Reddit mentions of Velour Earpads-Headphone Replacement Ear Pads for HIFIMAN HE400, 560, 400i, 300, 400, 500, 4, 5, 6

If you're not opposed to a headphone and a separate mic, then I have some recommendations. There's also some info you should know about what makes headphones/headsets good for gaming, so strap in.

I strongly recommend Philips SHP9500, Superlux HD668B and Superlux HD681 EVO with an Antlion ModMic 4, a Massdrop Minimic or a V-MODA BoomPro mic in the $100 range. These are open-back headphones. For closed-back, I recommend AKG K52.

 

K52 has a big soundstage, good imaging, clarity, detail retrieval and tonality, and decent separation. It has a balanced/neutral sound signature, meaning it doesn't under- or over-emphasize the bass or treble. The bass can sound slightly distorted in explosions and other big and loud sounds. It's over-ear, very lightweight and has a durable construction and replaceable earpads.

SHP9500 has a big soundstage, good imaging, separation and detail retrieval, and very good clarity and tonality. It has a balanced/neutral sound signature. It's over-ear, lightweight and has a durable construction and a detachable cable. The earpads are removable, but you have to mod them or buy 3D printed rings that the new earpads attach to. Modding is very easy and quick to do and doesn't require new/extra parts aside from the replacement earpads, but the stock pads will be destroyed. I've made a tutorial. 3D printed parts can be bought from Thingverse.com and ModHouseAudio.com. The clamping force is very light, so I don't recommend the headphone for children or if you frequently move your head down and don't have a big head. Replacing the earpads will make the clamping force tighter.

HD668B has a very big soundstage, very good imaging, separation and detail retrieval, good clarity and decent tonality. It has a bright sound signature, meaning the treble is emphasized, and a small boost in the bass. It's over-ear, very lightweight and has a sturdy construction and a detachable cable. I recommend replacing the earpads with velour earpads from HiFiMAN because they have much better quality and are a little deeper.

HD681 EVO has a very big soundstage, good detail retrieval, very good clarity and tonality, but has poor imaging and separation. It has a warm sound signature with a deep sub-bass.
It's over-ear, lightweight and has a durable build and a detachable cable. I recommend taking out the loose felt inside the cups and replacing the earpads because they are very shallow and the driver sticks out quite a bit. I recommend velour earpads from HiFiMAN and Cosmos. If you have big ears or want memory foam, very soft earpads or boosted bass, then I recommend round velour earpads from Brainwavz. The earpads can cost up to $25, but the sound quality is worth at least $100.

 

I also compare to AKG Q701, Audio-Technica ATH-AD700x, Beyerdynamic DT990 (600 ohms), HyperX Cloud, Philips Fidelio X2 and Sennheiser HD700. I got all of these headphones for gaming. I can't emphasize enough that perceived performance in headphones/headsets is relative.

People will probably recommend HyperX Cloud / Cloud II / CloudX, but I strongly advise against them because they have a very bad price-performance ratio compared to SHP9500, HD668B and HD681 EVO and a bad one compared to K52. The Clouds have a small soundstage, bad imaging, and they sound very muddy with grainy bass.

 

Alternative headphones:

• Audio-Technica ATH-AD500x (open-back)
  
• Status Audio OB-1 (open-back)
  
• Status Audio CB-1 (closed-back)
  
• Superlux HD681 (B, F) (semi-open-back)
  
• Superlux HD669 (closed-back)
  
• Superlux HD662 (B, F) (closed-back)
  
• Superlux HD662 EVO (closed-back)
  
   
  
  Closed-back headphones have cups with solid shells that largely isolate sound from passing in and out.
  
  Open-back / semi-open-back headphones have cups with perforations/grills that allow outside sound to freely pass in and sound from the drivers to freely pass out. How loud you hear outside sound and how loud people around you hear the sound emanating from the headphones depend on your volume, of course. The sonic benefit to open-back is generally a big soundstage.
  
  Soundstage is perceived space and environment of sound. It can be compared to virtual surround sound; both attempt to produce the same spacious, three-dimensional effect. VSS can sound more ambient and immersive, which depends on the processor (CMSS-3D, Dolby, SBX, etc.), but it degrades the sound quality and diminishes detailing due to compression from digital processing. You might also experience less accurate imaging and separation if the headphone already has good imaging and separation. Note that a deep soundstage is equally important as a wide soundstage.
  
  Imaging determines how accurately sounds/objects are positioned across the soundstage. And I mean where they are positioned and not merely what direction they come from. This distinction is important because only being able to tell what direction objects come from is to me not good enough when playing against people or on high difficulties.
  Imaging is inherent to the audio content, so if the game is recorded or mixed poorly, a headphone with good imaging won’t improve the positional audio, so don't judge the headphone before using it in several games you're very familiar with. I test mine mostly in Battlefield: Bad Company 2, a game that has great recording and mixing and that I've played for over six years.
  
