Best Headphones for the Rfit?

[LikeMike]

Hey guys,

I am eagerly awaiting my dev kit... But since it doesn't come with headphones I guess i should seriously consider buying one (since speakers don't "move" with you).

Do you have any suggestions? I guess good surround sound is a must - is the virtual surround sound ok, or are the ones with multiple speakers way better? What about wireless? How much do you have to spend to get a good one? And which company?

Thanks for your suggestions?

Mike

[virror]

Im also curious about mow much a 5.1 headset adds compared to a normal stereo one?

[Delryn]

Since the Rift dev kit has a wire, and you want to avoid accidentally strangling yourself, I recommend wireless 5.1 if you can afford it. My g930 logitech perform very well.

[German]

Use wired headphones if possible. Wireless headphones don't have even close to the frequency response of high impedance wired headphones. I personally use Sennheiser HD580s and a headphone amp. The wire will also act as a tether when you're lost in VR. You don't want to end up like:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWFhXSu5XBs[/youtube]

[Mart]

I purchased the Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro (80ohm version) purely because they're rated as the best headphones for gaming (without spending silly amounts of money). They're not surround headphones, but the sense of direction they give is excellent.

They sound great out of the box but even better with a headphone amp. I find the midrange to be far too high for my ears though - I use an EQ to turn down the 500hz-4Khz range substantially. But you can't beat the bass response and high-end detail. It really does make you appreciate all the effort they put into sound for games.

They are "closed" headphones so they block out outside noise - obviously a big plus with the Rift. They're also very comfy - I wear them all day at work for music too.

[Paladia]

They are "closed" headphones so they block out outside noise - obviously a big plus with the Rift.

I'm not so sure about that. I for one want to be able to hear if something happens in real life, as shutting out both your vision and hearing can be quite the security risk if there is for example a fire or a forced entry.

For some it may be ideal but to be safe I'd rather be able to hear if there is something making a noise in real life.

[Delryn]

Use wired headphones if possible. Wireless headphones don't have even close to the frequency response of high impedance wired headphones. I personally use Sennheiser HD580s and a headphone amp. The wire will also act as a tether when you're lost in VR.

Being wireless has no effect on frequency response. Also this:

Frequency response : Frequency-response specifications in full-size loudspeakers are generally pretty useless in predicting sound quality, but headphone frequency-response numbers are even worse. Manufacturers have routinely exaggerated frequency-response figures to the point that they're irrelevant. Even the flimsiest, cheap headphones routinely boast extremely low bass-response performance --15Hz or 20Hz -- but almost always sound lightweight and bright. Generally, bass buffs will be happier sticking with larger 'phones.

Wired headphones will be cheaper, but I hate wires. I try to keep everything wireless.

[STRZ]

The problem with wireless is that you won't get as much fidelity as with wired headphones for the same price, and nothing which would deserve to be called hi fidelity.

If you want the best price/performance ratio from a neutrality/hi-fi point of view and spend as less as possible, go with one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/Superlux-681-Dyna ... perlux+681

[Naru]

I just started playing around with the wifi sound streaming apps on Android. I can now put my phone in my pocket with my headphones connected and listen to my pc. Downside is that there is lag, you have to drop the quality down a lot to get near real time sound, and also that it's over wifi. I'm mentioning this because sound streaming to a phone is a relatively trivial thing, yet nobody has ever done it right. Give me a few free weekends and I would do it myself. Also I just bought some razer headphones, not the best but way better than what I used to have.

[German]

Being wireless has no effect on frequency response. Also this:

You're wrong, the bandwidth for wireless is much lower than wired. Here's an independently measured graph between wired and wireless headphones of the same manufacturer. Note the ends of the spectrum on the wireless headphones(red line).

Sennheiser HD555(wired) vs RS 130(wireless)

[spire8989]

Being wireless has no effect on frequency response. Also this:

You're wrong, the bandwidth for wireless is much lower than wired. Here's an independently measured graph between wired and wireless headphones of the same manufacturer. Note the ends of the spectrum on the wireless headphones(red line).

