I've been using my AKG 701 Headphones for 3 years with an X-Cans Tube headphone Amp that uses a pair of OS Amperex 6922 Double Getter Orange Globe Dual Triode Tubes and they have always sounded just fantastic!
~Maxx~
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In the case of SteelSeries...they are a respected brand in the Mechanical Keyboard field.
As far as headphones go, I own and love my Grado SR-125's. Somebody else mentioned the SR60's...which are often regarded as some of the best headphones under $80. Other brands which are very good include AKG, Sennheiser, Denon, and Beyer Dynamic.
I'm not aware of any good 5.1 or 7.1 headphones. Almost all of my headphone experience is with music.
I'm listening to my 701's as I type this and I'm again transported ! Every nuance and space in between the notes are there, this to me is what it's all about. Please, please promise me some day you'll have a listen to the amazing quality to be had out there. Gaming is cool but Music is for ever, timeless and soulful it's our being in notes and phrases !
For about 2 months I've been running my Musical Fidelity X-Cans off of the world's first Pure Copper Outlet the Furutech GTX-D and it has allowed my 701's to sound 2 levels of magnitude better! The 701's already sounded great using the old $1.50 wall outlet, but the Pure Copper Outlet has brought the 701's so much closer to their ultimate potential.
Not that the Pure Copper Outlet added anything special, but rather it eliminated all of the electrical hash that the standard outlet was introducing into the electrical supply due to poor design and years of corrosion around the contacts that the Tube Headphone Amp was using for power to create the signal that makes from that dirty power to send to the 701's.
The bottom line is that the 701's should have been sounding this fantastic all along, but they couldn't because the Tube Headphone Amp was using filthy power from that old standard wall outlet to make the signal to send to the 701's.
~Maxx~
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I've played around with Hospital grade outlets and they like the Furtech get hid of the powerline hash.
I own Grado SR-80s, AKG K-81DJs, and beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 80s. Out of those I use the K81DJs the most.
I went from Hubbell Hospital Grade Outlets to to the Furutech FP-15 Phosphor Bronze Outlet and there was a noticeable improvement in sound quality, but when I upgraded to the Furutech GTX which is the world's first Pure Copper Outlet released in late October of 2010 the sound quality of the 701's just soared!
The Furutech GTX Pure Copper Outlet with its Pure Copper Conductors and sprung and strengthened by stainless steel springs has a super strong grip on the plug that has released so much more of the sonic potential than the Phosphor Bronze outlets could. I know that this sounds like an odd source for such an extremely potent upgrade in sound quality, but I now realize that these standard outlets and even the $60 Phosphor Bronze Furutech FP-15 that I was using up until recently all effect the electrical current in a very negative way because of inferior design and compromised quality conductors compared to the virtually transparent Furutech GTX Pure Copper Outlet and I am not talking about audible 'power line hash' I'm talking about a very real, audible and simply amazing improvement in the sound quality of the equipment as heard through the 701's.
I did an experiment where I first plugged the Headphone Amp into a standard outlet on one of my Belkin F3H982-25 Pro Series surge protectors and listened to the 701's to establish a reference. I then switched the plug on the Headphone Amp to power from the Pure Copper Outlet and there was far more than what I would normally consider a 'night and day difference' in the sound quality that I was hearing through the 701's just from switching the source of power of the Headphone Amp to Pure Copper Power!
~Maxx~
Hi all
OK it's a bit more expensive than the OP wanted but for the ultimate in Headphones get a pair of Bose QC3 Noise Cancelling phones.
If you travel a lot these are pure bliss -- even if you have the proverbial flight from Hell -- a 10 hour flight or so from say London To LA in "Cattle Class" seated near some sceaming bables -- pure bliss as you won't hear ANY of that ambient noise.
These might be overkill for gaming since "Hi fidelity" isn't usually the most important factor for games -- probably high dynamic rage and big "bassy" sound but I'd still take a pair of thes Bose phones over anything else EVERYTIME.
Cheers
jimbo
Boy has this thread taken a turn.
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