Headset Assistance

[stefan109]

Looking for some advice

I am going to be out of the country for a while and so decided to purchase a decent headset/headphones+mic for audio on-the-go.

I play FPS games a fair bit (daily, but not obsessively (anymore )), casual music listening, and a fair amount of YouTube trawling.

The equipment I've been looking at so far:

Astro A40/A50
AKG K495 NC
Sennheiser PC 360
Bowers and Wilkins P5 (out of place, but the build quality seems impressive. Any idea how they would sound with the Astro Amp?).

Suggestions and opinions would be appreciated! Cheers

 

[iBrody]

The Astro A30's might be better for both audio and gaming, and will pair nicely with the Mixamp.

Nice small on-ear design and good overall sound for portable mp3 devices. The only complaint I have heard is that the sound separation for footsteps on gaming is not as good as the A40/A50's.

 

[JammySTB]

Get a pair of headphones and a mic.

If you want surround sound with your headphones, go for the Asus Xonar DG($24) as your sound card. It is very inexpensive and offers Dolby Headphone(ie, it allows you to have virtual surround sound on any pair of headphones - certain headphones work better with this than others, check out this thread at Head-Fi for a plethora of headphones reviewed with Dolby Headphone in mind).

As for the microphone, the common choice is the Zalman zm-mic1($5-9 normally). Another great choice if you want a better microphone is the Antlion ModMic($33).

As for the headphones, this is a very personal thing. Do you want to be able to accurately pinpoint the location of footsteps in first person shooters? Go for something that is reviewed well by Mad Lust Envy in his thread. Good choices would be the Audio Technica ATH-AD700, the AKG K701/K702/Q701, the Sennheiser HD558/HD598. All of these are open headphones, which tend to be better if you want positional accuracy, but if you'd prefer a closed pair, the Beyerdynamic DT770/DT880(partially open) are rather good. Keep in mind that the Beyers and the AKGs should not be used without a good amp. The other ones should be fine to run off the sound card.

If you don't need pristine positional accuracy in first person shooters, you could go for a huge number of different headphones to suit your tastes. Here is a great thread on Head-Fi comparing many different headphones.

 

[stefan109]

Thought I'd give a quick thread update..

I ended up purchasing the P5s - the build quality, easy drivability and sound quality for music proved too alluring.

The Astros still tempt me, but I am thinking of purchasing the Mixamp and trying out my now semi-defunct Beats as a headset.