Sennheiser HD555(wired) vs RS 130(wireless)

I have a Sennheiser Wired Gaming Headset (PC 350). And I have a wireless Logitech G930. Both about the same price. I'd say the sound quality on the wireless headset exceeds the Sennheiser, especially for gaming.

[Delryn]

You're wrong, the bandwidth for wireless is much lower than wired. Here's an independently measured graph between wired and wireless headphones of the same manufacturer. Note the ends of the spectrum on the wireless headphones(red line).

Sennheiser HD555(wired) vs RS 130(wireless)

That's a logarithmic scale. The difference there is the wired phones going 20-30hz lower than the wireless. That's a 0.2% difference. If you're going to be mixing audio professionally, then yes get wired. Otherwise you are exaggerating the difference. Try it yourself.

[Direlight]

Bluetooth 4.0 has increased bandwidth and compatibility.

[cybereality]

I'm using the Corsair Vengeance 1500 wired headphones ( http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Vengeance ... B005QUQP7G ), and I think they are OK. They claim "7.1 surround sound" but its that simulated crap and doesn't sound as good as a real surround setup. Not a huge amount of bass, but more than standard stereo headphones. The mic is also good. Overall not a bad buy, but I will probably be exploring other options to see if there is something better.

Previously I was using the Psyko Carbon 5.1 headphones (which I paid $200 for). They had great 3D positional sound, due to the 5 speakers and 2 sub-woofers included in the headset (real surround). However the overall sound quality was lacking and everything had a hallow/tinny type of sound. Great bass, though, and an interesting kit overall. Ended up selling them though.

A friend of mine swears by the Astro gaming headsets, but they are really expensive ($200-300) and I can't see myself spending that much on headphones.

[SartreFan]

I second the Logitech G930 wireless. Good sound and pretty good surround sound, built in mic, good battery life, good clean bass

[hughJ]

Best headphones would be some flat/neutral, open-backed, large driver headphones from a decent hi-fi headphone manufacturer. Flat response and big sound stage would be the most important qualities. Closed-back headphones tend to sound a lot less natural, while open tends to have a more airy, speaker-like sound to them. Honestly though, getting a decent sound pairing with the Rift is really going to be up to the developers caring as much about accurate sound reproduction as they do visuals. Most games don't even bother with the most basic things like occlusion (ie. you hear directional sound through solid brick walls), and the most perfect headphones in the world aren't going to suddenly enable games to do proper path tracing for sound occlusion, reverb, etc.

[PalmerTech]

I have a G930, it is okay. Good for keeping cables to a minimum, but they a pretty bass heavy.

If you want open headphones so you can hear things going on around you, it is hard to beat the AudioTechnica AD700s for the price. They have great sound quality, are pretty easy to drive without an amp, and have a great soundstage. I used them for years, and still use them from time to time.

If budget is no concern, you should look into Sennheiser HD800s. Best sound quality on the market, and best soundstage on the market. I only slightly regret spending $1500 on them.

[hughJ]

If budget is no concern, you should look into Sennheiser HD800s. Best sound quality on the market, and best soundstage on the market. I only slightly regret spending $1500 on them.

I suppose there's always worse things one can blow money on. That's what I tell myself anyways every time I end up buying a new pair.

[LikeMike]

Thanks for the tipps - I keep seeing the G930 coming up. Is it important, that it only has virtual surround?

@Palmer

Since you probably have the most experience with the Rift: would you suggest headphones with surround sound (virtual or "real") -I think the AudioTechnica AD700s don`t have surround, so I guess you`d say stereo is enough, right? Oh and yeah... 1.500$ is a bit expensive for me... I was more looking at the 100-200$ market. Since you also mentioned the G930 - is your "it is ok" meaning: "you could do worse, but they`ll do" - or: "for that price they are really good wireless headphones, if you can live with it being a bit bass heavy"?

[STRZ]

If budget is no concern, you should look into Sennheiser HD800s. Best sound quality on the market, and best soundstage on the market. I only slightly regret spending $1500 on them.

