What headphones are you all using while gaming on Linux?
Looking for some good headphones to use for listening to music, and gaming. Could do wireless.. but I feel like USB or 3.5 mm connection would be best. Seems like a lot of the big brands have stuff locked into their windows apps.
My desktop has Sennheiser HD280 Pros. Recently replaced the pads on them after they had worn out. They're decent in terms of passive sound isolation, and less-expensive than some really fancy headphones. They have, other than the pads, shown pretty good longevity. 1/8" TRS jack. Not my favorite pair of at-the-computer headphones -- I think that that'd have been a pair of Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pros that fell apart years ago. But decent and durable.
I keep a pair of Phillips 1/8" TRS open-back headphones by the computer for when it's not too noisy. Don't remember the model.
I use an old, beat-up, duct-tape wrapped pair of headphones whose manufacturer and model I cannot remember with my laptop or other portable devices with a 1/8" TRS jack when I want to take something with me. Or a pair of earbuds.
I don't presently use wireless headphones with active noise cancellation for my computers -- just the devices that don't have 1/8" TRS jacks -- but I've been very impressed with what is out there -- they work quite well. Unfortunately, 1/8" TRS headphones with active noise cancellation aren't really a thing -- no source of power over the line -- so you need to get USB or Bluetooth headphones for that.
My ideal pair of headphones-for-the-desktop would be 1/8" TRS, have pretty solid passive sound isolation -- using an existing set of hearing protectors as a base, like 3M Peltors or something would be neat -- and active noise cancellation as an option. Oh, and a detachable cord (which very few pairs of 1/8" TRS headphones that I've ever had have had). Unfortunately, that combination doesn't seem to be a thing.
If I were going to get a pair of headphones right now, I'd probably get Beyerdynamic DT 770Ms (not the above DT 770 Pros), as they're similar to my favorite pair and have greater passive sound isolation. No active noise cancellation, though. I don't expect to get new headphones for a while, though, as I've a few pairs that need to fall apart first.
In general, I find that modern, circumaural headphones, outside of the very low end, all sound pretty decent. I think that the only pair of over-$40 headphones that I've ever been disappointed with the actual frequency response on was a 1970s reproduction, the Koss Pro4AA. Maybe one person prefers headphones with a bit more or a bit less bass response, but eh. And if you really want that and are willing to sacrifice a bit of latency -- which for music, isn't really a big deal -- you can get whatever response curve you want with an equalizer, either in hardware or software. What does vary is sound isolation. You can roll your own high-isolation headphones with a pair of ear protectors and earbuds, but I don't really find earbuds to be as comfortable as circumaural earphones for long sessions.
Grado Labs SR325i (discontinued now, I got these ~10 years ago) connected to a Lexicon Alpha, with a Blue Yeti USB mic. I like everything to sound crispy. I also like open-back headphones because I don't want to completely close out my environment. Mic is mounted on a shock mount to a target shooting scope stand using a 1/4"-20 to 5/8"-27 adapter I whipped up on my lathe. It's a hacky setup, but I didn't want to spend money on a mic boom, and it cost me ~$1 in 4140 steel bar stock.
Came here to give Grado a vote. Everything from Joe's shop is top-notch. Even the humble SR80s have beautiful, warm sound, but if you want to go a little crazy... https://gradolabs.com/headphones
If I ever manage to kill my current headphones (unlikely but possible since I'm a clumsy oaf), I'll definitely pick up another pair. Grado makes a quality product at a fair price, and I'm glad they're still going strong. I hope that I can justify picking up a pair of their headphones with wood housings some day.
People always say to avoid gaming headphones, but gaming headphones are often the only ones made with built-in external mics. If I'm gaming, I need at least a decent mic. Internal headphone mics aint going to cut it, they are omnidirectional and have terrible quality.
Sure you can get the perfect set up with some high quality headphones and a separate recording setup but there are issues with this. Boom mics are the highest quality of course but they take up a ton of space and are unsightly. You need to get the perfect length of boom and hold it close to your face at all times... it's necessary for content creation but not practical for everyday playing. There are "mod mics" you can attach to the side of your headphones, but there is only one company that makes them (Antlion) and both of their products in this line are terrible. I've had nothing but issues and they are not cheap.
So in the end I settled for the Sony Inzone headphones and they are fine. They are ugly as sin and the sound quality is obviously lacking, but it's way better than most in the category. You can connect via Bluetooth but the dongle works OOTB on Linux. The headphones are poor without a firmware update, and that needs a Windows VM and it's a bit tricky. The update will disable the USB device at points, so you will need to re-enable the USB passthrough when this happens. Pretty easy to do with GNOME-Boxes.
Good old Sony MDR-7506 I found in e-waste, replaced the pads and they are golden (light and comfy over ear)! Before that I was using a modified David Clark H10 headset (heavy but naturally isolated with loads of insulation) with MDR-CD999 drivers (can’t believe these were a perfect fit) a Shure boom but it’s only for when the environmental noise is particularly hostile.
When I need a microphone I use my Cloud Alpha S, but most of the time I use my Letshuoer S12 with a CX-31993 and in the future I plan on getting an Audio Technica ATH-R70x.
If you want wireless, you could always get a good pair of headphones and pair them with either the FiiO BTR5 or the Qudelix5k.
I have used aSoundcore Q30, a Soundcore A40 (these are earphones, so not sure if they fit here), Sony XM2 and XM4, and currently I'm using an Astro A50 that I got from work (mostly because of the microphone). The XM4 are the best by far but not very gamey, I wouldn't buy the A50, not think they're worth the price.
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