Hey fellas, I am looking to buy a new headset to replace my old Plantronics Audio 770.

 

I have been looking at the Gamecon 777 from Umart for $80 and was wondering if anyone could give a comment on them. Like would you buy them again? If not Why?

 

Also could you recommend a better headset for me?

 

Thanks.

I would recommend them for price and reason-ability assuming your just after something for gaming and not amazing sound quality.

I would recommend them for price and reason-ability assuming your just after something for gaming and not amazing sound quality.

 

Yer its mainly for gaming, so they need to be comfy for hours of play But as long as the sound isnt like alfoil being dragged across sandpaper, im happy

http://www.plantronics.com/north_america/en_US/products/computer/pc-gaming-headsets/gamecom-777

 

For $80 I think that's a decent deal, I have a set and as far as gaming headsets (mic included) go, they're pretty good. If you're looking for better/best sound quality, read over the recently closed Visone thread and there's some good recommendations on audiophile headphones which you then use a clip on mic for (zalman I believe). Those recommended headphones will set you back a little more but for some people the sound quality is important and so it's justifiable to spend up in that aspect of the PC, whereas I'd rather spend my dosh on a new 5870 when the stock shortage ends ^_^.

 

The downsides to the headset are:

- Rather rigid, so don't try to bend too much or it might snap (but it is strongly constructed)

- Cushions aren't big enough for people with my size ears (I don't think my ears are overly big but I've never measured them) and as such the top part of my ear rests against the hard internal plastic and will ache after 3-5 hours of continual use.

- Would've been nice if the microphone had been made of bendable material, so you could adjust it closer/further to your face, but it's not a big issue because it picks up well and clearly.

 

The good parts for me:

- Much more bass than the cheaper headsets I used to use

- Overall sound quality and clarity range is better

- Was told by many people that my voice was much clearer with the 777 mic than the other logitech ones

- Despite what people say, the dolby emulation does make a bit of difference for me, and I prefer it on. The downside to using it is greater bandwidth use and so the headphones won't work with the emulation on with a USB1.1, only USB2.0 and above will support the dolby emulation

- Head cushioning is nice, and the headset stays on my head much better than the cheaper models I had, although I think that'll be the case with any high quality headset/headphones you buy

 

Definitely have a read of some of the headphone recommendations starting on page 2 of the other thread. If headset & usb is your thing, another option to consider is the Logitech G35 which some people on whirlpool said they liked.

 

Another good place to look is headphones.com.au.

To be honest once you hear the sound quality that some of the mid-top range headsets give you won't realise how you ever stuck with what you used to have

 

My 367 Headset has lasted a while but as I said in another thread I noticed a drop in sound quality over time, as well as a big loss of bass. I tested out SOP's Seinheisser headset a while ago to compare them and it was very noticeable that the quality in mine had dropped. If you have a soundcard it will greatly improve the quality, but as Psyrus said emulation is what a lot of those headsets use and not geniune 5.1.

 

At least go on that headset/headphone website I can't remember what it was called, but it has some great reviews etc.

Don't jump the gun and buy something if you havn't researched and compared it first.

Hmmm with the G35, im pretty sure I dont have an onboard sound card in my computer, would I need one for them? Or would they work fine without one?

 

Cause this review said

Amazing sound quality (assuming you have a 7.1 sound card)

 

They look awesome (the G35's) but im not sure if they would work properly on my computer unless I invested in a soundcard :/

 

Hmmmm after looking at some reviews on the G35 it does seem like a good headset, but, Apparently the surround sound 7.1 is stuffed. And for $150 it might just be better to go for the 777. Then the 777 has its own problems.

 

Ima gonna keep looking

Edited November 14, 200915 yr by crawfs

To be honest once you hear the sound quality that some of the mid-top range headsets give you won't realise how you ever stuck with what you used to have

 

My 367 Headset has lasted a while but as I said in another thread I noticed a drop in sound quality over time, as well as a big loss of bass. I tested out SOP's Seinheisser headset a while ago to compare them and it was very noticeable that the quality in mine had dropped. If you have a soundcard it will greatly improve the quality, but as Psyrus said emulation is what a lot of those headsets use and not geniune 5.1.

 

At least go on that headset/headphone website I can't remember what it was called, but it has some great reviews etc.

Don't jump the gun and buy something if you havn't researched and compared it first.

 

Beyerdynamic DTX 800.

 

http://headphones.com.au/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7

omfg S.O.P I love you

 

I shall be looking into that now

 

http://headphones.com.au/prod_one.php?productID=16#top

 

hmmm seems noice. Decision time shall come soon, will inform you all on my decision!