Have you tried highend inears? Im mean you're alot on the road..

When you're the next time in Cologne at the Gamescom, you could check out this custom inears company located there http://www.compact-monitors.de/cms_e/

The Stage 4 is freakin amazing if you're after neutral sound with ultra high detail. A true professional product.

[cybereality]

I think if you really want an immersive 3D sound experience, you need to get a true 5.1+ headset, not this simulated stuff. Although some headsets are obviously better than others, I find the true surround sound ones have much better situational awareness. I remember when I used to game with an old Turtle Beach 5.1 set and people would claim I was hacking because the dimensionality of the sound was so good (unfortunately the head-phones were uncomfortable and broke after a few months). My next pair of headphones I think will be true 5.1.

[hughJ]

Thanks for the tipps - I keep seeing the G930 coming up. Is it important, that it only has virtual surround?

@Palmer

Since you probably have the most experience with the Rift: would you suggest headphones with surround sound (virtual or "real") -I think the AudioTechnica AD700s don`t have surround, so I guess you`d say stereo is enough, right? Oh and yeah... 1.500$ is a bit expensive for me... I was more looking at the 100-200$ market. Since you also mentioned the G930 - is your "it is ok" meaning: "you could do worse, but they`ll do" - or: "for that price they are really good wireless headphones, if you can live with it being a bit bass heavy"?

Surround sound headphones are a gimmick. The reason why your brain is able to differentiate between front/back/up/down with only stereo input is the way in which the sound is subtly influenced by the shape and size of your head and ears, and multi-driver surround sound headphones aren't going to deliver those subtle cues with a bunch of small drivers piled up inside a small traditional headphone enclosure sitting right on top of your ear.

Buy a proper pair of headphones like the audiotechs (ad700 or ad900) that Palmer suggested, or perhaps Beyer's DT990s, or something from Sennheiser's HD5xx, or 6xx lines.

[spire8989]

I've been banned from dozens of servers on CS regardless of what headset I'm using. Pub-kids still use speakers is all. Was also a cevo-p and cal-i player for a while though.

Really, almost any decently rated $100-$200 headset will be great for gaming imo. If you really want wireless then I recommend the G930 but Sennheiser headphones are really nice if you're okay with some wires. I like that I can keep my G930 on and run to the bathroom or downstairs to grab a drink while still being able to hear the next round starting in CS or something - as well as voice chat (although it can get awkward when you have it voice-activated and you go to the bathroom)...

Man, I got off-topic.

[STRZ]

Don't buy a gaming headset, they're not as good quality as normal headphones, even the Beyer MMX 300 is at a quality level of 150$ Beyer headphones like DT770 and costs double the price. Get decent headphones and add something like a modmic to it. You can easily remove the mic if not needed and/or swap between different headphones if you upgrade.

[youtube-hd]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ic4fSzXToSs[/youtube-hd]

[spire8989]

Don't buy a gaming headset, they're not as good quality as normal headphones, even the Beyer MMX 300 is at a quality level of 150$ Beyer headphones like DT770 and costs double the price. Get decent headphones and add something like a modmic to it. You can easily remove the mic if not needed and/or swap between different headphones if you upgrade.

That's a pretty broad generalization. I think it depends on the company manufacturing it. I actually returned my Sennheiser HD600's because I thought my Sennheiser PC350 gaming headset sounded just as good. And it picks up light noises like footsteps much better. Maybe I just have a hearing issue or something though xD

I've heard decent things about TT eSports headphones too, but that's mostly in the competitive gaming circle.

[STRZ]

That's a pretty broad generalization. I think it depends on the company manufacturing it. I actually returned my Sennheiser HD600's because I thought my Sennheiser PC350 gaming headset sounded just as good. And it picks up light noises like footsteps much better. Maybe I just have a hearing issue or something though xD

I've heard decent things about TT eSports headphones too, but that's mostly in the competitive gaming circle.

