The NEW Gaming Headset/Headphone Topic! (REQUEST STICKY PLZ) - Page 43

If a mic was only used once a year I would get the better sounding one. If $$ doesn't matter

All gaming is competitive. I didn't know people played games for fun?!?!

A40 2011 editions are showin upp on youtube atm.

akaTRENT http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuLsxfN8458
MLGSteggy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxudxFwdFkc

I love that the basic design hasnt changed in almost 4 years. Makes me even more confident that engineers got things right from the start.. and also keeps my investment in the headset strong, eventhough I've definitely gotten my money's worth using them daily going all the way back to Dec 2008.

Best part is that all the improvements for the "2011 edition" can be purchased for just $50 bucks.

Anybody looking for just the Mixamp, PM me. I have the wired one thats also PS3 compatible, only reason Im looking to get rid of it is that I just bought the 5.8 wireless.

Think about it. If the only improvements they have made in 4 years of production is adding new foam and redesigning a mic (both clip-on upgrades), then the design was definitely a winner from the start.

Over that same time period Turtle Beach has changed its premier gaming headphone 3x.. and Tritton has changed theirs 4x. And its not like Astro has been sitting on its azz, they've redesigned their mixamp several times over to make improvements.. and also introduced the A30's and the A*'s. All the while the A40's have essentially remained the same, are still highly recommended by many and are still what is used on the MLG Pro circuit. How much more credibility can you ask for?

Rather you disagree with the A40 design or not, the people who get paid to play games for a living have used it for years and continue to use it. Not everyone is interested buying and trying new headphones every week. Most people want a quality solution thats affordable, simple to use and durable enough to last the life of the console they plan to use it with.

For pure gaming. The A40 have good clarity and not to much bass which I like. And a good mic. If you want to use them for movies they really lack but they work well for what they were designed to do. But where is the upgrade set @$50? I thought it wasn't announced yet. The $$$?? I may get some after they / ppl review them

According to ATB on page 34 of this thread it works fine for chat and gaming with the mixamp. My main issue is that not that many people have them compared to the PC360 so it's hard to find impressions/comparisons/etc. And I guess most people use headsets for competitive FPS gaming and value accurate positioning at the expense of rich bass and immersion. So while all the rosy talk of the PC360s makes me think they're a safe bet, I'm not sure they're right for me. These are the times I wish I lived in a big city where I could actually go check stuff like this out in person instead of ordering off the internet and crossing my fingers.

Anyway. Thanks.

What's up guys. I just received the beyerdynamic MMX300 yesterday and have been comparing them with my AKG K702s and thought I'd share my thoughts on them. First a little backround . In the search of the perfect gaming solution for me I have gone through the A40s, AD700s, DT880s, K702s, MMX300s and very soon the PC360s (thanks Nerd ). Of those phones my top two are the K702s and the MMX300s, two very different cans. Ok first off is the K702 -
Pros: Amazing soundstage (depth and width), Pinpoint positioning, Great sound balance and clarity, Comfort (leather bumps are unnoticeable now that they've been worn in), Open design (can hear the wife when I'm gaming, oh wait )
Cons: Require an additional amp to drive them properly, Expensive, when you figure in the aforementioned amp, Require either a mic mod or seperate mic if you want to chat, Convenience factor (seperate amp/mic solution), Lacks a little bit of low end for impact and immersion.
MMX300 -
Pros: Good soundstage (good depth but nowhere near as wide as the K702), Positioning is very good (can discern footsteps and location pretty well, more on that later), Good clarity and a little more emphasis on low end( Very immersive, powerful impact), Very comfortable (soft velour padding and firm clamp), Doesn't require external amp to sound great (mixamp chat at 12'oclock and is loud enough for me, little to no chat and it's extremely loud), Convenience of a built in mic.
Cons: Soundstage not as realistic as K702 (more of an in your head feel), Bass impact can drown out positional ques sometimes, Closed design (can't hear the wife when gaming, oh wait ), Not cheap.
That's it for now, more later
Cheers

Daekwan I hear you on that but you also have to take into consideration that the people you refer to when you speak of the ones who play professionally more than likely get their astros for free.

Where is this "deal" for the PC360s that I've read about in a few different posts. I've had an A40 setup for a few years and would be interested in trying something different. Just not interested enough to pay the price on Amazon.

pm sent.

can you send me a pm as well please. very interested in the pc360!

Its starting to get hard to find the labtec 7330 mic. We will have to find some alternatives. Any suggestions?

I have the Califone HBM319 and would recommend it.

Any impressions on the "bass expander" feature of the 5.8 mixamp?

Damn Shin! You sold your 598's for CHEAP on head-fi ...

Actually that is a good price. Cuz I doubt any locals would have bought them considering what they sell for now. So you "both " probably did good. The "handling" part may have brought the shipping higher if bought anywhere else??

Juts bought a couple of these over monoprice to test the PC350 Xense edition that came with my PC sound card. They have 1/4" plugs but since the tritton's 720 amp have the 3.5mm jacks so close together I had to order 2x 3.5mm male to female extensions. At least monoprice has some cheap but good stuff. I'll update once it arrives.

Sorry but I have to disagree with this. To me this just says the company is either too lazy or too cheap to invest in R&D and since there is not much competition in that tier they can just sit on a 4 year old design.

It's nice to see the mixamp get the wireless upgrade but at this point we should have seen an upgrade to the A40, maybe wireless (not a downgrade to the A30), a wireless mixamp that will except HDMI at the base and process lossless audio codecs (make it more appealing to those wanting to use it for late night movies), have a dedicated lineout, gain adjustment, et. etc.

This may be a good model in some industries but not electronics. I mean can you imagine if Panasonic, Samsung, etc. had not made any improvements to their LCD/Plasma tech and just released TV's with new bezels over 4 years... seriously?

Hey Shin... dont forget to update the first post for pc360:P

i agree with most of your post, but i think the A30 is an upgrade overall.

How the A30 compare with other cans? I would like a Mixamp with hdmi. Couldn't add to much cost??

Ya, I think this is the direction Astro is going to have to go in whatever the next iteration of their mixamp is. HDMI input on the mixamp itself.

Optical is limited to 5.1. The 7.1 the current mixamps do now is only interpolated/matrixed from the 5.1 anyways using Dolby Pro Logic IIx.

An HDMI input on the mixamp would allow it to receive true 7.1 and higher signals. Of course I don't think the Xbox can even do 7.1 right now

Thats true. I think dolby is waiting to update dolby headphone tech until signals higher than DD 5.1 become more commonplace.

Once >5.1 content becomes more widespread they will probably redo DH to accommodate it (I'm hoping ) DH is awesome.

This lossy compression limitation is gone with a true analog multichannel input on a processor, such as the Smyth Realizer, which takes up to 7.1 in via analog. Thats one reason, along with what is described as a night and day improvement over Dolby Heaphone, that I've been hoping a gamer with this bug and deep pockets would pull the trigger and try one.

Get a modern receiver (or HDMI switch) that can handle the new audio codecs via HDMI and extract 7.1 analog to the Smyth, which then does head-tracking and effectively simulates a real high end room and audio system (replicating whereever you do your set up recrodings w/ the in-ear mic that is included.) Book some time in a high end demo room or studio or theater most could never afford to build @ home, record it, and it's yours and portable forever in your high-end cans and processor. (No, i dont work for Smyth, I just want one event eventually! Heck, they even say on the website they'd like to license the DSP tech to other devices- what about a super-high end mixamp?! Astro, call them!)