[calpis]

My yamaha receiver is sitting in its box in the garage right now since I had switched over to a harman kardon over a year ago. The thing about the SC is that I couldn't really find a setting that I liked, it was either too much reverb and echo or too closed. I eventually had to get something new when I found out the receiver would flicker video on 1080p displays when I had upgraded to the slim xbox. The HK receiver only does DH2 which is my sweet spot so that's the main reason why I prefer DH over SC. My yamaha is a '09 or '10 model so it doesn't have all the dsp settings that newer or current models have.

 

[Ztrains]

What is everyones opinion on the Zalman mic?  I've heard ungodly praise, and people that say it's the worst thing ever.  The biggest thing is that most reviews say that you basically have to have the mic right next to your mouth to produce noise.  I plan on using it 75% on xbox, 25% on PC.  Also, if I could find the wireless mixamp, would it be better than the regular mixamp?  Also, are the AD700's only good for shooters, because I play basically every genre except for sports games.  This whole headset/headphones thing is slowly driving me insane.  I was going to buy the turtle beach xp300's until I read that headsets are sub-par to headphones, but with headphones you need the mixamp not to mention a mic, and a cord to be able to use the mic....
 
All in all, I want as little wires as possible and either AD700's,Samson SR850's, or Sond MDR-v6.  And I have read about the ModMic but I will hold out until the V2 for that.
 
Sorry for that wall of text, I just want to make sure I am getting the best bang for my buck.  I have ~$300, but would prefer to not spend over $250.
 
Thanks. 

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

The Zalman sucks. Just don't. Wait for the Antlion V2, and get the Dealextreme clip on mic in the meantime for like less than $3, though shipping takes a month. Dunno when the Antlion is released. I myself have no need for it because the DX clip on is perfect.

Yes, the AD700s aren't really anything special outside of competitive FPS gaming.

 

[chicolom]

Quote:

What is everyones opinion on the Zalman mic?  I've heard ungodly praise, and people that say it's the worst thing ever.  The biggest thing is that most reviews say that you basically have to have the mic right next to your mouth to produce noise.  I plan on using it 75% on xbox, 25% on PC.  Also, if I could find the wireless mixamp, would it be better than the regular mixamp?  Also, are the AD700's only good for shooters, because I play basically every genre except for sports games.  This whole headset/headphones thing is slowly driving me insane.  I was going to buy the turtle beach xp300's until I read that headsets are sub-par to headphones, but with headphones you need the mixamp not to mention a mic, and a cord to be able to use the mic....
 
All in all, I want as little wires as possible and either AD700's,Samson SR850's, or Sond MDR-v6.  And I have read about the ModMic but I will hold out until the V2 for that.
 
Sorry for that wall of text, I just want to make sure I am getting the best bang for my buck.  I have ~$300, but would prefer to not spend over $250.
 
Thanks. 

 
"The biggest thing is that most reviews say that you basically have to have the mic right next to your mouth to produce noise."
This ^ When you have to have a clip-on mic right next to your mouth, it defeats the purpose of a clip-on mic.
 
The wireless mixamp isn't better than the regular mixamp.  The main difference is the wireless mixamp has bass boost, while the regular doesn't.  If anything though, the regular mixamp is probably a little more powerful and has a lower noise floor.
 
Yes, AD700 is mainly good for competitive shooters.  It's too thin sounding for everything else. 
 
I would get the ModMic V2, whichever mixamp you can get, and some phones.  SR850 is probably better than AD700 for most types of games.  Next step up is the Sennheiser HD5xx.  Than you get into the Beyers and AKGs, but those costs $250 for the headphones alone. 

 

[Ztrains]

Thanks guys, which dealextreme mic are you referring to?  I found http://www.dealextreme.com/p/mini-clip-on-microphone-3-5mm-jack-180cm-cable-42965 and also http://www.dealextreme.com/p/mini-clip-on-microphone-7080

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Hmm, as much as I'm trying to justify the Pro 900, I think it's best I return them. I'm gonna go ahead and use next week get the Pro 900 reviewed for this guide, but other than that, they just aren't good enough. I'd honestly be happier with some DT990s again, though I'm not going to get anything for now.

 

[AxelCloris]

Quote:

I think only OLDER Denon receivers have Dolby Headphone. Not sure. I know Harman-Kardon has some too.
The Q701 sounds different on practically everything you hook it up to, so experiment away. XD

 
Daw, this makes me sad then. I didn't realize Denon had that before. My AVR-2309 is pouting.

 

[Evshrug]

What is everyones opinion on the Zalman mic?  I've heard ungodly praise, and people that say it's the worst thing ever.  The biggest thing is that most reviews say that you basically have to have the mic right next to your mouth to produce noise.

All in all, I want as little wires as possible and either AD700's,Samson SR850's, or Sond MDR-v6.  And I have read about the ModMic but I will hold out until the V2 for that.

Sorry for that wall of text, I just want to make sure I am getting the best bang for my buck.  I have ~$300, but would prefer to not spend over $250.