You're right, you should choose what fits your taste, and this will everytime be related to your recordings and sound sources, your listening habits. It's a subjective thing. But i don't know of any gamer headset which is neutral, that's the quality criteria for me as for other audio enthusiasts. I forget this often when i'm not discussing with audio enthusiasts, because when you're really into hifi and the quality of devices, it comes down to neutrality/frequency response, that's the only way to measure the quality objectively. As an audiophile you want to hear how it's meant by the mixing engineer, neutrality enables you to do so because everything on the soundstage is where it belongs (if the mixing engineer has skill ). Another big part is tonality of instruments, with good headphones you can even identify the manufacturer of a certain instrument. The device ideally shouldn't fake what's on the recording, if you want to change stuff, you can do it with equalizing or adding sounded gear to your setup. It's easier to equalize having a neutral setup, much easier.

[mindw0rk]

I have Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro paired with Asus Essence One and they are amazing. So comfortable you dont even feel like wearing anything (which is very important for long hour gaming). You just swim in crystal clear sound all around you.

You cant go wrong with Beyerdynamic. And avoid wireless headphones like plague

[Paladia]

I think if you really want an immersive 3D sound experience, you need to get a true 5.1+ headset, not this simulated stuff.

I had a true 5.1 headset, however, it was such a pain to get it to work properly for every game that I ended up never using it in favor of a much cheaper "gaming" headset. Things may be better now as this was some years back but since I play a lot of older games as well as use various sources that doesn't support 5.1 (Youtube, Spotify and so on). I'd rather just use headphones made for stereo.

[Parity]

I think if you really want an immersive 3D sound experience, you need to get a true 5.1+ headset, not this simulated stuff.

No offence, but this is just wrong. Actually immersion is better with high quality 2.0 headphones and the "simulated stuff" as you call it.
Reason is that you only have two eardrums to receive the sound, so best resoults with one sound source per ear. Pinna has no effect at this very close range.

Sound has to be generated/modified in the correct way, as the shape of our head and pinna would do it. There are ways to do that like Dolby Headphones or CMSS-3D.

If done correctly results can be amazing, maybe you want to try this (ONLY WITH HEADPHONES, no efffect with speakers ofc:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKdDA_jhgX8[/youtube]

[mindw0rk]

Thanks for sharing, Parity. Very cool. That guy was walking and speaking all around me

[pilzbefall]

no need for 5.1 headphones if you have good hifi-headphones. I like sennheiser´s for their neutral and flat frequency response, for example my good old HD580 but also my new orthodynamics fostex t50rp. After a little bit modding (damping) they´re great.

With creative´s x-fi 3D modus (cmss2) or asus xonar dolby headphone technology you have perfect 3d-sound positioning. A mic you can adapt with hot glue and recabling for 3 or 4 dollars.

[cybereality]

@Parity: Yes, I know about binaural beats and have heard that barber shop thing many years ago. That is not the point. If games were actually recorded (or simulated correctly) to work binaurally (w/ HRTF, etc.) then that would be great. But they are not. They are (at least most of them) mixed for stereo only, and some of them for 5.1 speakers. So while stereo headphones have the *potential* to have good 3D sound, the reality is that they usually don't.

Now, I admit, I have not tried any $1,500 headphones so maybe I don't know what I'm talking about. But I have been through at least 10 different headphones specifically for gaming over the years, and I found the true 5.1 sets to have much better positional sounds. Granted, the overall sound quality was usually lacking, especially when used with stereo sounds sources (music, youtube, etc.). But when playing games with 5.1 surround support I found the experience to be more immersive. But that's just my opinion.

Like I mentioned before, my next set of headphones will probably be true 5.1, as I'd like to explore this avenue further. But, for now, I'm happy with my Corsair "7.1" headphones as those are adequate.

[yautjacetanu]

Man!!! That virtual barbershop would be amazing with headtracking! I originally thought the door noises were real not coming from my headphones! The only thing that broke the immersion was that if I turned my head to look at the person speaking there was no one there

Surely it would be easy for Games to do this kind of stuff?

Also... lots of people have said true 5.1 surround is better but does anyone have some true 5.1 surround that they would recommend?