Just be aware, and Psyrus pointed it out, the more value for option is to use a boom mic or a clip-on.

 

Your budget is $200 but don't waste it if you truly can't hear a difference between cheaper cans, and more expensive. My wife thought our TV sounded good, I couldn't stand it so I bought a DAC and a 2.0 (+sub but not 2.1) system. She still thought the TV was fine. I wish I spent more.

 

And like Vis, and also Psyrus, also pointed out, occasional games may be fine with cheap. Think about if you are listening to music, or movies, or may plug them into a ipod or clone (no usb then). Long sessions may require a more comfortable headphone. 3D positional also requires soundstage. When I lent my old cans to Chief, the Koss headphones I had were not close to the Beyers for 3D so I'm assuming other headphones could possible be worse.

 

Email the store (or post or search the forums) and ask how the headset compares vs headphones of similar price. Marcus/Snufkin will run you through it, he is pretty good at customer service. if you buy from there - you can get it cheaper elsewhere, but they have free freight.

Hmmm with the G35, im pretty sure I dont have an onboard sound card in my computer, would I need one for them? Or would they work fine without one?

 

Cause this review said

 

They look awesome (the G35's) but im not sure if they would work properly on my computer unless I invested in a soundcard :/

 

Hmmmm after looking at some reviews on the G35 it does seem like a good headset, but, Apparently the surround sound 7.1 is stuffed. And for $150 it might just be better to go for the 777. Then the 777 has its own problems.

 

Ima gonna keep looking

 

All PC's have onboard sound...but you'd still be better off with a separate soundcard.

I have a question about headsets/headphones. SOP mentioned 32ohm impedence, 55 and 250 as well...and then into amps and stuff???

 

Anyway, what are the 'specs' to look for when choosing a "good" sounding headset/headphones? Looking at the headphones.com.au site, the ones listed on all are:

 

# Impedance

# Sensitivity

# Power Handling

# Open/Closed

# Frequency response

 

Are there ranges for these characteristics that one should look for (like say you don't buy a processor @ 1ghz with 1 core anymore, you wouldn't buy a... X ohm headset with <100dB/mW or something?

32ohm can be 'driven' from non-powered sources. The more ohm impedance, the quieter the headphones get to the point that if you had a 250 from a non-powered source, you would barely hear it.

 

Open/Closed is easiest just to look at it simply. Closed doesn't leak any sound, is more bassier. Open leaks sounds, more natural neutral sound and almost always a preferred general listening headphone.

 

The rest, I know little about. After some quick googling, the general consensus is that it means little to how a headphone will sound. Like how a 1.83GHz Core Duo will be different to a 1.83GHz Core2Duo when the actual speed is the same.

 

Basically, Impedance, Open/Closed are the most obvious. How it will sound is how it is constructed, quality of components etc. Like Palsonic vs Panasonic, Asus vs Yumcha. May have similar specs, worlds away in quality difference.

 

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/specs-explained-131426/

If you got the money Sennhieser PC 350 Oh so comfy

http://www.staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=sennheiser+pc+350&spos=1

Anyway, what are the 'specs' to look for when choosing a "good" sounding headset/headphones? Looking at the headphones.com.au site, the ones listed on all are:

 

# Impedance

# Sensitivity

# Power Handling

# Open/Closed

# Frequency response

 

 

I can only comment on what I know from doing studio work and using my studio headphones for gaming. I've lower impedance reference headphones.

Sensitivity and power handling means nothing to me.

 

Impedance - Most hifi/reference headphones will be lower impedance. Theyll be taking signal from monitored splitters in a studio or from an amp (in the case of my PC setup or hifi). Some studio desk reference headphones can have 200ohm rating or more in order to introduce extra resistance to the signal path because studio desks can really crank signal and you need something that is by default going to be able to handle a juiced signal by ensuring the diaphragms need just that little more to drive them to the upper limits. Especially when your working in parrallel with studio monitors.

 

By this standard you're looking at headphones with less impedance. My 80ohm beyers are fine. But not in the case of 'less impedance is better'. Just what is useful for the application.

 

As mentioned closed backed tend to be a little bassier in lower and mid lowers. This is true, but really $$ close backs will counter this to a degree with more expressive diaphragms in the mids. I suspect cheaper closed backs would be worse. I know some fostek close back i tried were garbage, muffled, not clean. just average.

