Glasses for Gamers

Hey there,

It's time to get some new glasses and I was wondering "are there headphone friendly glasses?". Now, when I searched for that, I always ended up with finding glass-friendly headphones. Seems like the majority rather cares about their glasses instead of headphones.

Now for me glasses are just a piece of metal with glass in it.
Features are:
-You can see through them and they correct eyesight
-They look good

While headphones are far more complex and the brand actually makes a big difference of quality, regarding played sound, recorded sound and durability.
So changing headphones is not an option for me.

Now the price for glasses doesn't really matter much as I am privileged to have a good health insurance which takes care of most or all of it.

However the problem is always: The frame of the glasses is never really headphone friendly and you either need to wear them "wrong" (over the headphone in some way) or they hurt after a while / dig into your skull, especially with closed headphones with some pressure. I love the design of the oakley glasses, but just looking at the ear region of the frames make it hurt

I almost gave up my search when I was pointed towards GUNNARs, a company which makes glasses for gamers. Problem there however is:
1. They aren't available at my place, and I don't think it's a good idea to order it via internet
2. They support seems to be horrible (live chat on US page connects you with bot spamming you with automatic answers)

So I am wondering: If you wear glasses - what are your experiences? Do you look for glass-friendly headphones? You found some glasses which actually work with high pressure headphones? If yes, can you name the brand and model?
Did you find any do it yourself workarounds?

I wear glasses, and don't have problems using tight headphones. But I always wear glasses with as thin as possible end-pieces. In other words, made of titanium steel or similar. Additionally, I get my optician to adjust them for a perfect fit.

I don't think the brand/model is important.

This works for me. Evil persons may suggest that this proves I'm thick-headed.

A couple of other game related issues with glasses:

NVidia's (sexy) 3Dvision glasses.
Yes, you can wear them over (outside?) ordinary glasses. But those glasses have thick end-pieces. And they hurt.

Progressive glasses
When you grow old and grey (50ish and older), you eventually loose your ability to accomodate, that is, adapt your eyes to viewing distance. The perps are the lenses, which stiffens (correct english).

Several solutions are available, but the most flexible (and expensive) one is progressive glasses, where the refraction index varies. Typically you look throught the upper parts of the glasses for long distance viewing, the lower parts for reading, and the middle part for intermediate distances. Some people have trouble using those, but I've had no problems.

So, wearing progressive glasses vision is sharp at most distances. The downside is that at any time you use only a small part of the glasses, which affects your peripheral vision. In most cases that's not a problem, with one major exception: Using a computer. One solution is buying a separate pair of glasses for that purpose. These are well adjusted to screen range vision, which is nice for gaming (and working). Downside: poorer long distance viewing). Another solution is going for top quality glasses, which in general offers a wider field of view than cheap ones. They can be much more expensive, but if you can get away with one pair of glasses in stead of two, it may cost you less. I chose this option.

this is the world as pibbur sees it

I only mentioned the brand because I haven't seen glasses with these "mechanics" in other brands.

I mean, this is how "normal glasses" look, right?

But from the picture alone I can tell that with these frames in the ear region it will be painful after just a couple of minutes.

Oakley however designed most frames in a way which keep their position not by going around the ear but by doing small pressure to the skull:

This is a similar model of which I currently use. Problem is: the frame is actually so thick that it magnifies the pressure effect from headphones massively. So while the idea might be nice, in this case it's not helpful.

And last but not least there is the Gunnar design I haven't seen before anywhere else:

These basically have a very thin and very flat frame, which slips right below the headphones and distributes the pressure evenly. Problem is: The availabilty isn't great, the choice of models isn't great and most of them automatically come with tainted glasses increasing contrast and a slight magnification which then might cause problems with VR in the future. Also their customer support sucks horribly.

Mine are like Pibbur's. They are progressive lens just like he described (turned 51 this year and finally needed to get something for close up and far away). My eye doctor had mentioned two pairs and I so did not want to do that until I had no other option. I work at a computer all day and then play on them at night so I did need something comfortable. The progressive do not bother me at all and I adjusted to them in just a single day of wearing them.

I also went and got a strong, flexible, and very thin, frame (I wrestle/rough house with my German Shepherd dog and sometimes forget to remove my glasses and he has knocked them off a few times). The glasses cost just over one grand (US dollars) but I got the widest peripheral view and the glasses adjust to lightness levels.

For now the computer is not an issue. Since the frame is very thin and flexible headphones don't bother me although I don't know how it would be for extended time periods as I don't normally wear head phones very often.

Ok, I most likely wouldn't have problems with the first pair of glasses you showed us. One condition: that the bends behind the ears are well adjusted (by the optician, not by me). Don't know if this is of any use.

pibbur who is sorry that he can't be of more help, and who is somewhat sorry that he derailed the thread.

I guess that it's also very depenent on the headphones you use.

I am using the following:

They are building up some decent pressure as you might guess.


And these are building up a rather high pressure, isolating you from the outside.

Kordanor said:

I guess that it's also very depenent on the headphones you use.

Click to expand...

Could be. I mostly use a koss portapro, to give the wife the impression (illusion) that I'm listening to her.

However, I also have a Corsair Vengeance headset, which i use when I'm alone. That one doesn't hurt me either, but admittedly I don't use them that much.

Pibbur who right now is listening to rain on his ipad. Without his glasses. Why? Because he's taking a nap. Old men need their siestas.

Ps. Do i see a beyer dynamics headset? I have one of those, haven't noticed any problems.ds

Ps2. I guess i'm just lucky, or my senses are dumbed down. Ds2

I want totally crazy glasses Kojima has.
http://www.lifebytespersecond.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/hideo-kojima-1.jpg

Headset I don't care as long as it's Sennheiser. And I have those already. Wireless.

I've used Oakley-styled glasses (frame shoots straight back and doesn't curve around ear) for a while and never experience any pain while wearing a headset. My only complaint with them is that you need to force them ever-so-slightly back into shape after a few months or they'll start sliding down your nose when bending over.