Help me choose some headphones

[ShRoOmAlIsTiC]

I purchased a SoundblasterX AE-5 because Fall Creator Update made my XFI Titanium stop working.
I want a good set of headphone that will make good use of the new sound card.
Primary use is Gaming, Secondary is Music

Here are my option

Sennheiser HD600 with an Antlion Modmic ( Heard amazing things about the hd600's but then I heard they were not great for gaming too)
Audio-Technica ATH-AD900x with Antlion Modmic ( Not sure how much better these are then the AD700x's and if they are worth the extra dollars )
Audio-Technica ATH-MSR7GM with V-moda Boom Pro (Leaning towards this, very sleek, only one cable to worry about)

Or if it really isn't worth me spending that much and these will do the job then
Audio-Technica ATH-AD700x with Antlion Modmic (Everything I have read says these are amazing for gaming, if so do I need the AD900x?)

I have never bought a quality pair of headphones before and will be replacing my Razor Kraken Pro's
This will be my introductory set of higher end audio, I cant afford the best. Not sure if I need the best, just know I want something a lot better the the Kraken.

 

[Jetster]

All very nice. I have the Audio-Technica ATH-M50X and are plenty good. Go somewhere you can listen to them all

 

[Solaris17]

All very nice. I have the Audio-Technica ATH-M50X and are plenty good.

I use these for my piano, love it.

For my PC I use a set of ATH-AG1's which I also love but are no longer made.

Lovely equipment really.

 

[Space Lynx]

Monoprice Monolith M560 is on sale right now for $149 free ship no tax at monoprice.com they are planar magnetic, with stock earpads they sound "ok" but if you are willing to hope on ebay and buy some Sony XBR 500 earpads for $11, they compete with $500 plus cans. i go to headphone conventions and my m560's with xbr 500 earpads are still my go to headphones for everything. the soundstage/imaging, clarity of vocals is simply the most amazing thing I have ever heard. (I have heard over 200 headphones some even 1 grand I preferred my m560 setup over it) and you won't need a strong amp, your new sound card will power it like a champ. the HD600 on the other hand... yeah sure that sound card will get them loud... but the HD600 is meant for a tube amp and pretty much everyone in the community agrees with that.

M50x has little to no soundstage from my experience, but everyone has different tastes so its all subjective and reliant on the shape of our inside ears (which is different for all of us) some of us can hear better bass slams then others all because of the ear canal shape. so yeah haha its all subejctive. try to go to headphone convention near you... and listen to a lot of stuff. then decide.

 

[ShRoOmAlIsTiC]

Ill have to look into those, thanks for the suggestion. Looks like the V-moda boom pro will work with it too.

I bought me a temporary fix, who knows maybe permanent. I got a cheap pair of ath-ad700x's to get my toes wet and hold me over till I can save up and spend a little more on a pair of something more higher end. From what I read the ad700x's are fantastic for gaming and dont sound much worse then the ad900x.

 

[ShRoOmAlIsTiC]

my edit button is missing or I would not be double posting.
From reading the ad700x's are amazing for gaming so I dont mind have two sets of headphones. I plan on modding them to have a detachable cable and add a v-moda boom pro to it.
If I want something strictly for music and around $300 what would be a good suggestion?
I dont plan on purchasing another pair for a couple months so I can save up a little and get something really nice and worth the money.
The monolith m1060's look amazing and the planars intrigue me or would I be fine with m560's with the upgraded pads.
Would it be worth it to save and get the sennheiser hd 800? From what I read they are some of the best.
Im not a bass head but I do like a little base, I want to hear what everyone is talking about like the pick striking the cords and the sticks hitting the drums.....etc.

 

[Space Lynx]

my edit button is missing or I would not be double posting.
From reading the ad700x's are amazing for gaming so I dont mind have two sets of headphones. I plan on modding them to have a detachable cable and add a v-moda boom pro to it.
If I want something strictly for music and around $300 what would be a good suggestion?
I dont plan on purchasing another pair for a couple months so I can save up a little and get something really nice and worth the money.
The monolith m1060's look amazing and the planars intrigue me or would I be fine with m560's with the upgraded pads.
Would it be worth it to save and get the sennheiser hd 800? From what I read they are some of the best.
Im not a bass head but I do like a little base, I want to hear what everyone is talking about like the pick striking the cords and the sticks hitting the drums.....etc.

