Is there THE ideal gaming headphone? I thought about it and decided: I’ll just do an interesting experiment with the inexpensive OneOdio Monitor 80 for just under 100 Euros. Let’s just leave the microphone aside, because I wanted to know how well an open studio headphone with a more neutral (i.e. flat) audio signature would do overall in a gamer’s everyday life. I don’t even care about the silly Hi-Res Audio logo that you can virtually lend yourself for the necessary fee. But if (admittedly very) inexpensive headphones are already good for mixing (and they certainly are), why shouldn’t they also allow for the precise analysis and localization of individual sound layers and sources? So we’re doing the music and gaming test today, and yes, it’s going to be quite surprising. Of course, there is also the obligatory teardown and extensive measurements in the lab as well as a subjective listening test.
Despite all the euphoria, however, I have to tell you in advance what a pair of studio headphones should be able to do and where it’s better not to even think about it as a consumer. The audio signature of the OneOdio Monitor 80 (stupid name, if you were looking for a real monitor, you’re already lost here) is deliberately kept neutral, so these are not bass-pumping bathtub fun headphones, but merciless analysts of what the audio source gives (or doesn’t). So you hear every mistake, which can be annoying or even disappointing from time to time. However, if a game has very good audio qualities, then you will possibly also be able to perceive things (or even be frightened by them) that you did not perceive in this form before. I own several good open copies of this category and really love to play with them because the spatiality is downright striking. If you like real surround sound, you can run your own 5.1 system (without front monitors and sub) only as a rear and thus acoustically relieve the neighbors at night. A real creepy factor is fully included here.
Thus, the open construction is also an indispensable part of the immersion, which you have to like, of course (the environment next to you, too, unfortunately). Unfortunately, sound isn’t a one-way street with this type of construction and so you don’t only hear your surroundings, but they also hear the self-selected sound carpet. The sensitivity of the OneOdio Monitor 80 is quite high and the manufacturer specifies 100 dB, although the reference is missing. I’m going to assume it’s supposed to be a milliwatt. Even higher is the impedance of 250 ohms, which certainly put the OneOdio Monitor 80 at a bit of a disadvantage on many sources (despite the high sensitivity). At least there will be no impedance problems at the amplifier output, but an external DAC or headphone amplifier with good gain should already be available.
Packaging and scope of delivery
The two-piece cardboard box contains a hardcase, which in turn includes the headphones and the two connection cables as well as in concise writing, that’s all you get. OneOdio seems to have taken the criticism of other products to heart, because the second batch, which has just arrived in the EU warehouse, no longer stinks of Asian chemical mace, but was olfactorically nice and neutral. After all, it is annoying when the ear pads take on the stink of the plastic hard shell and then torment the nose.
I’ll write something about the two cables here in a moment and thus cleverly celebrate the connectivity right away. There is a 3 meter round cable with two 3.5 mm jack plugs, which is rather the norm, and additionally a DJ-compatible spiral cable, whose 1.5 m length can also be pulled apart to 3 meters. This has a 3.5mm plug on one side and a 6.3mm plug on the other. You can elegantly save the 6.3 mm adapter, because there are even two different jacks on the headphones.
If you plug the spiral into the left 3.5mm jack, you can connect the OneOdio Monitor 80 to a mixer or a good headphone amplifier with the 6.3mm plug. But if the player has only a 3.5 mm output, you simply use the spiral the other way around on the right connection socket with 6.3 mm. Clever, but unfortunately it was not consistently solved in this way for the round cable as well. Too bad, then maybe better to include adapters and save a socket.
There is nothing more to report about the accessories and the included connection cables. It is nice that the OneOdio Monitor 80 can be folded and thus stowed a bit more space-savingly in the hard case as well, which left a quite stable impression. So that’s about it, and it will be interesting to see what else you get for just under 100 Euros. You’re a long way from the look and feel of a good pair of studio headphones (which, of course, can cost 5 times as much or more), but 100-euro fun headphones like the Philips Fidelio leave the same impression. But I’ll go into more detail about that in a moment.
Specifications
The technical details are given below, more information can be found on the manufacturer’s product page.
| Type | Headphones (Over-Ear) |
| Design | Headband |
| Principle | open |
| Microphone | no |
| Connection | Jack plug (3.5 mm or 6.35 mm) |
| Cable | 2 cables (straight or spiral), 3.0 m, detachable |
| Wireless | no |
| Frequency range | 10 Hz – 40 kHz (manufacturer) |
| Impedance | 250 Ω |
|
Sensitivity
|
100 dB |
| Driver | 40 mm |
| Color | black |
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