Thanks. 

Not really a wall of text, or at least I don't think I have any room to complain, LOL!

The people that loved the Zalman seem to mostly be PC users who boost the mic signal. For Xboxing, I think Mad Lust Envy's suggestion is hard to beat.

The Mixamps don't really reduce the number of wires, it's more like a hub for all your wires besides Xbox power and video. The Mixamp 5.8 "wireless" model still has the same number of wires, it's just you aren't tethered to your Xbox anymore. I wouldn't mind sacrificing Kinect dancing with headphones and the 15 seconds to put away my headphone setup in exchange for buying the only readily available separately Mixamp (the Pro model).

Personally, I loved my AD700 and used it more for music than gaming, and haven't heard the Sony or Samson models, so your mileage may vary. Since new FOM choices have taken that status from the AD700, it seems like people forget that it works very well for music that's not requiring heavy bass, for the price. I also found it very comfortable once I adjusted the headband and the earpads broke in a bit.

Since you can't hook up HDMI to the Mixamp, I assume you have or would need the included AV cables or audio dongle. If you don't want to spend all your money in one go, you can get cheap RCA to headphone adapters at RadioShack or similar and a cheap portable amp like the FiiO E6 (for volume control here), and upgrade to Mixamp when you feel ready. Sometimes bite-sized financial steps are nice. The Mixamp is a versatile piece of equipment, and a good buy if you need it and have the $.

 

[Evshrug]

And if it's anything like Battlefield: Bad Company 2, the Frostbite engine's sound mixing just sucks in terms of positioning. The sound effects themselves are pretty good, but I can't really tell where they're coming from all that effectively.

I wish they'd bring back OpenAL like they used for Battlefield 2 and 2142, but I don't think that would help console gamers like yourself all that much.

On the flip side, I'd probably just keep playing Battlefield 2 anyway given what they've done to the series, even if a friend of mine suggests that BF3's unlocks are nowhere near as broken as BF:BC2's M60 + Magnum Ammo in the early days.

Well, battlefield 3 uses the frostbite 2 engine. I can't comment on positional accuracy at the moment, but I would say the only gun combo that consistently gives me a bad day is the Saiga and other automatic shotguns. It seems pretty balanced, I mean even an M9 can do decently as a fallback. I also think the audio Doesn't get more chaotic than MW3 when the airspace gets filled up with killstreak rewards.

What do you play these days?​

Thanks guys, which dealextreme mic are you referring to?  I found http://www.dealextreme.com/p/mini-clip-on-microphone-3-5mm-jack-180cm-cable-42965 and also http://www.dealextreme.com/p/mini-clip-on-microphone-7080

The second one, I think. The URL ending in 7080 was quoted earlier in this thread.

Mad, maybe you could put your mic for Xbox recommendation as part of your gaming guide?

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

I'll do that soonish, probably once I do the Pro 900.

 

[Phos]

For the price of a 990 you could probably just have an upholsterer or tailor just make velour or microfiber pads for the D7000.  I imagine memory foam would be the most similar sonically to the pleather.  

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

For the price of a 990 you could probably just have an upholsterer or tailor just make velour or microfiber pads for the D7000.  I imagine memory foam would be the most similar sonically to the pleather.  

I'd ask them to just put a layer of velour on top of my pleather pads, just where the pads touch my skin, and stitch it on. That should keep the sound from changing.

 

[Hawaiiancerveza]

Quote:

Wait for the Antlion V2

Where did you get this info from?

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

It was posted a few pages back. The antlion modmic is getting a revision with a mute switch, stronger cable, and whatnot.

edit: So I've been A/Bing the Pro 900 with the E9 and NFB5. The E9 shouldn't be technically perfect for the Pro 900 due to the high output impedance, while the NFB5 has a low output impedance which should be technically better. So I've been going back and forth, and the amps sound practically identical with the Pro 900. If there is a different, it's so minute, it'd be practically impossible to tell them apart. I couldn't be able to pinpoint the differences at all.

The Pro 900 is technically easy to drive, but even so, it proves to me that the E9 doesn't do anything wonky to low impedance cans, from what I've personally heard with all the cans I've tested.

Of course, the NFB5 has a LOT more power than the E9, which does benefit cans like the Q701 compared to the E9, but on an even level with easy to drive cans, it shows me that these SS amps just sound too close to really make me think that one amp is vastly superior to another.

 

[calpis]

You know, I've been thinking how I'd reduce the amount of wires if I were to ever get a mixamp. My oldest idea was to hack up one of the older style wireless xbox mics with an audio jack and putting it inside a tin with a larger battery and a mini usb port for charging. Recently though I remembered that madcatz actually makes a bluetooth adapter for the xbox controller to be used with their px5 headsets. This led me to thinking that I could get a bluetooth music streaming thingy on amazon and hook that up to the mixamp and pair it with the madcatz adapter. Theoretically this should work and you won't feel like being tied down to the mixamp.