Best headphones under $250 for all-round music listening and gaming that have really good soundstage, imaging, sibilance, texture and sub-bass?
I don't think I can qualify as an audiophile due to my lack of knowledge on audio jargon in general, however, I go nuts when I can hear every little detail in a song, game, movie, etc, and I constantly obsess over being able to hear all of a song.
I really want to find a comfortable headphone that I can hear little details perfectly, and clearly; I don't want to have to focus really hard to hear the details even when I'm extremely familiar with a song. I'm looking for something with a wide-sound stage similar to a high quality open-back headphone, almost like if you were listening to Dolby Atmos for the first time. I'm chasing that "wow" feeling of life-like openness, clarity, timbre, and imaging. Like if you heard a knock on the door in a song it would sound like it was real, or hearing an artist's voice go from right to left in a song. I need the highs to be gentle, but very clear; I have incredibly sensitive ears (Autism + ADHD) and treble almost always hurts the shit out of me and my ears, but I constantly need to turn the mids down to hear the cool-ass treble details. Also, I want the bass to be CLEAR, I'm in love with sub-bass but I swear to god every headphone I've owned just can't pronounce sub-bass with any actual bass. Lastly, I need the cans to be good for gaming so I can play a shooter like Valorant and be able to hear and pin-point footsteps and util easily so I can slime out my opps effectively. Also, closed backs are also welcome, the flare only allowed for one or the other.
Extra background info:
I frequently use SteelSeries Sonar to adjust the Bass, Mids, and Treble at my disposal to help my ears not hurt for each song I listen to, and then also hear different sounds better. I find I constantly adjust sound because sound is always too loud or too quiet for me, I can never find a middle ground that's comfortable. I have a PCPanel for this exact reason and it's amazing. I run my headphones through my HyperX Quadcast's headphone output so I can hear myself through my mic, I don't know if this impacts audio quality at all, I've tested my computer's headphone jack compared to my mic but I haven't been able to pinpoint any differences.
My past headphones have been:
Rig 400HX's for my Xbox when I was like 12. However, I had never heard soundstage so wide and I remember hearing a knock in a YouTube video and I couldn't tell if it was real or not. Those headphones + Dolby Atmos genuinely sounded amazing, at least in memory, and were incredibly comfortable and lightweight.
Sennheiser GSP 500's - Open back gaming that sounded pretty good but I wasn't able to feel or hear the details in songs amazing
AirPod Pro 2's - Actually solid soundstage and sound really good to me. I'm able to pick out a lot of detail with them, they have pretty good bass and mids and they pleasantly surprised me.
Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro X's (current) - Honestly i'm really really disappointed with these. I've wanted Beyerdynamics since I was like 11 or 12, i'm about to be 19, and I asked for some for Christmas and I've been using them for months and they just don't cut it... They are incredibly uncomfortable for me (all my friends love them tho). I even bought this nice ass leather headband from ZMF to help with hotspots (it's better but not perf) and new cooling gel earpads that are actually goated but still the comfort could be improved in a lot of ways for me. A big buy point for me was that they supposedly remixed them to not be as high as the DT770s, but, it's still like too high for me regardless. I also just don't feel the bass at all really, like I hear it but there's no feeling.
Some of my favorite songs, albums and artists (no order):
My main genres is probably Rap, Hip Hop, Indie, and EDM. I have specifics below:
- Atrocity Exhibition by Danny Brown (album)
Artists + songs:
- Tyler the Creator
- IFHY
- Garden Shed
- GONE GONE / THANK YOU
- Jack Stauber
- Dog Nightmare
- Oh Klahoma
- O.U.R.
- Cunk
- Kendrick Lamar
- The Recipe
- DUCKWORTH (omg its genuinely gold)
- LUST
- Real
- A.D.H.D
- Childish Gambino
- Riot
- Me and Your Mama
- Les
- Pink Pantheress
- Tonight + Basement Jaxx
- Starlight (PinkPanthress is featured)
- Mosquito
- Steve Lacy
- Nice Shoes
- Mercury
- Ryd
Songs:
- Sugar by Sleep Token
- L.A. by Brent Fayez
- Feel Good Inc. by Gorillaz
- Dancing in the Moonlight by King Harvest
- THE SCOTTS - Travy Patty
- Murder Was the Case by Snoop
- Show me how by Men I Trust
- Kevin's Heart by Jcole
- LOVELY BASTARDS by ZWE1HVNDXR
- Meet the Frownies by Mr Twin Sister (song)
Examples of details in songs I want to hear clearer:
DEMOLITION MAN by Boko Yout - In the beginning he's humming, groaning, whatever you want to call it, but he has a lot of distortion and bass on it; I want to be able to feel the texture of that. At 0:41 he starts singing "Ooooohhhhhhhh" in the background and I think it would sound amazing if I had better sound staging. At 2:03, my all-time favorite part of the song, this woozy guitar comes in alongside this guitar that I can best describe as very twinkly and cosmic sounds heavenly, I want to feel that texture so bad on that twinkly guitar, I want to feel that shit TOUCH MY SOUL.
When It Rain by Danny Brown - Right before the beat drops and kicks into high gear at 2:25, right after he says "THEY JUST GO POP!", you hear the 808s go lower and lower and lower like a staircase. I want to be able to hear that way better and also be able to feel it better. Also, right when he says "Oh you ain't know that!?" you hear this weird ass, fast-paced ambient synth or something in the background going "WOOooOOoUuUuUAHMmMmMmMM" and moving from left to right and back and forth. I would love to be able to hear background details like that with incredible imaging, clarity and texture. I want to feel that electronic tingle that it comes with.
Golddust by Danny Brown - I want that kazoo in the back loud and clear... Also, it plays through the whole song but is very prevalent right at 2:14-2:16 is a weird woozy-ass guitar, and I want to be able to hear that through everything else in the earlier parts of the song.
BALD! by JPEGMAFIA - Want to hear that sub-bass with crazy clarity and feeling/texture. It starts at 0:09.
If I Wanted To by Eem Trippin - at 1:14 you can hear this faint, ambient melody that sounds like it might be a somewhat slowed and distorted melody of some bells or chimes come in for a second then fade out. It comes back in longer and more pronounced at 1:18. It sounds kinda starry/galactic but then also feels lowk a lil scary/unsettling?
All of these details I can hear great when I tune my eq to pick them up easier, but it takes away from literally every other part of the song. I want to be able hear, feel and follow all of the background melodies, miniscule details, sub-bass, and directionality so much easier while the rest of the song is still perfectly in-tact and whole.
Any help would be greatly appreciated and any general guidance that could help me be able to be one with the music and connect with all the sounds, feelings, tingles and other shits would be amazing.
Bonus if the cans are also good for mixing, however, I don't know how a headphone could be both detailed to the degree im looking for, but also good for mixing at the same time.