[ROBSCIX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by reflex /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well... Auzentech also fully supports EAX and will be releaseing a new X-fi card with a built in headphone amp in January of '09. Auzentech, Inc. X-Fi Home Theater HD : World First soundcards for Music, HTPC, and Gaming.

That card you linked to does NOT have a headphone amplifier. That is the X-i Home Theater HD and is meant for Home theater use and while it has analog output it has no built in amplifier chip.

The HD-595's are low impedance he doesn't need a amplfiier at this time.
The only two cards out right now that do caontin amplifiers are the Halo and ther Essence (soon to be released). I still say go with the Prelude and HD595 combo. That would be the best for gaming given his cans. Just my opinion though.

 

[Jaawa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by apatN /img/forum/go_quote.gif It's only a matter of time before he wants to upgrade his phones as well. You know how it is.

Hehe, I hear ya, just that we shouldn't try to hurry him

 

[ROBSCIX]

..Also the HD595's aren't bad set of cans that he should upgrade right away.

 

[stumbo]

I already posted, but I have to chime in here again.

I feel that an x-fi card of your choice (as long as it is true x-fi) and a Zero Dac can not be beat for gaming. You get the EAX, cmss (which actually is good for games) plus bit matched output for your music, and a dac that you can keep forever.

The new cards with built in amps are cool, but for about the same price I feel like they do not hold a candle to a Zero, and I would be concerned about becoming outdated faster than you would like. Plus any mod you could do to a soundcard, you can do to your zero.

Here is a review on the Zero if you are interested:
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/rev...re-amp-269458/

And here is an example of how affordable the x-fi is:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Sound-Blaster-X-...3286.m20.l1116

 

[grkbigpoppa]

Well actually I DO have a X-FI soundcard. It's the Soundblaster X-Fi XtremeGamer, but not the Fatality version. Its this:

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Sound Card - Turbo charge your PC gaming experience

and i plugged in the hd 595's directly into the soundcard, w/o an amp

and....

I dunno... i cant get any good positioning when i play fps games at all. The quality is nice but I cant tell from where the enemies are coming from. I tried the headphone test with the helicopter whirling and it doesn't do a great job which makes me think 1 of 4 things:

1) The basic XtremeGamer soundcard is crap or is malfunctioning
2) My sound settings are wrong
3) The creative drivers messed it up
4) The hd595s cant provide surround sound that well

Can you guys help me out? Im at a loss.
I tried enabling/disabling 3DSS, Crystalizer, messed around with the bass/treble. Changed settings from headphones to 2.1 to 5.1.

 

[XSAlliN]

Quote:

Originally Posted by grkbigpoppa /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well actually I DO have a X-FI soundcard. It's the Soundblaster X-Fi XtremeGamer, but not the Fatality version. Its this: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Sound Card - Turbo charge your PC gaming experience and i plugged in the hd 595's directly into the soundcard, w/o an amp and.... I dunno... i cant get any good positioning when i play fps games at all. The quality is nice but I cant tell from where the enemies are coming from. I tried the headphone test with the helicopter whirling and it doesn't do a great job which makes me think 1 of 4 things: 1) The basic XtremeGamer soundcard is crap or is malfunctioning 2) My sound settings are wrong 3) The creative drivers messed it up 4) The hd595s cant provide surround sound that well Can you guys help me out? Im at a loss. I tried enabling/disabling 3DSS, Crystalizer, messed around with the bass/treble. Changed settings from headphones to 2.1 to 5.1.

Like I said above, this cards or a joke, very similar to On Board sound cards. Creative is a very tricky company, which survives by misleading their customer selling one product under different names (fake marketing). From X-Fi series - Xtreme Music is as low as you can go, the products below XM can't be called capable sound cards, only workable ones.

1 - yes it's crap (and yours is basic under different name). This is the only XM that is not (which in reality is same as Fatality or XM.

2) - My sound settings are wrong


You have to disable options not enable. It should be set to "Headphones" with X-Fi CMSS-3D Disabled same goes for X-Fi Crystalizer (2.1 and 5.1 would be a mistake).

3) The creative drivers messed it up

Older Creative drivers are not to good, but they kinda fixed that with latest. Or you could use kX Audio Driver - for some they are better then official.

4) The hd595s cant provide surround sound that well

First of all HD 595 are "STEREO HEADPHONES". With Dolby and SRS you can emulate the surround environment but you need proper material for that. If you want surround "Sony DS5000" was suppose to be capable of that. I personally don't like the idea of 5.1 Headphones.

 

[leberserkfury]

Preludes from Auzentech is a solid choice. I'll go with an amp too.

 

[apatN]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jaawa /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hehe, I hear ya, just that we shouldn't try to hurry him

OK, deal.

It's just that the 595s sounded like c*** on the X-FI. The Auzentech supposedly is better though.

