$100 Gaming Headset/Headphones

[de_yogurt]

I need a good gaming headset/headphones for 100 bucks shipped maybe 10-15 bucks over. I play a lot of FPS games. Good voice communication is a must for Aion PvP. I would like something with a boom mic. If there aren't any headsets worth the time, i do have a mic. Thanks for the help and have a good one!

Yogurt

[Sydney]

Logitech G35? It's a few bucks over your budget, but should be worth it IMO.

[jhanby]

Have a look at this (http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/fragtalitys-audio-technica-ad700-boom-mic-mod-446329/).

It's basically a Audio Technica AD700 (awesome audiophile headphones), with a boom mic strapped to it.

It won't have any isolation as it is an Open Headphone, but it will blow away any of the 'gaming' headphones sound quality wise.

It's also really really comfortable.

[tweakboy]

Go with Razer Barracuda 5.1 , 4 speakers in each cone. amazing!

[de_yogurt]

anyone have any experiences with the ATH-A700 Closed-back Dynamic Headphones? I'm guessing they are the same headphone, just that these, well are a closed ear design. However, they are about 20 dollars more and don't think I could justify the price difference, being that I use my headphones in my room. thanks for the help so far and have a good one!

Yogurt

PS- As of right now I'm leaning towards the ATH-AD700 Open-air Dynamic Headphones. thanks again!

[Dolk]

Anything from Stealseries is what I use. Have been using the Siberia for close to 5 years now, work like a charm todate.

http://www.steelseries.com/us/products/audio

I would go with the V2 of Siberia, exactly like mine, load and extremely comfortable. But now you have 5.1.

[Marshmallow64]

http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=HS-SHPC350

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826106219

I suggest Sennheiser, I have one of these myself and its the best headset I ever used. EWiz has a promo code for 10 dollars off. I know its a bit off your budget but you cant go wrong with these. Try looking up some reviews of it also, so far all solid reviews.

[MadMan007]

anyone have any experiences with the ATH-A700 Closed-back Dynamic Headphones? I'm guessing they are the same headphone, just that these, well are a closed ear design. However, they are about 20 dollars more and don't think I could justify the price difference, being that I use my headphones in my room. thanks for the help so far and have a good one!

Yogurt

PS- As of right now I'm leaning towards the ATH-AD700 Open-air Dynamic Headphones. thanks again!

The ATH-A700 and -A900 closed are not nearly as well regarded as the open ones.

[de_yogurt]

any other thoughts or suggestions? looks like in about ill give the Audio Technica AD700 a try. If they sound anything like my sennheisers ill be a happy camper. thanks again for the input. have a good one!

Yogurt

[Aynjell]

I have Audio Technica AD700 attached to a little dot amp being fed from a creative card. It sounds simply fantastic for music, and AD700's are well know for their ability to help with gaming and positioning.

This is why I bought them. Also I got 'em for 65$... a steal.

Of all the headphones I have they are the most responsive to an amp, they sound fine without one but even a lowly cmoy or fiio E5 will give them quite a bit of strength.

[de_yogurt]

havent used amps before. i suppose something i could look into. dont really want to solder however. skills are weak at best. are there any amps that dont require you to solder the leads from the headphones? i guess i dont need a lot of boost for volume. or does it just help with the quality and clearness of the sound? thanks for the input. have a good one!

Yogurt

[Aynjell]

havent used amps before. i suppose something i could look into. dont really want to solder however. skills are weak at best. are there any amps that dont require you to solder the leads from the headphones? i guess i dont need a lot of boost for volume. or does it just help with the quality and clearness of the sound? thanks for the input. have a good one!

Yogurt

You don't solder your headphones, you make an amp that's fully self contained and you plug a source and headphones into it.

[de_yogurt]

hmm cool stuff. wants the main purpose of the amp? to make the phones loader or for clarity of sound and just overall better sounding phones? just by the way, can you share with me where you picked those up for 65?

[Aynjell]

hmm cool stuff. wants the main purpose of the amp? to make the phones loader or for clarity of sound and just overall better sounding phones? just by the way, can you share with me where you picked those up for 65?

They were on sale at beach camera if I recall, but I got them through amazon. They were refurbished.


