Feel free to move this topic as necessary. Today the guillotine crashed down on the hopes of fixing my Razer Carcharias headset (which both the L and R second-segment wires fried, leaving the microphone untouched). While the mic is still perfectly fine, I refuse put them back together for the sole purpose of that, especially since an extra, working wire got snapped while I had them laid out to repair in the first place. Some jackass set something on top of them... Anyways! I'm hunting for a new headset. If I cannot find anything solid, I will likely just buy those again, but I have a budget of up to $120, courtesy of my older sister (yay~). I'm looking for something equal to or better than the Carcharias. The reason I'm looking for a different brand at all is because of my history with Razer products leading me to consider them the Enron of gaming peripherals and accessories. Yes. Their product are just that ****ing bad. I have yet to have a single one (that I've had and owned from the start) last longer than the warranty until these headphones, which died exactly 32 days after the 1 year warranty expired. Pathetic, but my mice (DeathAdder, non-3500 DPI edition) did last 14 months before it had to be RMAed and I recently fixed the same issue again after it expired. Lastly is a Diamondback, handed down to me after having already been used for 3 years. It's now almost 7 years old and the only thing wrong is a kink in the wiring and a broken scrollwheel from overuse. Anyway, with the DeathAdder's problems and my Carcharias croaking, Razer is pretty damn overhyped to me. I've been looking towards Turtle Beach or Steel Series as an alternative, reading and viewing reviews for popular headsets. Info: -I don't have a sound card. -I need my bass. Weak bass in headphones is a cardinal sin. -Circumaural - no buts. -Decent microphone. -Noise-canceling - A plus, but unnecessary. Usually noise-canceling is traded for sound quality in my limited experience. The Carcharias exceeded my expectations, but its terrifyingly bad construction is a major turn off at getting another one, so it's a last resort at best. Please, do you guys have any recommendations?
I'm a not much of an audiophile, but as for headsets I have no clue. Can you show me what the Carcharias look like and how much they are? Now if only I had the money to buy all the great stuff I want.
Well they don't have a microphone built in, but I have the earbuds version of Beats by Dre and they're pretty sweet, I can only imagine the full headset works just as well if not better http://www.beatsbydre.com/ I was surprised at how well ear buds could cancel out the surrounding sound really.
^ I do own a pair of Beats headphones. (Solo) I plan on buying another pair, just because I can. (Isn't there supposed to be a warranty of some sort for Beats?) ...but in Aynine's case. They need a "headset" so "Beats by Dre" don't count. Right? I don't know any headset brands besides basic headsets and Turtle Beach. _____ Good luck in finding a headset that is right for you Aynine.
I am an audiophile. A moderately serious one. I give very high recommendations to Sennheiser headphones in general. At any price point, I find that they are at LEAST as accurate and musical as anything else in competition, and usually, Sennheisers are better than the competition by a respectable margin, again, at any given price point. I personally rock a set of HD600s. But at retail price those would be well outside your stated budget. It was certainly worth it to ME, though.
^ Ditto about Sennheiser. They're the only sets the linguistics department at my university uses because they're the most accurate by far. If you're going for bass (and they have some pretty cool designs!), I've had a lot of success with Skullcandy. They also have the most bomb warranty EVER. I think I've gone through 3 pair (due to "high-adrenaline usage", it's a real option on their warranty page) in the last 8 years and every time I just send them in and they send me a new pair. Just switched styles from Hesh to Agent, I do a good amount of sound mixing in them, too. They definitely get a beating!
Well, I've been looking at the Razer Megalodon (due to built-in sound card), but the critical flaw to them is that BECAUSE of the sound card, they're USB exclusive. **** Razer Carcharias + goo.gl/OAUB6 is looking at the way to go for me. I'm not entirely sold on it, though. Sound cards are ****ing scary and I use Windows 7 (64 bit) which doesn't play nice with most of them. I looked into Siberias and Sennheiser, but Sennheiser is extremely expensive. The PC360 is what I want and it's easily over $200. The PC360 is the only one that's recommended over the Carcharias, though. Worst case scenario: I just end up with another Carcharias and wait a couple months. Edit: Missed a deal for $35 for Carcharias on TigerDirect. D: Cheapest Sennheiser's I can find, of any recommended model, is $200, even for the 555s or less. Unfortunately, a microphone is pretty important since I game a lot, but its quality only needs to be 'decent' where sound quality needs to be superb.
Being I'm a DJ & Music producer Don't for the love of god DON'T buy Beats by Dre - over priced & not worth it! IF you can afford them get some sennheiser HD 25 II. I use the original sennheiser HD25 in my studio. EVERY Part is replaceable if they break They will however set you back between £90 - £125 so around $180. Trust me they are worth the price, they are pro headphones. For music & gaming they are a joy! and crystal sound. http://www.sennheiser.co.uk/uk/home_en.nsf/root/professional_headphones-headsets_headphones_502188 EDIT: I just saw another pony mention sennheiser - In general the above ones are the prob the ones you want
If you really want quality audio: Sony MDR-CD570 Best of the best, absolutely gorgeous quality Cans/earpieces The only 'downside', no mic, but when you can get a separate mic for a couple bucks I don't understand going to mediocre "gamer" stuff, you wanted quality, the Sony MDR's are pro-choice.
The Carcharias and Megalodon have pretty amazing reviews and the fact that the Carcharias uses a a 3.5mm jack means it can be run through a sound card and/or amps up to 7.1 surround. I've read a lot of reviews suggesting this as an alternative to the Megalodon or spending more on the highly recommended Sennheisers. I need to ask if I can stretch my price range. Btw, the Beats by Dr. Dre are definitely not what I want. They're pretty focused on the rap genre and I haven't heard many good things about them. http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/08/11/beats_by_dr_dre_studio_headphones_review For sound cards, I've been looking at these two cards: ASUS Xonar DS: http://goo.gl/feGSC Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE: http://goo.gl/OAUB6 Reviews scare me. Neither card seems fully compatible with Windows 7, but it looks like most people just install the drivers wrong.
