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Gaming PC Headset Advice

post #1 of 17
1/5/12 at 9:05am
Thread Starter 

So I've been scouring the internet for the past few weeks trying to find the best solution to my PC audio needs. I've read a lot of biased reviews, and read a lot of youtube comments (oh god).. In hopes of finding someone who actually knows what they're talking about. Thankfully I found this place, and I'm hoping you guys can help me out.

 

I have no price limit.. I spend a ton of time on my computer, so there's really no need to scrimp on quality at this point. I'm looking for comfort (first and foremost) followed second by surround sound for directional gaming then just overall sound quality for listening to music (dubstep, electronic). I play a lot of FPS / adventure games (MW3 / Skyrim). As for the mic, average quality is all I really need along with a mute button. I read that the PC360 allows you to hear outside noise pretty well, which appeals to me. I often have to have one earphone off with my current headphones to hear my phone go off or the doorbell ring. So I don't want complete noise cancellation to the point where I don't know what's going on around me.

 

I got the Logitech G930 for xmas, and I wasn't impressed. The sound quality was garbage and they were extremely uncomfortable. I took those back, and have since narrowed my search a little to the Astro A40 / Sennheiser PC360 range of things. I have an onboard sound card which hums (really annoying), however I don't hear that when I use a USB headset which is what I currently have. I own an M-audio fast track (http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/FastTrack.html), which I assume would fix my humming problem, however it's not really designed for what I have I'm looking to accomplish.

 

I've read a lot of bad reviews on the Astro A40's themselves, however the Mixamp seems to be pretty popular. So I guess my question would be, what's the best setup for what I'm trying to accomplish? Do I need a Mixamp or a new soundcard? AD700s, PC360?

 

Thanks


Edited by thejib - 1/5/12 at 9:07am
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post #2 of 17
1/5/12 at 12:00pm

At the very least, get yourself a decent sound card. The Xonar DG's only $30, possibly less with rebates, if you have a PCI slot free. If you only have PCI-Express slots free, then you'd have to spend at least $60, probably on an X-Fi Titanium (non-HD). Even better if you can afford the Titanium HD, usually around $100-120. Note that the Mixamp's popularity is because it's designed primarily for console use; you can achieve the same end at significantly less cost with a good sound card, or likely get more sound quality with something equivalently priced.

 

You'd also get a lot more bang for the buck by combining a ModMic with the headphones of your choice, though that wouldn't provide an in-line mute switch. The main appeal of the PC360 is that it's a headset, but some people still find it overpriced for just adding the luxury of a built-in boom mic.

 

The AD700 is rather comfortable and synergizes very well with CMSS-3D Headphone and Dolby Headphone (you'll know where sounds are coming from), but some people really can't stand the lack of bass (and you might not either, if dubstep is to your taste). They'd rather EQ it down if you need to hear other sounds more clearly while gaming.

 

With no price limit, I'd even bring up Stax Lambda variants. Ludicrously comfortable, positions like no other...but I don't know if you'd be able to adjust to how electrostatics present their bass. As this review puts it:

 

Quote:
First thing I have to tell you. If you are, like me, coming from a dynamic background you have to leave your preconceived notion of presentation of bass behind. The stax system does not push air into your ear canal, in fact it presents it just outside your ear giving a slightly brighter presentation, fantastic detail and attack but perhaps not any bass slam.

Now when I say bass slam I mean oomph not bass itself. This is what I mean - you have to re-educate yourself on how bass is really presented to the listener as more of an extension into the mix to give depth where needed or to emphasize a moment. This means you understand bass is there - in shed loads if I may say so, but not in a slam slam manner, but more in a deep cavernous manner designed to broaden what already is a massive sound stage.

 

Oh, and here's the Mad Lust Envy thread if you need more of an idea of what headphones to use. It's helpful to get an idea of what headphones work well with binaural surround filters.


Edited by NamelessPFG - 1/5/12 at 12:01pm
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post #3 of 17
1/5/12 at 4:43pm
Thread Starter 

Thanks for the reply. Yeah Mad Lust's post is what brought me to this forum. He said some good things about the AD700 but it sounded like he had to move on from them due to being shock prone?? I was looking for an overall solution to my lack of sound problem, and the tin can reference really ruined my plans for listening to dubstep : )

 

The modmic looks pretty cool, however the in line mute is a must. Maybe I can bind a key to mute my mic through windows though.

