@supersonic Creative G5. The older version of what I have. I’ve seen it for $90. Audiophiles tend to buy separate DACs and amps and it gets expensive. Creative's external sound cards are actually cheap by comparison.
@khaid I've been using the Sennheiser PC38x, which has parts from more expensive Sennheiser headsets and very neutral tuning. It's the budget recommendation of most of the audiophiles who use the $1600 HD800S. I'm not sure I'd buy any other brand but Sennheiser right now. I checked out some Beyerdynamic headsets, but I've ready they tend to have very shallow earpads and basically have your ear against the driver and are not ideal for comfort unless you have tiny ears. I might try an Audeze on a good sale.
Man everyone's got a different model of headphones... but Khaid's opinion is the cheapest so he must be correct! Is the DAC and the AMP 2 separate things? Looks like on the website the G5 is both.
the mic on the game zero is excellent but if you want to sound crystal clear like a podcaster, the Samson q2u is on sale now for $39.99 https://slickdeals.net/share/iphone_app/t/15532954
@supersonic It’s whatever sounds good to you and whatever you feel comfortable spending. I wouldn’t consider myself an audiophile but I am probably more particular than the average person about sound quality. If you want an audiophile perspective bfun would be the person to ask.
Well I suddenly feel a bit foolish spending $400 on rgb keyboards so spending a little more for good audio seems like a worthwhile investment all of a sudden. The guy that electrocuted himself (twice?) with his headphones? It reminded me of this guy that got robbed twice in front of the same store.
Too many products these days to recommend anything, but getting the audio out of the case is generally a step up. Eliminate the audio drivers and electrical interference. The .3% chance of electric shock therapy is just a bonus.
I'm guessing you guys have multiple computers.. you can't be buying a DAC for all of them? Is there some sort of splitter? Also what is the best connection from the PC to the DAC? The optical audio plug presumably. I have a monitor that has 3.5mm out so it could act like a splitter by carrying audio from PC to Monitor via DP/HDMI. But I'm not sure if I'm going to be sending bad quality audio to DAC at that point.
I only have the one PC hooked up to my DAC using USB. People will say optical is more pure. Music isn't covered, immune to electrical interference, but I dunno. I switched to USB when I lost my optical cable and never notice the difference. Cables are cheap so I say use whatever you have. My headphone AMP has a pre-amp out which I run to a speaker amp. If you need portability, a lot of people say these DragonFlys are good but I've never tried them. Most USB AMPs tend to be limited by the USB power delivery so I wouldn't expect them to drive something like the HD650 very well. https://www.amazon.com/AudioQuest-D...641514400&sprefix=usb+dac,aps,103&sr=8-3&th=1
I think the Creative G6 is an exception. It can drive up to 600 ohm headphones. I find the high-gain setting excessive with the 650s. They don't need that much power. It's blow your eardrums out loud on high-gain.
I think I'm gonna get the GC7 because it looks like, I look like, I know a lot about audio. https://us.creative.com/p/sound-blaster/sound-blaster-gc7
That's probably fine. Any half-way decent external DAC/Amp/soundcard type thing is going to sound better than your onboard. That one seems like it's designed to make you look like a DJ or something. lol
Late to the party, but I have these (HD 6xx) and huge fan of them. I have a whole bunch of headphones actually spread across several computers/setups. Some for a bedroom gaming setup, some exclusively for voice chat with friends (playing games). If any of you want a review of one let me know. My favorite "wireless gaming" headset is the Arctis 7, it doesn't have the best sound, but it has the best features, long life wireless (almost 30 hours of battery life), and separate knobs to control volume and chat/game mix. For big soundstage feel, the K7xx is my favorite with the HD6xx a close second, though for music I prefer the HD6xx. Lastly the Philips headphones used to be great value, I got them for like $60 and honestly they are pretty close sounding to good Sennheisers, but sadly I don't think you can buy them anymore. Sennheiser HD6xx (massdrop) AKG K7xx (massdrop) PlayStation Gold headset (PS4) PlayStation PS5 headset Steelseries Arctis 7 Philips SHP9500s
That is cool, a fellow headphone collector. I used to have a 555 and still have an old 595 as well, and my wife has the 598SE I think. The Massdrop versions are indeed a bit cheaper quality if you examine them closely, but I've had the AKG Massdrop ones for many years now (maybe more than 5 years?) and the HD6xx for about 3 years I think and they still feel like new. The one headphones I'd like to try are Hifiman, like the Massdrop version of Hifiman HE5xx or HE4xx (I think those exist, I need to double check). Always been curious about those. The main thing I like about open headphones is they give really good soundstage and I can still hear my kid over them late at night which is invaluable honestly (sometimes I need to go check up on my toddler).
The AKG K701 would probably be my favorite headphone if it were more comfortable. It's probably dead last in comfort for me. The HD650 might be slightly better for music but I think the K701 is better for gaming and general listening.
So these are the headphones I went with after you mentioned it. I checked a bunch of reviews and it's almost unanimous that they are the best "entry" into audophile headphones at an affordable price. I finally setup the SoundBlaster GC7 and headphones today. I gotta say I'm blown away by what I was missing out on. I will say I'm a little disappointed with the GC7. The marketing and reviews led me to believe I would see a 500% improvement at CS:GO. But I did 20% worse than playing with no sound at all...