Headset Suggestions?

[VaeVictis]

My headphones are awesome... but unfortunately do not have a mic and laptop mics pull to much background and feedback like a mother fucker >_<

price is no object, i just need something that will last and honestly... sound technology is NOT something i am very experienced in

prefer a detachable mic, because that shit is kinda annoying, but i know it isn't always possible

i'd like to see what you guys all suggest, pros/cons and discussion would be great if there is a pretty varied opinion

[|iR|Focalor]

My headphones are awesome... but unfortunately do not have a mic and laptop mics pull to much background and feedback like a mother fucker >_<

price is no object, i just need something that will last and honestly... sound technology is NOT something i am very experienced in

prefer a detachable mic, because that shit is kinda annoying, but i know it isn't always possible

i'd like to see what you guys all suggest, pros/cons and discussion would be great if there is a pretty varied opinion

I'm pretty critical of headphones, and I use them quite a bit. I demand a better than average frequency response from a set of headphones since I basically use them as studio monitors for hearing things when I record music as well as everyday guitar playing. I never play my guitar amp through a speaker cabinet anymore because I don't wanna annoy my neighbors unnecessarily, plus I've come to like having the sound closer to my eardrum so I can hear it clearer. If you read the bottom of the box on most headphones, they will list things like driver size and type, frequency response, and sensitivity. As far as driver size and type, the BEST headphones have some type of actual paper/fabric CONE driver just like the speakers in a car. They are true speakers and will usually reproduce sound the best. However, they're getting to be nearly impossible to find in your average retail store anymore. They used to be quite common even at places like Walmart or Target, but these days you have to make a special trip to a pro-audio music store like Guitar Center to find a pair of good quality fabric cone headphones. As far as frequency response, that's usually determined by the driver type and driver size, but what you'll wanna look for in the specifications on the bottom of the box is the set of headphones with the HIGHEST frequency response. The higher the frequency response, the more accurately the drivers will reproduce the sound signal running through them and the less likely they will be to overdrive the drivers and produce distortion in the sound when playing them at very loud volumes. Sensitivity, as far as I know, is the lowest signal level at which the drivers will respond. This can sometimes be useful to look at if you're using the headphones for studio purposes, but everyday average users won't need to worry about it when picking out headphones.

A friend of mine got me a pair of these Soundblaster Tactic3D Alpha headphones as a birthday gift last month. They aren't top of the line really, but they get the job done I guess. They are the over-the-ear enclosure type headphones, the only kind ever worth owning in my opinion. They have fully enclosed ear cup, meaning there is no negative pressure vents on the sides of the cups, so all the low thumping bass frequencies come completely to your ear rather than getting lost out of the back of the cup. Personally, I'm not too fond of that, because these headphones are a little too heavy with the bass for my tastes. Sure, you can download the drivers for the EQ control panel and tweak up a custom EQ setting and cut some of the bass out, but these particular headphones still don't sound quite as pro as I like. Mainly that's because they feature one of those magnet drivers with a coil wire around it stuck to a plastic diaphragm, NOT a paper fabric cone. So no, they don't sound as totally awesome as they COULD.

However, you might wanna check the Soundblaster line of headphones out anyway. Maybe these cheaper models would float your boat perfectly if you aren't as picky as me, and if you are, they seem to offer several other more improved versions of the Tactic3D headsets for a little more money. They actually have some pretty cool features perfect for gaming. First and foremost, the mic is attached to a bendy rod so you move it in several positions. If you don't wanna use the mic, it detaches from the ear cup by way of a regular old 1/4 inch jack plug. They seem to be pretty sturdy and comfortable, the cups individually rotate for the best fit and they've got a nice thick foam pad under the headband. The cord has its own little volume wheel on it as well as a slider to mute the mic. The cable splits off into a Y for both the mic and headphones in case you wanna plug them directly into you desktop speakers, but ideally you wanna use the special USB adapter so that you can take advantage of the EQ abilities. The control panel also has a few vocal effects you can use so that other people can hear you sounding like anything other than yourself. Some of the cooler presets were the dwarf, child and ogre settings. I sat here for probably 40 minutes one day after I got to fucking around with it laughing my ass off at all the cool sounds.