I own the M1060's but they sound a little boring to me. The soundstage is also smaller than the M560 with XBR 500 earpads. The m560's sound livelier and more fun, but only with the earpad upgrade. The M560 has a 30 day return policy. Give it a shot while its still on sale.

 

[jboydgolfer]

When it's just headphones I normally buy a nice pair of noise canceling Sennheiser's. the HD419's are great sounding, but afaik, they are no longer manufactured, but im sure they have a comparable model.

 

[ShRoOmAlIsTiC]

I own the M1060's but they sound a little boring to me. The soundstage is also smaller than the M560 with XBR 500 earpads. The m560's sound livelier and more fun, but only with the earpad upgrade. The M560 has a 30 day return policy. Give it a shot while its still on sale.

I will definitely be getting me some of these for sure along with the sony mdr-xb500 pads. Kinda excited about these after reading what you and a few others in other forums and said.

Figure if with those and the ad700x's ill be good for starter sets. Hope fully they will still be on sale when I get paid.

 

[Space Lynx]

I will definitely be getting me some of these for sure along with the sony mdr-xb500 pads. Kinda excited about these after reading what you and a few others in other forums and said.

Figure if with those and the ad700x's ill be good for starter sets. Hope fully they will still be on sale when I get paid.

If you buy both at the same time I can promise you will be refunding the AD700x's, because planar vocal clarity will destroy them while still maintaining that amazing soundstage, assuming you do the earpad upgrade.

 

[GamerGuy]

@lynx29, I dunno, it depends a lot on the individual's sound signature preference as well as his sound perception (or how good one's hearing is). I've heard a good number of cans, and presently own 16 entry level to high end cans, and IMO I can say that none of the planar I own, or had owned, destroys a good dynamic can when it comes to voice clarity. Oddly enough, the best vocals I've heard, female vocals specifically, was from an Audio Technica ATH-AD2000, it had such a level of vocal clarify and sweetness that none I've heard since then can match (including my HD800 + SDR Mod, AKG K812, HFM HE1000). I kinda regretted selling it as I was pretty much looking around for good higher end cans at that time. Also, the issue I recall having with the ATH-AD2000 was that the treble presentation was a tad too hot for my liking, though I'm something of a treblehead.

Peeps praise the Audeze LCD2.2 nF for its sound, I had it but while it has this lush, thick (almost creamy-like) bass, I found that it was too dark for my liking (I dislike dark sounding cans) yet many say the treble is just fine.....so, I put that down to personal preference. As I'm typing down this message, I'm chilling to some songs on Spotify Premium with my Oppo HA-1 and MD HFM HE4XX which I'd just gotten, it's not a bad pair of planar actually (I'm biased, I'm something of a HFM fanboy as I own 4 pairs of their cans, plus the Dock-1 and HFM HM901s). I also have a Fostex T50RP modded with a MayFlower kit (and MrSpeakers Alpha Pads) I'd gotten and it's one of my go to cans for gaming and music since it handles both with aplomb.

The ATH-AD700X (I have one too) has a pretty wide soundstage and imaging which together, makes for excellent positional gaming, but the one thing the AD700X lacks is bass. I'm not saying it lacks bass totally, it IS there when needed, but just not enough for my taste. Explosions and gun fire lack impact and on a whole, the AD700X lacks a dynamic sound, but damn, it's great for positional gaming due to its wide soundstage and imaging.

At OP, the HD600 doesn't have quite the soundstage of the ATH-AD700X, but it does have good imaging. I've gamed with the HD6XX (sounds more like the HD650) and I don't feel I'm missing anything, though admittedly, I'm basically a Single Player guy so I enjoy playing with myself......eh, make that playing by myself. If you can get the AD700X for cheap, why the heck not? Since it'd be a stop-gap can while you look for something 'better'.

 

[Space Lynx]

@lynx29, I dunno, it depends a lot on the individual's sound signature preference as well as his sound perception (or how good one's hearing is). I've heard a good number of cans, and presently own 16 entry level to high end cans, and IMO I can say that none of the planar I own, or had owned, destroys a good dynamic can when it comes to voice clarity. Oddly enough, the best vocals I've heard, female vocals specifically, was from an Audio Technica ATH-AD2000, it had such a level of vocal clarify and sweetness that none I've heard since then can match (including my HD800 + SDR Mod, AKG K812, HFM HE1000). I kinda regretted selling it as I was pretty much looking around for good higher end cans at that time. Also, the issue I recall having with the ATH-AD2000 was that the treble presentation was a tad too hot for my liking, though I'm something of a treblehead.

