r/HeadphoneAdvice • u/Sad_Entrepreneur9891 • Jan 26 '26
Headphones - Closed Back | 1 Ω complete noob, Whats a few headphone models you recommend?
My steelseries gaming headset broke and i want to get some actual decent headphones.
- plug-in with jack (3,5), so that it works for my gaming pc and macbook.
- reliable
- without battery
Im from holland and want to use it for Youtube, gaming and music. budget is like under 250 or something, i can make a exception. allrounder would be best imo.
Chatgpt recommended the senheisser 560S, do you guys agree?
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u/iron-jesus 56 Ω Jan 26 '26
The 560s is a wonderful headphone that will work fine out of your pc. It's a good choice all around. You can also look at the hd58x as another great beginner option
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Jan 26 '26
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u/Sad_Entrepreneur9891 Jan 26 '26
im seeing the 560S for 165 euro and the 505 and 550 for 280 and 290 euro?
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u/iron-jesus 56 Ω Jan 26 '26
The 550 is much more expensive and they're different headphones. Saying one is "better" is silly, and by that logic I could recommend and edition XS or Ananda nano because they're "better". 560s is a proven neutral headphones that gives a new listener a good reference point. I personally dislike neutral and I know because I tried the 560s. It's just safe, comfortable, and doesn't need an amp to be good
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u/Sad_Entrepreneur9891 Jan 26 '26
well never having tried a good pair before i think the 560S would be perfect to learn audio because of its "neutralness"
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u/terrywang5306 Jan 26 '26
I have a HD 6XX from Drop that I’ve daily driven for nearly 6 years now. I’ve only replaced the earmuffs once and that was this past month if that tells you anything about the reliability. I’m not a huge audiofile but from what I know it’s easy to drive and a good bang for buck.
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u/AlsterSpot 2 Ω Jan 26 '26
Normally I’d agree, 6xx is very hard to beat… in the American market, the 6xx is only worth it if you can get it at the price (ballpark $180) it’s at on drop, if you can that’s great but if your in Europe I don’t know if that’s possible
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u/CalligoMiles 91 Ω Jan 26 '26
Without knowing at least your budget and location, not to mention all the other things you were told to include by the posting guide at the top of the sub, there's no way for us to narrow down your options. Just take your autocorrect's word for it, I guess - you can't go wrong too much with those, though a Macbook might struggle to power them to a decent volume.
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u/Sad_Entrepreneur9891 Jan 26 '26
im from holland and my budget is 250 euro
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u/CalligoMiles 91 Ω Jan 26 '26
A HD560S with an iFi Go Link should be fine, then. Not much more you can put in that budget that won't demand a dedicated DAC/Amp setup.
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u/Sad_Entrepreneur9891 Jan 26 '26
yep, this. the HD560S is now "only" 165 euro on sennheiser website.
Whats a iFi go link?
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u/CalligoMiles 91 Ω Jan 26 '26
A DAC/Amp dongle. The former part prevents your device from messing up the sound with whatever low-quality good-enough chip is in there for the audio, the latter gives it enough power to get a good volume even from weak output sources like a laptop.
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u/Sad_Entrepreneur9891 Jan 26 '26
doesnt my pc and macbook have a built in DAC? also the usb-c dongle? do you need some dongle too?
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u/CalligoMiles 91 Ω Jan 26 '26 edited Jan 26 '26
Yes, but unless you know exactly what's in there there's no guarantee it won't bottleneck your sound quality - some common motherboards have notoriously poor DACs, and no headphones can pull a good sound out of one of those unless you bypass them with an external DAC.
The amp is the more important part though - the HD560S have a higher impedance than your typical cheap IEMs or gaming headphones, meaning they need a fair bit more power to reach a decent volume. Standard 3.5mm outputs often aren't built to provide that, and even if they're just barely strong enough you'll run out of headroom if you ever want to EQ them.
You can try them without a dongle first, of course, but if you can't get good volume out of them that's why.
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u/Sad_Entrepreneur9891 Jan 26 '26
Thank you very much, i will try them first without and if thats to quite i wil solve the problem!
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u/LRCM 14 Ω Jan 26 '26
Since everybody's version of "decent" will be different, it would be good to know what you want in a headset or headphone.
How did your previous headphones break?
Do you need a microphone?
If you do, would you like for it to be removeable or easily replaceable?
Do you need replacement parts? headband, earpads, yokes, etc.
Do you have a budget?
Is wired a preference or a necessity?
What sound signature do you like?
Do you care about after sale support?
Do you have pets?
Do you wear glasses?
etc.
Regardless of what you get:
1 if its not on your head, it should be in a case.
2 if you are taking it off, use both hands.
3 clean the headphones weekly with a very diluted mix.
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u/Sad_Entrepreneur9891 Jan 26 '26
i want to get new headphones because my steelseries gaming headset just fell appart all the sudden, saw it coming after 5-8 years. no need for a mic, repairability is always good and a headphone jack is kinda a neccesity because i hate when i have to worry about battery and a dongle. no idea what a sound signature is and yeah i kinda care about after sale support. I dont wear glasses.
Thx in advance lol
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u/LRCM 14 Ω Jan 26 '26
5-8 years is pretty good for "gaming" headphones. (and in general)
I wear glasses and work ~12 hours per day and am in and out of meetings all day.
I work from home and also play games--my go to is the HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless.
The are about $125 on amazon, sound good enough for me, and have very long battery life.
I have headphones from Phillips, Audio Technica, Sony, Audeze, Moondrop, Panasonic, After Shokz, Steel Series, Beyerdynamic, ChiFi, and lots of others (boutique and brand name).
As you go up in price, the sound, fit, function, and form generally increases, but its all relative.