 

[grkbigpoppa]

yeah i know that the hd595's are stereo headphones but i didnt wanna purchase headphones that were primarily for 5.1 surround sound like the new Razer Megalodon or Medussa's or the Astro A40 Headset because i dont trust them to make a solid headphone with great quality that wont break on me = /

But ive heard people say that with their hd595s or hd555's they can hear every footstep and localize it in CS:S or CS 1.6 or other fps games so im trying to make em work that way.

I dont like the idea of 5.1 headphones either so i want to try to emulate the 5.1 surround with the great quality of the hd595s.

So you are all recommending the Auzentech Prelude or ASUS Sonar as the best soundcards for my gaming purposes?

What about the Soundblaster Elite Pro?

and How would i emulate the surround sound? with a Zero Dac?

LIke what would be the best combo cuz i was thinking of going all out and getting the X-FI Elite Pro cuz i love that external console /w the Zero Dac.

Thoughts?

 

[grkbigpoppa]

Instead of starting a new thread lemme just sum up here, and hopefully get a definitive answer that will ultimately end my search lol

I currently have:

HD595 - just got them 2 weeks ago, upgraded from crappiest headphones alive

Soundblaster X-FI XtremeGamer - Apparently its a piece of crap card lol

I want to get the best gaming headphones + soundcard and/or amp for:

Being able to locate people/footsteps with ease in FPS games (primarily Team Fortress 2) but I dont want to sacrifice good quality for positioning.

So what do you guys suggest? Assume i have nothing atm and money is not a factor.

 

[apatN]

TBH, if CS:S is going to be the game you want great sound for skip getting a pricey soundcard. CS:S has its own sound-making-thingy iirc. So you can get a soundcard using EAX or anything: it won't use it. Plus, with Vista EAX is kind of dead.
Now I don't know the advantages of the Asus in gaming so I can't comment on that. Both the Asus and Auzentech sound good from what I've heard but a nice DAC and amp will probably do a better job. Please remember that you'll need an amp if you're going to use a DAC. The Zero however already has a nice amp in it.

 

[apatN]

Quote:

Originally Posted by grkbigpoppa /img/forum/go_quote.gif Instead of starting a new thread lemme just sum up here, and hopefully get a definitive answer that will ultimately end my search lol I currently have: HD595 - just got them 2 weeks ago, upgraded from crappiest headphones alive Soundblaster X-FI XtremeGamer - Apparently its a piece of crap card lol I want to get the best gaming headphones + soundcard and/or amp for: Being able to locate people/footsteps with ease in FPS games (primarily Team Fortress 2) but I dont want to sacrifice good quality for positioning. So what do you guys suggest? Assume i have nothing atm and money is not a factor.

There is a big difference in positioning and the ability to hear footsteps. IMO, you don't need some positioning 3d effect but rather clear and clean audio. Getting a good amp isn't necessary as well. The first game with high-quality audio has yet to be made. Most people want a huge soundstage etc. for it. The 595s provide you with such a thing but IMO it was hard to notice footsteps. They're very clear and all but were too uninvolving therefore the footsteps 'faded away' if that makes sense. My MS-1s (with no soundstage) were better IMO.
Notice the IMOs. It's all preference. The best gaming cans are probably closed. The Beyerdynamic DT770s should work great.

 

[n3rdling]

grk, do you clan in TF2? I've been playing TF games for about 8 years now. What games do you play besides TF2? TF2 uses its own sound engine, so EAX (creative) won't do anything for it. For games that have their own sound engine, a DAC will do better than a soundcard imo. I'd suggest getting a DAC & amp.

 

[grkbigpoppa]

yeah im in cevo atm for TF2 and well be joining another league soon. I started out with CS 1.3, years ago and then gradually went through CS 1.3/.4/.5/.6 CS:S, COD1-2-3-4, BF2142, and more = /

ATM im focusing on TF2 so i want any hardware/software that can make me excel at that game.

The weird thing is that at one point, i got fed up with the creative drivers and i uninstalled everything from drivers to volume panel and all taht stuff. And then i restarted the comp and it found the oldest drivers for creative which was like from 2005 and i tried playing TF2 with that, and i put the game settings to 2.1 speaker and i actually had some sort of a 3D environment for like 2 hours. People would run past me and up steps and i could hear exactly where they were. then i closed the game and started playing the next day and it wasnt there anymore. and i havent been able to reproduce that since. So maybe its my card malfunctioning? i dont know.

or maybe its my settings, cuz i read that you have to play around with the:
1)windows sound settings +Bass + Treble
2)Soundcard settings + 3DSS + Crystallizer
3)ingame settings

 

[XSAlliN]

You don't need zero or other amps for games. Even a 60.000 $ audiophile system could disappoint you at this, cause they're made to reproduce clear music sound, not accurate CS surround.

Even some onboard audio chips or capable of your needs, so that X-Fi that you have might be enough. As mentioned above install: Pax X-FI drivers package . Set it to 2.0 or Headphones, don't set it tot 2.1 or 5.1 cause you have STEREO HEADPHONES. As for CMSS it ads noise, but it can emulate surround environment. Wile you're in game set it to OFF/ON and see what goes best for you (also move the slider to 50% - or play with it see what it fits).