Which open back headphones are THE BEST for gaming under €150?

Hello cirjakvoja, glad to see someone knows headphones are not to be taken for granted in gaming. Most go for headsets, and end up compromising on sound quality.

1. Open back is for ambiance, not positional accuracy. It really only makes the sound more spacial, like a slight concert hall effect.

2. Closed back designs can actually make game sounds easier to hear, because it mutes out external sounds and you only hear the game sounds.

3. Open back designs can if anything create confusion with sound direction, because they're design lets the sound waves flow beyond your ears, which can make some sounds that are supposed to be in front of you, sound behind you

4. Open back designs can lack depth and realism in bass frequencies in things like explosions, and even deep voices.

5. Open back designs can start sounding harsh in high end frequencies over time

I have had very spacial sounding open back headphones by Sennheiser called the HD 555. They were great for movies due to their spacial sound, but lackluster in music due to not enough warmth in midrange, and depth in bass. Where they were worst actually was in gaming. Often times it sounded like noises in front of me were behind me, due to the design letting some of the sound waves travel too openly, including behind my ear.

What did the HD 555s in was a seriously lack of durability though. They were comfortable, but all plastic, and too vulnerable to cracking and breaking.

I now own the Beyerdynamic DT-770 Pro 80 Ohm, which I got here in the US for $150. I feel they are easily the best headphones in that price range. They are close back design, so intended for studio monitoring and mixing, but they say that for one reason. Closed back headphones deliver the sound exactly as it's produced, which is best for a studio mixer because he knows just how it sounds and how to mix it.

The problem I find with open back designs, is besides bleeding noise that others can hear, and picking up outside noises, they also color the sound to be something other than it was intended to be. It always sounds more spacial and slightly echo prone. In some game environments where they engineer in echo sounds, it can be overwhelming and confusing.

For instance the Catacombs level of Far Cry, at times the Fatboy in there sounded behind instead of in front of me, because the headphones over amplified the echo effect of that environment. There were many other places where sound direction was confusing, but it was definitely worst inside echo prone areas. Plus when you start with colored vs original sound, it can be harder to adjust via an equalizer in the sound control panel of your PC.

This came up in my Google search. You may be able to find them cheaper than that in Europe though, because Beyerdynamic is based in Germany. http://www.thomann.de/gb/beyerdynamic_dt770_pro80_ohm.htm


These are high quality headphones with large velour ear pads, long heavy duty straight cord that looks a bit like a guitar cord, and metal yokes and headband. The ear pads, cord and headband wrap are all replaceable, and Beyerdynamic in general has some of the best customer service you will find. The ear cups themselves are a tough, thick plastic with a ridge molded between the yoke pivot points to stiffen them. The Sennheisers are made of much less sturdy plastic. Despite the durability, they are not heavy or uncomfortable to wear. I can wear them over my GammaRay gaming glasses for several hours, and have.

The sound is also very good quality. MUCH better than my HD 555s, which were also in the same price range. I also compared them to current models of Sennheisers in the same price range, and they're even better than those. The highs and midrange are detailed and clear, and the bass accurate and deep, without being overpowering or boomy. Bass is nice and tight.

They take a little while to break in to sound their best though, as all good headphones do.

Honestly, you'll hear a lot of garbage on YouTube and certain forums that just isn't true. If you don't believe what I said about the open back Sennheisers I owned vs the closed back Beyerdynamics I now have, I don't see how any further input on other brands or models would convince you.

Like I said above, none of the Sennheisers currently that come anywhere near the price of the DT-770s sound as good, not even close. And they're nowhere near as durable either, or as comfortable for that matter. They're so cheaply made you can hear the plastic yokes creaking as you move.

I tried to explain open vs closed as well as I could, but you're not getting it. There are people on the net that will also claim headphones with multiple speakers have more accurate positional audio than those with just two speakers. Then they try a decent pair of stereo headphones and they find out otherwise.

The reason is there's only a very small space inside a headphone ear cup, and your ears are designed to catch sound mostly from the front, which changes the dynamics of the sound waves and the way your ear perceives them greatly. It has to do with head related transfer function (HRTF), and there's TONS of real science behind it.

They make a 32 Ohm, 80 Ohm, and 250 Ohm model of the DT-770 Pro, because it's one of their most popular headphones. I've seen Lance Henriksen wearing a pair in a voice over sound booth on a video game project he was doing.

Skip ahead to 1:40 to see the voice booth segment
[video="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kU0VFyw9w9U"][/video]

It goes like this, 32 Ohm is for small portable devices, 250 Ohm is for high wattage headphone amps or receivers. The 80 Ohm ones will work for anything really, which is why they're also the most popular model of the DT-770 Pros.

I plug mine into my Yamaha RX-V371 receiver, which is advertised as 100 watts per channel, but in reality is more like 80 watts in the US model I bought. Note that the 250 Ohm models comes with a coiled cord, so it's best to use them at a close distance from what you plug into, or you'll get tugging.

As far as I know the 32 Ohm models come with a shorter, lighter, straight cord than the 80 Ohm ones do. The 80 Ohm works best for me overall, as they have just the right impedance, and have a sturdier straight 10' cord, which is great when I'm watching action movies late at night from a distance without disturbing the neighbors (apt).

For games I just hang the cord over the left arm of my task chair and let the excess dangle there. I sit about 4' away from the headphone jack of the receiver when gaming. It works just fine.

One of the headphones I referred to having tried in my above post WAS the HD598, and I'll take my DT-770 Pros over those any day. And yes, the DT-770 Pros also convey positions of sounds in games extremely well. I play MGSV a lot and I've yet to miss a cue on where enemies are, which is important in that game because you have to go prone a lot and can't always SEE where they are.

That said, the headphone industry is a market filled with opinions perhaps more than any in the home audio world. I used to think I was "researching" as best I could by reading and watching written and video reviews of so called professionals, or talking to them in store. Many are toeing the line for people they get some kind of commission or other kickbacks from.

I ended up finding you're more likely to get an accurate, honest opinion from some obscure person on a forum who's tried lots of headphones and details the problems with each, vs raving or ranting about ONE model. Such was the case for my past set of headphones, the Koss ProDJ100.

I got my Koss set for about $56 and added a pair of larger earpads the guy on the forum talked about (stock ones were too small). They ended up being the best set of headphones I'd heard in that price range. The aftermarket earpads were faux leather and a bit hot to wear though, and I eventually went for something more expensive in a higher class of sound.

I still feel at anything $150 or near, the DT-770 Pros are easily the best. The ones that claim the Sennheiser 598s are want a colored vs accurate sound. If you want to talk to some pros, talk to studio mixers, they know what accurate sound is, with the exception maybe of those whom do specifically rap or R&B, because they are often looking for over exaggerated bass, like the Beats have.