PC Gaming Setup / Gear

[TOOdamnFRANK]

What’s your endgame gear for PC Gaming?

Im currently using a Topping D90SE DAC, Topping A90D Amp, Blue Yeti Pro Mic, & HD800S Headphones, but I’m always curious to try new headphones / potential upgrades. Anyone want to share their current setup or have any suggestions for something new to try instead of the HD800S that has great soundstage & imaging for gaming? I love my Sennheisers but always wonder if there’s something better out there.

Headphones I’ve recently used / compared: R70x, AD1000X, K702, K712, HD6xx, 58xx, PC38X, Ananda, Series XS, LCD-X, LCD-2, …

 

[Leiker535]

I think there is only so much the headphones can do physically with the stereo signal, and that the HD 800S is already doing to provide a big immersive soundstage and good imaging. The future/upgrade path lies with 3D DSPs like dolby atmos or its competitors. You can try out HeSuVi for this.

I also think that we sometimes overabuse the term competitive edge in terms of audio in gaming, in the sense that we greatly overestimate our hearing capabilities to pinpoint precise sources of sound, or, on the contrary, that we heavily underestimate how much we unconsciously compensate and adapt ourselves to limited capabilities using other sensorial cues. In other words, we don't need to know with pinpoint accuracy the source of the sound from our character in games, just the general quadrant suffices: front, sides or back; from there our (overrelied) vision takes over and do the rest.

The perfect example of how bad we are at finding precise sources of sound is whenever we try to find a lost smartphone ringing from somewhere in the house or in the car, where oftentimes the thing is right below our noses and from an arm's reach.

 

[jhenderson0107]

Rig and Details

 

[SuicideSquid]

What’s your endgame gear for PC Gaming?

Im currently using a Topping D90SE DAC, Topping A90D Amp, Blue Yeti Pro Mic, & HD800S Headphones, but I’m always curious to try new headphones / potential upgrades. Anyone want to share their current setup or have any suggestions for something new to try instead of the HD800S that has great soundstage & imaging for gaming? I love my Sennheisers but always wonder if there’s something better out there.

Headphones I’ve recently used / compared: R70x, AD1000X, K702, K712, HD6xx, 58xx, PC38X, Ananda, Series XS, LCD-X, LCD-2, …

I have a gaming HTPC with a Ryzen 3600 CPU, 32GB DDR4 RAM, 1TB WD Black nVME SSD, 1TB SATA SSD, and a GeForce 4070Ti GPU connected to a 65" Vizio TV through a Denon X4700H receiver that's currently powering a pair of Totem Forest mains.

We're moving shortly and in our new location there'll be a significant upgrade to the sound system - the Denon will be pre-out to a Buckeye Hypex amplifier in a full 6.1.4 Atmos setup, running Forests as the front mains, with centre and rear speakers I built based on the Signature Ones (bookshelf versions of the Forests), and built-in ceiling speakers for the overhead channels, with a KEF 10" sub in a 400sqft room with some decent room treatment.

I'm stoked.

I've got AKG K271 mk2 and K702 headphones I can run if I need to be quiet for some reason or am gaming on my laptop.

 

[luft262]

What’s your endgame gear for PC Gaming?

Im currently using a Topping D90SE DAC, Topping A90D Amp, Blue Yeti Pro Mic, & HD800S Headphones, but I’m always curious to try new headphones / potential upgrades. Anyone want to share their current setup or have any suggestions for something new to try instead of the HD800S that has great soundstage & imaging for gaming? I love my Sennheisers but always wonder if there’s something better out there.

Headphones I’ve recently used / compared: R70x, AD1000X, K702, K712, HD6xx, 58xx, PC38X, Ananda, Series XS, LCD-X, LCD-2, …

I think you've pretty much maxed it out for stereo quality, but there are wireless gaming headphones that might have features and such that enhance the gaming experience.

 

[TOOdamnFRANK]

I have a gaming HTPC with a Ryzen 3600 CPU, 32GB DDR4 RAM, 1TB WD Black nVME SSD, 1TB SATA SSD, and a GeForce 4070Ti GPU connected to a 65" Vizio TV through a Denon X4700H receiver that's currently powering a pair of Totem Forest mains.

We're moving shortly and in our new location there'll be a significant upgrade to the sound system - the Denon will be pre-out to a Buckeye Hypex amplifier in a full 6.1.4 Atmos setup, running Forests as the front mains, with centre and rear speakers I built based on the Signature Ones (bookshelf versions of the Forests), and built-in ceiling speakers for the overhead channels, with a KEF 10" sub in a 400sqft room with some decent room treatment.

I'm stoked.

I've got AKG K271 mk2 and K702 headphones I can run if I need to be quiet for some reason or am gaming on my laptop.

If you ever want to upgrade from the 702 to the 712’s check out Thomann’s website (they’re in the EU). Their prices on AKG’s blows American retailers out of the water. I got my brand new Austrian made AKG K712 over a year ago for $225 shipped to the US. I think they're like $230-$250 right now on their website. They're like the European equivalent of sweetwater / Sam ash and aside from Sennheiser, their headphones are way more reasonably priced than here in the US.

 

[SuicideSquid]

If you ever want to upgrade from the 702 to the 712’s check out Thomann’s website (they’re in the EU). Their prices on AKG’s blows American retailers out of the water. I got my brand new Austrian made AKG K712 over a year ago for $225 shipped to the US. I think they're like $230-$250 right now on their website. They're like the European equivalent of sweetwater / Sam ash and aside from Sennheiser, their headphones are way more reasonably priced than here in the US.

Love the 702s and can't imagine I'll want to upgrade, but thanks for the tip!