as I despise the echo.

Yet, according to RocketJumpNinja:
3:19 and wait for his EQ settings. Tried them, didn’t like it.

Interesting thank you for the links I'll give them a go tonight! I have started turning the dolby off myself. While playing on CS:GO I found Dolby muddied the sound so turned it off. Overwatch doesn't quite benefit from the same level of sound awareness so didn't really notice it. Haven't turned it back on since. It's another reason I was looking at a new headset as I felt the 5.1 / 7.1 etc is where it was made for so a dedicated stereo headset would sound better?

 

[rawuk]

Set Windows to 7.1. Don’t need the Dolby headphone.

In that case aren't you relying on Windows to operate the 7.1 rather than the Steelseries hub via a Dolby signal over optical? I am currently just selecting Dolby.

Suppose I can have a fiddle and see how it all sounds!

 

[rawuk]

100Hz is 1 down, 300Hz 2 down, 900Hz 2 down, 2.5Khz stock flat and 8Khz stock flat. I don’t use the Dolby setting on PS4 or PC as I despise the echo.

Yet, according to RocketJumpNinja:
3:19 and wait for his EQ settings. Tried them, didn’t like it.

Thanks for the recommendations VF. I have kept it to Optical out as it just sounds better (may be placebo who knows) but the EQ settings have given the headset a new life.

I am now jumping between buying the DT770s 80ohm limited edition with a FiiO - E10K and holding out for a particularly good sale on a £400+ set at Black Friday. Leaning towards waiting. Only a month or so away!

 

[rawuk]

The DT770 & 880 have been around since 1985 (unaltered) and are still going strong - says something about the design

No doubt. The question is are they significantly a leap above the siberias. I definitely lean towards closed back as I'd want to be able to use them in lan environments / on holiday.

DT770s are just the set that keeps on appearing over and over in so many reviews!

 

[rawuk]

One is made by an expert in the field of headphones with many decades of experience, while the other is made by a company that makes flashy gaming peripherals - I know which one I would pick.

Haha, that is true. The frequency range alone makes it fairly apparent! I've got one coming tomorrow. I shall report back. Eventually.

 

[rawuk]

I would suggest to go with the gaming, surely is designed for gamers .....

Well I'll be given them a fair go over the next few days and shall report back!

I do think the Siberia's have "good" sound. But I've only ever used gaming headsets so this is my first step into seeing whether it does provide better audio overall.

 

[rawuk]

Thought I would come back and report back on the differences between the setups.

Overall the DTs are just better than the Siberia's. In every category. I do find myself missing the wireless technology at times though.

In the end with the Modmic, DAC and headset the price wasn't really much cheaper either.

Music however sounds out of this world better!

 

[rawuk]

It is the reason I’ve kept them for console gaming and went for a wired stereo set for the PC.

I wish I had. But I gave them to my father as an early Christmas present. My step mother loves me as she no longer hears explosions throughout the house! Haha.

It was just a little daunting how much clearer(?) everything sounds. Very pleased with it.

 

[rawuk]

You should try binaural-sound.
While having lot smaller soundstage compared to open cans DT770 should have very good directionality/positioning for what closed design's overwhelming bass allows to distinguish details.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1_20T8x_OI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BxO9cd-sYA

I'm running it through a FiiO - E10K Olympus USB DAC and Headphone Amplifier which give it enough volume that directional help would be fairly irrelevant to me I think. At least at the level I play at.

 

[rawuk]

I may look into one in the future but right now the DAC and standard Stereo is a big enough leap for me. Especially as I spend a large proportion of gaming listening to music.

I don't play FPS' much the moment beyond PUBG with the vast amount of gaming time on Divinity or WoW if I'm honest either. I'm not sure I'd want to fork out more money on a soundcard I'd not really use the vast majority of the time when I've already got the FiiO.

 

[rawuk]

I have been looking into the whole soundcard versus external DAC and it seems like a really mixed affair.

Many games support headphones modes (supposedly) providing a little alleviation to pure stereo output - See Counter Strike for example - Which removes some of the benefit of virtual 5.1.

It also seems a lot of the "good" soundcards are still plague with bugs and support isn't necessarily that long?

What soundcard would you actually recommend for the DT770s?

 

[rawuk]

So the Creative SB Z is what you'd recommend for a DT setup? I am thoroughly enjoying the DTs. They are amazing for music compared to the Siberia's.

Or would you say the Sound BlasterX AE-5 is really worth 2 times?