Which headphones for gaming? Around £150

MATABDG

MATABDG

MATABDG

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Hello guys, I am looking for new headphones as my current AKG K550 are 8 years old now and they kinda look like disaster, but they still work fine. I found 3 models that I am interested in but I dont want to disappoint and find them worst then my AKGs so I dont know how they compare to them. Headphones are going to be used only for gaming.

1. Beyerdynamics DT 770 Pro
2. Audio Technica ATH-M50x
3. Logitech G Pro X

With the Logitech G Pro X I found lots of great reviews but I had experience with many "gaming" headphones priced tagged up to £100 and always found they are worst then compared to the same price normal headphones. I always felt that they have too much bass for me and the sound is not natural as I think due to my experience with AKG K550 I much more prefer clear sound with a great open stage.

So I think I will have to decide between option 1 and 2 unless there is something else on the market worth looking, also do you think getting Beyerdynamics, Audio Technica or any other headphones within price range up to £150 is going to be an upgrade from AKG K550s?

Thank you
 
Coming from the AKG K550, I'm afraid buying headphones around this price bracket won't be much of an upgrade. Yes they would have "difference flavour", but not necessarily an "upgrade".

IMO if you want something that's truly an "upgrade", you probably would need to look at headphones around the price bracket of around £300-£500.
 
As above, they are great headphones and you'll be hard pushed to find anything better for gaming at that price point. Do you use a mic?

The Sennheiser / EPOS stuff is the only 'gaming' stuff I can recommend, something like the Game One for £150 sounds good for gaming and has an excellent mic.
 
I use a pair of HD-25 from Custom Cans (with a few mods) - you can pick up a basic set for around £115 (Thomann etc). I then pair it with a ModMic for when I want to voice comms / WFH conference. The headphones also go everywhere with me, they're always in the work bag and never far from me. Low impedance means they're easily driveable off smartphone/tablet or laptop.

Sound quality of HD25 is rarely rivalled in gamer headsets costing twice as much. a few years ago I did a shootout of probably two dozen different headsets, all bar maybe one or two were essentially overpriced garbage which would wreck your hearing after short periods of use.

Useful thing about HD25 is the modular design. Break the headband or cable? No problem, just order replacement and fit yourself, simples. Sound quality is also neutral and pretty faithful with very deep bass extension and good stereo staging.

Their clamping force and their supraaural design (on top of the ears) are the biggest criticisms - clamping force does reduce the more you use them. I wear glasses and they don't bother me, but some people with massive ears might not enjoy how they feel on-ear. If you're careful you can stretch the plastic headband to adjust the tension.


https://www.musicradar.com/reviews/sennheiser-hd-25-review
There's two SKUs in the range - the slightly more expesnive one has velour earcups (probably best for long listening sessions) and a spiral cable (helps avoid you standing up and yanking the cans off your head!) for a few quid more. https://www.recordcase.de/en/sennheiser-hd-25-overview-of-differences-between-the-models has a useful comparison.

Do NOT buy the "HD-25 Light", these are inferior headphones with worse performing drivers. They used to be known as the HD-25 SP (and were nearly identical to the ones British Airways used to hand out).


I wouldn't personally buy the DT770s, they're not a good headphone for the price. 880s are better but careful you don't buy the higher impedance model. They are circumaural however which is a bonus for big-eared folk.

ATH-M50x are good cans, but built to a price point. Not as repairable, not as durable.

Sony MDR-7506/1 are another broadcast and media industry standard, fairly comfortable, good sound, durable enough for the price and pretty ubiquitous. Can even order them off the Rainforest.
 
Philips fidelio x2hr i'd still say for £150 and less, not the best in any area but best all rounders
 
Do you have quiet or noisy environment?
If environment is quiet, you could get open headphones.
But they leak through environment's noises basicallyt like if you had no headphones and are no go for noisier environment.


Except for too strong for more competive gaming bass (would need equalizer) DT770 would be great for gaming.


ATH-M50x would be plain downgrade for gaming.
It's more fashion sound can with lopsided frequency response with emphasis on lower end and especially bass with upper end muffled.
Innerfidelity's square wave response measurement showed nicely how that lopsided frequency response affects to reproduction of multiple simultaneous frequencies
(gotta be drunk/have bad vision for result to look square wave)
 
if you want soundstage and open get fidelios yes they are bassy but hard to beat at current £106 price
 
Hi guys, sorry for not replying been fighting with new PC for last 2 days.
So answering the questions;
I already have a blue mic so I dont need a separate or build in mic. My environment can be noisy sometimes so I much prefer closed headphones. And also with my last PC I had Nahimic software for boosting my audio and I very liked it compare to my current PC where I cant install it because its not supported with my motherboard and I am on realtek audio drivers, is there any option to boost the sound otherwise as I am not satisfied with it compared to how it sound on Nahimic. I tried Windows Sonic for headphones and its even worse then standard realtek. Or maybe should I get some external soundcard?
Also if the upgrade with the headphones priced ranged £100-150 wont be much visible I might wait little bit longer and get some more expensive ones but I dont really want to spend over £250 for headphones.
 
MATABDG said:
Hi guys, sorry for not replying been fighting with new PC for last 2 days.
Click to expand...
Consider it positive if you have two days to spend fighting PC in middle of the week...
I've been working 5 days per week without pause since start of June, courtesy of Corona virus "depression".


Gaming has very different requirements than any stereo music.
So headphone being expensive and touted by "audiophiles" has very little guarantee of headphones being better for gaming than lot cheaper ones, or even as good.
In fact many "audiophiles" prefer inaccurate sound:
For example that touted "warm" sound means lopsided frequency response and is suboptimal for gaming, because of inaccurate reproduction.
Music really doesn't care much about accuracy...
And listener's ear doesn't know what's truly accurate without having real "live" sound as reference.

Aiming for rather accurate sound instead of some fancy fashion AKG K550 can well be better for gaming than even many times more expensive ones.
Also Beyerdynamic DT770 is certainly capable for gaming, though for competive use bass would need equalizing it down.
While I don't own it and only testing I've done was in shop, I've used exclusively open headphones for 15 years and before DT770 I tried Amiron Home.
One good thing in Beyer is that they're selling replacement ear pads for reasonable price. (and also other parts are available)



Because of the way how our hearing works, standard stereo on headphones sucks donkey balls.
Not even giving proper left-right immersion, but only "sound inside left or right ear, or in center of head".

There are ways to utilize how our hearing works to proivide spatial cues on headphones.
Though in case of Nahimic not sure if it's actually among better ones.
Once looked for samples and their official recordings in Youtube had such processing on/off messing that it made me feel nauseous.
Something I didn't know was possible just by listening...

Windows Sonic for Headphones certainly isn't any more impressive, sounding just like dumb downmix with sounds again inside head.
And have read that it really doesn't work on Windows. (not that Xbox recordings sound much better)
But what can you expect from Microsoft, who took PC game sounds back to pre Y2K in Vista by in practice killing sound hardware acceleration?


Dolby Atmos for Headphones sold in Microsoft's Store would be another, though might be designed primarily for movies.
(like old mediocre Dolby Headphone)
Also Creative is selling their software kit to use with any sound card with their HRTF algorithm, which is definitely among the better ones.

But these all are limited to existing sound card's analog signal quality and ability to drive headphones.
Which might not be that great on one integrated to motherboard no matter the marketing hype.
Besides knowing quality/capabilities of that separate sound cards come with their HRTF.

Anyway compared to what people often pay for overpriced GPUs etc, good sound cards can be had for semi free.
For exmple Creative sells Sound BlasterX G6 as B-stock at ~£70.
 
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