Hardware Nice headphones for gaming

MaartenMx · May 16, 2014

Since one of the big reasons to play Nintendo games for me is the incredible music, I think it's time to get some good stereo headphones. I just don't know what brands/models are good quality and what I should look for.

Any recommendations are really welcome

driverdis · May 23, 2014

I am using a pair of V-Moda Crossfade M80's they sound really good with most mobile devices. I use them with my Galaxy S3,Laptop (ASUS G73Jh-X1), PS Vita (old model), iPod Classic 6g, iPod Photo, DS Lite, DSi, 3DS, and 3DS XL daily and they have no trouble with volume (they can go loud even with the 3DSXL) or sound quality. a main part of this is that they have only 32 ohms of resistance so they do not need a headphone amp to use them. the downside is that they are not exactly cheap.
http://v-moda.com/crossfade-m-80-shadow-on-ear
when ordered via the website, you can get free engraving too. I got the "Royal Crest" from Zelda (http://zeldawiki.org/Royal_Crest) engraved on mine.

part of what I play games for is the music, I rarely use any game console without these headphones as they do a great job of making incredible music sound, well incredible.
these headphones shine even more when used with high quality audio sources like CDs.

do yourself a favor and do not go cheap on a pair of headphones, whatever brand you go with. good headphones make a huge difference, to the point where you will never want to go cheap again.

Sinael · May 23, 2014

I'm on the same boat as dirverdis, I got me a pair of V-Moda Crossfade M-100, and they're without a doubt amazing, i got mine with a majora's mask engraved (:

Commoner · May 24, 2014

I personally use the Audio Technica M50. They are hands down the best headphones you can get for under $150. They are meant as professional studio monitors so they have a very neutral sound profile unlike the V-Moda ones that have been previously suggested which have a very colored profile with an emphasis on the bass range and thus have a more recessed, muddled mid and high range as well as poor sound staging. The ear pads of the V-Moda also get hot and uncomfortable much more quickly in case that is a factor for you. The V-Moda is comparable to Beats By Dre and are more suitable for bass heads and for people who care more about how stylish they look rather than the actual sound quality.

You can easily find the ATH M50 for under $100 if you do a bit of looking around, although I would be wary if they are priced too low as it is a very popular set of headphones and there are quite a few places selling fakes.

I would recommend buying the package below as the 3DS does not exactly drive quality headphones particularly well and would benefit from a portable headphone amplifier which would also allow you to color the sound profile a bit to suit your personal tastes.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JZRXWRW/ref=twister_B00JZUO1CO

If you have a bit more cash to burn, you might want to consider the Newer ATH-M50x as they have a detachable cable and have updated ear pads that are noticeably more comfortable.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JZRXWRW/ref=twister_B00JZUO1CO

driverdis · May 24, 2014

Commoner said:
I personally use the Audio Technica M50. They are hands down the best headphones you can get for under $150. They are meant as professional studio monitors so they have a very neutral sound profile unlike the V-Moda ones that have been previously suggested which have a very colored profile with an emphasis on the bass range and thus have a more recessed, muddled mid and high range as well as poor sound staging. The ear pads of the V-Moda also get hot and uncomfortable much more quickly in case that is a factor for you. The V-Moda is comparable to Beats By Dre and are more suitable for bass heads and for people who care more about how stylish they look rather than the actual sound quality.

You can easily find the ATH M50 for under $100 if you do a bit of looking around, although I would be wary if they are priced too low as it is a very popular set of headphones and there are quite a few places selling fakes.

I would recommend buying the package below as the 3DS does not exactly drive quality headphones particularly well and would benefit from a portable headphone amplifier which would also allow you to color the sound profile a bit to suit your personal tastes.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JZRXWRW/ref=twister_B00JZUO1CO

If you have a bit more cash to burn, you might want to consider the Newer ATH-M50x as they have a detachable cable and have updated ear pads that are noticeably more comfortable.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JZRXWRW/ref=twister_B00JZUO1CO

normally, I would recommend this also. Audio Technica makes some nice headphones for the price but the reason I recommended the Crossfade M80 is it's ability to sound good when driven by mobile devices like cell phones, the 3DS, PS Vita, or cell phones without a headphone amp. The M80 does in fact sound a lot better than any beats product hands down. they do have a colored profile and emphasize bass but not to the point to murdering all middle and high frequencies like the beats do. well, that is enough ranting about them being compared to beats.

a big part of the recommendation is that they can be driven by pretty much any device with a headphone jack( this includes the 3DS too) without needing to have a headphone amp at all. wouldn't it suck to go to play 3DS and the 3DS is at full charge but the amp's battery is drained. a big part of this has to do with the fact that the Impedance of the Crossfade M80 is only 32Ohms.

another part of the recommendation is because of durability. V-Moda's headphones are built to withstand being beat up every day. this is perfect for on the go headphones, as they are more prone to accidents like falling or getting stepped on. I can't count how many close calls I have had with my M80 that would (and has) ruined other headphones.

wolfmanz51 · May 24, 2014

http://www.amazon.com/Philips-SHE6000-28-Discontinued-Manufacturer/dp/B003BT6BL4/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1400922391&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=phliips suround sound
Best sub 30 headphones on the market sound like 100$ ones. aWork great with 3ds virtual surround sound all sounds are clear crisp and vibrant. these suckers can take a beating I've had them for a year and they work great still despite my neglected care of just shoving them in my pocket every day in fact they've outlasted my cell phone. The speakers are angles away from your ear and sound is projected back using chamber creating wide sound range without hurting your ears as someone with sensitive hearing I can say for sure these are a win. don't believe me check out Philips user reviews on website and technical details there too about the patented tech http://www.usa.philips.com/c-p/SHE6000_28/-/reviewandawards
try them before you spend 3x as much for same or worse sound quality
"Feel the music with this 'reflected-speaker' patented design. A surround sound effect is created providing a hi-fi audio experience that immerses you in concert quality sounds. "

driverdis · May 24, 2014

Scott20 said:
Monster Studio Beats headphones is expensive but good quality !LOL

I can't tell if you are serious or not. those would not be a good recommendation (ignoring that they are Beats) , would be this, (quote from the CNET review of the Studio Beats)
"The Monster Beats by Dr. Dre Studio headphones cannot be used without batteries"

