Budget: 80-150€
I’m looking for a pair of headphones to purchase, mostly for gaming. I’ve been using earbuds for the last few years but want to try out headphones. I heard Sennheiser is a good european brand and that their headphones are pretty good. What do y’all recommend?
Beyerdynamic DT 990 are about 150, nice open headphones. Both people with requests to sound and casual listeners enjoy (me and my wife as example). They are built very well. My pair is 12 years old and as new when I replace ear pads. They do have very high level of sound quality and detail, hard to beat in leven double price range. I play games, listen and create music in them, due to mindful construction and open back they can be worn for a long time. Sound is open, crisp, with a lot of highs and pretty detailed. If you don’t have anything to drive them, take 80ohm. If you need more volume or better sound, consider cheap, good sounding digital audio converter (DAC) and amplifier - check FIIO brand for example, ka11 (40$) is good and very portable, I also use it with my steam deck. But there are other models cheaper.
Sennheisers have a lot of good pairs, but I cannot recommend anything from expirience, Audio Technica is Japanese company and their headphones are good sounding, but a lot of their headphones are fragile.
Overall aim for open headphones as they are better when you wear them for long periods like during gaming. And use return policy to your advantage.
Sennheiser sold off their consumer headset decision, it’s now just a licensed name. They also stopped selling spare parts! Very annoyed.
That sucks, did not know, happy I am that both my Beyerdynamics and audio technica headphones are still repairable though. At least majority of parts.
Damn, so that’s why I cannot get replacement pads for my HD 599.
Had to get mine on Amazon. ☹️
Fine if it’s a popular enough headset… But for how long?
Thanks for the recommendation. They seem like good solid headphones, though they don’t support bluetooth? While I would use the headphones mostly for gaming on my computer, I might occasionally want to use them for some other stuff, that might not have an AUX port.
You kinda have to choose between Bluetooth connectivity and being “good headphones” (sound, build quality, comfort) at this price range. Or, you could get a cheapish Bluetooth receiver and plug into that
If you already have another pair or buds, I would just use them instead for scenarios outside of your working/gaming place, because there will be compromises.
I can’t recommend much, but I also have Anker Space Q45, they are closed, have optional jack cable connection, Bluetooth with LDAC (high Bitrate Bluetooth codec), quality is OK and sound is not bad, they do have very good active noise canceling. If I had to choose only one pair, I would check them out. It’s just that if you mostly game an Kosten music by computer, Beyerdynamics DT 990 a lre on another level of l quality, longevity and), comfort and sound.
I can recommend BeyerDynamic Headsets. My brother is an audio engineer and spoke in high terms of this brand. Bought some and never looked back. They are a bit pricy though, but maybe you’ll find some models in easter sale. Cheers
Hard to go wrong with DT770 or DT990 depending if you prefer closed or open back. Super comfortable and great value for their ~120€ price tag
Or the 880 for something in between. I have a few headphones but I use my 770’s the most. Had them for about 10 years and done the cable mod. They are just all round great.
You do nothing wrong with Sennheiser. I used the Sennheiser 450BT for some years and I’m now using the 350BT for listening to music on public transport. Those are both pretty good but I wouldn’t recommend them for gaming. In general is it a brand that sells high quallity headphones but not specificly for gaming. Their prices are usually quite high. You get high quality for a high price.
Sennheiser sold off their consumer headset decision, it’s now just a licensed name. They also stopped selling spare parts! Very annoyed.
I mean, I don’t really need super low latency ones for gaming. They just shouldn’t sound horrible and the build quality should be decent. I was thinking of buying Accentum since it is a bit newer than the 450BT and is also within my budget. I found some new ones for ~120 euros. What do you think?
With Sennheiser you will get good build quality and good sound. The Accentum look really good. Maybe look out for Bluetooth or cable for gaming, I really like Bluetooth but maybe not all devices work with it. I would recommend looking out for some other opinions than mine but I would say the Accentum are a good and save call.
I am indeed leaning more towards them but I’ll look at what the others here say and decide.
