u/cucumbersome4

I’m looking to replace my HyperX Cloud II and would appreciate some recommendations

My main priority is competitive FPS gaming, especially accurate positional audio, being able to clearly hear footsteps and determine their direction. I mainly play COD, War Dogs, CS, etc

What I’m looking for
- Up to ~€300 total
- It can be wired
- I can combine it with an external mic such as Antlion ModMic Uni 2+ (I’m open to other microphone recommendations)

Headphones I’m considering:
- Sennheiser HD 560S
- Beyerdynamic DT 900 PRO X
- Audeze Maxwell 2

My motherboard is an MSI B650 Gaming Plus WiFi with the Realtek ALC897. I’ve seen some complaints about this codec, so I’d prefer to use a small external DAC with the wired headphones. I’m currently considering the FiiO KA11 (~€35)

The Maxwell 2 is interesting because it’s an all-in-one solution, so I wouldn’t need a separate DAC or microphone. The downside is that it’s closed-back and more pricey.

On the other hand, the HD 560S and DT900 Pro X would need the external mic along with the DAC, which pushes the price up (~ €35 for DAC + €60 for the Antlion ModMic Uni 2+)

I am not an expert in this topic nor an audiophile, so I would appreciate any advice on this.

Thanks!

Hi,

I recently got a FRITZ!Box 5690 Pro and have been testing my network after noticing gaming performance issues (brief packet bursts/ping spikes every ~10 min during online multiplayer, e.g. Call of Duty, and also when streaming localhost from my Desktop -> Tv client).

To investigate, I ran PingPlotter continuously for several hours, pinging both my router's LAN IP and an external CDN target from two devices simultaneously. I am testing using my 5GHz connection channel since it is the one I use on the Desktop/TV. Findings:

• A latency spike occurs on both local and external targets at the same time, on multiple devices, at a very precise 10-minute interval (e.g. 18:47:16, 18:57:16, 19:07:16...).
• The affected devices are connected wirelessly, not via Ethernet.
• No repeaters or other mesh devices are set up — it's a single FRITZ!Box.
• Both bands are now fixed to a manual channel: 5 GHz on channel 36 (non-DFS), 2.4 GHz on channel 12.
• After restarting the router, I saw this log entry: "Temporary channel change to channel 36 (frequency 5.180 GHz) until the check for higher-priority users (e.g. radar) on the configured frequency 5.320 GHz has been concluded (Zero Wait DFS)."
• The 10-minute spike interval matches the interval at which this log entry was emitted after the restart.
• Despite the 5 GHz channel being fixed, the spikes have continued every 10 minutes since, with no corresponding channel-change entries logged afterward.
• My firmware doesn't appear to expose a toggle to disable Zero Wait DFS.

I wanted to check whether this periodic background DFS/radar monitoring could be causing these recurring spikes, and if there's a way to disable or adjust it. Any insight or things I should check would be appreciated.

Below are two pictures: first one running test wirelessly; second one using ethernet cable.

Ping plotter on Wifi

Ping plotter on Ethernet

Router: FRITZ!Box 5690 Pro
Firmware: 8.25

Thanks!

Hi guys, new to Steam link here.

I am trying to stream games from my PC to my LG TV (LG C1 OLED65C16LA) . I can't use Steam Link on the LG OS, so I am using a Xiaomi Mi Box S (2018) MDZ-22-AB .

I have a high end desktop (Ryzen 7 7800X3D, PC RTX 4090 Ti Super, 32 RAM) , so most of the games run smoothly on it.

My apartment is small, no Ehternet cables, everything wireless. The PC is very close to the router, and the TV/Xiaomi box are closer to it as well (~10m max, no walls in between), but passing an HDMI cable from the PC to the TV is not doable honestly.

Right now I am testing it by running Dead Space, and there is a short delay when playing with the joystick which is a bit annoying. I am aware that there is a delay involved, but I wonder if that can be improved somehow given my setup.

Could it be that the Xiaomi Mi Box S is a bottle neck and I have to use another more powerful device to receive+decode? Are there any settings needed on the Steam link app to improve this? Any tips that can help me on this?

I appreciate any help. Thank you.

https://preview.redd.it/tv889toxdjjh1.jpg?width=1536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d9f823def7a932eb298abd9e80db149f51134e4a

I have De'Longhi Magnifica S Smart ECAM250.23.SB for 5 years already, and it started to have the problem as mentioned https://www.reddit.com/r/DeLonghi/s/os3cWUwUHQ

I checked on the Delonghi website and the repair cost likely is around 200 euros, which does not seem to be worth it given that a new machine is 280.

Given that, I am also considering other options such as Philips 2200 EP2224/10 which is slightly cheaper and seem to be the very similar.

I just drink coffee and do not really use the milk frothing. I do not want to use pods; I want to use proper coffee beans

Did anyone move from Delonghi to Phillip’s or to any other brand? How was it? Are there any other recommendations?

I have De'Longhi Magnifica S Smart ECAM250.23.SB for 5 years already, and it started to have the problem as mentioned here.

I checked on the Delonghi website and the repair cost likely is around 200 euros, which does not seem to be worth it given that a new machine is 280.

Given that, I am also considering other options such as Philips 2200 EP2224/10, which is slightly cheaper and seem to be the very similar.

I just drink coffee and do not really use the milk frothing.

Did anyone move from Delonghi to Phillip’s or to any other brand? How was it? Are there any other recommendations?