Audio Technica ATH-AD 700 or Seinh hd555 for gaming.

Which would you buy for gaming use?

  • Audio Technica ATH-AD 700

    Votes: 27 69.2%

  • SENNHEISER HD555

    Votes: 8 20.5%

  • Other

    Votes: 4 10.3%
  • Total voters
    39
F

f3nix

n00b
Joined
Jul 6, 2007
Messages
57
I've been reading and heard these are the best for gaming using x fi soundcard technology for 5.1 simulated sound. Which would you get from these two? I am undecided. Glad to hear your opinions. thanks
 
These are both good sets of headphones (I own the closed-back ATH-A700's which are a huge jump in quality above my HD485's) but you shouldn't expect too much from the X-Fi CMSS-3D simulated surround sound. It sounds just "okay" (very airy and spatial sounding with artificial reverb) but it's nowhere near true surround sound from a discrete 5.1 setup. The surround effect is not really very convincing, but how could it be with just 2 speaker drivers? For example when you hear a sound that originates from the left rear of your character, you can't really distinguish it from a sound originating straight to the left of you. Another annoyance is when you change your speakers to Headphone mode in the Creative Audio Control Panel, it reduces the volume by half, and lessens the bass impact quite significantly, which takes away from the effect of explosions and other low frequency sounds. You can compensate somewhat by cranking up the the X-Fi Crystalizer but this starts to introduce more distortion the higher you crank it. So I just run my headphones in regular stereo 2/2.1 mode in my games.
 
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I use an X-FI card and the AD700's and really appreciate the nice soundstage in FPS's. Can't tell you which one is better as I haven't used the HD555's before. I agree with Henry though.
 
I went ahead and ordered the Audio technica ath-ath ad 700. Hopefully I wont be disappointed. Thanks for your replys.:)
 
I prefer the open air ones you ordered. The closed are too boomy for longer gaming sessions and make my ears sore. I have been using them for roughly 1.5 years now and still have a set of razer and turtle beach 5.1's and have never gone back. Use a zalman clip on mic if you need it.
 
I think you will be very happy with your purchase. I recently got the closed version of the 700s and they sound great with x-fi, a big step up from the HD350 they replaced.
 
well, i prefer the ad700's but my brother like's the hd555's, some like the sennheiser house sound and some don't.
 
Well they should arrive tomorrow from amazon. I ordered it for next day shipping. I'll let you guys know how they are. I have been using Seinheiser hd485 which were great, then I wanted something different with a built in mic so I got the razer carcharias which are so and so , not very impressed with bc2,movies and music, so hopefully these new audio technicas sound better than my previous 2. btw I do have installed an xfi fatality soundcard.
 
I owned both the ad700s as well as the hd555. While both are great for gaming I actually preferred the the sound from the ad700s a little better. The one downside of the ad700s are that they are huge
 
I was actually looking at the Audio Technica ATH-A700 (Not AD700)... It seems like those have a bit better specs for about 30 more dollars. Actually looking to buy these right now from someone who ships to Canada. And I have the same sound card questions as you do!
 
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