[mzinz]

Currently looking for a good gaming headset since my old one broke.
Preferably between $50-$70. Any advice?

 

[Superfrag]

For that price, Siberia v2. Or a used AD700.

 

[FDS]

Does it have to have a mic? Surround sound 5.1, 7.1 or stereo? For 5.1 I recommend Zalman 5.1 Surround Sound though they don't have a mic.

 

[stang]

best gaming head'set': ATH AD700 with boom mic mod

DT880 may beat it in some area's, but you simply cannot beat the AD700s price/performance.

 

[Behemot]

Keeping your relatively low budget in mind I would also recommend Fatal1ty MKII.
Steelseries Siberia v2, Beyerdynamics and other sets mentioned here get great reviews but are way above your budget, while Creative's headset is within your range and it still is a good buy and a tested product. You might want to read this article: Gaming Headsets' Roundup by Tomsguide

 

[Hybrys]

TBH, I love my simple Senn PC-series mics. If you haven't played the first Assassin's Creed, you can get a PC151 and a copy of Assassin's Creed combo for ~$40.

 

[stang]

Get some real headphones. Headsets are overpriced and sound like garbage. I compared my friend's Fatal1ty headset to my AD700 and it's just not a fair comparison. If the AD700 is a 9/10 for gaming, the Fatal1ty would be a 4 or a 5. You might as well get the best now so you don't worry about upgrading later.

 

[forciano]

Quote:

Originally Posted by stang /img/forum/go_quote.gif Get some real headphones. Headsets are overpriced and sound like garbage. I compared my friend's Fatal1ty headset to my AD700 and it's just not a fair comparison. If the AD700 is a 9/10 for gaming, the Fatal1ty would be a 4 or a 5. You might as well get the best now so you don't worry about upgrading later.

I second that notion, use your money on real headphones.

 

[bcpk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by stang /img/forum/go_quote.gif Get some real headphones. Headsets are overpriced and sound like garbage. I compared my friend's Fatal1ty headset to my AD700 and it's just not a fair comparison. If the AD700 is a 9/10 for gaming, the Fatal1ty would be a 4 or a 5. You might as well get the best now so you don't worry about upgrading later.

X2

 

[earerror]

The medusa's 5.1 are a good gaming headset, they have multiple speakers inside to let you experience the 5.1 sound and great soundstage.

 

[FDS]

It depends on the games you play. If you're playing games where positional audio is important (like counter strike and cod) then 5.1 is the way to go. In my opinion, even when using mixers like creative's x-fi cmss 3D virtual surround sound over stereo headphones just doesn't compare to true 5.1 surround when it comes to positional audio. This is just in my experience and may not be true for everyone. I play counter strike and america's army which both use 5.1 heavily for positional audio. When your ears are trained and you know the map well you can tell if footsteps are coming from below, above, left, right and everywhere between. Not to mention door creaks, grenade pins and enemy communication.

It is definitely true that you would be better off getting separate mic and headphones because those headsets with included mics usually trade off sound quality.

 

[oohms]

Not to mention that the vast majority of "surround" headsets only have one driver per side, and the USB audio chip does something similar to CMSS 3D where it emulates 5.1.

Plus if you have a headset with many drivers in each ear, they will have to be smaller (sacrificing bass) and the positioning wouldn't be that great, since the 'fronts' wouldn't be in front, they would be further to the side. Same with the 'rears'

 

[FDS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by oohms /img/forum/go_quote.gif Not to mention that the vast majority of "surround" headsets only have one driver per side, and the USB audio chip does something similar to CMSS 3D where it emulates 5.1.

Yes, that's the difference between "virtual surround sound" and true surround sound with multiple drivers in each ear. A lot of the newer 7.1 headsets companies are putting out (for example: razer megalodon, logitech G35) use a single usb connection and only have one driver per side. Nevertheless, they are marketing them as "7.1 surround sound" headsets and then note down in the specifications that they are actually virtual surround.
Quote:

Plus if you have a headset with many drivers in each ear, they will have to be smaller (sacrificing bass) and the positioning wouldn't be that great, since the 'fronts' wouldn't be in front, they would be further to the side. Same with the 'rears'

Even though the drivers are very small and the fronts/rears are not positioned completely accurately I still find they are very effective for positioning. Not perfect, but certainly much better positionally than virtual surround. Maybe your ears get tuned to the slightly off rears/fronts and can recognize the sound as footsteps behind/in front of you eventually after many hours of play. I think part of this might also be because the drivers are so close to your ears and headphones, at least the ones I use, (zalman 5.1) isolate outside noise. The small bass is not such a big issue because too much bass (from explosions and the like) will drown out important sounds and be overpowering especially in headphones.

Of course you could always use 5.1 speakers which would solve all of those problems and give the most accurate positioning possible. However, if you use ts or ventrilo in game you won't be able to talk with out horrible feedback. If you play alone I guess that's not an issue.

 

[forciano]

Its funny, when had my X-FI i could pinpoint sounds with my eyes closed perfectly in many tests i did with regular headphones (HD-555 and HD-650).
I will keep on saying that the only thing i miss from my old X-Fi card is CMSS-3D.