What gaming headphones to buy? - Page 58

Mass Effect is pretty nice. Completed it 2x. Bioshock is an amazing game so be ready.

Im waiting for my A700, USB Adapter, Audio Optic Cable, and Mixamp. I don't know what to do about a mic though. Im waiting on a reply from a person above. It sounds like they attached the mic to their headphones. I would love to do that so I don't want to order the mic and get the wrong one.

Btw, Are audio optic cables performance worth extra cost. I know HDMI works even if its a cheap cable so...

The only advantage of optical over "traditional" coax is that you don't have ground loops. There's no optical path back for feedback, which is what you have with a coax shield. No worry about 60 Hz hum to the speakers, at least from that path...

In fact, optical is less reliable than coax. You have to be really careful bending it and be darn sure the end is really clean. Don't ding the end of the cable either -it can break.

I would think that the reason optical was used for the game consoles was for low cost (plastic), size, and low weight (no metal connectors). Just a guess, but that seems reasonable to me. You get stuck with a fragile cable, but that's the owner's problem.

The HDMI cables are spec'd to meet the HDMI standards. The reason they appear so cheap is that Monster Cable jacked up the price and everyone used that until the competition kicked in.

a co-worker of mine is in japan, i'm trying to have her source a set of ATH-AD2000's for a good price

Well astrogaming was selling a 12 ft cable for like 24.95 or something. I bought a 12 foot optic for 2.48 I beleive. Is there a difference in quality or is it just like HDMI where cost doesn't really affect performance?

You gotta look at the specs (easy for me, I do this all the time ). For the optical cables, you are paying for the fit-n-finish. Take a look at these:

Econo version $2.92: http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...#specification
Premo version $5.56: http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

They both pay attention to the critical parts- optical polishing, gold-plated connectors. However, the main difference is that the premium version has the "fancy" metal connector and an 8.0 mm jacket. That's 3.0 mm thicker than the 5.0 mm economy version (60% more) and more protection when you grab it by the connector. Goes with what I said about the optics- they break if you're not careful. Both promise "new" fiber, no clue why they would say that.

For the HDMI cables, the spec says that it meets HDMI 1.3a. That's almost everything you need to know except one- the maximum length of the run. For these cables, you need to pay attention to the diameter of the wire. The thicker the wire, the less loss, and the longer you can run it. Here's a spec of an in-wall rated (rugged) HDMI cable: http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...#specification

Now look at the overall page: http://www.monoprice.com/products/su...02&cp_id=10243. Note that the small diameter cables (28 ga.) don't come in lengths more than 10 feet. The reason is that the wire is so small, the losses are high and it won't work for longer than that. Maybe you can buy a longer cable in that diameter somewhere else, but I'll bet that it won't meet the spec.

Ah well, I will get them in and use them temporarily. If I don't like it I will just purchase some higher end ones.

Now I just need my mic question answered so I can order it....

hey guys, I've been thinking about my old Sennheiser HD 437s to the Sennheiser 595s, but I had a couple of quick questions;

When I plug my current headphones into the headphone jack on my Logitech Z2300 speakers, I can notice a slight buzzing sound during all sorts of playback...it's only noticeable when I have the volume set at a medium level and a scene goes quiet. Is this my headphones or the jack itself? If it's the headphones, then out they go, but if it's the jack, I don't know what I'd do!

Also, I haven't been able to find the 595s cheaper than $250 on Canadian retailers, if I've found them at all. Can anyone recommend a good e-tailer or local shop that would have the Sennheiser's priced competitively? Thanks in advance!

Hey Jeff, I went with the Zalman clip on mic. I think I did a pricegrabber search and found it for like $10-11. It connects directly to the headphone cable and is totally out of the way. The people I play with all have no trouble hearing me. Pretty cheap and easy solution.

I am going to order the A40 (mixer and headphones) system, clearly it works easily enough with XBL (which will be great for those late night GoWII sessions in my near future). I will also need it to work with PSN on my PS3.

Which USB mic adapter is known to work well?
Am I better off buying Singstar USB adapter off Ebay or the like?

It's the Z2300.. Can't you buy from USA & have it shipped to you? Would the cost of importing be that much?

It irritates me when gamers say optical is better, thats why console have them instead of RCA.. Silly. It's all bout money, & whats cost effective. I prefer Coax. Tighter fit, less jitter, & can pass 192HKZ.

I bought the same USB adapter Tritton's site said works.

Startech Icususb Audio Adapter

It would seem amazon.com does not ship headphones to Canada. JR.com sells the 595s for $179.99, plus $35 to ship it to Canada, plus the cost of duty and taxes (13%, as I live in Ontario). I'm pondering whether or not the $259.99 price at Costco would end up being a better option, considering the more lax return policy and less potential for things to go awry. I am thinking about taking a trip to the States in August, but even local B&M stores sell the 595 for way above what I've seen online.

