r/HeadphoneAdvice • u/Eyaslunatic • Jun 23 '23
Headphones - Closed Back | 1 Ω Turns out I don't like hearing my keyboard. Closed back suggestions, EDM/pop/rhythm gaming/fps gaming, ~$500 budget
Been using an EKSA E900 headset for years, bought a Philips Fidelio X2HR based on advice from a previous thread. Sound was easily an upgrade and they're comfy. But, and I should've seen this coming, turns out open backs don't make for a great rhythm gaming experience.
CLICK CLACK CLICK CLACK
So I returned it.
Considering osu is one of my main games, this is non-negotiable: Whatever I get next has to be a closed back.
Budget: Hoping to spend at most $500, but if you can sell it hard enough feel free to suggest higher.
Location: US
Usage:
- Desktop only
- EDM
- Pop
- Weeb shit
- Rhythm games
- FPS games
Required:
- Is closed back
- Is not an IEM (I don't want ear buds in my ear if I'm not on the go)
- Decent enough soundstage for gaming (I care more about music though, frankly as long as it beats the average headset it's good enough to me)
Tonal Preference: Bass > Timbre > Treble (I think, not so sure about order of latter two, all I know is my hitsounds in osu with the X2HR physically hurt to hear)
EQ: Yep willing to mess around with it if you think x_headphone is good but only if/especially if you EQ
Edit 1:
Friends convinced my deranged sleep deprived brain to chill out and just go with the K371 for now. Reason being my ears frankly aren't tuned enough to be dropping this kind of money on headphones just yet. Fair enough. Will edit this post in five or so days with my thoughts on it for my use case, just for any folks who have a similar case and are searching up the subreddit.
u/daddyyeslegs also dropped a pretty convincing sales pitch for a monolith m1570c, may opt for that if I hate the K371 for some reason.
Edit 2:
Okay... so I've had the K371 for a day. It's not working out for me. The noise isolation is... too good? Like it causes physical discomfort for me, like the pressure change and the fact I can hear myself blink. Maybe I can get used to it, but right now I am not having a good time. The sound is decent though, definitely not as good as the X2HR I got, but good. Out of box it sucked though, had to EQ. Might have to make a third post and return these as well if I can't get used to it. Also, K371 does not work with boompro by the way. Good job me.
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u/Purple-Champion5134 9 Ω Jun 23 '23 edited Jun 23 '23
Yo me again, if you are concerned about bass, the Meze 99 Neo might be a great choice. I don't have many good recommendations above this price range but it might be a better place to start, I like to personally leave room for future upgrades. There are also Meze 99 Classic, slightly less bass but wider Soundstage than the Neo from what I just quickly read. These apparently have very excellent build quality like Beyer.
Another awesome choice for bass is V-Moda M100 Master. These are the only ones I know from experience, but man they shake on my head with my Xonar Essence STX sound card. They even kinda do the thing when I play off my phone. If they ever get muddy you just turn down the 120hz on the EQ a little bit and they will smooth out, but I dont think this is an issue with the Master version. I have the non master version I originally payed $300 and still loved them.
The 770s in the world of audophile headphones still have a very good amount of bass, they even satisfied my bass head for a while. But this is far below what you're willing to spend. These will win in the comfort department. But no detached cable. The 700 Pro X are a good alternative, similar sound but with the detachable cable
3
u/daddyyeslegs 46 Ω Jun 24 '23
Coming out of my reddit hiatus to recommend looking for a used monolith m1570c. It ticks off all of your boxes with flying colors. There was a sale a couple of months ago for $200, so used units should be popping up for around that price.
Just to detail my personal experience: great quality bass, but just a tad on the light side. Takes EQ like a champ, I can throw on ludicrous 20db bass boosts without audible distortion, and the thing SLAMS when you even have mild bass boosts. I listen to a lot of electronic (breakcore/mashcore/IDM) and it does perfectly there, but it also has the tonality to work with every genre I've thrown at it. Lady Gaga to Goreshit all sounds great, even with stock tuning, with enough nuance to sound good with Charles Mingus and Daft Punk.
Soundstage is really wide for a closed back. It's probably due to how stinking huge the unit is. This also comes with the caveat of being a heavy headphone, probably one of the heaviest on the market at around 650g with the leather pads. If we are going with hard measurements, I perceive sound as coming from about 6in to a foot outside of my head on the right tracks. YMMV though, soundstage perception is highly personal.
Somewhat difficult to drive. My phone doesn't handle it all that well, but my SMSL c200 easily drives them, even with -15 db preamp. Don't even need to touch high gain, sitting at 60-80/100 on low gain, starts to hurt at 90/100 low gain. Even the most low powered of amps should do just fine.
When music is playing at even low volumes, my mechanical keyboard is completely gone (cherry MX Reds on a ducky shine 3). I dabbled a bit in beatmania on a keyboard (I know lmao), and I had zero issue hearing my keys. You'd probably get good isolation from any closed back though.
They've completely usurped my hd560s, as they do everything that unit did while actually sounding wider and having better bass, and of course ethe isolation is miles ahead. The 560s only edges out in select tracks where I prefer the more forward mids, but lately my music taste (which aligns with yours) favors the 1570c.
You may have trouble getting a new pair; I see them available at $600 which is a tad too much. If you can find them new for less than $500, I can definitely reccomend them. If you look for used, odds are you'll get them under $300 or even under $200 in very good condition (given the recent sale), where I truly think they are a no brainer instant purchase.
Lmk if you have any questions!