ATH ad700

senn HD 558/598

Having tried all 3 and many higher end stuff, plus I'd say understanding the whole picture in terms of having enough "gaming skill" and being enough into music to understand what matters, I have to say the following:

558 is bassy, theyre 598s with foam in the cup

ad700 is the best you can do for soundwhoring without investing a lot

Vote for 558. Got these a couple weeks ago and love them. But I'd recommend running them on an amp. Unamped these sound bad, barely any bass to speak of and what there is is muddy. And the highs were a bit dull. These come alive with an amp.

You don't need an amp.

I don't know. I listened to them both ways and if I had to use them unamped I wouldn't have kept them. My 11yr old $50 hd497s sound as good as these unamped and with far more bass.

Astro A40

For QL? none. No advantage will be gained positional sound wise and the 1999 sounds sound like crap anyway..

As for the keyboard, if you don't have any use for "nkro" for gaming, aren't into better build quality and more comfortable and satisfying typing, then it'd be wasting money to buy a expensive one.

From what I understood. There is noneed to buy better headphones? Once ingame 2GD told me that the gaming headphones are very important in Quake.

QL's sound is beyond awful. For current games having great headphones (and dolby headphone thingy, etc.) is amazing, but for QL in particular....nope.

I haven't played q3 in a long while but I remember sound was more precise there and there wasn't this vertical sound bug that was never fixed. That's how bad QL's sound is.

if you think ql has awful sounds you should play q4 sometime :X

Or this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7A2B3KVEFk

No wonder why id is on its current state.

just get a mechanical keyboard with mx red/brown/black switches. And what comes to headphones I can only recommend some headphones with good soundproofing.

wmo?

I'm still looking for something to replace my Corsair HS-1A. There's just nothing like that on the market - comfortable and having absolutely no bass which makes it perfect for Quake (and obviously unusable for music, but please... real men listen to music on speakers).

try siberia v2

No idea about the sound (I don't think they meet my no bass standard judging from their marketing), but the Siberias are small and I'm looking for something comfortable (not pushing against the ears).

I am using siberias and for me there is no bass that's why i suggested it.

But

this. song <3

megaman3 is pretty spot on with the sound-side of things in QL here. You do not need super expensive headphones in order to play the game and hear everything. The far more important factor here is the wearing-comfort of your headphones, if you plan on spending several hours a day in front of your PC playing Quake (or doing something else with your headphones on) having comfy headphones is paramount. Also if you will play a team-mode somewhat competitively (with premade teammates and voicecom) your teammates will thank you for a decent microphone.

My suggestions would look something like this:

- Razer Kraken Pro
Very comfy (have been using them for 6+ hours straight, no pain/pressure whatsoever), good microphone, somewhat decent sound (nothing to brag about though)

- SteelSeries H5v2
Comfy and can be disassembled if you travel, good microphone, decent sound

- Superlux HD631 + Zalman ZM-Mic1
Comfortable, good sound, cheap, good microphone (although you will have more wires around your PC)

As for the keyboard I'd say it actually can make a difference if your keyboard only supports 2kro or 6kro. Mechanical Keyboards have become relatively cheap these days. I myself have a HPE-87, paid like 80€ for it with 20€ being shipping-costs from China over to Germany. Back when I got it all alternatives available in Germany would cost at least 100€ so it was better to go the way I went. Now you have several entry-level mechanical keyboards below the 100€-mark. My girlfriend got herself the Cherry MX Board 3.0, it only costs 60€ with 6kro and decent build quality and she is very happy with it. The flat keys are not my thing but that's purely preference.

Well explained. In the end I was thinking to buy cheaper razer headphones like u mentioned (Razer Kraken Pro) which cost 65 eu here in our stores.

For QL ONLY yes, Superlux HD631 + Zalman ZM-Mic1 combo for less than 50€!

I stopped buying "gaming" headphones/headsets years ago, because not only many people told me and made me hear the differences between headphones labelled "gaming" and audio/hifi HP, but I also play and listen to music a lot.

Gaming stuffs are usually expensive and not worth it. Take all that money and use it for something seriously better.

I have:

- a Beyerdynamic Custom One Pro (got it for 100€ during Winter sales 2013 NEW) http://youtu.be/u6zV-5cHLqk
- a Philips Fidelio L1 (got it for 110€ on Amazon flash sales NEW) http://youtu.be/3tLxmh2EuLk
- a Fiio E06 (24€ instead of 40€ deal, even now) [because ultra portable] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XrODkqdEMg
- a Zalman ZM-MIC1 (5-6€ ONLY!!!!!) for when I play with my friends, sick quality http://youtu.be/M78z6l_GFao?t=6m31s (the quality of the microphone, you can hear it from 6min31seconds!)