Commoner · May 24, 2014

driverdis said:
normally, I would recommend this also. Audio Technica makes some nice headphones for the price but the reason I recommended the Crossfade M80 is it's ability to sound good when driven by mobile devices like cell phones, the 3DS, PS Vita, or cell phones without a headphone amp. The M80 does in fact sound a lot better than any beats product hands down. they do have a colored profile and emphasize bass but not to the point to murdering all middle and high frequencies like the beats do. well, that is enough ranting about them being compared to beats.

While I agree that the colored sound profile of the V-Moda Crossfades are nowhere near as bad as the Beats By Dre, they are still quite pronounced which I personally am not a fan of. I believe that headphones and speakers should be neutral, meaning that they should reproduce sound the way the sound designers and artists intended. Any coloring to suit personal tastes should be done on the amplifier level with an equalizer. That way you can fine tune things to your tastes according to what you are listening to. Starting out with a colored set of headphones or speakers to begin with will make it much harder to tweak things later on and will usually end up with the sound losing detail and getting muddy if you need to fight against that color profile.

driverdis said:
a big part of the recommendation is that they can be driven by pretty much any device with a headphone jack( this includes the 3DS too) without needing to have a headphone amp at all. wouldn't it suck to go to play 3DS and the 3DS is at full charge but the amp's battery is drained. a big part of this has to do with the fact that the Impedance of the Crossfade M80 is only 32Ohms.

The Audio Technica M50s have an impedance of 38 ohms and can actually be driven rather well by most portable devices. The headphone out of the 3DS, however is rather abysmal compared to other portable devices and I personally would not recommend using it with anything with an impedance rating above 24 ohms. You should probably try your Crossfades M80 with a headphone amplifier when using it with your 3DS. I'm pretty sure you will notice a significant improvement in sound quality.

As for battery life, Headphone Amps in general don't use much power at all. The FiiO 6 has a battery life of around 10 hours of continuous use compared to the 3DS battery life of about 3 to 4 hours. Thus if you allow your headphone amplifier to charge along with your 3DS, you shouldn't really ever have to worry about your amplifier running out of juice. Besides, even if you did, it's not like you couldn't use your headphones anymore, they just wouldn't sound as good.

driverdis said:
another part of the recommendation is because of durability. V-Moda's headphones are built to withstand being beat up every day. this is perfect for on the go headphones, as they are more prone to accidents like falling or getting stepped on. I can't count how many close calls I have had with my M80 that would (and has) ruined other headphones.

While I have listened to V-Moda headphones, I don't actually own any so I can't comment on durability. The ATH M50 are not exactly slouches in terms of build quality though and can take some pretty rough handing specially when they are folded up.

CompassNorth · May 24, 2014

Avoid Skullcandies.

Also without a price range we can't really recommend headphones. Even though we can just give brand names, that alone won't mean the said listed brands here will have the best headphones in the price range.

Anywho I use AKG 240s they go four $60-$70 on sale and they go on sale a lot.

Silverthorn · May 24, 2014

As previously said, a price range would be good, but personally I bought myself the Logitech G430 headphones for about 60$ and they've been working like a charm, very comfortable.

Commoner · May 24, 2014

Scott20 said:
"The Monster Beats by Dr. Dre Studio headphones cannot be used without batteries"Yes,If you just want to listen to the DS's sound, you can buy any kind of earphones that have a standard 3,5 mm jack.However, if you want a headset with microphone (e.g. for talking to WiFi Players in Metroid or Pokemon), you will need the Nintendo brand headset.

Actually there are plenty of headphones you can get with microphone support that you can use with the 3DS. Most of these are meant to be used with smart phones for making calls though, so you can't really expect the kind of quality you'd get with mid to high end headphones designed specifically for listening to music.

If you're looking for something dirt cheap, here is an example :

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-EHS44ASSBE-Handsfree-Headphones-Earphones/dp/B008VX489C

These ear buds below are a bit better but still aren't exactly ideal in terms of sound quality.

http://www.amazon.com/Alpatronix-EX100-Performance-Headphones-Tangle-Resistant/dp/B00GZZTHSK

You are not limited to ear buds either, as can be seen with these :

http://www.amazon.com/UrbanEars-Plattan-Headphones-Iphone-Android/dp/B0030XMVY2

http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-HD-429-Headphones-Smartphones/dp/B009HQTORS

Alternatively, you could use a splitter like the one below to separate the microphone and audio into separate jacks and use any headset designed for PC gaming.

http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-MUYHSMFF-Headset-Splitter-Adapter/dp/B004SP0WAQ

Personally, however, if I had to have microphone support I 'd just use the above splitter to hook the 3DS to a good set of headphones like the Audio Technica M50 and a separate lapel mic like the one below :

http://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technica-ATR-3350-Omnidirectional-Condenser-Microphone/dp/B002HJ9PTO

Hardware Nice headphones for gaming

Well-Known Member

I am Justice

Member

Well-Known Member

I am Justice

MrNintendosense

I am Justice

Well-Known Member

Denko (´・ω・｀)

Spiky!

Well-Known Member

Similar threads

Popular threads in this forum