Peeps praise the Audeze LCD2.2 nF for its sound, I had it but while it has this lush, thick (almost creamy-like) bass, I found that it was too dark for my liking (I dislike dark sounding cans) yet many say the treble is just fine.....so, I put that down to personal preference. As I'm typing down this message, I'm chilling to some songs on Spotify Premium with my Oppo HA-1 and MD HFM HE4XX which I'd just gotten, it's not a bad pair of planar actually (I'm biased, I'm something of a HFM fanboy as I own 4 pairs of their cans, plus the Dock-1 and HFM HM901s). I also have a Fostex T50RP modded with a MayFlower kit (and MrSpeakers Alpha Pads) I'd gotten and it's one of my go to cans for gaming and music since it handles both with aplomb.

The ATH-AD700X (I have one too) has a pretty wide soundstage and imaging which together, makes for excellent positional gaming, but the one thing the AD700X lacks is bass. I'm not saying it lacks bass totally, it IS there when needed, but just not enough for my taste. Explosions and gun fire lack impact and on a whole, the AD700X lacks a dynamic sound, but damn, it's great for positional gaming due to its wide soundstage and imaging.

At OP, the HD600 doesn't have quite the soundstage of the ATH-AD700X, but it does have good imaging. I've gamed with the HD6XX (sounds more like the HD650) and I don't feel I'm missing anything, though admittedly, I'm basically a Single Player guy so I enjoy playing with myself......eh, make that playing by myself. If you can get the AD700X for cheap, why the heck not? Since it'd be a stop-gap can while you look for something 'better'.

Agree with you on everything in full, however, Monoprice has a great return policy, so he isn't risking anything by trying the Monolith M560 or M565 either, except losing out on shipping. Compare both for a week or two, refund the one you like least, its that simple really. I do it a couple times every year, as long as you don't do it every month couple months they don't care.

 

[thesmokingman]

I've owned the AD700x and 900x. The 700x are a lil anemic on bass and the 900x have lil bit more bass, almost adequate but its fast. I've sold both and am rolling with Sony MDR-Z7, MA-900, and Monoprice M1060s. I've retired the Hifiman 400i with the M1060. I need to sell the 400i at some point. I would no doubt about it choose the M1060 over the AD700x, easily. With the 1060 you get the clarity of mid and upper end of a planar with some great bass for a planar. To get that package with bass in other brands you'd have to spend double the costs of the M1060s on sale. **Also, the AT phones are kind of bright so keep that in mind. Bright tends to equate to fatiguing too.

 

[Space Lynx]

I've owned the AD700x and 900x. The 700x are a lil anemic on bass and the 900x have lil bit more bass, almost adequate but its fast. I've sold both and am rolling with Sony MDR-Z7, MA-900, and Monoprice M1060s. I've retired the Hifiman 400i with the M1060. I need to sell the 400i at some point. I would no doubt about it choose the M1060 over the AD700x, easily. With the 1060 you get the clarity of mid and upper end of a planar with some great bass for a planar. To get that package with bass in other brands you'd have to spend double the costs of the M1060s on sale. **Also, the AT phones are kind of bright so keep that in mind. Bright tends to equate to fatiguing too.

I still prefer the M560's with XBR 500 earpads over M1060, so its all subjective really. M1060's lacked "fun factor and soundstage width" and I also prefer female vocals better on mine than on the 1060's. I never did any mods to the 1060's though, which a lot of people say is necessary. Meh.

 

[GamerGuy]

That's the fun thing about audio, we can listen to the same can with the same audio gear (like DAC stack/combo, same audio source) and yet come away with different opinions, even sometimes with two diametrically opposing viewpoints. It's when someone insists that their opinion matters more than yours that some heated disagreement may occur. Just to show that I'm not BS'ing when I say I have 16 cans, here's a pic of my headphone rack......I don't think I'm done buying cans yet. My AD700X isn't on the rack as I'd run out of mounts to hang it....and my HE4XX isn't there either, so that makes 17 cans actually (not including my portable on-ear cans and IEM's)

 

[Rehmanpa]

My sennheiser hd598 pros are fantastic. Always recommend them because they really are just simply wonderful.