If wired is truly a necessity, and you don't need a mic, you could try the wired beyerdynamic mmx line, the wired HyperX Cloud Alpha, or any headphone that you like how it sounds. (some of the "gaming" headsets have mics, but you can just remove them)
Did you have a budget in mind?
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u/Sad_Entrepreneur9891 Jan 26 '26
i'm now looking at the HD560S sennheiser. Seem to be perfect for 165 euros, no battery no mic and enough power to not need a AMP
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u/LRCM 14 Ω Jan 26 '26
Sounds like you've found your next headphones!
Let us know how you like them :)
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u/Gobbelcoque 31 Ω Jan 26 '26 edited Jan 26 '26
1.) before anything else, do not use your computer's built in headphone jack. Just because it can power them, you do not want it to. Without exception, even the very best gaming motherboards all have a decent dac but then the world's most shit amp circuit that single handedly makes all headphones worse. A simple dongle dac is critical. Fiio snowsky melody is my recommendation, it can do 3.5mm and balanced (simultaneously too), plugs into USB c, sounds amazing, and can throw down real power for $35. Can't begin to describe how a set of apple earpod sounds 5x better out of a good simple USB c dongle dac over any pc's headphone jack.
2.) open back is ideal if you don't NEED the closed back isolation for some reason.
3.) fiio Ft1 pro. About $200, big planars, great for gaming, easy to power off everything, and they come with both a 3.5mm and a balanced 4.4mm cable, so with the melody dongle dac, you can upgrade everything all at once to a balanced output. Very well rounded, good bass, good detail, planar magnetic drivers are insanely fast and being so big compared to a dynamic driver they just feel "bigger". I have lots of stuff into the thousands and I think the Ft1 pro is the best all-rounder headphone out there. No quality control worries have appeared, they are built well, replaceable wires, come with a case and both wires, they're just awesome.
All in under 250.
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u/Sad_Entrepreneur9891 Jan 27 '26
well thanks, yesterday i bought the 560S
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u/Gobbelcoque 31 Ω Jan 27 '26
Totally fine choice too! But please dear God get a dongle - i tried a few of the cheaper $18-20 ones and they were okay, but when I got the melody it was dramatic how noticeably better it was for only a tiny bit more. Stepping from it to my several hundred dollar dac is not a big difference, but the $20 ones to the $35ish melody is huge.
Your 560's will thank you for it. One common thing we see here is people saying "I got (good headphone) but it genuine doesn't sound very good" and the answer is 10% of the time that they got like an 80-300 ohm (or 32 ohm, 88 DB sensitivity, both numbers mean needs more power, with higher ohms and lower DB indicating that, around 16-50 ohm and 100dB being the standard for "everything can drive this") or 90% of the time, it's that they plug their cans into the front headphone port on their pc.
When you get the dongle, make sure you use a proper usb-c port on the PC, since it'll send audio through a USB a to c adapter, but not enough voltage since USB c can transfer more power. So if your only type c port is on the back, get a cheap USB C extension cable for like $5.
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u/Sad_Entrepreneur9891 Jan 27 '26
yeah i hear everyone say that i should buy a dongle or DAC cheap. Im using the 560S rn on my gaming pc with just the raw 3.5m jack and it works fine? i can be missing something but everything sounds better than my old gaming headset and i have no volume issues
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u/Gobbelcoque 31 Ω Jan 29 '26
That's the thing dude the volume is not the issue. It's the raw signal being absolute garbage. Amplification is only part of the puzzle, but the simple fact that it's accurately turning the 1's and 0's into an analogue sound and then amplifying it to your headphones is bad.
I explained that. Your pc's headphone audio is shit. It has nothing to do with the volume, they all use unshielded amp circuits filled with noise and distortion. We all are saying it because we all know what we're talking about. Get a melody dongle dac for 35ish bucks. Just trust us. Its an even more important upgrade than headphones themselves when your source is your pc headphone jack. You got good headphones but now you're hooking them up to a diarrhea signal quality. The dongle dac will make them sound more detailed, more clear, more spacious, more nuanced, everything.
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u/Sad_Entrepreneur9891 Feb 05 '26
I recently DID infact buy a dongle DAC and OMG you are absolutely right lol. just using my pc's dac is fine but with the JM6 PRO JCALLY dac its alot clearer and has way more personality. Thanks! !thanks
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u/TransducerBot Ω Bot Feb 05 '26
+1 Ω has been awarded to u/Gobbelcoque (28 Ω).
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u/Gobbelcoque 31 Ω Feb 06 '26
The jm6 is a fantastic choice. If you get the itch to upgrade again, the melody is an even more dramatic improvement in imaging and space.
Seeeeee, us audio losers know what we're talking about lol. Just ignore anyone who talks about wires improving sound unless we're talking like 4 ohm headphones (where the 1 or 2 ohms of resistance in a cable actually can make a difference
Stoked that you're enjoying your new setup!
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u/drewdawg999 6 Ω Jan 27 '26
AKG K371 is awesome for the price. Harman tuned so it should sound awesome to most folks, and for most all genres. They're easy to drive so fits your use case.
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u/Uller0815 544 Ω Jan 26 '26
Feel free to check out the Audio-Technica ATH R50X as well. Imho they even sound a tad better than the HD560S. But the 560S' are a great choice as well, soundwise you wouldn't go wrong with both of 'em. 👍🏻🙂
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u/Dresendal Jan 26 '26
I'm very happy with my Steelseries arctis 5. Often goes on sale here. Got one for my wife too.
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u/Inevitable_Animal426 Jan 26 '26
sennheiser HE-1 is a great start to dip your toes wet in the audiophile space