This is probably going to turn in to novel so I'm sorry in advance.
Backstory/details about my set up:
I have/had the Logitech g930 wireless headset. I liked it alright during the two years I've had it. I had some minor complaints, but overall a positive experience. It recently decided to die on me (internal battery is shot I think) so I began searching for a replacement and I realized this is just a world of garbage.
Okay so I NEED sidetone (mic monitoring) to feel comfortable with a headset. The g930s have great ADJUSTABLE sidetone. I leave it at max (it's a 0-100 scale and I use mine at 100, this info will be important later) at all times when I'm using them. My two preferences were sidetone and wireless-ness while shopping for a new headset. I tried the Steelseries H, the Astro A50, and read in reviews about the Plyr 1 and the Corsaire H2100s and none of these have sidetone. (technically the a50s and the SS H have sidetone, but it's not adjustable and for comparison, I would guess it's at about a 10 using the Logitech 0-100 scale. So for someone coming from using 100 it's basically non-existent for me). For 300 (I don't know if I can swear on these forums but just assume I'm swearing here) dollars I should get some kind of program to adjust things or at the VERY least a wheel to adjust sidetone on the side. It's ridiculous, but I understand from reviews and forums that I am in the minority as someone who even cares about sidetone. Some people hate it and someone people need it, but most people don't seem to care/notice either way.
That's out of the way now, I know it seems pointless, but I wanted to stress the importance of this feature to me. And give a quick background on what I've been doing for the past 3 weeks.
At some point in the frustration, I decided screw it, I'll go wired. But my thought process is: well if I'm already sacrificing wireless, why would I get a wired gaming headset? If I'm gonna have wires to deal with, why not a headphones/mic combo like every single site suggests?
I've been researching headphones like crazy now and I feel like I'm sold on open back headphones. A friend bought the Audio Technica ath ad700x headphones and he has a Blue Yeti mic because he streams and what-not. The most awesome thing is that the Blue Yeti HAS mic monitoring built right in.
Here are the questions I have:
1. I don't understand ohms/wattage yet. His 700x's sounded fine through his Blue Yeti to me (but I'm a complete novice coming from the world of gaming headsets so I imagine any audiophile grade headphones would blow me away). And best of all you can hear yourself fine through the headset because of the blue yeti's mic monitoring. The question is: is it a good idea to run headphones through that for general use with music, movies, and games? I've read that it's strictly for mic monitoring. If I should plug it in to my sound card (asus xonor something or other, it was like 20 dollars), then is there a way to get the mic monitoring from the yeti still?
2. I am pretty sold on the Audio Technica headphones. Like I said before I don't know anything about the ohms yet, so I'm not sure if the 500x or 700x would be better for me. It doesn't seem like the kind of thing where higher-number-equals-better. I am worried about the comfort of the awkward head wing things, so I was also looking at the Beyerdynamics dt990s because they look unbelievably comfy and are also open.
3. Is there a better option for me (as someone who NEEDS sidetone) as far as mics go? The mod mic seems awesome, but there doesn't seem to be any way to achieve mic monitoring. The Audio Technica something something 2020 usb PLUS microphone boasts mic monitoring just like the yeti, but I think it's not only more expensive, but comes with no external controls which seems inconvenient. Can anyone compare the two?
To wrap things up: My budget is around 300 dollars. What headphones / mic should I buy that will get me sidetone if the ones mentioned above are not a good idea.
EDIT: Thought of another question is there such a thing as a sound card/dac/amp whatever that could achieve sidetone??? Like something I could plug both a mic and headphones into and it knows how to send the mic signal back through to the headphones?
Backstory/details about my set up:
I have/had the Logitech g930 wireless headset. I liked it alright during the two years I've had it. I had some minor complaints, but overall a positive experience. It recently decided to die on me (internal battery is shot I think) so I began searching for a replacement and I realized this is just a world of garbage.
Okay so I NEED sidetone (mic monitoring) to feel comfortable with a headset. The g930s have great ADJUSTABLE sidetone. I leave it at max (it's a 0-100 scale and I use mine at 100, this info will be important later) at all times when I'm using them. My two preferences were sidetone and wireless-ness while shopping for a new headset. I tried the Steelseries H, the Astro A50, and read in reviews about the Plyr 1 and the Corsaire H2100s and none of these have sidetone. (technically the a50s and the SS H have sidetone, but it's not adjustable and for comparison, I would guess it's at about a 10 using the Logitech 0-100 scale. So for someone coming from using 100 it's basically non-existent for me). For 300 (I don't know if I can swear on these forums but just assume I'm swearing here) dollars I should get some kind of program to adjust things or at the VERY least a wheel to adjust sidetone on the side. It's ridiculous, but I understand from reviews and forums that I am in the minority as someone who even cares about sidetone. Some people hate it and someone people need it, but most people don't seem to care/notice either way.
That's out of the way now, I know it seems pointless, but I wanted to stress the importance of this feature to me. And give a quick background on what I've been doing for the past 3 weeks.
At some point in the frustration, I decided screw it, I'll go wired. But my thought process is: well if I'm already sacrificing wireless, why would I get a wired gaming headset? If I'm gonna have wires to deal with, why not a headphones/mic combo like every single site suggests?
I've been researching headphones like crazy now and I feel like I'm sold on open back headphones. A friend bought the Audio Technica ath ad700x headphones and he has a Blue Yeti mic because he streams and what-not. The most awesome thing is that the Blue Yeti HAS mic monitoring built right in.
Here are the questions I have:
1. I don't understand ohms/wattage yet. His 700x's sounded fine through his Blue Yeti to me (but I'm a complete novice coming from the world of gaming headsets so I imagine any audiophile grade headphones would blow me away). And best of all you can hear yourself fine through the headset because of the blue yeti's mic monitoring. The question is: is it a good idea to run headphones through that for general use with music, movies, and games? I've read that it's strictly for mic monitoring. If I should plug it in to my sound card (asus xonor something or other, it was like 20 dollars), then is there a way to get the mic monitoring from the yeti still?
2. I am pretty sold on the Audio Technica headphones. Like I said before I don't know anything about the ohms yet, so I'm not sure if the 500x or 700x would be better for me. It doesn't seem like the kind of thing where higher-number-equals-better. I am worried about the comfort of the awkward head wing things, so I was also looking at the Beyerdynamics dt990s because they look unbelievably comfy and are also open.
3. Is there a better option for me (as someone who NEEDS sidetone) as far as mics go? The mod mic seems awesome, but there doesn't seem to be any way to achieve mic monitoring. The Audio Technica something something 2020 usb PLUS microphone boasts mic monitoring just like the yeti, but I think it's not only more expensive, but comes with no external controls which seems inconvenient. Can anyone compare the two?
To wrap things up: My budget is around 300 dollars. What headphones / mic should I buy that will get me sidetone if the ones mentioned above are not a good idea.
EDIT: Thought of another question is there such a thing as a sound card/dac/amp whatever that could achieve sidetone??? Like something I could plug both a mic and headphones into and it knows how to send the mic signal back through to the headphones?