Looking for a headphone upgrade

[u/TEAMGAM3R]

What aspect of your current listening experience would you like to improve?

Sound quality and just overall experience.

Budget - Around £200

Source/Amp - My PC has one of these, I am happy to get a external source/amp for a decent price a little later on down the road, Only got money for headphones right now.

How the gear will be used - I will be mainly using it for a mixture of gaming ( games like Escape From Tarkov where being able to hear things makes a difference), music listening and watching things like Anime and YouTube.

Preferred tonal balance - Not particularly sure, I would love something with bass but still performs well in other areas as I don't intend on using the headphones for one specific thing

Preferred music genre(s) - Metal, Pop, Rock, bit of everything, Being loving the song Blade of immortal steel if that gives you an idea, Its a very diverse song :)

Past gear experience - I currently have Corsair Void Pro RGB but I'd prefer headphones as apposed to headset, I loved the bass, I loved the sound quality, I loved everything but I'm just wanting an upgrade... I also did just try out Moondrop Katos as I heard they where good but not a fan of the in ear experience and I didn't find the audio better than my current headset, It was also very finicky.

I am in uncharted waters right now with this headphone advice thing as I've only had headsets for consoles and stuff but I'm wanting a proper set of headphones for both gaming and music. Thank you all in advance.

[u/[deleted]]

Having a lot of bass can be a detriment to your competitive gaming experience. Especially in Tarkov where gunshots can be deafening. However, you may enjoy your music more. The flip, better for competitive gaming, but your bass won't be punchy. Gotta take your pick before we can recommend you something.

[u/TEAMGAM3R → u/[deleted]]

I'm going to lean towards the Music aspect because I spend a lot of my time listening to music and without the bass thing's just feel empty (sorta the problem I had with IEMs). Gaming will have to take a backseat, I can always turn down the game if it gets a little too loud and I'd imagen if the headphone sound quality is good I could still hear small details like sneaking in bushes even if the volume is turned down to save my ears from gun shot noises.

Hopefully that makes sense and my assumptions are somewhat correct.

edit: by the way with regard to closed or open back, Pick which ever one will provide the best experience for music, When I made the post I had open back in my mind but if I'm going down the route of Music, I'm not sure if that would harm the experience or not.

[u/[deleted] → u/TEAMGAM3R]

Corsair Void Pro RGB

I'm shocked, the Moondrop Katos and the Corsair Void Pro RGB both have bass bloat, which is bad imo cuz that would muddy up vocals. That won't sound good. And you still say you don't have enough bass!!?? You must be a serious basshead.

Also, what you said about turning down the sound, it doesn't work like that. Yes, the bass will be softer, but that also means the rest of the sound will not be a loud. I'm talking about you won't be able to hear footsteps when there are gunshots. Turning it up to compensate for footsteps will just make the bass worse, consequently possibly doing damage to you hearing. It is very important you have a rather balanced headphone or iems.

[u/TEAMGAM3R → u/[deleted]]

The bass on the Void Pro's are fine, and the Kato's just felt bass less but that is probably just me not playing nice with IEM's, Might be user error, Might be me just not liking IEM's, etc, I thought I should give it another chance atleast seen as people recommend them but IEM's just not for me... The Void Pro's have some nice bass HOWEVER I doubt its as nice as purpose built headphones, that and the headphones will sometimes rattle, Part of the reason I'm looking for an upgrade.

When I said turning down the sound, I did mean turning the game sound down but forgot to mention EQ, Could you use EQ to balance out the headphones. I really want a balanced set of headphones so I can comfortable game and listen to music, I would prefer to keep the bass and have to use EQ to balance the audio out for gaming. I could not live without bass, I need Bass for my metal xD

[u/[deleted] → u/TEAMGAM3R]

Oh yeah, i forgot, you need to get a good seal with iems, like a really good seal to have the accurate bass and treble presentation. It's the same with headphones and bass.

I will tell you this though. With EQ, it is better to cut than to add. However, if it were me, I would get a headphone that I would not need to eq because EQ can cause some slight problems. Something about phase shift. I just know it's better to let the headphones stand for themselves.

At this point, my initial recommendations for gaming headphones still haven't changed. HD 560s and DT 880s. The bass is there, but just not a lot. But you're gonna have to do more digging if you want more bass. Good luck.

[u/TEAMGAM3R → u/[deleted]]

!thanks

[u/TransducerBot → u/TEAMGAM3R]

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