I believe you can get good pairs of heaphones refurbished (but check why it is first), or used (if you don't mind then...) for very good prices.

Edit: These are certainly more than 100€ (the headphones only of course) but I'm giving you options, gaming stuffs look ugly (subjective I know), and it's shit you can't take them outside unless you don't mind haha, if you put 100-150€ then that's it you are good to go for A LONG TIME, AND you can use them for movies, music, games, they deliver overall good quality in each domain, AND you have a better warranty (usually) also most are very comfortable, I don't even know what it feels like to feel pain after hours of using headphones. I was like you years ago getting stuffs more affordable, but then it turned out that I was spending more money in the end (shits break and you need to replace, and you still don't get high quality experience). So that's my opinion, each to his own after that, I see that it's apparently only for QL, if it is, then even spending 75 to 95€ on Razer stuffs doesn't make any sense if it's for QL.

What if cooller releases some headphones Kreygasm

They will make a new category of headphones:

ACS headphones.

They are not gaming hp, they are ACS headphones, only model will be "DA". One model, because it is the one and only.

Approved by the COOLLER ACADEMY, it gives you supreme energy, over 9000 push ups before Quake games:

my headphones are overly bassy, and i think its a benefit to hav ethe bass turned down and have more mid end. yes its tinny that way but the bass only masks all the useful stuff :>

So much fanboyism for headphones from gaming companies (Razer, SteelSeries, etc.) in this thread - what ever happened to just getting a good pair of quality headphones that reproduce the sounds they're fed in a realistic, pleasing, and accurate way?

That's the approach i took when i got a pair of Sennheiser HD 280 Pro for under 100 USD:
- excellent external noise attenuation (approx. 32 dB)
- very nice sound (for other things like music, not just games)
- incredibly durable
- comfortable, even after hours of wearing

...the list goes on. if you're looking for headphones specifically for Quake, remember that QL doesn't have surround sound, so more than one drive per ear has no benefit (i.e., Kraken 7.1 is a waste of money).

Come on guys, let's be intelligent and informed consumers!

I don't get the hate some people just foster against "gaming" companies (especially Razer).

Have had a Razer Diamondback 3G, DeathAdder 3G, two DeathAdder 3.5Gs, a Tarantula Keyboard and the Kraken Pro Headset over the years. None of those just randomly broke or stopped working for me. Every time one of them did break it was because I fucked it up. Diamondback I messed with the internals, got refund, two DAs died because I rage-smashed them several times, got refunds. The other stuff is still fully functional.

Sure you pay quite a lot for the name itself, but where don't you do that? Iphone? Worth 50 Bucks in manufacturing, you pay 500 as an end customer. Coca Cola? Over here it's around 20% more expensive compared to Pepsi and Afri Cola (both taste way better imo, but that's preference).

I absolutely love my Kraken Pro and would buy another one if needed without thinking twice.

- It is comfy as fuck (already mentioned above 6+ hours of wearing it and no stress/pain/pressure).

- The microphone is clear and can be hidden inside of the headset (makes it look less weird when wearing it as normal headphones).

- The noise reduction in these is pretty good, despite the open design (had them on a flight to Russia, was able to shut out most of the noise around me).

- The sound is okish for the price (I like it much more compared to those trendy pieces of garbage like Beats, much more even sound distribution). If I wanted to really listen to music at its best I would use my speakers anyway.

- I personally like the design, but that's a very individual thingy imo.

Sure a lot of their stuff has crappy "features" and is build cheaply (especially the low-price gear) but if you buy the stuff without first testing it (even if it's only a feel test at your local BestBuy/Saturn/Media Markt) you are an idiot and deserve your money being ripped from you. I never brought a single thing from them without getting a test of it in first.

By design and by parts used the kraken pro is not going to produce good sound for music and for gaming. Also for super uber hardcore gaming at home what you want is them to be as open as possible.

I wouldn't put them in the shit tier for the price, like most of the beats line or of lots of for gaming headphones, but sound wise your money is spent elsewhere for any usage. Might as well spend that amount in a good "2.0" headphone, then if you want to further upgrade buy a dolby headphone sound card or dac.

Can't really speak about all other aspects as I haven't owned them.


Considering there's all these celebrity endorsed headphones, like dr. dre, tiesto, quincy jones and others, why not a akg700 qlr edition that doesn't require amping.

Talking about the Kraken Pro, not the Kraken 7.1 here. Mine are 2.0 and cost around 30€ less.