It controls the headphones better. Imagine yourself listening to a pair of headphones, after listening to a headphone for several months, like take me for example, I have the following pairs of headphones:

ATH-AD700
Sony MDR-V6

I started to notice the AD700's weak bass, and apparently fragile sound. It always sounded grainy and lacking a smoothness I was looking. An amp added smoothness, more bass, and cleaner treble at that.

With the MDR-V6, i noticed a weakness in the treble, but the rest of the sound was all there... an amp corrected this, although there were far less weaknesses here than in the AD700's.

granted the AD700's will impress many even without and amp, it's just that much better with one.

[MadMan007]

Let's start him off slow here, no need to go talking about amps quite yet. Take a lesson from dealers, just let him get a taste of good audio first then keep him coming back for more :D

[Aynjell]

Let's start him off slow here, no need to go talking about amps quite yet. Take a lesson from dealers, just let him get a taste of good audio first then keep him coming back for more :D


That's why I noted it took several months to see what might be missing. It's by no means required, but many headphones, even ones that have a 32 ohm impedence, can benefit. The amp I bought was designed for 32 ohm cans.

[Aynjell]

REMOVED
g0dM@n
OCForums Moderator

I've reported you for spamming. Please stop! Nobody should ever be recommended to buy this garbage.

We are demanding users and we KNOW BETTER. The only reason I have one of these is it was given to me for free and I can say first hand it SUCKS. Positioning is no better than any other headphones and worse than AD700!

For cans: http://www.amazon.com/Technica-ATH-AD700-Audiophile-Headphones-Neodymium/dp/B000CMS0XU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1256659459&sr=8-1
For mic: http://www.amazon.com/Zalman-Microphone-Zm-Mic1-Sensitivity-Headphone/dp/B00029MTMQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1256659484&sr=1-1

If you want to go newegg:

For cans: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826402014
For mic: Not available on newegg.

I reccomend amazon, on top of the better pricing, you also get 5$ worth of mp3 downloads, the mp3's aren't great but it's free. :)

[jhanby]

I've reported you for spamming. Please stop! Nobody should ever be recommended to buy this garbage.

We are demanding users and we KNOW BETTER. The only reason I have one of these is it was given to me for free and I can say first hand it SUCKS. Positioning is no better than any other headphones and worse than AD700!

For cans: http://www.amazon.com/Technica-ATH-AD700-Audiophile-Headphones-Neodymium/dp/B000CMS0XU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1256659459&sr=8-1
For mic: http://www.amazon.com/Zalman-Microphone-Zm-Mic1-Sensitivity-Headphone/dp/B00029MTMQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1256659484&sr=1-1

If you want to go newegg:

For cans: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826402014
For mic: Not available on newegg.

I reccomend amazon, on top of the better pricing, you also get 5$ worth of mp3 downloads, the mp3's aren't great but it's free. :)

+1 on everything.

[Massive]

Have a look at this (http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/fragtalitys-audio-technica-ad700-boom-mic-mod-446329/).

It's basically a Audio Technica AD700 (awesome audiophile headphones), with a boom mic strapped to it.

It won't have any isolation as it is an Open Headphone, but it will blow away any of the 'gaming' headphones sound quality wise.

It's also really really comfortable.

I've read a lot of user experience and most of them felt the same way abpt AD700, I haven't tried it thought.
But I'd recommend an Senn HD555 as it has balanced sound, quite good in gaming and music, but not boomy bass though.

[ghettogeddy]

plantronics gamecon 777's i love these things
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826265066

[TheGreySpectre]

Personally I prefer the Headphone desk mic combo as I find you can get better headphones.

I have a Logitech USB Mic (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16836111601) and a pair of Sennheiser HD580s, although the 580s are out of your budget. I have used the sennheiser PC166 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826106164) and they were great that is the only higher end headset I have used though.

For your budget I would probably get These (http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-HD555-HD-555-Audiophile-Headphones/dp/B0001FTVDQ/ref=pd_bxgy_e_text_b) and either the Zalman mic if you want one that attaches to your headset, or the logitech deskmic.

Regardless of what headphones you end up choosing, try to choose at set with a replaceable cord. The cord seems to always be the part of the headphones that goes bad first regardless of brand, and having a replaceable cord will save you a fair amount of money.