Want to create a setup for some surround gaming

Don't buy surround sound headphones. Maybe they work, but they'll sound like crap. No matter how many different drivers they shove into a cup, they'll all still be within an inch of your ear. Real surround sound is created from the interaction of sound with your outer ear  (which headphones mostly avoid) and delays between what each ear hears (which headphones completely avoid unless it's mixed in the audio or by software). Software will be better.

Get a Creative X-Fi card with CMSS-3D software, or a card with Dolby Headphone like the Xonar DG.

I wouldn't bother getting new headphones. Yours are very well known for gaming as well, if the AD700 is an upgrade at all it's not going to be one worth the price.

Me, if I were to ever get dedicated headphones for gaming at that price, I'd probably pick the HD555 anyway. It looks more comfortable and I've heard it has a more neutral sound.

CMSS-3D and Dolby Headphone is mostly preferential. CMSS-3D will work better in old games that don't support EAX. Otherwise, some people like CMSS-3D and others like DH. I think it has a lot to do with individual head and ear shape, because they use different "averages" for how sound is delayed between channels. One might fit your head better than the other, but both will work fine. I can't say which one I personally prefer because I never used the same headphones on both.

If I was going to buy a pair of headphones *just* for gaming, coming from something like the 555, I would look at the Ultrasone HFI-2400. I only say this because they have much more low-end impact which can be "fun." I do not like them for music listening though; so that's a tough call. They do explosions very nicely though. Not a bad headstage either. 

Regarding the better choice between Creative and Asus, Asus will probably be cheaper. I'm also failing to see how EAX relates to HRTF, but it may just be very late. 

I vote for the Asus Xonar DG sound card (PCI, $30) comes with Dolby Virtual Headphone (surround sound).

Should do a decent job of powering the HD-555s, until your ready to spend like $150 or more for new headphones.

Fischer Audio FA-011 cans seem to have a growing following.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Head Injury 
CMSS-3D and Dolby Headphone is mostly preferential. CMSS-3D will work better in old games that do support EAX. Otherwise, some people like CMSS-3D and others like DH. I think it has a lot to do with individual head and ear shape, because they use different "averages" for how sound is delayed between channels. One might fit your head better than the other, but both will work fine. I can't say which one I personally prefer because I never used the same headphones on both.

Fixed the bolded part. It's the newer games that tend not to support it.

Other than that, spot on.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by obobskivich 

Regarding the better choice between Creative and Asus, Asus will probably be cheaper. I'm also failing to see how EAX relates to HRTF, but it may just be very late. 

It doesn't (EAX is about reverb, chorus, occlusion, and so forth), but a game's presence/absence of EAX support is also a good indicator of whether it uses DirectSound3D or OpenAL or not, and if it does use those APIs, CMSS-3D Headphone can use the extra spatial information to sound like binaural 3D sound and not just virtual 7.1.

Aha! That makes perfect sense.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NamelessPFG 

 

It doesn't (EAX is about reverb, chorus, occlusion, and so forth), but a game's presence/absence of EAX support is also a good indicator of whether it uses DirectSound3D or OpenAL or not, and if it does use those APIs, CMSS-3D Headphone can use the extra spatial information to sound like binaural 3D sound and not just virtual 7.1.