But I really don't use them that much. I still stick to my old shitty falling apart Audio-Technica's. I don't even fucking know what model these are anymore, the printing on the sides has long been scratched off by probably 10 years of heavy use and abuse. They still sound good though. They look like washed dogshit baked onto the driveway in the summer sun. All the vinyl on the foam padding around the ears has deteriorated and shredded off leaving nothing but naked foam, lol. The cord barely flexes anymore, its all stiff where it's been resting against my neck and chest while I've been cutting grass in them for hours on end. I guess the insulation on the cord has absorbed sweat and gone fuckin stiff. Can't bring myself to throw them out though, I love em too much.

[VaeVictis]

i use these right now

very good headphones... but no mic

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826262102

[haunted]

over-ear bose + mic.

[Barton]

In-ear bose. It's the pair that you can use with your mp3 player or smartphone. I use a table mic since I don't like mics attached to my headsets.

[haunted]

There's people that hate on bose (lacking certain extremes of high and low frequency that say, a polk audio isonic hd2 radio[comparable to the bose wave radio yet cheaper] has and bose products do not).

I own bose, polk audio, and digital design products. Bose sounds the most natural, and as a guitarist it replicates classic fender and marshal sound the best.. although over-ear digital designs are extremely nice as well.

Over ear(bose engineers the waves to bounce off the walls properly and mesh at the appropriate places) makes a difference, I would assume in the surround sound category. I'm not sure how much that'd assist with q2 though, perhaps a little. It would probably depend on the player too, I feel that it helps me some.

[fdrjk]

any headphones will do for me really.

obsessing over sound kinda sucks the fun out of listening to music

[haunted]

holy shit, dude. you couldn't be more wrong imo. When I went shopping for my bose headphones, I brought an mp3 player with me and I remember playing "Van Halen - Hot for teacher" in this certain pair and I knew that they were the ones that I wanted. It was like Eddie was playing beside me.. and that is a relatively older song nowadays.

If the music you listen to doesn't raise your gratification with sound quality, then something is seriously wrong with the music. I'd lean more so towards you not experiencing this difference, though.

[haunted]

Saying it was an older song was a reference to advancements in technology with recording.

[fdrjk]

uhh.. of course i appreciate sound quality. i just like not OBSESSING over it. i mean i wouldnt buy cheap ass 5$ headphones, rofl. i just find constantly testing sound quality to a song so i think its ABSOLUTELY perfect kinda ruins the song for me.

[haunted]

It's because you don't know LIL BUDAE..

There's a monumental difference between $50 headphones(sony, jbl, altec lansing or whatever) and actual quality ones, even. The premier headphones of x company will likely be good though... it's just the 3 I mentioned are all killer.

If you're into music like you say then you'll eventually come around to what I'm saying.

[fdrjk]

cant wait to enjoy this delicious feedback when i get those headphones bro

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[Whirlingdervish]

sennheiser pc350

over the ear cuffs.. good mic, great sound, comfy to wear.

[|iR|Focalor]

Over ear(bose engineers the waves to bounce off the walls properly and mesh at the appropriate places) makes a difference, I would assume in the surround sound category. I'm not sure how much that'd assist with q2 though, perhaps a little. It would probably depend on the player too, I feel that it helps me some.

If you're referring to artificial surround sound replicated in a pair of headphones by way of some switch on the device or an EQ program, that is HORRIBLE for gaming. It doesn't matter how great the headphones are made, you've only got 2 speakers producing the sound, one in each ear cup. When you're playing a game, it's programmed to distribute the sound in either the left channel or the right channel at a volume in each channel which is determined by the point of origin of that sound. Those "surround sound" emulators will often take a mirror image of the signal, flip it left to right and right to left, and stagger it by a 10th of a second in order to artificially make the sound more lush. This totally ruins your ability to accurately perceive the point of origin for the sound.

In fact, there really aren't ANY useful applications for surround sound emulation in my opinion. It's nothing more than audio clusterfuckery that's only included with products to trick the naive into buying it. It sounds like TOTAL SHIT! The only time surround sound sounds decent is when the media playing it is INTENDED to be distributed to more than the standard 2 speaker configuration, such as 5.1 like most concert DVD's are these days.

[haunted]

Lol no, bose doesn't even make headphones like that. I am talking about PHYSICALLY engineering it for a surround sound effect, as in perfecting it to that extent in regard to the direction sound waves take and ricochet in the inner parts of the over-ear headphones to the typical ear, as well as the air movement/circulation in the headphones(yes, this shit does matter..although I assume you'd know). One of the goals of doing so is to emulate the surround sound effect that you'd expect from a bose 5.1 system rigged up to a wave radio, as an example. This is a goal of most premier headphones, bose does it the best imo.