  Separation is separating individual sounds from a range of sounds. Good separation makes it easier to filter out or discern overlapping sounds from other sounds and track them.
  
   
  
  Antlion ModMic 4 and Massdrop Minimic use a clasp system to attach to headphones and are easy to attach and remove. They are compatible with all headphones and have a mute switch.
  
  The Minimic isn't available on Massdrop for the time being, but I mention it in case you want to save money and wait until it becomes available. I recommend requesting it on Massrop.com in the meanwhile.
  
  V-MODA BoomPro connects to the headphone's jack, replacing the headphone cable. It's compatible with Philips SHP9500 and Status Audio CB-1 of my recommendations. It has a mute switch and a volume control.
  
  To connect the headphone and mic to DS4, you need a TRRS / 4-pole Y-splitter. The BoomPro doesn't require a Y-splitter.
  
   
  
  Alternative, clip-on mics:
  
  
• Neewer 3.5mm Clip on Mini Lapel Microphone
  
• Sony ECMCS3
  
• Zalman ZM-Mic1
  
   
  
  You can also use a sound card, e.g. Astro MixAmp Pro TR, or a dedicated DAC (digital-to-analog converter) and a headphone amplifier, e.g. SMSL SD793-II, to connect to PS4 instead of DS4 and to improve the audio. Sound cards are mainly for offering virtual surround sound, equalization, game audio and chat audio balancing, and other features, so sound cards generally provide inferior audio quality to dedicated DACs and amps. The BoomPro works only with DS4 and sound cards. If you choose one of the other mics, then you're not limited to a sound card because the mic cable is separate from the headphone cable, so the headphone connects to the DAC or amp as usual and the mic connects to the DS4, through a TRRS Y-splitter. Using unlicensed USB sound cards and DACs will very likely result in reversed left and right channels, so use an optical connection or licensed products.
  
   

Alright my pair don't arrive until later today, and I'm only a google guru on this topic but heres my best take.

1. Drastically better; I mean really the HTC vive earbuds sound pretty meh at best, no different than my 10$ earbuds. The Superlux HD668B are one of the top 2 or so headsets at or under 50$ reviewed by sources I'd consider reliable. Some reviewers say these pads will also substantially improve both comfort and quality of the sound, letting the headset compete decently with 80-120$ range headphones.
   
   
2. These are known for being treble blasters, so maybe you won't get as strong of a bass, and with other sub 50$ headsets that go the other way you won't get a sound as clean, if you got some really pricy headphones that also have top tier reviews you might be able to have your cake and eat it too, but this would go way outside your budget. In terms of VR? Not really. All that's going to really matter is the openness of the headphones, where more or less more open = better. These are somewhat open, and become more open if you get the other pads. Don't know what I mean by open? I barely know either read this thread.
   
   Using some sound software to adjust the treble/bass/mids of your audio should help with cheaper headsets that have a tendency to be much stronger in one of those areas.
   
   Also one caveat to not missing anything in positional audio, maybe there's some really high end headphones that might actually make a difference but afaik it's totally up to the game engine and devs after a certain point, that point essentially being decent headphones that are "open."

Also look at the Superlux HD668B, they're really good for the money, but the pads suck so you need to get new ones.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003JOETX8

https://www.amazon.com/HIFIMAN-Velour-Earpads-Headphone-replacement-HE400/dp/B00VV2JYXK

Whats really cool about them is that you can replace the wire with any 3.5mm headphone extension cable

If you want the best audio quality for the price, the best solution is a pair of good regular headphones and a clip on mic. I recommend the $40 Superlux HD668B, the $10 HIFIMAN Earpads and finally a cheap but decent $8 Zalman Zm-mic 1

This will give you much better sound, on par mic and supreme comfortability compared to any headset.

Guess I got pretty lucky then. Tough you aren't missing out much on the velour pads, they appear to be the same as these. The HE-Adapter is nice though as it does help those who don't have an amp as powerful as the Atom. I think lower powered amps might have some trouble as something like my Fiio K3 shows what they mean about the bass not being there with low power. But I think once they get loud enough that they are loud, you don't get anything from adding more power.

You might give EQ a try with the same negative pre-amp as you have with the EQ and A/B test. I would recommend taking the headphones off during the switch or at least give them a minute afterwards because the fix on the scooped out mid really is jarring at first if you are wearing the headphones when you switch, but it evens out and sounds really nice. I use this EQ.

they come with replacement pads, which you can get as cheap as $10:
https://www.amazon.com/HIFIMAN-Velour-Earpads-Headphone-replacement-HE400/dp/B00VV2JYXK