[cybereality]

OK, well I have not tried either of these headsets, but they sound promising. Both are true 5.1.

Sharkoon X-Tatic: http://www.amazon.com/Sharkoon-X-Tatic- ... B003H4QIC0

CM Storm Sirus: http://www.amazon.com/CM-Storm-Sirus-Su ... B005HO1ULM

[bobv5]

My personal recomendation is to buy the best stereo headphones you can get for the cost of a typical night out.

That way you are only out one nights money if it is a bad choice.

Also, Rift has head tracking, with the right software, that helps audio a lot. More importantly, the dude who runs Oculus, and makes the important decisions for the SDK, is recomending high quality, expensive, stereo headphones, not equaly priced 5.1 cans. (At least it seems so to me, perhaps I am wrong?)

[STRZ]

I wasn't joking when i recommended this headphones http://www.head-fi.org/products/superlux-hd-681/reviews

For the price (30$) a steal. Palmer should ship them with the Rift, everybody should have them for comparison with other phones and headsets before investing more. They're quite neutral, if you don't like that don't forget that you can EQ them easily with the software of your soundcard. You won't find this detail reproduction elsewhere under 100$, and they are easy to drive, you don't need an amp.

[German]

For the price (30$) a steal. Palmer should ship them with the Rift, everybody should have them for comparison with other phones and headsets before investing more. They're quite neutral, if you don't like that don't forget that you can EQ them easily with the software of your soundcard. You won't find this detail reproduction elsewhere under 100$, and they are easy to drive, you don't need an amp.

They sure are ugly and cheap looking though.

[STRZ]

They sure are ugly and cheap looking though.

Of course, that's the tradeoff. It's not a fashion item to hang around your neck. But the important thing would be the soundquality for me, considering that you'll look alien anyway when wearing the Rift..

[hughJ]

Man!!! That virtual barbershop would be amazing with headtracking! I originally thought the door noises were real not coming from my headphones! The only thing that broke the immersion was that if I turned my head to look at the person speaking there was no one there

Surely it would be easy for Games to do this kind of stuff?

They do. They just can't do it as well as a live recording. Asking for a generated 3D/HRTF sound to sound like a binaural recording is sort of like asking for the lighting in a 3D game to look like recorded film. There's limitations to what can be generated dynamically in real time, and especially so when sound engineering takes a 'good enough' approach like it does in today's games.

With older games that supported DirectSound, the game could output an unmixed, unmolested 3D soundfield to the sound card, which would then be able to mix and output an arbitrary number of surround channels (and do whatever additional HRTF, reverb, effects, etc processing on top.) Going back even further (talking mid/late '90s), you had sound cards like Aureal that would actually do wave tracing for sound occlusion and reverb, where the sound card would actually process geometry of the game world and be able to take into account if a sound was coming from behind a wall, amplified from a corner, etc. We're long long overdue for a return to proper hardware audio acceleration.

Since Vista came out and Microsoft stripped out DirectSound, most games have defaulted to using built-in middleware sound engines (that tend to be hit or miss), all the sound channels are pre-mixed by the game and then sent to the sound card like a ready-made TV dinner. Sound cards that support some form of 3D/HRTF processing can still take that 5.1/7.1 channel mix, add in the appropriate HRTF to replicate what the dummy head does for binaural recordings, and then downmix that to stereo for your headphones. It's not ideal, but it's the best that can be done with an already-mixed surround feed. "True" multi-driver 5.1 surround headphones are sort of caught in between, as they have inadequately positioned drivers to replicate the real HRTF surround sound (they don't emit sound from behind or in front of your head/ears), and sacrifice overall quality relative to what the large driver stereo headphones can deliver.

[Paladia]

I wasn't joking when i recommended this headphones http://www.head-fi.org/products/superlux-hd-681/reviews

For the price (30$) a steal. Palmer should ship them with the Rift, everybody should have them for comparison with other phones and headsets before investing more.

They sound nice but are they really a headset though? As I find connecting an external microphone to not work all too well.