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What headphones are you all using while gaming on Linux?

Looking for some good headphones to use for listening to music, and gaming. Could do wireless.. but I feel like USB or 3.5 mm connection would be best. Seems like a lot of the big brands have stuff locked into their windows apps.

What are you all using?

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  • My desktop has Sennheiser HD280 Pros. Recently replaced the pads on them after they had worn out. They're decent in terms of passive sound isolation, and less-expensive than some really fancy headphones. They have, other than the pads, shown pretty good longevity. 1/8" TRS jack. Not my favorite pair of at-the-computer headphones -- I think that that'd have been a pair of Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pros that fell apart years ago. But decent and durable.

    I keep a pair of Phillips 1/8" TRS open-back headphones by the computer for when it's not too noisy. Don't remember the model.

    I use an old, beat-up, duct-tape wrapped pair of headphones whose manufacturer and model I cannot remember with my laptop or other portable devices with a 1/8" TRS jack when I want to take something with me. Or a pair of earbuds.

    I don't presently use wireless headphones with active noise cancellation for my computers -- just the devices that don't have 1/8" TRS jacks -- but I've been very impressed with what is out there -- they work quite well. Unfortunately, 1/8" TRS headphones with active noise cancellation aren't really a thing -- no source of power over the line -- so you need to get USB or Bluetooth headphones for that.

    My ideal pair of headphones-for-the-desktop would be 1/8" TRS, have pretty solid passive sound isolation -- using an existing set of hearing protectors as a base, like 3M Peltors or something would be neat -- and active noise cancellation as an option. Oh, and a detachable cord (which very few pairs of 1/8" TRS headphones that I've ever had have had). Unfortunately, that combination doesn't seem to be a thing.

    If I were going to get a pair of headphones right now, I'd probably get Beyerdynamic DT 770Ms (not the above DT 770 Pros), as they're similar to my favorite pair and have greater passive sound isolation. No active noise cancellation, though. I don't expect to get new headphones for a while, though, as I've a few pairs that need to fall apart first.

    In general, I find that modern, circumaural headphones, outside of the very low end, all sound pretty decent. I think that the only pair of over-$40 headphones that I've ever been disappointed with the actual frequency response on was a 1970s reproduction, the Koss Pro4AA. Maybe one person prefers headphones with a bit more or a bit less bass response, but eh. And if you really want that and are willing to sacrifice a bit of latency -- which for music, isn't really a big deal -- you can get whatever response curve you want with an equalizer, either in hardware or software. What does vary is sound isolation. You can roll your own high-isolation headphones with a pair of ear protectors and earbuds, but I don't really find earbuds to be as comfortable as circumaural earphones for long sessions.

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