 

Id go open back because they breath easier, you can hear the doorbell ring and are a bit more even and natural in their sound. Tho they can still get noisy for others around you if thats going to be an issue, and they dont isolate sound as much, meaning you will hear the doorbell ring (problem?).

 

Frequency response is yes important if you know about the frequency of say human voice, a bass drum, guitar, gunshots etc... If you want to go in a compare frequency responses by all means. A greater range would be better for a general hifi application.

 

Otherwise i dont even look at frequency response for headphones. I listen and compare. Bring in some reference cd's. when you start comparing you come to quickly appreciate that all headphones are different, they express that energy into sound wave differently and you have to judge that for yourself.

 

Its easy to judge crap ones tho. go into a hifi store and listen to top end then bottom of the range headphones. and you can hear the nuance missing. youve to balance $ with need and what sounds cool.

 

its only PC gaming, all sound in PC gaming is compromised by the fact they have to compress the william shatners out of it. audio in gaming has to compete for megabytes with the shader files and level files all the same (so you dont need $300 beyer dynamic pros)

 

have a look at AKG tho. their budget intermediate studio models have always been pretty good

If you got the money Sennhieser PC 350 Oh so comfy

http://www.staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=sennheiser+pc+350&spos=1

That's funny. During my headfi/google search for Psyrus in my previous post, I came across a thread about a pair Senn 350's and what each spec meant and whether or not it would be better driven with a headphone amp.

 

The headphone got torn apart by the 'audiophiles' for being a poor set, not worthy of buying an amp for.

 

Oh well, if you like them... Did you try any others when you bought them? If so, which ones?

 

 

 

I tried to find the thread but couldn't so I re-searched head-fi and it pushed me back to good ol' headphonic/marcus/snufkin.

 

http://headphones.com.au/blog/the-sennheiser-pc350

 

I think Sennheiser have the right idea, because the packaging looks great. It’s as if they wanted you to stop and just admire the packaging, leave your headphones in there and put them on the shelf. Kind of like buying action figures to leave in the box and admire, not to take out and play with.

 

Which is fair enough too, because the second thing that made me go “wow!” was the sound quality.

Wow, it’s really bad for the price!

 

These basically have the sound characteristics of the HD515, with less soundstage than the HD215.

Bass is probably something gamers might like, it’s not very powerful, or prominent, or well defined, but it’s boomy. So basically in games explosions will give you plenty of one-note action.

 

It gets worse as you read it...

 

Edit: But that's only one review and I came across some that spoke highly of it. Read into it as you see fit.

 

 

Edit2: Tried to give you some rep Gourm for your post, but I "need to spread it around first". Sorry, I must have some Gourm love going on.

Edited November 18, 200915 yr by captncrunch240

Thanks for the info guys. So basically what I'm getting is that, for gaming or PC music, as long as it's in the 20-50ohm range that should be fine (which the majority are) but at the end of the day you can only really know the 'quality' after having actually used the headphones, or read many reviews by a cross section of people who have?

... but at the end of the day you can only really know the 'quality' after having actually used the headphones, or read many reviews by a cross section of people who have?...

 

well, like all things you can read reviews till the cows come home. As long as their is not a general negative trend about a specific aspect of the headphones then i wouldnt take reviews in isolation from having a good shop.

 

I bought some fostek headphones because reviews said they were pretty good, and the price was pretty good too. But no way, i tried them in compared to some early 90's sennheisers i have and they were garbage!

 

Trust your ears and go out have a physical search. Try some.

 

i see however alot of headphones designed for PC/Hifi markets tend to be wrapped in packaging. whereas if you go to an audio/studio store theyll always have their headphones setup and ready to test.

so hmm.

 

akg, sennheiser.

 

I notice sennheiser have got their own range of gaming headphones. ive always like german/austrian stuff. akg, beyer dynamic, sennheisser

 

mind you. if you go for something thats not specifically gaming, like studio or good hifi/reference headphones. and you pay the $$$ and you like them. dont be suprised if they last you a decade or two.

Thanks for the info guys. So basically what I'm getting is that, for gaming or PC music, as long as it's in the 20-50ohm range that should be fine (which the majority are) but at the end of the day you can only really know the 'quality' after having actually used the headphones, or read many reviews by a cross section of people who have?

Generally.

 

But, some sound cards have amps built in these days (and will perhaps become the norm on all newer cards as it is a good idea), so you could run 250ohm headphones off that.

 

For you though, you are right. Keep the impedance low.

 

 

I differ from Gourm here though in relation to reviews. I consider Snufkin's reviews very good and have had a chance to listen to a few phones of his recommendation and he doesn't pull any punches.

