I think the both the AD700 and DT440 price almost around RM500. Anyways I was looking a pair of nice headphones earlier this year for the same usage as yours, even the same budget at RM500 like yours

I was considering the AD700 initially as head-fi gave them nice reviews for the soundstage and the sound clarity. I ended up buying the DT440 as advised by bro yuheng and walabies and also after trying the MS1 and HD580 at yuheng's place, no regrets at all.....well maybe a little regret for not having enough budget for the DT990

I think DT440 would be the best choice for gaming and music purposes from the list. The sound presentation is really "fun" and it does have a really wide soundstage.. feels like being in an orchestra or concert, some people even call the Beyers "Groovalizers" The only downside I think is its weight and the cups are a little shallow than what I liked.....I tried the DT880 and DT990, now those are reallllyyyyyyyy comfortable.

The DT440 is easily driven without an amp too with only 32ohm impedance, although it really sounds better with an amp.

Hope my comments would do some help.

Totally agree with that Buy the headphone and enjoy them first and worry about the amp much later

Since Enigmatic said that the AD700 is pretty bass anemic and we gamers certainly want some bass in our games, don't we? I guess the more suitable choice would be the DT440.

But I hope you have the chance to try them out first because its pretty heavy @ 320g and most of my friends would notice the weight of the cans first, especially girls The clamping force is pretty tight at first but you could stretch them to suit your headsize.

Edit : Oh, if you wanna try the difference between with amp and ampless then I think you could get a secondhand fiio e5 like what I did, for me I did heard some noticeble differences. Although I'm getting the secret amp soon, I suppose

This post has been edited by SkyX: Jun 26 2009, 10:27 PM

Yeah there's not much DT440 reviews around the internet... Where do you live? Is there any shops that you could audition them first?

Huh? Walabies recommended MS1i eh....I gotta try them later then the one I tried before was the MS1

Penang island? I'll be going to penang island next week for a couple of days...if you want then I can bring along my DT440 for you to try out

lol its ok. I'll pm you once I confirm when I'm going to penang

Maybe you could order from here?
http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/679335

For my own preferences,

Bass 9/10
Vocal 8/10
Soundstage 9/10

I listen mostly to pop, orchestra and video game soundtracks. The bass amount is just nice for me since I'm not a basshead and I prefer the bass to not overwhelm other instruments, the vocal can sometime be too bright depending on the song, soundstage is like in a concert or orchestra if you have a good quality track although those are just my personal preferences and can be subjective for other ppl. paiseh ya...I can't describe more about the sound quality as I'm also still newbish in giving a review on headphones