If you're a gamer or just genuinely care about the quality of your sound, this should be your top pick. When I first tried this headset, I honestly was disappointed because it was the first time I didn't immediately love a product for my setup. I thought it sounded so different and I couldn't tell if that was a good thing or not. I thought I was going to return it, but I decided to try it for a bit longer. Not long after that, I realized, I hear more details with this headset than anything else I've ever tried. In games, music, and tv/movies I could hear each layer of sound flawlessly.I had a hard time trying to understand how it would sound based on how other people described it so I want to try my best here... I bought both the Closed back and the Open back options so I will compare them both here.Closed: The bass is very punchy but not muddy at all. The bass is strong and manages to deliver a powerful sound that truly immerses you in intense moments. The mids are slightly emphasized and make for vocals to be very clear and beautifully brought to life. The highs are noticeably bumped up(because these are closed back and made with a bias towards gaming, which benefits from boosted highs). However, I really appreciated the emphasized highs. It felt as if it was the perfect amount needed to complete the sound signature of this headset. Without the highs as they are, the headset might've been too bass-heavy and sounded as if it was lacking in some situations. Overall, an extremely pleasant and full sound that is enjoyable for all types of uses.Open: To my surprise, the bass was extremely similar, if not identical to the closed-back pair. The mids are noticeably flatter, in order to preserve the original sound signature of whatever content is being consumed. This doesn't make it sound bad or worse by any means but it's an example of the differences in what type of sound these will provide compared to the closed-back. The highs are also noticeably flatter, even more than the mids, but again this is not a bad thing. It makes for the sound signature of the headset to be what everyone says is "natural", meaning it doesn't do much extra apart from how the sound was intended to be heard when it was made. Whether it be gaming, music, or movies/tv, this sound signature fully captures the intended sound for each and everything you listen to, meaning very little is added to boost or emphasize whatever vision the sound designers/engineers had for their creations. I said in for the closed back that the highs felt appropriate and that it would have felt lacking without them, but I believe these don't sound lacking despite having similar bass because the mids are also toned down. Finally the open-back design. They feel extremely lightweight, almost like you're not even wearing a headset, and allow for a good amount of sound to be heard from your environment. I found that in competitive games, listening in for quiet footsteps was more challenging because it wasn't as closed off as the closed-back. However, with music and tv/movies this wasn't an issue.IMPORTANT: When I was using both of these, I felt as if the volume on both of them was very low. I was really confused as to why and was even jokingly saying to my friends, "I refuse to believe this is the epitome of EPOS audio". It seemed unbelievable to me that something that had such good sound would top out at such a low volume which was about only 75% of my previous headset, the Logitech G PRO X Wireless. I spent weeks trying to figure it out and eventually I stumbled upon a Reddit thread that fixed everything. To EVERYONE who uses Onboard sound straight from your motherboard, if you have Realtek audio drivers, go to your Windows Search bar and type in "Realtek Audio Console". Open it and in the audio tab, you should see an option called "Amplify Level". This option is a limiter for your audio and is what was causing BOTH of my headsets to sound quiet. I highly recommend setting it to at least the "Powerful" setting as this is a very decent upgrade in volume over "Performance". However, if you want the absolute maximum volume output available, go with "Extreme" but PLEASE be careful with your volume settings in any app or game you use, as this setting does really get EXTREMELY loud.Conclusion: To be completely honest, if I had only ever gotten one of these without ever trying the other, I would be completely satisfied with either one in terms of sound. Both the Closed-Back AND Open-Back pair OBLITERATE my G PRO X Wireless in terms of sound quality and comfort. For a purely gaming experience, I do believe the closed-back is the better choice, because of how powerful and rich the audio experience is. Because it's closed-back, very little sound from your environment will interrupt your listening experiences, which for gaming, especially competitive games is extremely beneficial. The open-back provides a very satisfyingly "natural" sound to everything you will listen to. However, the open-back nature of the headset does mean that some external sounds might overwhelm very quiet sounds like footsteps. If you have enough money to buy both of them, try directly comparing them to each other as I did. I would recommend doing so in order for you to see for yourself which you like and prefer more. But for those of you who can only choose one, I would definitely recommend the closed-back.