Recently i have been looking for a extremely comfortable pair of headphones for multiple uses from listening to music from my computer, phone and my hifi system, to tv and movies and gaming. Also a large factor is the audio quality so it needs to be pretty flexible. I have looked at the Audio Technica ATH m50x and it sounds from reviews sort of what i am looking for, But i was wondering if there was any alternatives? And the headset i have at the moment has 7.1 surround sound and recently i have found it so useful in games like dayz, So is there any away to get 7.1 surround sound on headphones? maybe through a sound card or software?
I'd stay away from sound cards. They help but not nearly as much as just a dedicated desk DAC and amp. The surround sound you're talking about is really a means of portraying the effect of soundstage. Soundstage on a very basic level is a headphones way of making the listener hear specific sounds (usually instruments) coming from specific places. This is only possible if a headphone can reproduce the position related nuances of a sound to an accurate enough degree for your brain to go ahead and register it from a direction. Which btw is pretty cool. Anyway, a similar if not better degree of soundstage can be produced from any of the following headphones provided an adequate dac. Dolby 7.1 does do it's own little thing though so if you do have your sights set on it, I'm sure it can be obtained. But at any rate, to the headphones! From what you've said I'd strongly recommend you find yourself a pair of Sennheiser hd650s. They're an excellent set of cans and can be had for under the price you mentioned as well, although you may need to do some looking around for a good deal. Amazon is usually right around that mark. They're versatile in that they have very nice mids and highs but don't lack the warmth and bass that a lot of open and semi open headphones do. I think you'll like that coming from m50x's. They are very pleasing to listen to for most music. (I say most but I don't know what genre wouldn't sound good on them. Perhaps nuclear polka..) and they would be great for gaming as well. If you do prefer a more treble founded sound signature, I'd suggest Beyerdynamic dt880s. With either headphone though you're going to want/need a standalone dac/amp this adds to total cost but is definitely necessary and a much better route than most any soundcard. For those, I suggest the schiit magni modi combo, or the mayflower electronics objective 2 odac. Between the two the schiit stack is cheaper and equivalent in quality, but you may have your own reasons to choose one or the other. Keep in mind there are certainly cheaper options than the headphones and dacs I've listed so make sure to look around. hd600s are great as well and so are audio technica ath-ad900x's, akg k701s and ad700x's etc.
You might like this article as this guy goes a lot more in depth on a few headphones in that 240 price range. http://www.headfonia.com/old-school-trio-akg-k701-beyer-dt880-sennheiser-hd650/
as you can see there are a lot of stuff out there ... my tastes run towards highly detailed clarity , large sound stage , good stereo separation , uncolored accurate with tight bass rich mids and precision highs ... studio & reference / audiophile sound ... but everybody hears differently.
I would recommend trying as many as possible to find the ones you like.
Thank you! You both have been extremely helpful, But i have a question about open back headphones, how bad is the noise leakage? Because i recently got a external mic and it maybe be a problem if it could pick up any noise from them.
I have a question about open back headphones, how bad is the noise leakage? Because i recently got a external mic (Audio Technica AT2020) and it seems to pick up general sounds in my room which could be a problem with open back headphones?
depends on the headphones, but as long as you aren't blasting something at full volume while recording with your microphone, it would probably be fine.