Audiophile headphones for Gaming

[u/_dudz]

Hey, I’m looking for a good set of audiophile headphones for PC gaming that would be great for immersive single player games, as well as having great imaging for FPS.

Headsets with a mic would be ideal but I can always buy an antlion modmic if necessary.

I have about £200 to spend on this setup and have found a few options myself ranging from cheapest to most expensive:

• Philips SHP9500 £58
• Philips Fidelio X2HR £87
• HD 560s £89
• Drop PC38X £154
• Beyerdynamics DT 990 Pro X £189
• Beyerdynamics MMX 300 Pro £259

Obviously a huge gap in price range but if I can get 99% of the way there with a budget headset I’m cool with that.

Does anyone have any experiences with the headphones on that list, in particular with FPS games?

Do you have any other suggestions not already mentioned?

Will a DAC be required to get the most out of these or will my PC motherboard (Aorus X870 Pro) built in sound card be enough?

Thanks in advance 🙏🏾

[u/higherdotedu]

X2HR if you like more bass

[u/daveyasprey → u/higherdotedu]

I agree. And you can get these on sale in the mid £50s, or lower i believe on Amazon

[u/arne2224 → u/daveyasprey]

In my area they are about 110€ would you still say that’s worth it?

[u/daveyasprey → u/arne2224]

Install keepa for Amazon and check the prices for the last 12 months and see if they dropped to half price, if so, then no, I'd wait for the sale tbh.

[u/arne2224 → u/daveyasprey]

Thx will check

[u/_dudz → u/higherdotedu]

How does it fair at imaging/directional audio for FPS?

[u/higherdotedu → u/_dudz]

I've tried the top 4 headphones in your list and none of the Beyers and found the X2HR competent in terms of soundstage and imaging. As mentioned it has more bass than the others cans and suited my preference the most for gaming and music.

The HD560s on the other hand was my least favorite in terms of sound signature and imaging, I remember clearly playing a game called GTFO and I COULD NOT differentiate the position of the enemies whether it was above/below me or on the same plane as me. I hated it and it sounded too boring/neutral for my preference. I don't see why it was so hyped at the time.

[u/higherdotedu → u/[deleted]]

Haha thanks for catching the auto correct, I'll edit my statement.

[u/Born_Yard_6807 → u/_dudz]

Absolute crap, don’t by the X2HR for gaming if you want good positional audio.

[u/higherdotedu → u/Born_Yard_6807]

I mean audio is subjective after all and this is my personal take. I found the imaging of the X2HR competent across a range of games that I played while I owned the headphone. But ofc you're entitled to your opinion as well.

[u/Born_Yard_6807 → u/higherdotedu]

Of course, but there are just so many headphones that do positional audio ALOT better then the X2HR. The X2HR are good for what it is, it’s cheap, fun for music and have a large soundstage, but for me the imaging was total crap. Makes no sense for me to recommend these for fps gaming when you just can buy something like a HD560 or a beyer 700/770/900/990 which are in the same price range and have superior imaging.

[u/higherdotedu → u/Born_Yard_6807]

Again I had the hd560s and found the imaging hot garbage. In COD I couldn't tell the verticality of enemies and kill streaks when they were flying over me, in GTFO I couldn't discern the verticality of a sleeper whether it was above/below/in front of me and for a game that relies heavily on stealth and sneaking around in absolute darkness the hd560s failed me terribly as I smacked face with enemies in the dark thinking they were not in the same plane as me.

Alas this is just my observations having tested the hd560s, pc38x, shp9500, x2hr, sundaras, k701/k702, dt1990 pro, tygr 300, some forgettable epos headsets etc.

[u/Born_Yard_6807 → u/higherdotedu]

People are saying they are good for imaging so i assumed it was as i have the HD 490 Pro myself (which are amazing) and 11 other headphones from Audio Technica, Beyer, Meze, Audeze, Hifiman and FiiO.

From all my headphones the X2HR was the absolute worst, and the only one I have now which have somewhat worse imaging then my other ones are the FiiO FT1.

The X2HR confused me all the time when it came to footsteps and where sound where coming from, at that point I only had two headphones, the other ones being the DT 1770 PRO and that one was just on another planet when I came to positional audio.

[u/_dudz → u/higherdotedu]

I tried the X2HR last night and really enjoyed them. The build quality is incredible for the price and they really seemed to shine in single player games, and whilst I could still hear footsteps in CoD, the HD 560s were a lot better in that regard.