[Smiped]

Hi I am a complete noob when it comes to audiophile. But I am also wondering what soundcard should I get if I am using an AKG Q 701 Quincy Jones Headphone for directional hearing for a FPS game like CS: GO on PC. I am playing on my laptop so I don't know if sound cards are compatible with laptops. Or should I get an amp for my laptop? Please recommend me a soundcard/amp for my AKG Q 701 Quincy Jones Headphone/laptop setup for the best directional hearing (footsteps, etc)

 

[cel4145]

Creative and Asus both make external sound cards with directly sound.

However, your Q701s are a bit difficult to drive, so you might want one of their sound cards and a headphone amp for best sound, depending on the specific sound card and how loud you listen.

What is your budget?

 

[inthere]

iFI iCan Nano has a 3D holographic setting that apparently sounds very natural, I have the iCan Micro which is the bigger version, the 3D setting on it is also very natural sounding. 

 

[Smiped]

Creative and Asus both make external sound cards with directly sound.

However, your Q701s are a bit difficult to drive, so you might want one of their sound cards and a headphone amp for best sound, depending on the specific sound card and how loud you listen.

What is your budget?

FYI, I am playing on a laptop so I might need a sound card that can connect via USB. But my budget can be $300.

 

[Smiped]

iFI iCan Nano has a 3D holographic setting that apparently sounds very natural, I have the iCan Micro which is the bigger version, the 3D setting on it is also very natural sounding. 

There is no USB connection so it can't connect to my laptop?

 

[cel4145]

FYI, I am playing on a laptop so I might need a sound card that can connect via USB. But my budget can be $300.

Creative and Asus both make USB soundcards for under $100. If you get one that also has optical (spdif) output, if you decide it's not driving your headphones well enough, you could always get an external DAC/amp like the Creative E5. The USB soundcard would provide the virtual surround processing.

 

[jodgey4]

CS:GO has broken 5.1 surround. IME, I've gotten the best results with just a clean DAC/amp on 'Headphone' mode with my Q701's. (Audio-GD NFB-15 would be great for you, I use a NFB-28 and the extra warmth of the WM8741 chips is supposed to pair great with those headphones).

 

[cel4145]

CS:GO has broken 5.1 surround. IME, I've gotten the best results with just a clean DAC/amp on 'Headphone' mode with my Q701's. (Audio-GD NFB-15 would be great for you, I use a NFB-28 and the extra warmth of the WM8741 chips is supposed to pair great with those headphones).

Well, and the Q701s do have a very nice big soundstage all on their own. I'm sure an NFB-15 would sound quite good with them for gaming

 

[Smiped]

Creative and Asus both make USB soundcards for under $100. If you get one that also has optical (spdif) output, if you decide it's not driving your headphones well enough, you could always get an external DAC/amp like the Creative E5. The USB soundcard would provide the virtual surround processing.

Yeah, I just searched and found the ASUS Xonar U3 soundcard. Do you think this is good to pair up with my AKG 701 for gaming positional audio? Also can I qualify this as my soundcard/amp all in one for gaming so I wouldn't need anything else?

CS:GO has broken 5.1 surround. IME, I've gotten the best results with just a clean DAC/amp on 'Headphone' mode with my Q701's. (Audio-GD NFB-15 would be great for you, I use a NFB-28 and the extra warmth of the WM8741 chips is supposed to pair great with those headphones).

I've looked into those products and they seem fairly hard to get.

 

[cel4145]

Yeah, I just searched and found the ASUS Xonar U3 soundcard. Do you think this is good to pair up with my AKG 701 for gaming positional audio? Also can I qualify this as my soundcard/amp all in one for gaming so I wouldn't need anything else?

I do not know for sure, but I would suspect it might not have enough power for the 701.

I've looked into those products and they seem fairly hard to get.

You order directly from Audio-GD. That's what those of us who have their products did