[spacemanspliff]

the equipment
x-fi Platinum in a serious gaming pc
nad 753 receiver
headphones?

so my ? is for games with EAX/surround sound what would be the best setup for me?

could I utilize my receiver or do I need an amp?

budget would be around 300 and I don't care if they are used or not.

stoked to be here peace

 

[Graz]

At the risk of asking a silly question...

You're not expecting to get surround sound out of a set of headphones, are you?

I'm probably the dumb one here...but I didn't think it was possible given that, by definition, headphones = 2 channels.

Peace,

Graz

 

[evilgnome]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Graz At the risk of asking a silly question... You're not expecting to get surround sound out of a set of headphones, are you? I'm probably the dumb one here...but I didn't think it was possible given that, by definition, headphones = 2 channels. Peace, Graz

The X-Fi has a "crystalliser" chip, one of the big selling points, which upsamples music into surround sound and apparently makes it sound a lot better. I dunno how it works or how it sounds, but from all reports it does a pretty good job.

Then theres CMSS which has been around since the orignal Audigy and it creates surround sound for headphones as well, through reverb and stuff.

Personally havent heard it, so I dont know what to make of it. Im very sceptical though.

 

[DarkScorpion]

From being a hardcore overclocker and gamer myself, I know the gaming side of audio fairly well myself. For surround sound headphones, the Zalman option would be the best choice, though strictly for games. You can also get an attachable mic for VOIP, so that's 2 things in one. But for music, the Zalmans cant touch a pair of Sennheisers, AKGs, Grados, Beyerdynamic or any of the other common brands you can find mentioned throughout these forums (unless it's the real budget type models), as they are truly hi-fi, and are commonly found in set-ups that can easily break the 1000 dollar limit.

 

[spacemanspliff]

well there are 5.1 headphones made by speedlink which don't suck BUT I need to be clear. what headset would give me the best sound w/ an attached mic or not if there aren't any?

 

[K2Grey]

Are you referring to sound as in gaming directional cues etc., or are you referring to sound as in music quality?

 

[spacemanspliff]

ok sorry to be confusing. I need to hear where the bad guys are.
thinking of these
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...=313910&is=REG

but do I need an amp or can I feed the opt out of my x-fi into my nad 753 receiver and the headphones out of that receiver?

 

[mmmmcheese]

DO NOT BUY THE ZALMANS... i used to have them and they suck. Any other headphone with sound good soundstage will wok better. Like A500 $100 A900 $200 DT770 $200 Sennheiser HD580, 600, 650 $200, $300?, $450?

EDIT: those would work great. If you will be using them for only gaming then you wont need an amp. If you will be listening to music then yes you will need an amp.

 

[spacemanspliff]

so my receiver isn't an amp? hmmm ok what amp to go with those? where to buy it? in the forums?

 

[markot86]

Oh god, spacemanspliff, first of all, I'd like to welcome you to head-fi. Secondly, i must warn you, take my advice and LEAVE HERE AT ONCE. Your story sounds pretty much identical to mine. I had a sweet gaming rig, bought the x-fi, came to these forums to find the best headphones and now, I've completely moved from being a gamer to the point where I want to take out half of my high power components because they make too much noise and disturb my listening experience. Here's my advice; screw the receiver; in fact, screw having anything between your headphones and the headphone out on the X-fi. The two best headphones I can recomend for gaming/a very good music experience would be the a500's if 100 dollars is all you want to spend and the a900's for the best gaming phones possible, which are 200 dollars. My friend has a pair of a900's and the soundstaging is incredible; I can only imagine how good games like source and BF2 would sound with an x-fi and a pair of those bad boys. These headphones also have the benifit of being closed so they slightly block out computer noise. Because the X-fi has such a good audio processor, getting a 5.1 headphone would not only be a complete waste but also be considerably worse at positioning than 2 driver headphones believe it or not. You can pick up either the audiotechnica a500's or a900's from www.audiocubes.com. My advice to you would be to not beat around the bush; buy the AT a900's, forget about the reciever and the amp, because these benifit very little from having one, and RUN or you'll end up like me and plan to spend 900 dollars on a headphone set-up by christmas and completely lose interest in gaming =/

 

[spacemanspliff]

Lol so my receiver is useless? hmm mebbe seperate systems. the 900 or whatever for gaming and something else for movies/tv/music?

 

[markot86]

the a900's are great for movies too, does your receiver support dolby headphone?

 

[spacemanspliff]

only reference to that in the manual is stereo so no.

 

[spacemanspliff]

oh and i have a pair of medusas and would like a better sounding, more bass, pair of cans with a mike if possible if not I will purchase a seperate mike.

 

[irchel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by markot86 Because the X-fi has such a good audio processor, getting a 5.1 headphone would not only be a complete waste but also be considerably worse at positioning than 2 driver headphones believe it or not.

Are you able to read?

BTW: Please check the OpAmps on your Platinum board, these are the tiny 8-leg chips next to the outputs on the back of the card. There's a 4 digit number on them, what is it?

Either: the number 2114 or
the number 4556

would be of great interest for many users in this forum.