Gaming headset advice wanted!

[T-Rex]

Hello everyone For a couple of weeks now I've been searching for the best gaming (Also movies and music, of course) headset available. A million headsets have been suggested to me. The Astro A40s, Tritton AX Pro, Sennheiser HD555 and HD595, ATH AD700, and many, many more. I know that I won't find people with more experience or expertise than on this forum. So I am here to ask you which do you think is the best gaming headset? Now, it doesn't have to be from the ones I mentioned, the price is no issue whatsoever. I look for comfort (very prolonged use, from 3 hours up to eternity), sound clarity (both excellent high and low ends), and most importantly, bass. I'm a bass fanatic, I don't want horrifying, earth-quaking bass, but I still want to feel that thunderous boom. Any help would be MUCH appreciated!

 

[Prometheus46]

I've had 2 sets of these and I loved them. No matter what I used them for, especially gaming, where you want to know where your opponent is, they simply fit the bill. Clarity is good, not supreme, but nothing to the point it couldn't be tolerated, or even go unoticed because of the "true" suround capability these headphone have.
As far as wearing them for prolonged times, I never had an issue with it. I would play Quake III, Halo, Need For Speed for hours on end. Usually, I gave out before the headphones began to get heavy, or uncomfortable. As a musician, I've done lots of studio recording with some seriously expensive headphones, and as for playback of the finalized mastered CD, I would chose these to listen to it through anyday over some headphones that are ranked, and priced as some of the best.
Check out this link and Rodney will demonstrate them for you...its youtube so don't worry about the link. Its clean. I know this comes seriously late, but these are cheap enough, if you just wanna try them out, it would be worth the cost. Hope this has helped...late of not. ;-)

Check these out--> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Jsy-xWOHQM

 

[T-Rex]

Thanks for the help

 

[blackhawk1928]

Look no further than the Sennheiser HD800. Not sure if it has surround sound for gaming, but its got ridiculous music quality. Extremely clear highs and mids, thunderous bass while maintaining no distortion whatsoever.

Sennheiser HD800+CD-Quality Source+Headphone Amplifier=Excellent Sound Quality.

I think they are around 1800...don't forget a good headphone amplifier.

 

[T-Rex]

I actually researched the HD800 and have seen mostly good review, but still enough negative ones to push me away from this headset. I've seen to many complaints about the build and sound quality, not that it's crappy, but that it's not nearly worth the price

 

[blackhawk1928]

I actually researched the HD800 and have seen mostly good review, but still enough negative ones to push me away from this headset. I've seen to many complaints about the build and sound quality, not that it's crappy, but that it's not nearly worth the price

Don't ever judge a product by its reviews...! Reviews 99% of the time have no clue what they are talking about and make reviews irrelevant to other people and irrelevant to the product. The reviews are based on some specific personal problem usually that has nothing to do with anything really.

The HD800 sound great...and honestly, I don't care if they were made of ice cream...if they sound good then they sound good. I recommend it .

I've heard them myself and they sound absolutely amazing. They have the crispiest highs and mids, strong mid-bass and thunderous low bass.

 

[anwaypasible]

$1,800 for a pair of headphones seems to be a very high amount of money.
any headphones being offered for that amount of money should be close to the end of improvements available.

spending more than that is bad for mental/emotional health.
dont forget you need an amplifier for the headphones that could easily cost another $1,000

$3,000 for a headphone listening experience is asking for trouble if the setup doesnt provide.

people could have a heart attack simply reviewing the things.


AND
if you are going to spend that much money on some headphones..
you really need to get the frequency response of your ear checked out so you can match the natural frequency response of your ear with the frequency response of the headphones.

otherwise the non-flat frequency response is not going to make much sense.
match that with your ear's response and the entire purchase begins to make much more sense.
clarity is good.
clarity with a flat frequency response is almost lethal at times.


fact of the matter..
you will get a better sound with a 5.1 or 7.1 system if you go grab a calibrated microphone from crosslabs sound lab and use it to adjust your equalizer.
as long as you are getting a flat frequency response down to 20hz.. you will save money and have a much better surround sound experience.


not everybody wants to listen to their audio out loud.. i know this to be true.
so it helps to know your ear's frequency response and delay times.
trained people can begin with a simple guess when looking at your ear.
then they dial it in and pass you the results.
getting the delay time is easiest.
they send a beep through the headphones.. and when the beep sounds as one, that tells them the info they need.


sometimes a flat frequency response sounds much better than an improvement in audio clarity.

but since most people in the headphone industry have no intention of getting their frequency response flat (or learn what their ear frequency response is)
most people jump to a pair of headphones for their clarity.
sometimes if they are lucky enough.. they can try on one pair at a time to find the flatter frequency response.
but that doesnt mean it is as full and widespread as it could be.

you get what you give.