I have a pair of 280 Pros as my main headphones as well, can't recommend them enough. Affordable, built like a tank, easy to work on if you do break them, and shitloads of external attenuation (I am a drummer so I pay attention to that, no other headphones in this price range come close to 32 db that I'm aware of).

hello kitty ones from bravo girl magazine

got Koss Ur40 and like it.

If you were to ask me, I'd say disregard any headphone or headset that is made by a company that also makes mice and/or keyboards. Instead, buy something by a company of your choice that makes nothing other than headphones or in-ears.

A good pair of either cans or in-ears made by people that specialise in one or the other would be a far smarter option. Doesn't need to be anything expensive, either. A pair or respectable Senns, ATs, etc., etc., will serve you well.

If you need a mic, the Antlion Modmic is a good call. The sound quality is good, and you do the smart thing by buying headphones and mic separately than buying a headset- often, the cans, the mic, or sometimes even both will be of sub par quality, with a price premium of having both of them built into one unit. Buying separately allows you to pick both components of good quality, with an upgrade path in the future, and if either breaks, you won't be stuck with a half-functioning unit.

Almost always, headphones by a headphone company will sound far better than headphones of the same price made by a gaming peripheral maker. The cheaper models of either kind might not apply to this, but this is increasingly true the more expensive the models get. There's usually more choice in 'proper' headphones, too.

To me, gaming headphones seem cheap and plasticy, no matter the price, too. They just seem like toys- done in bright colours, glossy plastic everywhere, 'aggressive' styling, etc. This one is highly subjective, though.

For quake you don't need anything other than stereo, really. The simulated surround you will be getting out of gaming headphones will only be a disadvantage in game, and it's an unnecessary feature that only hikes the prices up. For other games, especially newer ones, stereo is usually enough as well, as their sound engines are much more advanced than Quake anyway (think binaural recordings).

For what it's worth, I'm using my tired Fischer FA003's that were meant as a working pair of headphones for me a few years back.

My €0.02

Got my Audio-Technica ATH-A900X (closed back) on sale for $79 and couldn't be more satisfied... Audiophile headphones good for everything including gaming.

Mind you they are originally $200+ but if you can find them for the right price, buy em!

These are in my list, after the AKG K550, waiting to see which will be on sales.

gaming headphones are good for darude sandstorm and csdotalol but for ql whatever makes you feel comfortable as sound is bugged and inaccurate as described in the posts above. just get something that has so good isolation you wouldn't even hear your phone ringing so that you can play the game with no distractions. :D

btw i've got a sony mdr7506. damn good isolation. about 3 years old and still works fine, unlike all the piles of gaming garbage I have ever wasted money on. the earpads are ofc totally worn out due to the daily 4-8 hours of use, but no other sign could tell how old it actually is. It can go really loud when being amped, sounds kinda dead and flat on integrated sound cards.

Gaming headphones are for kiddies With too much money
U better buy decent Studio headphones (AKG, Sennheiser)

dt770

Beats by Dre obviously. Everything else sucks.

careem, probably the biggest thing missing from your original post, and the most important, is a list of your requirements that would make the headphones "best"...everyone has different ideas of what's important, which is clear from the active discussion in this thread. If you could provide a list of important features like below, we could probably have a much more targeted discussion and come up with 2-3 sets of cans that would be "best".

What's important to make headphones good for me:
- high quality, balanced sound
- stereo
- not too heavy
- durable
- closed-back, block external sound
- comfortable (especially, not tight, and not a pair that make my ears hot)

For those requirements, i found the Sennheiser HD 280 Pro for 80 USD and have never even started to question that choice because they're so perfect for my needs.

i'd recommend the astro a40. such a great headset!

this site have the professional gaming headset recommendation
http://pcgamerhome.com/best-gaming-headset-for-pc-xbox-360-ps3/

Their professional recommendation: wireless headsets with programmable buttons :DDDDDDDDDD

I have the AKG Q701. Good, but not worth the money.

I'd say get some in-ears (not expensive) for gaming and a nice pair of higher end headphones for everything else if you're that conserned about soundwhoring. In ears offer most accurate sound placement in my opinion for the price. If you want to get good headphones check head-fi and also make a budget for an amp. Worth the money if you listen to a lot of music or other multimedia.

Problem I have with IEMs and plugs is that the cables are too short.

then get an extension cable.

"Gaming headsets" so bad. Unless you really want a microphone, I would go for something else.

I'm looking for good gaming headphones too. It's all so confusing. Do any of the ones here look good? http://www.squidoo.com/pc-gaming-headsets. I'm thinking maybe the Astro A40