 

Ultimately, going into the shop and doing a side-by-side is the best way to pick a phone and I can't refute that. But Psyrus already said he went in store and couldn't pick much differences in the cans. Did you speak to Marcus or someone else? It was headphones.com.au you visited, what it not?

http://headphones.com.au/psingle?productID=178

 

I see that headphone set get recommended over 9000 times a day on whirlpool, are they really so awesome?

they do say they are.

 

further back in the other thread, you could import them from usa for 80 dollars. which is over a 100 dollar saving here.

 

the one headphone i will buy, or the 900 of the same model.

 

apparently they are huge things though.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Technica-ATH-AD700-Audiophile-Headphones-Neodymium/dp/B000CMS0XU?tag=nucleics-20 - they have gone up 10 dollars. use priceusa.com to import. not bad.

 

 

from what i gather, the bass is pretty weak...if you like that sort of thing.

Edited November 18, 200915 yr by captncrunch240

they do say they are.

 

further back in the other thread, you could import them from usa for 80 dollars. which is over a 100 dollar saving here.

 

the one headphone i will buy, or the 900 of the same model.

 

apparently they are huge things though.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Technica-ATH-AD700-Audiophile-Headphones-Neodymium/dp/B000CMS0XU?tag=nucleics-20 - they have gone up 10 dollars. use priceusa.com to import. not bad.

 

 

from what i gather, the bass is pretty weak...if you like that sort of thing.

Hmmm do you know anything about the warranties with importing like that? If it was DOA it sure would be nice to get a replacement in a timely manner. Is there a closed ear headset of similar quality & similar price that you recommend?

well, it would be a part nightmare sending it back, i would say. but for 100 dollars off, it's a pretty good risk to take.

 

don't know much about closed, i've had 2 closed sets and the isolation/bass is great but the sound isn't clear in the mid to highs which i like.

 

http://headphones.com.au/pbrowse?catID=1&subCatID=3&sort=price

 

starting headphones.com.au, sorting by closed and price and then narrowing down on marcus' recommended and then googling each one and trawling head-fi and since you live in perth, i would go test out the

 

http://headphones.com.au/psingle?productID=445 - shure 440's.

 

noting the 440's aren't overly bassy while keeping the midrange in check.

 

i would test against the other recommended models, particularly the senn 201 as it's only 46 dollars and may save you a lot of money if the build quality looks up to it. the 440's have a good reputation for being solid so you may get a few years out of it.

 

you are in a good position being able to walk into the store, if you drive over there and get a feel for each one. most stores you go to here will only have a limited range.

 

 

one other thing, and i mentioned it in the locked thread, closed phones have a limited soundstage which means in-game positioning takes a small hit. if these are pure gaming phones, i would consider open.

Edited November 19, 200915 yr by captncrunch240

don't know much about closed, i've had 2 closed sets and the isolation/bass is great but the sound isn't clear in the mid to highs which i like.

 

shure 440's.

 

one other thing, and i mentioned it in the locked thread, closed phones have a limited soundstage which means in-game positioning takes a small hit. if these are pure gaming phones, i would consider open.

 

I would +1 that. Having used a pair of closed beyers for a while now, i have to say my old sennheissers are lighter on the head, sound a bit less full (more neutral) and are a bit more comfortable over longer periods (ears get less hot etc...)

 

I personally dont like the pure isolation some headphones have. for gaming it gets distracting when the phone rings and you miss it or flatmates want to talk to you etc... just a bit too frustrating for me.

 

Sure if you want that, isolate by all means. But i dont think it necessary for gaming. I like being in the world a bit more than wearing what are ostensibly ear muffs with speakers in them. I only have closed for studio applications by default

 

Just reading some of the product reviews. el oh el

These headphones are outperformed by cheaper models making them possibly the worst value for money headphone around.

 

sounds like a dude. id go there and have a listen

Edited November 19, 200915 yr by Hambang101

Ha, since I've had my 2 kids, if I still had my closed sets, they would probably be dead by now. You wouldn't be able to hear them crying to save their lives.

 

I wonder about the people using closed on portables, it's no wonder they get run over by buses.

Ha, since I've had my 2 kids, if I still had my closed sets, they would probably be dead by now. You wouldn't be able to hear them crying to save their lives.

 

I wonder about the people using closed on portables, it's no wonder they get run over by buses.

 

yeah, i think my closed beyers are going to get someone injured. i might check whether i can hear the smoke alarm with them on for kicks...hmm