The kids these days love a full-on gaming headset, but personally? They've always made me feel a little too much like I'm manning an air traffic control tower. That's why I have, for my entire PC gaming career, stuck rigidly to a succession of Sennheiser headphones. But after a near-decade of use, my trusty HD 598s are starting to look a little worse for wear. Well, lucky for me Drop has a very tempting Cyber Monday deal on a pair of Massdrop x Sennheiser HD 6XXs then, 'ey?
They're going for $179, about $40 below their usual asking price, and I'd probably be tempted even if the luxurious velour padding on my HD 598s wasn't starting to lose its lustre. These are a premium set of cans for a seriously sensible price. The 6XXs are, in essence, the same headphones as Sennheiser's HD 650s, our number 2 best headphones for gaming out there right now.
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That means you get the crystal clear, ultra-balanced mix the HD 650s are famous for at a price under $200. We're talking crisp mids and highs with just a little left to be desired on the bass. Don't get confused, though, there's still plenty of oomph there to enjoy. They're open-backed, too, which makes for a lighter sound that won't annihilate your eardrums. Just make sure you don't use them in a public library: there's pretty much no noise isolation here at all, so everyone will hear what you're listening to (and you'll hear them, too).
If you're wondering what makes these 6XXs instead of 650s, the answer is, uh, the colour. The HD 6XXs come in a smoky midnight blue compared to the plain ol' black of the standard HD 650s. Personally, I rather like it. It adds a classy, noirish vibe to the set, but I've been rocking a set of cans that look like they were fashioned from the inside of an old Land Rover for the best part of a decade, so perhaps my aesthetic judgement's not [[link]] to be trusted.
Anyway, these are some seriously comfortable, seriously nice headphones for a seriously reasonable price, and I'd recommend nabbing a pair to anyone in the market for a set of headphones right now. Just remember, if you really want to get the best out of them, it's always a good idea [[link]] to chuck a DAC and an amp in there. I've had the one I use for so long that I have genuinely forgotten the brand of it—sorry—but I can tell you that I've heard PCG staff talk up Schiit's gear in the past.