 

[ShRoOmAlIsTiC]

God I feel like this is gonna turn out to be a fun yet expensive hobby. I already want a modi/Magni stack and so many different head sets to test out. Definitely want a sennheiser set, and an akg7xx set, and for sure the m560’s Massdrop looks like a fun site too. Damn you guys all to hell

 

[erocker]

If you're going with a separate gaming headset, Sennheiser is releasing the GSP 600 at the end of the month. https://en-us.sennheiser.com/gaming-headset-pro-gsp-600 If anything the mic sounds a bit better than the modmic... at least comparing it to my Game One headset which should use the same mic. My headset matches up with my Soundblaster Zx pretty well too.

 

[GamerGuy]

Yep, ain't nothing wrong with getting a quality headset from Sennheiser or Audio Technica, or anything from companies with years of experience in the audio field. Just avoid Razer, Corsair, Logitech and all those so-called gaming headsets (be them stereo to those 'surround gaming' 5.1/7.1 headsets). If you're more concerned with gaming, then yeah, a good gaming headset and soundcard or external DAC stack/combo would be great for gaming (though nothing beats physical speakers for a great surround gaming or movie viewing experience (that's why I have a Creative SB Zx + Logitech Z5500). I'll be moving to a condominium soon, thus I'd not be able to use my Z5500 as much as I'd have liked, hence my increasing reliance on headphones.

I've packed a lot of my stuff, in preparation for the upcoming move, but have left out my Oppo HA-1 + HD6XX + HD4XX to be used till the day I move. I love these, but I do find the HE4XX to have a more forward sounding treble which I can still tolerate, and a wider soundstage than the HD6XX.....still, I'm of the opinion that the HD6XX is the more balanced sounding of the two. Still early days though, gonna listen to them more before I can decide which is better (to me anyway). Oh yeah, running them in Balanced mode, with a pair of 4pin Balanced XLR cable I'd bought for my HD6XX, and for the HE4XX, a pair of 4pin Balanced XLR cable borrowed from my HFM HE1000.

 

[bug]

I'm surprised nobody mentioned AKG. I have a (cheaper) pair of and couldn't be happier with my pick.

 

[ShRoOmAlIsTiC]

WOW, so I installed my ae-5 and hooked up my ad700x's. Threw on some Too Long by daft punk flac and wow. If these sound this good, I cant wait to see what better head phones sound like. Base seems good on these, im not a base head but wow. I cant wait to play some games and the cable to add a v-moda on here. These sound better then anything ive ever heard.

Tried out some coldplay everythings not lost flac and I hear stuff I never heard before. Just amazing. This is what I wanted, clean crisp sound.

Ive got a clip on steel series mic to hold me over till all the parts come in for the mod. Im gonna let these play for a while to burn a little while im at work.

 

[ShRoOmAlIsTiC]

Completed the detachable cable mod today, turned out perfect. Only one issue, I dont have the boom pro till saturday and I have no male to male cable at the moment. So i had to take the original cable I cut off and add splice a Male end from an old crappy ear bud set to it. So temp fix but it still works. I should have took picks, the soldiering job turned out perfect.

 

[jboydgolfer]

My sennheiser hd598 pros are fantastic. Always recommend them because they really are just simply wonderful.

I'm no audiophile, so I can't speak on multi-hundred dollar pairs of headsets, but as far as headphones go ,I love my sennheisers, they're amazing sounding, and most importantly they're so comfortable even after 10 hours on my head. I don't know that I would notice the difference with some of these super high-end headphones I see people mentioning, not because there's no difference but because of my scrub ears

 

[WhiteNoise]

I have a set of the HD600's. Rarely use them but they are wonderful. I've gamed with them and thought they worked great. I actually really like my NADs for gaming but ultimately I just use a steelseries gaming headset as I find it convenient to use with decent SQ.

 

[ShRoOmAlIsTiC]

So far ive been amazed with gaming on my ad700x’s. I feel like a hacker almost. I do want another audiophile quality set for sure now for music and I’m tossed between hd600, hd650 and monolith m560’s. I modded my ad700x’s to take a v-moda boom pro mic but Amazon lost my shipment. So I need to wait for my refund to order it again. I also added som brainwavz hybrid ear pads to the ad700x last night and now they are super comfy. Haven’t got to game with them yet to see if they changed the sound too much but they seem to have more base now.