Additionally, If the problem lies with my Z2300, will buying a headphone amp solve the problem, or will I have to purchase something different entirely? Thanks for the response KBI!

edit: another quick question! I've read through the first dozen pages of the thread (and I intend to read every page, some great info on here!) and I noticed the JVC surround amp has been recommended, and I was wondering, is it possible to get the same sort of amp built into an AV receiver? I am planning on purchasing a receiver in the near future, and having one built-in would be more practical than having an external unit. Thanks!

Yeah, there are recievers with built in Dolby Headphone, such as the Harmon Kardon 247. There are more expensive ones if that floats your boat :-)


If you guys haven't seen yet, you can get some pretty good deals on ebay using live.com and searching. You can get 25% cash back on buy it now items. Here is a thread on slickdeals about it:

http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthr...uid=0&t=852184

hey man, if it sounds better to THEM, let them think that it's all subjective.


i know it was 35% and it went down to 10%, is it up to 25% now? in any case it should still be cheaper winning an auction at a good price VS buy it now at a higher price, the best deal i see with 25% off puts it at 216, i won my auction at 205.51


i was just going to buy the JVC, but if i'm gonna spend 80-100, might as well put that towards a receiver with dolby headphone, heck you could get the AVR-147 for a really good price, and make it even more worth it... look at ebay item number 160253900126, i got the AVR247 (item 150262335981) for $205.51, and there is also the 347 (item 170232156325)

Yes I bought a cheap PC headset with a detachable mic - here's the one I bought:

To create the 'headset', I used the detachable mic from the headset above, a 3.5mm stereo extension cable that I bought at Radio Shack, as well as some reasonably rigid electrical wire that I got from the hardware store. (I went with white wire, to match the AKG K701s.) I formed the wire into a 'mic holder' that secures it to the outside of the K701's earpiece, along with a bend to attach the mic to. I used a velcro cable tie (you could just as easily use electrical tape or heat shrink tubing) to attach the end of the extension cable to the loop. The mic plugs into the extension cable to create the headset. Now I just plug the extension cable into the Mixamp headphone input jack, and I'm all set.

This setup is working great for me and puts the mic right in front of me. I have a hard time trusting clip-on mics and don't really like that they transmit a lot of ambient noise. And, because the Mixamp provides just a smidge of voice feedback, I can hear myself talk and am assured that I'm coming across clearly.

Note that I didn't do anything to the headphones themselves and this little 'mic holder' can be removed easily without any damage to the headphones.

Nice job on the mic, ATB.

Well, I am pretty much sold on this setup:

Beyerdynamic DT880
Little Dot MK IV
BlackGold Stereo Mini to RCA
Zalman Mic

That should run me around $625 or so. Hopefully it sounds good. I'll probably recable the Beyers in the future. I already have a Mixamp and Ad700s so it should be quite fun gaming with this setup. Any suggestions?

tml05 - Sounds like you will have a great setup. Will you be using the mixamp and then using the headphone output to connect to your headphone amp, like this?:
360 -> optical cable -> Mixamp -> BlackGold Mini-RCA -> Little Dot MK IV -> DT880

I am also interested in your thoughts on using the DT880s vs the AD700s for gaming, and also what you notice by including the little dot in your setup.

^ Although I haven't used them yet, most everyone raves about the DT880s giant soundstage.

It all depends on taste I guess. For me, the AD700s don't provide too much bass, but they have a great soundstage and imaging. That is why I'm thinking about getting the DT880 and a headphone amp. From what I have read, the DT880 has very good bass and an amazing soundstage, which is probably perfect for me. I don't think I will get the DT880s any time soon, as I am going to save up for the setup in my earlier post and buy it all at once, so it should be around two months or so until I can buy it.

Some prefer not to have as much bass while gaming because it might distract them from hearing things like footsteps and whatnot. Don't get me wrong, the AD700s do have bass and it is present, but it doesn't have that "oomph".

grrrrrr, i cant wait till thursday to finally hear dolby headphone + ad700!

condemned 2, alone, and in the dark.... anyone wanna take bets on whether or not i'll crap myself?

My Astro A40 mixamp arrived yesterday. First, it comes with every type of cable you could possibly need, except the optical TOSlink (cost?). I plugged the (included) USB to USB-mini cable into the back of the 360 for DC power.

Plugged my ATH-A900 into the headphone jack and fired up Mass Effect. The first thing I noticed was how darn quiet the background noise was compared to the JVC adaptor. There was none.

Next, I jumped into my saved game. Then, I almost jumped out of my chair and turned around because I thought someone closed a door behind me. It was Mass Effect. Unbelievable. Again.