Bluetooth is something I want, but probably not something I’d use everyday. Afaik the Accentum do have an AUX (or USB-C?) output for audio, which I could plug into my computer. So it is not an issue there.
If you want wireless gaming, forget about Bluetooth, period. You need low latency connection which will not be Bluetooth based and requires separate USB dongle. My Logitech g535s are even recognizable by Android phones.
Don’t buy them for music, they are correct but… I do not recommend them for music as they don’t match my taste, but they are still usable. You will be disappointed.
Perfect for meetings, Ok for gaming. Reasonable price (often available well under MSRP). Ok for mixed usage, not good for music :)
If portability is no concern > Sennheiser HD 280
If it is > Audio Technica ATH-M40
I have the sennhieser hd560s that I adore. Read some reviews beforehand as you might need some sort of amplifier and not everyone likes them- but definitely one for consideration.
A bit above the budget you say, but FairBud XL are nice.
https://shop.fairphone.com/fairbuds-xl
Plus you know you can repair them and supporting a cool company.
I like mine anyway. 😃
I haven’t tested them myself AND their out of your budget range, buuuuut:
They’re a Danish (?) company and their headphones are supposedly easily repairable and have great sound. I know one person who has the „Prince“ but they’re an online friend, so I can’t test them myself. But that person is really happy.
So if my headphones ever need to be replaced, I’m thinking of getting these.
Wow, free repairs and they are insured against theft? That really sounds like headphones that will last for a while. I’m not in the market for new headphones right now but when I am, I definitely will consider these. Thanks for sharing!
100% backing Sennheiser.
I’ve got several Sennheiser headphones/headsets for different purposes, like gaming, listening to music or conferencing. Why I buy Sennheiser: my parents used to have Sennheiser headphones, older than me. I listened so many hours to punk, rock and goth on them when I was young, it’s unreal. And they were like 10 years older than me! Nonetheless a crystal clear, intensive sound. Hell, I believe they still do have them 😅
You can’t go back to anything else once you’ve heard Sennheiser. They’re the only headphones that make me feel like the music comes to life right in the middle of my head.
Sennheiser sold off their consumer headset decision, it’s now just a licensed name. They also stopped selling spare parts! Very annoyed.
Austrian Audio Hi-X25 are excellent open-back headphones available with or without Bluetooth. They punch above their weight for the price, sounding - to my ear, at least - as good as headphones double the price.
Totally depends on your use-case. But for the best all-rounder that performs good in every genre and even videogames is the Philips Fidelio. X1 or x2hr, whichever you can get. Pretty cheap too. Skip the x3. I just bought my third one now and wear them like 3-10 hours a day. Super comfy too. IF you like open cans.
But for classical music or so I would go for some more “serious” audiophile ones. I have some other cans for that ranging widely in prices.
Sennheiser HD600 if you’re able to get them on a sale. Otherwise they might be too expensive. These are known to be the gold standard for audio. Would highly recommend. Otherwise the PC38X are also a great budget pick!
Personally I steer away from Bluetooth when it comes to gaming. While there probably are some gold headphones out there for it, my experiences have not been that good. Go with the cord for a better experience!
I swear by my Sony WH-XB910n headphones. Not sure if it’s just above your price range or not though, with the currency difference (they’re usually ~$170 USD).
I just checked them out. They are usually about 180-200 euros. So yes, slightly outside of my budget, but if they are worth it, 30 euros is not that big of a deal.
A non-conventional choice would be a pair of Beoplay (Bang&Olufsen) Portal, IF you can get a good deal. My partner has them and they’re awesome. I think they’re recently discontinued (nothing wrong with them really) which means that even though their retail price is much higher, they can often be found refurbished / for sale within that bracket. The only word of advice is that there is a separate PlayStation and an Xbox+PC version, so you’d need to make sure to get the right one. No idea what the difference is but internet comments made it sound like they wouldn’t be properly compatible across systems.
For me Philips Fidelio X2HR work great. They’re open back and neutral sounding so work well for FPS. However they have neither wireless or noise cancelling.
https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/philips/fidelio-x2hr
