ATH-AD700X

Headphone comfort isn't really that complicated, but it does depend a lot on how big your ears are and how tolerant you are to pressure on top of your head. In general, the softer the foam and the lighter the clamp force, the more comfortable they will be. Clamping force depends on headphone weight and design. Headphones with support on top - be it wings like Audio Technica, foam like Beyer Dynamic/Sony, or a strap like some other brands have - tend to mean lower clamping force since less weight is carried by the cups and so less friction (aka clamping force) is required. Open headphones tend to be both lighter and have softer foam with lower clamping force, since closer tend to prioritise sound isolation (which needs mass) and denser foam (to block noise). The absolute most comfortable headphones I've ever worn (and I've worn a lot) were Audio Technica AD700X. I often forgot I was even wearing them, which caused issues when I would jump up to answer the door or check the stove. They are sadly not built for getting yanked off heads at running pace and falling to hardwood floors. I've never met anyone who found higher clamping forces more comfortable. It can be useful if you move around a lot, get sweaty with leather pads, or otherwise have stability issues, but comfortable... No. Firmer pads are mostly for people with sensitive areas around their ears, so the bony regions take more of the weight, or for people with ears that poke out a lot because it stops their ears touching the cups. tl;dr if you want to maximise comfort get the lightest ones that fit your needs and have the largest diameter cups. If possible, also consider ones with active weight supporting elements on top of the head, and tread Audio Technica AD--- as a good recommendation.

My PC audio setup is a wild ride. I use the onboard audio to drive a headphone jack I attached to my desk. When I don't want to wear my large open back headphones I plug a set of Faaeal flat head earbuds. I don't like the isolation feeling from rubber tipped earbuds and they are super comfortable and I can wear them for hours. I use the optical out from my onboard audio to drive a pretty good LG sound bar and I use this when I'm home alone and want to game at my PC but with good audio without headphones I use a Soundblaster Z to drive a set of audio Technica ATH-700x open back headphones, these are amazing value headphones with a fantastic sound stage and positional sound imaging for FPS games. Finally my PC is also directly around the corner from my TV and home theater sound system so I have my TV connected as a second monitor via my Sony 5.1 home theatre amp which allows me to have HD home theatre audio over HDMI from my 9070xt when I want to play games sitting on the couch like a console on my big TV and home theatre level surround. I also the mic from my Wii Guitar Hero game on a boom arm. It's actually a pretty good quality USB Logitech mic and it works amazingly for comms.

2 main reasons, I originally thought I would need the amp to drive them but I have since learned that they are actually really easy to power and don't need lots of power like some audiophile headphones to sound good. Also on my previous motherboard I had a little bit of electrical noise bleed when I used them with the onboard audio but with a discrete card the sound is clean. They are really sensitive which is why I think you could hear it in them but not my earbuds. The reason I didn't start just using the onboard audio for them after I upgraded is kind of just because I didn't want to have too many connectors between them and the audio jack. I modded them to have a removable cable when the factory wire broke so using the desk plug would mean 3 separate connections that could get worn or dirty to cause noise between them and the source so I just kept the sound blaster since I already had it. I originally wanted to use the pod that comes with the Soundblaster as my mic and the ports on it so that I could have a volume knob but the mic really wasn't great so I don't use the pod.

The Audio Technica ATH700X are the best thing I've heard for accurate footsteps and all other audio cues in Battlefield 2042 & 6. Amazing. Need a modmic to turn them into a headset, but then one is golden indeed.

If you like FPS games, Jpop/Jrock AND especially JP/Asian female vocal, I would recommend the AD line from Audio Technica (the one I use is AD900X).  AD700X more for gaming and AD900X (and above, i.e. AD1000X, AD2000X and the non-X variants) for music. The AD line is unbeatable for JP female vocal and has really great soundstage and imaging that people claim these headphones give you wall hacks. Warning that bass on these headphones are on the lower-end so you may want to demo them beforehand.

I’ve own the ATH-AD700x, I’ve had them for about 4 years. Moving from a gaming headset to the 700x was night and day. I recently purchased the HD 490 Pros and the 490 pros blow the 700x out of the water. Directional awareness is so much better. But yes, price per value for the ATH-AD700x is great, I just don’t think it’ll be up to what the OP is looking for.

Check out his other video (link below) of him talking about the ATH-AD700X. He compares them to the Sennheiser 560S not the HD 490 Pro, but still provides a good point of reference. The 700X’s are a very great entry level set of cans moving out of the traditional “gaming headsets” but giving the 700X and the 490 Pro a side by side comparison, the 490 are superior. When listening to music the 700X put things that should be center were center but it was a large point of center. So like the center was (arbitrary numbers but just to give you an idea) 5 feet wide. Whereas the 490 Pro put center 1 foot wide in front of me. Which helped really separate a guitar solo I was listening to and the rest of the music being around it. https://youtu.be/A4VDztWlmAk?si=mwa2HZImes9p1iCB