next "gaming" headset
Budget, maybe 300AUD give or take? Australia
here local and online shops consist of (local) JB Hi-Fi, Officeworks, The Good Guys, Harvey Norman, Bing Lee. (online) mwave, Umart, Scorptec, Centre Com (basically Micro Center), JW Computers
would prefer buying in person and locally (JB Hi-Fi, big electronics franchise in Australia)
Balanced soundstage - I like a little bass and "detail".
Headphones will live at my home setup. No on the go use or even office/quiet space use. Literally just in my room.
Past headphone earphone history... these stock OEM Samsung earbuds (EHS64AVFWE, the stock tips on these are amazing), Plantronics Backbeat Fit 500, 2 pairs of HyperX Cloud IIs, Plantronics RIG 500 Pro HA, and finally the HyperX Cloud Revolver S', which I've been using for 6 years. Replaced the stock pads about 2 years ago and now those are going too. I'm aware I shouldn't replace something that is perfectly functioning, that's a very consumerist mindset - but this whole earpad thing is getting fucking annoying, and also very consumerist! (made a post about that here as well). As I mentioned in that post, the faux leather on the BackBeats is still holding strong, and that shit is a decade old!
I have used all the above headphones and headsets for music, gaming and everything inbetween. They have all been pretty solid from my perspective.
Last year I picked up a cheap pair of IEMs, the KZ EDX Pro Xs. I picked up some midrange tips, SpinFit W1 ($20! hurts to call them midrange). These have been great, but I bought the TRN Conch last week, I plan to transfer the tips - not delivered yet. I basically got these for the interchangable nozzles, icl, and I wanted to hear what midrange chi-fi sounded like. I got them at a pretty good price also, basically what I paid for those tips.
To be clear I use the KZs exclusively for music. I don't find them very ideal for gaming, I suppose "fatiguing" is the word, and generally listening to isolated voices/commentary is not great on them either.
I suppose I don't really want something audiophile tier? As I'm using this for everything. I am very sick of gaming brands and headsets I cannot lie. I don't even need an actual headset w/ mic anymore, I have an external mic for that. If I ever had to take a video call, I'd do it on my phone or laptop. Maybe the last 4 headsets in my history had been pretty substainsial materials wise. Construction is metal, hard plastics. Relatively bulky and heavy compared to the casual stuff on the market. I'd maybe prefer something lighter, but I do like the fact that I've never had to worry about breaking one of these headsets. A braided cable is a need, and I don't expect anything over 200 to come with less than that.
On the topic of wireless, I'm willing to give it go as long as there's wired fallback. My preferred option would actually be 2.4GHz wireless, but to my understanding that's not a very big thing in the headphone scene, and the ones that do have it are usually gaming headsets. BT latency isn't a big deal for casual users who listen to music or those who seemingly aren't bothered by it. Headphones with no wired fallback and especially no 3.5mm jack fucking slay me.
aware that this is a very long post, just trying to be specific. feel free to ask questions.
Either suggest me a new headset based on my profile, or get suggest me some HyperX Revolver earpads that won't disintegrate in less than 24 months.