There is definitely some room for improvement. But, compared to the JVC / receiver combo I was using, this is yet again a big jump. There's still a gap right behind me, but it's good enough. The mixamp has plenty of headroom to drive the headphones directly, so there's no need for an additional amp. Good volume level, almost too much at max setting. It's set about half-way.

formulanerd - get a good set of diapers

Yeah, of course Dolby Headphone is not perfect, but it is as close as you can get to a 5.1 set up. Mass Effect was the best RPG I have played in a very long time. I absolutely loved it.

If you guys haven't tried Medal of Honor: Airborne, the sound system is quite good. Dolby Headphone really shines in games with great sound, such as Battlefield Bad Company and Airborne.

Anyone used the Mixamp with AKG K701 vs other headphones? I'm curious as to how the surround sound positioning compares. I hear great things about the AT A700, A900, AD700 etc, as well as the Beyer DT880 but am curious how they all compare to my K701s.

Geekgirl mentioned the mixamp is handily driving A900s unamped. Anyone tried the same with DT880s? For what it's worth, my K701s are sounding full using an unassisted mixamp as well.

The K701 is 62 ohms. The mixamp should drive anything under 75 well. The DT880 is 250 ohms, so you'll most likely need a seperate headphone amp as well. The A900s are around 40 ohms. All of the Audio Technica headphones you listed are under 50 ohms, so they all should run well w/o an amp, but the DT880 will definitly need an amp.

Mixamp "Success" story lol: In Battlefield bad company today, there was this annoying little sniper and I could not tell where he was hiding. I knew the general direction, but not exactly. A few minutes later, I saw him shooting in a building, so I throw like 4 grenades in there. I go upstairs and I don't find him there, so I burst open a hole in the wall and jump out. I walk a few steps until I hear footsteps behind me. A couple of shots from my UMP and BYE BYE LOSER!!!! He looked like he was trying to line up a headshot with his pistol, but I got the bastard! I love my mixamp!

Further proof that the JVC Dolby Headphone is lacking compared to other Dolby Headphone units. I guess all DH receivers are not equal in their DH reproduction...

I have no problems hearing directly behind me with my Pioneer Dolby Headphone receiver. I honestly can hear in every 360 degree direction on the x-axis (horizontal). Now on the y-axis (vertical), i get confused quite often, but then again there is no 5.1 or 7.1 speaker setup that addresses this issue (vertical sound field). So there is nothing that Dolby Headphone Tech can do about it. I guess that would be up to the game programmer - have upper and lower sounds sound different then those on the x-axis. Like how Halo 3 addresses horizontal sound depth - distant gunfire sounds different then closer ones, just like how they would sound in real life.

Except that there are no plamsa rifles in real life :-P btw, what model is your reciever?

In many games, sounds above and below you sound the exact same because the developer didn't make a difference between them. It's not the fault of Dolby Headphone, or a 7.1 Sound system. I haven't played Halo 3 in a LONG time, so I might play again today to try out the sound system.

Maybe your Pioneer sounds "better" because it is a reciver, which proabably amplifies the signal which makes it sound fuller. If I remember correctly, you have a DT880, correct? and I think Geek-Girl has an A900, which is closed. I believe closed headphones have less soundstage than open (or semi-open for that matter). The difference could be one of these : Amplification, Headphones, or just superior proccessing in the Pioneer (I doubt it though, it is most likely one of the first two).

Can vouch for this.

Awesome! I've had similar success in Halo 3 as well. A 'crouching' enemy is not visible to my radar, but there are still those faint footsteps that gives them away. And I can always tell pretty well where they are coming from...helps make that grenade bounced around the corner quite rewarding in flushing them out, or in introducing them to the shotty I'm holding.

Loudness alone doesn't indicate that a headphone is being driven well.. It's a misconception.. I use 400 ohm Dynamic/Electrostat headphones that need to be wired to the back of a powerful speaker amp for optimal sound. I use them balanced through my DAC1.. It can get loud, but it feels unbalanced... Like the other audible characteristics can't keep up.. & feels a bit 'slow'. Still sounds very good, but having auditioned unproperly amped, properly amped headphones, I can tell the difference. With 40 ohm headphones, the ned for a external amp isn't required, but will give you better SQ..But becomes more of a luxury then a necessity.

To the other poster The 62 ohm 701's are hard to drive. Don't just look at the Ohms but the sensitivity ratings.

I played the hancock trailer & is the best trailer I heard in my life.. I was using ACC, 2 channel, 48Z. I think it was made for headphones cause under audio it gives you a left+right speaker selection.

First off, I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to interpreting headphone specs.
Here is a sampling of some specs:

AKG K701 - 62 ohm, 105dB/mW sensitivity
AT AD700 - 32 ohm, 98dB/mW sens
Beyer DT880 - 250 ohm, 96dB/mW sens

Based on the sensitivity ratings above, doesn't this indicate that the K701s aren't that bad to drive?