[crowy316]

Ok guys im not having much luck deciding on headsets/headphones so i thought id come to the experts,

I have about £100 - £120 to spend i know this isnt much for you guys but hey, im only going to be using them for gaming nothing else, i play alot of COD4 and will be playing MW2 so i would like to be able to hear footsteps and identify the direction they are coming from. I will also need a mic for XBL chat.
I play upstairs away from the missus but also away from my avr and i dont want to buy another amp i know it limits my options.

any info or suggestions welcome

[crazy8s]

Do you have a preference for open or closed headphones?

For open headphones the best headphones you will find in your price range are possibly the Audio Technica AD-700
They are said to be light, extremely comfortable and produce great sound, including a wide soundstage
Though these are not a headset with a built in mic, you'd have to buy a clip on mic elsewhere

For closed I'd probably recommend the Beyerdynamic DT770 80-ohm version
Good soundstage, decent bass (though I don't find them to be 'bass monsters' as I've read some people say) and they are comfortable with the added benefit of isolating sound from outside

You could pair either with the Astro A40 mixamp or the JVC SU-DH1 in the future to take benefit from Dolby Headphone (virtual surround sound) to improve your gameplay experience

[jamienufc]

Originally Posted by crazy8s

Do you have a preference for open or closed headphones?

For open headphones the best headphones you will find in your price range are possibly the Audio Technica AD-700
They are said to be light, extremely comfortable and produce great sound, including a wide soundstage
Though these are not a headset with a built in mic, you'd have to buy a clip on mic elsewhere

For closed I'd probably recommend the Beyerdynamic DT770 80-ohm version
Good soundstage, decent bass (though I don't find them to be 'bass monsters' as I've read some people say) and they are comfortable with the added benefit of isolating sound from outside

You could pair either with the Astro A40 mixamp or the JVC SU-DH1 in the future to take benefit from Dolby Headphone (virtual surround sound) to improve your gameplay experience

Good advice.

The best route to go down is definatly a decent pair of open or closed headphones partnered with a mixamp or JVC-SU-DH1.

I originally brought the astro a40 headphones and mixamp. They can be had for £199.95 if brought together from either Lime or astrogaming.co.uk

This set up is neat, includes a detachable boom mic, the headphones are comfortable and the sound produced is excelllent. The SQ is very good and the ability to hear the direction of foot steps and gun fire is fantastic.

This is a great package to get for gaming, but you can use the mixamp with a variety of devices (has optical and coax) so you can watch movies and TV shows in dolby digital too.

I recently sold my a40 headphones. Not because I wasn't pleased with them, but by swapping them for a set of Audio Technica AD700s I would benefit from a slight performance gain in terms of both SQ and the ability to detect the direction of sound. I'm really happy with my ad700s. They are comfortable and do produce better SQ than the a40s. The a40s have the convenience of a detachable boom mic like I said, whilst the ad700s have to be paired with a clip on mic.

If I were you I'd take the above posters advice and if you can afford to down the line pick up an amp to go with your cans. The JVC is import only and I think needs to be plugged in to power it (i could be wrong so please check). The mix amp will take batteries and there is a rechargable battery pack you can buy for it. It also comes with a usb cable that will power it and trickle charge if you've got the battery pack. From my undertsanding the JVC amp has more modes on it, whilst the mix amp just has the mode for gaming in dolby digital. TBH you wont go wrong with either, just read up on each before you purchase. Same with the headphones really. I got the ad700s because of all the positive things I'd read online, but there are other great open and closed headphones out there. I simply went for the ad700s because so many people had already brought them for gaming and were over the moon with them.

Don't get sucked into the 'wireless gaming headset' trap. These sets often suffer from hissing at high volume and suffer from interference. People may tell you that they are good (they've proberly never compared them to anything else), but you'll always get a much better result from a pair of dedicated headphones that don't have speakers in the ears trying to create the 'surround sound' effect. Let an amp do the magic.

[crowy316]

Thanks for the advice guys i think im going with the Audio Technica AD700
and maybe add the mix amp/jvc su-dh1 at a later date if needed.
Now for connecting it to the xbox because there wont be an amp would i just get a 3.5mm female to RCA female cable and connect it to the xbox rca's or is there another/better way to do it, also not sure about volume control if it comes straight from the xbox rca's

P.S anyone seen ad700 cheap