[SOLVED] Is the AKG K240 a good choice for gaming? AMP recommendation?

[MxzsyXII]

Hello audiophiles, I am new to this sub. I am in need of a good pair of headphones to use for gaming. So far my research has lead me to studio headphones instead of typical 'gaming' headsets. I am on a budget which is why I have selected the AKG K240. I am not dead set on this yet but from reviews it looks good. Also apparently open back headphones are better than closed for more of spacial awareness for footsteps and such.

I read that to fully experience the true performance of the K240 an external AMP would be required but not necessary. I have no idea what to look for so if anyone could recommend a cheap one in the UK I would appreciate it. I searched headphone amp on amazon and was shown with either £30 portable ones, or ones worth hundreds. Idk what I'm suppose to use.

Is this headset a good choice for primarily gaming and some YouTube? You guys can also give other recommendations, preferably around or below £50.

 

[gondo]

I am a big fan of using normal headphones such as AKG. There are however some drawbacks. For chat you need to use a separate mic such as a Yeti. Secondly for surround sound. You can emulate surround sound using software like Razer Surround, but it's not built in. When you buy a gaming headset it'll come with surround emulation like Dolby Headphone or something similar. With regular headphones you have to setup the surround yourself or pay extra for software to pull it off as it's not incuded.

So it all comes down to if you want a headset exclusively for gaming or not. If so don't rule out good gaming headsets. If you also want to use the headphones for music, smartphone, movies, etc... then consider the regular headphones as they'll sound better, and your not stuck with a microphone built in when you don't want it.

Open back headphones sound great. But you hear everything around you. Telephone, TV, Wife, Kids, etc.... It's a pain. Closed back gives you privacy so you can actually hear the game. Hearing footsteps does you no good if you also hear your kids blasting the TV Personally I'm a big fan of noise cancelling which is like super closed back. Removes all external noise so you can concentrate on the game and hear nothing but.

It is also my experience that it is usually the cable that breaks on headphones. So I look for either a replaceable cable or wireless. A lot of AKG headphones use the mini XLR cable so it's replaceable. Next is your amp. If you have a higher end gaming motherboard it'll have a headphone amp on board and include gaming software so you can get the virtual surround sound. If you don't have a headphone amp built into the motherboard, then go with a USB DAC. Plug it into your computer, windows will detect it as a sound output device and has built in drivers. This will give you 100% great audio but no gaming options. The advantage of this is you only need to buy cheap $75 motherboards in the future and you will always have the best audio. To get surround sound you can install something like Razer Surround software and get virtual surround sound for gaming.

I have a high end set of AKG open backs with a DAC that I use for my computer with a YETI microphone. I also have a high end noise cancelling Sony Bluetooth headset. I love both but prefer the Sonys. The noise cancelling is key. It also has a built in mic which works great. And I use the bluetooth to connect to my smartphone, tablet, and laptop.

In the end start with asking yourself, is it 100% for gaming. If so do not rule out a good headset. And ask yourself if you have a lot of background noise. Kids, wife, lawnmower running outside the window, etc.... If so do not get open backs. That'll narrow it down for you.