all made with same cheap components from Taiwan rebranded assembled and sold as bang oulsen ect ect ect…………………………….
Best Headphones are…???
- Thread starter CMDR Theolan
- Start date
Despite the hype, headphones are all about engineering and there are some simple rules:
On-ear - easy to wear, cheap to make, but have poor bass and don't keep the outside world out (bass can be 'corrected' but at expense of other properties).
Over ear - a more controlled environment for the audio engineer, so easier to make a flat response. Bass only depends on how well sealed they are - there's a direct bass <-> comfort trade off, with 'leather' pads etc. Beware fake leather pads that can wear away fast (even from some respected makes)
The there is open back, semi-open back and fully closed.
Fully closed back suffer from internal reflections leading to coloration, but give maximal bass and loudness - if you like loud over clean then go ahead.
Open back headphones have poor discrimination - you can hear others, and they can hear you. Can be good quality if you dont mind the sound spill
Semi-open back are a good acoustic solution with modest spill, and well controlled sound - this is what works for me, but then I don't want booming bass, but want clean balanced sound.
Price is no correlation with quality. My old Beyerdynamic DT431 are very good and were £30 new. The DT770 recommended above are very fine.
Best to go and listen to a lot of different examples at the local gadget store, and explore the techs above and see what suits you.
On-ear - easy to wear, cheap to make, but have poor bass and don't keep the outside world out (bass can be 'corrected' but at expense of other properties).
Over ear - a more controlled environment for the audio engineer, so easier to make a flat response. Bass only depends on how well sealed they are - there's a direct bass <-> comfort trade off, with 'leather' pads etc. Beware fake leather pads that can wear away fast (even from some respected makes)
The there is open back, semi-open back and fully closed.
Fully closed back suffer from internal reflections leading to coloration, but give maximal bass and loudness - if you like loud over clean then go ahead.
Open back headphones have poor discrimination - you can hear others, and they can hear you. Can be good quality if you dont mind the sound spill
Semi-open back are a good acoustic solution with modest spill, and well controlled sound - this is what works for me, but then I don't want booming bass, but want clean balanced sound.
Price is no correlation with quality. My old Beyerdynamic DT431 are very good and were £30 new. The DT770 recommended above are very fine.
Best to go and listen to a lot of different examples at the local gadget store, and explore the techs above and see what suits you.
Thanks for the info and advice. Much appreciated.
I've had very little luck with so-called gaming headsets. Even some of the more expensive ones were super fragile and wouldn't last a year. Several years ago I bought a pair of Sennheiser HD598SE's (discontinued sadly) and a ModMic. The ModMic was a waste of money.
The 598's are open back and as one review said they put the bass where it belongs. There are other advantages. I cannot stand the "fingers in ears" sensation of trying to do voice comms while wearing closed back cans. My SO has the incredibly bad habit of starting a conversation without trying to get my attention first and then getting all offended when I don't respond. At least now I have a chance of noticing where even with on ears I'd miss it half the time.
One more thing. If your budget allows get a good quality DAC and no the HyperX dongle is not "good quality"
. Yes onboard audio has improved quite a bit but it's still a crapshoot.
The 598's are open back and as one review said they put the bass where it belongs. There are other advantages. I cannot stand the "fingers in ears" sensation of trying to do voice comms while wearing closed back cans. My SO has the incredibly bad habit of starting a conversation without trying to get my attention first and then getting all offended when I don't respond. At least now I have a chance of noticing where even with on ears I'd miss it half the time.
One more thing. If your budget allows get a good quality DAC and no the HyperX dongle is not "good quality"
. Yes onboard audio has improved quite a bit but it's still a crapshoot.Thank youI've had very little luck with so-called gaming headsets. Even some of the more expensive ones were super fragile and wouldn't last a year. Several years ago I bought a pair of Sennheiser HD598SE's (discontinued sadly) and a ModMic. The ModMic was a waste of money.
The 598's are open back and as one review said they put the bass where it belongs. There are other advantages. I cannot stand the "fingers in ears" sensation of trying to do voice comms while wearing closed back cans. My SO has the incredibly bad habit of starting a conversation without trying to get my attention first and then getting all offended when I don't respond. At least now I have a chance of noticing where even with on ears I'd miss it half the time.
One more thing. If your budget allows get a good quality DAC and no the HyperX dongle is not "good quality"
Thanks for this bit of advice. It’ll have to wait because of budget but after reading around the advice I’ll definitely look to do this.One more thing. If your budget allows get a good quality DAC and no the HyperX dongle is not "good quality"
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One more thing. If your budget allows get a good quality DAC and no the HyperX dongle is not "good quality"
I don't get the hate. As a gaming headset the USB dongle thingie of the HyperX Cloud is exceptionally clear (just don't use the faux-surround button).
To properly enjoy the great soundscape of Elite I think one really needs a surround speaker system - I use 5.1 THX thingie from Logitech and it is great - others use 7.1 systems. The on-board audio circuitry on MOBOs (well, decent ones anyway) is perfectly good enough to produce 7.1 channel discrete outputs for gaming.
Looking for hi-fi performance when you are sitting at a PC seems counter-intuitive to me so I see no advantage in spending bucket-loads of cash on a "good" DAC. Connecting good quality over-ear headphones (with ambient noise-cancelling) to the headphone jack of your PC seems to me to be a good method of enjoying Elite if you don't weant to use surround-speakers, plus you can "enjoy" Elite's DTS Headphone:X surround emulation if you want.
Well I’ll try a few things out and find what works for me. I’m grateful for the tips from everyone. There’s nothing like a personal recommendation over pot luck.
I think I’m caught between a Sennheiser and AKG pair and I’m taking the advice to try semi open.
Can‘t go fully surround sound without upsetting the neighbours, so cans for now!
What hate? Heck I'm not even disappointed. Basically it confirmed the old adage "you get what you pay for". You want disappointment? Ask me about my X52 stick and how I feel about its Virpil replacement. I'm not going to tell people they have to get the latter but I'll certainly recommend it for those that have the money to splash on it.
I used to feel like you did until I bought a DAC (XTUGA E-22) and it was a night-and-day difference. The $12 USB dongles just don't compare and the older Cloud one I had sounded like crap to me unless the fake 7.1 was enabled. Here's the thing: It's an opinion. If you're perfectly happy with your setup you do you.
I know DACs can go for stupid amounts of money but you can get good ones for around 70-80 USD. Frankly the one I'm using as a mic-preamp (Pyle PAD33MXUBT) sounded slightly better but my audio config is a bit complicated.
I use a Behringer UMC204HD as my audio interface but I wouldn't say its phones output is much better than plugging my Bose cans into my PC headphone socket*. (Of course it is ace as a mini-desk for mic and instrument(s) - even has MIDI in/out, lovely little piece of kit, great value.)
* I do use good quality MOBO though with decent audio on-board.
This.best headphones are the one that are within reach of your budget and still meet your requirements
I love my Sennheisers.
Up until covid I used strictly 5.1 surround sound speakers. Then zoom meetings came along, and I needed a headset.
I bought this kraken black headset. Extremely comfortable, great sound, great mic. https://www.razer.com/ca-en/gaming-headsets/Razer-Kraken/RZ04-02830100-R3U1
The only issue is they look huge, and co-wokers call me a pilot.
I bought this kraken black headset. Extremely comfortable, great sound, great mic. https://www.razer.com/ca-en/gaming-headsets/Razer-Kraken/RZ04-02830100-R3U1
The only issue is they look huge, and co-wokers call me a pilot.