Physkx
Member
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2019
- Messages
- 11
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- 17
I think you're both right, from my experience the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Casual competitive gamers that are ranked in the top 10% (which is the bracket I also fall under these days) may see some improvements to their gameplay from using a more suitable headphone, just because they are not pro level with their mechanical skill, game sense, reaction times, strategy or consistency. So a high tier casual competitive gamer playing only at home with the best sound possible - this can in some cases somewhat make up for them not being "pro level" in other areas. Having the best sound can help this kind of player improve their mechanics, game sense, reaction times (although age is bigger contributing factor here unfortunately), strategy and consistency. But what about pros who are already at the very top when it comes to these metrics? How can "better" sound help them if they have already reached or are very near the current skill ceiling/stats for a human player in all these areas? Short answer: it can't.
Long answer:
To be in a pro team means you are already at the very top when it comes to mechanical skill, game sense, strategy and most importantly consistency under pressure. I'm telling you now there are no pros out there who reached the skill ceiling and got the highest rank/stats in the game they play by going out and buying a pair of HD800S (Although it wouldn't hurt while they are still learning to improve). They all got there with a combination of natural talent and lots and lots and lots of practice honing the metrics mentioned. Once a player has reached pro level on all those metrics the most important thing concerning sound for them is that they can hear the sound cues they need to hear clearly. That is all. Open back headphones are out of the question as more often than not they are playing right next to each other in a team of five, and sometimes in a packed stadium. Noise leakage and background noise interference are the biggest factors they consider. Usually big competitive events are sponsored by plantronics these days, and all the pros wear $1000 plantronics noise cancelling headsets made for pilots - but they are not used for game sound. There is still not enough isolation in a stadium packed with screaming fans, so they use IEMs underneath those headsets to block out as much background noise as possible. I would say that is the most important concern to do with sound for a pro player - it's not how good the soundstage and imaging are, how much lower treble there is etc. - it is how much background noise gets in, and whether they still hear their sound cues clearly when people are screaming all around them. The majority just use cheap wired IEMs. A smaller percentage of pros use higher quality wired IEMs from AKG AudioTechnica Sennheiser Shure Fiio etc. and an even smaller percentage use very high end or custom wired IEMs from brands like 64audio, moondrop, ultimate ears etc.. but there is no correlation between the pros that do use high end IEMS and their skill level. Some of the very best players in the world use the stock wired IEMs that came with their phones.. Pros do not care what headphones they are using. They don't need laser pinpoint accuracy with sound because their game sense is so good that a basic sound cue on a pair of budget IEMs is all they need to know exactly what is happening and where team mates and enemies are. They have heard the same sound cues thousands and thousands of times and their brains are well and truly trained to respond to them. As long as their brains have been trained to the delivery there is very little or no advantage to be had for them switching to headphones that deliver positional sound better.
Long answer:
To be in a pro team means you are already at the very top when it comes to mechanical skill, game sense, strategy and most importantly consistency under pressure. I'm telling you now there are no pros out there who reached the skill ceiling and got the highest rank/stats in the game they play by going out and buying a pair of HD800S (Although it wouldn't hurt while they are still learning to improve). They all got there with a combination of natural talent and lots and lots and lots of practice honing the metrics mentioned. Once a player has reached pro level on all those metrics the most important thing concerning sound for them is that they can hear the sound cues they need to hear clearly. That is all. Open back headphones are out of the question as more often than not they are playing right next to each other in a team of five, and sometimes in a packed stadium. Noise leakage and background noise interference are the biggest factors they consider. Usually big competitive events are sponsored by plantronics these days, and all the pros wear $1000 plantronics noise cancelling headsets made for pilots - but they are not used for game sound. There is still not enough isolation in a stadium packed with screaming fans, so they use IEMs underneath those headsets to block out as much background noise as possible. I would say that is the most important concern to do with sound for a pro player - it's not how good the soundstage and imaging are, how much lower treble there is etc. - it is how much background noise gets in, and whether they still hear their sound cues clearly when people are screaming all around them. The majority just use cheap wired IEMs. A smaller percentage of pros use higher quality wired IEMs from AKG AudioTechnica Sennheiser Shure Fiio etc. and an even smaller percentage use very high end or custom wired IEMs from brands like 64audio, moondrop, ultimate ears etc.. but there is no correlation between the pros that do use high end IEMS and their skill level. Some of the very best players in the world use the stock wired IEMs that came with their phones.. Pros do not care what headphones they are using. They don't need laser pinpoint accuracy with sound because their game sense is so good that a basic sound cue on a pair of budget IEMs is all they need to know exactly what is happening and where team mates and enemies are. They have heard the same sound cues thousands and thousands of times and their brains are well and truly trained to respond to them. As long as their brains have been trained to the delivery there is very little or no advantage to be had for them switching to headphones that deliver positional sound better.