 

I'm also a DJ, so I've been in the market for a good sound card if that's what I need to keep things hifi on my PC. I had done some research on them, however I couldn't find a "buy this and you won't regret it" type of answer. 

 

Would the Titanium HD + AD700 + modmic yield me the "buy this and your won't regret it" status?

 

edit in reference to AD700:

 

First post on amazon talks about the AD700 being tight for thin heads, and causing jaw pain. That's exactly what I had with the logitech G930. My jaw is still a little sore and I took them back 3 days ago ha.


Edited by thejib - 1/5/12 at 6:02pm
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post #4 of 17
1/5/12 at 5:06pm

In the end, only you can decide whether or not you'll have any regrets through experience.

 

The X-Fi Titanium HD is a very good sound card, no regrets there (unless you're running Linux as a primary OS, which you aren't).

 

The ModMic...while it sounds like a very good idea indeed, I still have the critical issue of not actually owning one, and when I can't evaluate something directly, there's always a shadow of doubt. I plan to buy one eventually and probably would have done so already if not for going overboard during Steam holiday sales...but if it's good enough, it should pick up your voice clearly without any need for mic boost.

 

The AD700...for gaming alone, I'd be quite satisfied due to the comfort and great positioning, but I'm no basshead. Some might point you toward an SR850 or HD668B instead for that reason (they're at least regarded as more balanced with beefier bass) and EQ the bass down if necessary to match the AD700, but then I have that same "no direct experience" uncertainty problem with the ModMic. Or they might tell you to spend more and get an AD900, which they actually do regard as fairly balanced across the spectrum.

 

See, that's one of the big issues with audio; it's very subjective, and rarely do people have matching sound signature preferences. Worse off, most of us don't have local meets to attend to get an idea of the properties of each headphone without spending money first.

 

Unfortunately, I lack the wallet to sample all the audio products commonly mentioned here on Head-Fi, so all I can do is aggregate hearsay and recite popular opinion with not much opinion of my own.

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post #5 of 17
1/5/12 at 6:23pm
Thread Starter 

Well I appreciate that. I'll take popular opinion on an audiophile board 100x over before listening to what someone says at best buy (see any turtle beach headset). I own a pair of DJ1 Ultrasone Pros which are quite bass heavy so I guess I could just put those on if I felt I was lacking bass for a situation. 

 

Any other thoughts on the PC360 vs the AD700? Is the Titanium HD the industry standard?

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post #6 of 17
1/5/12 at 8:35pm

I own the ATH-AD700, nice sound, the lack of bass makes it easy on the ears and they are comfortable to wear for long periods.

But the light bass is a big turn off, I never really use my ATH-AD700s.

You can get the Senn HD-558s for $70 less then the Senn PC360 and that leaves $70 towards any mic.

Sennheiser PC360, HD558, HD598 are all 50-Ohm headphones, they have more bass then the ATH-AD700s, but the Senns are not "bassy" headphones.

Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro 250-Ohm are open headphones with decent soundstage and lots of bass & treble.

 

Titanium HD is a good gaming card, does not come with a dedicated headphone amplifier, but the headphone jack is rated up to 330-Ohms.

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post #7 of 17
1/6/12 at 5:47am
Thread Starter 

I've been looking at the Titanium HD on some other threads and reviews, and it seems they either work great or very poorly for people. It appears to have compatability issues with some motherboards (I run a Gigabyte EX58-DS4). I plan on running 2 M-Audio BX8a's as well, and it appears the output switching is poor.

 

 

 

Quote:
If you are like me and switch between headphones and speakers every few minutes, this means bending down under your desk to remove the headphone plug or stick it back in again, depending on whether you want to use headphones or speakers.

 

This would be the biggest draw back for me.

 

I've heard the XONAR is better for overall sound, but not as good for gaming. Are there any other suggestions? Like I said I'm a DJ so I'm planning on writing this all off, so don't be shy. What's good?

 

EDIT: I looked up the actual chipset on my motherboard and it's an Intel 3405 rev 18 versus the nforce which seems to be causing people problems. So I guess I'm good in that sense


Edited by thejib - 1/6/12 at 6:31am
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post #8 of 17
1/6/12 at 6:55am
Thread Starter 

Another thing I'm questioning is it says that it isn't much of a headphone amp. People having to turn it up to 80 percent to watch movies.

 

How big of a difference would I notice with the Platinum HD vs the mixamp? I wouldn't have to worry about any interference with the motherboard or driver issues.. Plus it would amplify the signal so I could use any pair of headphones with it, versus me needing to get the Platinum HD + an amplifier if I get a set of cans that need a lot of power. What do you guys think?

