Headphones: need inline volume control and comfort

[LeMson]

My Medusa Stereo NX headphones just broke, so I need to replace them, (they were actually a 2014 pair that I had to use again to replace a 5.1 medusa set from 2017 that didn't last a year) . I have worn different Medusa headphones for years and years, like a decade. Maybe now it's time to try something else, as I'm getting sick of the lack of quality of the last 3 or so pairs.

The headphones will be used for gaming, music and netflix/films. I have a Xonar DGX sound card. I would like inline volume control and they will sometimes be on my head hours at a time. Open headphones are fine, room is quiet, fabric ear surrounds, don't want leather for long periods or gaming/films etc.

Budget is flexable, like £50 to £150, I've been looking at AKG K702's but they don't seem to have inline volume control? I do enjoy loud music on them and surround sound is good for gaming. Honestly I've no idea what I'm buying really, and I don't have any headphones or speakers to chill and watch hours of you tube reviews about the best pair lol ;(

Thanks for any help!

 

[EsaT]

Inline volume control isn't really that useful.
Those are series resistor based, acting like output impedance lowering damping factor and signal's control over driver.
So if not wanting to decrease accuracy of sound reproduction they can be used only for smaller volume decrease.
(and anyway dedicated volume control in keyboard is faster/closer to fingers)

K702 is pretty much aural god mode/wallhack level headphone for gaming with its highly analytical sound.
Also that neutral bass is usefull for Dolby Headphone, which tends to be bass heavy.

Of course if you like above neutral bass then there are other headphones.
But Dolby Headphone just doesn't fit with any stronger bass, at least if caring about sound quality.

 

[LeMson]

Inline volume control isn't really that useful.

Thank you for the reply EsaT, I've just always had inline control and thus it would be weird without it, but I'm willing to try, can I ask how the K702's are with music, and is the Xonar DGX enough to drive them?

How are they vs the beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro, and would I need an amp if they are 250 ohm?

 

[EsaT]

K702 is obviously very accurate for music.

DT990 has clearly above neutral fun bass punch:
http://graphs.headphone.com/index.p...e=30&graphType=0&buttonSelection=Update+Graph
In gaming binaural sound stage isn't as huge, and stronger bass obviously makes distinguishing simultaneous details not as easy.
(equalizer could likely help that)

For comfort AKG's automatic adjustment might cause feel of ear cups creeping down if you have smaller, especially downward narrower, head.
Beyer's manual adjustment (huge range) doesn't do that.
Though Pro version's head band has little more clamping force and you might want to little bend that spring steel head band inside cushion.

Impedance tells only smaller part of power need.
While DT990 needs little more voltage they need less power and current draw is lot smaller.
So they're actually lighter load for outputs than K702.

 

[LeMson]

A lot of the recent reviews for the 702's say the build quality has gone down since production has moved to China, so with you saying the DT990 will have more fun bass punch I have ordered some of them.

Thank you for your help EsaT !

 

[Marsman]

AKG K702 and all its variants are great for positional sound placement; very hard to do any better. While they are great for gaming, the drawback is that they are not easy to drive despite the low Ohm rating. This can be a problem unless the person looking at them can afford something with a suitable amp as well.

Xonar DGX's amp is not really up to the job and looking at current sound cards, there is nothing really that has an amp good enough to really do the headphones justice below £120.

For a cheaper option an external DAC/amp + additional software will work, but for positional sound accuracy, invariably not as well as a sound card.

Tldr; In short, without buying something with a better amp, the DGX will do a better job driving the DT990's than it will the AKG's.

 

[LeMson]

Ok, the dt990's sound great, I'm buying a Fiio e10k amp to boost the sound

 

[rids57]

DT990 and E10k was how I started out - be careful, it's a VERY slippery slope

 

[LeMson]

Wondering if i should get some k702's to try too now lol

 

[rids57]

they were my second pair

Then will come the HD650, HiFiMan planars, DT1990 . . . .