Headphones & IEMs for competitive FPS
Positional audio — hearing a footstep's direction first — is the one genuine audio edge, and it saturates at a competent open-back. These are the headphones AimBench tracks, grouped by price so you can find where that knee is for your budget.
Budget
Cheapest that clears the floor- 7Hz Salnotes Zero (IEM)IEM · 32Ω · footsteps 2/5
- Philips SHP9500Open-back · 32Ω · footsteps 4/5
- Truthear Hexa (IEM)IEM · 20.5Ω · footsteps 3/5
- Moondrop Aria 2 (IEM)IEM · 33Ω · footsteps 3/5
Value
The sweet-spot picks- Philips Fidelio X2HROpen-back · 30Ω · footsteps 5/5
- Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO (80Ω)Closed-back · 80Ω · footsteps 3/5
- Beyerdynamic DT 990 PRO (250Ω)Open-back · 250Ω · footsteps 5/5
- Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO (250Ω)Closed-back · 250Ω · footsteps 3/5
- Drop + Sennheiser HD 58X JubileeOpen-back · 150Ω · footsteps 4/5
Premium
Diminishing returns past here- Sennheiser HD 560SOpen-back · 120Ω · footsteps 5/5
- Drop + Sennheiser HD 6XXOpen-back · 300Ω · footsteps 3/5
- SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro (wired)Closed-back · 38Ω · footsteps 3/5
- Beyerdynamic DT 900 PRO XOpen-back · 48Ω · footsteps 5/5
- HiFiMan Edition XSOpen-back · 18Ω · footsteps 5/5
- HiFiMan SundaraOpen-back · 37Ω · footsteps 4/5
Flagship
Preference / enthusiast grade- Sennheiser HD 600Open-back · 300Ω · footsteps 4/5
- Sennheiser HD 800 SOpen-back · 300Ω · footsteps 5/5
Price classes are coarse, drift-proof bands (the live local price is on the buy link). "Enough is enough": for amps and mic chains, the goal is sufficiency — once a tier clears your needs, a pricier one rarely sounds better. Buy links are affiliate links to your regional store.
Other audio categories
DACs & amps →
A DAC/amp removes a ceiling — it doesn't add detail.
Microphones →
Mics are for teamplay, not aim — but clear comms still win rounds.
Interfaces & preamps →
An XLR mic needs an interface for clean gain and (for condensers) 48V phantom; a low-output dynamic like the SM7B often wants an inline preamp on top.