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post #9 of 17
1/6/12 at 11:34am
Quote:
Originally Posted by thejib View Post
Another thing I'm questioning is it says that it isn't much of a headphone amp. People having to turn it up to 80 percent to watch movies.

How big of a difference would I notice with the Platinum HD vs the mixamp? I wouldn't have to worry about any interference with the motherboard or driver issues.. Plus it would amplify the signal so I could use any pair of headphones with it, versus me needing to get the Platinum HD + an amplifier if I get a set of cans that need a lot of power. What do you guys think?

I would be surprised if the Mix-Amp powers headphones any better then the titanium HD.

 

I'm guessing it's Titanium HD users that have 250-Ohm headphones that need to turn the volume up high.

 

You could always get an Asus Xonar Essence STX sound card, which comes with a dedicated headphone amplifier rated up to 600-Ohm.

Great music and movie sound card, fairly decent gaming card.

 

 

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post #10 of 17
1/6/12 at 12:06pm
Thread Starter 

Well since I'm gaming first movie/music second I think that's how I ended up with the Titaniums. The problem is whenever you look up anything on the internet you find a crazy storm of bad reviews along with good. Overall they're rated a 4 star on newegg, but after reading some of the 1 star reviews it doesn't make me feel warm and fuzzy about throwing the money out there. However I think it's time I just buy it, and if it doesn't work out how I want then I'll get something else. 

 

Now back to the headsets.. Sennheiser PC360 seems to be a good set, however it's a bit more expensive than a good set of cans + a modmic. However I REALLY need an inline mute. Nothing worse than my girlfriend coming into the room talking to our puppy when I'm trying to shoot people's faces off in MW3 with 4 or 5 guys on skype. 

 

The AD700's sound great for gaming but I really want an all purpose-ish type headset. And I don't know if this makes me less of an audio enthusiast but they are god awful ugly : )

 

Any objections to the Titanium HD + Sennheiser PC360 at doing what needs to get done?? 

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post #11 of 17
1/6/12 at 12:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by thejib View Post
Well since I'm gaming first movie/music second I think that's how I ended up with the Titaniums. The problem is whenever you look up anything on the internet you find a crazy storm of bad reviews along with good. Overall they're rated a 4 star on newegg, but after reading some of the 1 star reviews it doesn't make me feel warm and fuzzy about throwing the money out there. However I think it's time I just buy it, and if it doesn't work out how I want then I'll get something else. 

Now back to the headsets.. Sennheiser PC360 seems to be a good set, however it's a bit more expensive than a good set of cans + a modmic. However I REALLY need an inline mute. Nothing worse than my girlfriend coming into the room talking to our puppy when I'm trying to shoot people's faces off in MW3 with 4 or 5 guys on skype. 

The AD700's sound great for gaming but I really want an all purpose-ish type headset. And I don't know if this makes me less of an audio enthusiast but they are god awful ugly : )

Any objections to the Titanium HD + Sennheiser PC360 at doing what needs to get done?? 

They will do the job just fine for you.
 

 

 

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post #12 of 17
1/7/12 at 7:36am
Thread Starter 

thanks for the replies! I'll give this a shot.


Edited by thejib - 1/7/12 at 7:42am
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post #13 of 17
1/7/12 at 12:51pm

I have the Champion fatality series.

Just wondering, are you looking for a Headset that has a dedicated mic, or does it not matter if it comes separately?

 

 

 

Sound card's a must.

 

If you're looking for a mic; just buy the logitech usb desktop microphone, it has a mute option on the thing plus . I rather use my can and a USB mic than a "gaming PC headset" any time of the year. Plus it's noise cancelling.

Good fraggin'!


Edited by Odinsreaver - 1/7/12 at 12:55pm
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post #14 of 17
1/11/12 at 1:55pm
Thread Starter 

Just got these both in the mail today. I turned on CMSS-3D, and added the paths of a few fps games I play in the EAX app. Anything else I should be doing to optimize?

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post #15 of 17
1/11/12 at 4:35pm

It depends what the games in question are if ALchemy will be of any use, but if there are already pre-existing profiles, it will benefit.

 

One thing you have to make sure of is to set the Windows sound control panel to 5.1 or 7.1, while the X-Fi control panel should be set to Headphones. This will guarantee that CMSS-3D Headphone works as intended, even in newer games with software audio engines.

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