[rycon]

Now that the holiday season is near  I am looking to upgrade my sound system on the PC (W7 64bit OS).
 
I am currently using onboard sound and SteelSeries Siberia V2 headphone. I also have a denon 5.1 speaker system with external AMP.
 
Any recommendations for a new Soundcard/ Headphones at 350 euro budget?
 
These will be used for Music (Dnb,Dubstep, Rock, Techno and Indie) and watching movies.
 
I am also an avid gamer.
 
Some recommendations from international shipping sites would be best since I live in Malta and shipping from outside Europe can be very expensive or unavailable.
 
Regards,
 
Rycon
 
 
 
 
 

 

[sid12345678910]

creative sound blaster line

 

[rycon]

Quote:

creative sound blaster line

Are you joking?
 
I owned an xfi and will never buy any of creative's products in my life.
 

 

[sid12345678910]

they fit his critria its really good with games and he likes to listen music with them
 
Titaniam hd would be my suggestion
 
 
altho i must admit some of them are really bad but the gaming series is pretty solid

 

[rycon]

What about the range of asus soundcards? I also need a good headset

 

[Angelbelow]

I have the Asus essence stx and couldnt be happier (well i guess in the audiophile world you could always be happier with more expensive equipment) but i believe theyre around 150-200 USD so they would still leave you with a nice budget for headphones. I have the sennheisers hd 598 and the M50s and they both sound great amp-ed and probably still within your budget range.

 

[sid12345678910]

ASUS soundcards are VERY audiophile focused (not the best for gaming but one of the best in music)

 

[Ra97oR]

Asus Essence ST/STX with a pair of Audio Technica AD700.

^ This is what most people will recommend you. EAX is barely used in games, so the Asus is perfectly fine.

 

[rycon]

Quote:

Asus Essence ST/STX with a pair of Audio Technica AD700.
^ This is what most people will recommend you. EAX is barely used in games, so the Asus is perfectly fine.

I like this setup.
 
What's the difference between the ST and STX range?
 
Thanks for the help.

 

[Ra97oR]

The ST have a better clocking ciricuit that some people reports a better sound, it is a PCI card.

The STX have a PCI to PCI-E bridge instead of the clock clean up chip, so it is PCI-E instead of PCI.

If you have spare PCI slot, get the ST, if not STX. Or if you are scared of future mobo won't get PCI slots, get the STX.

 

[MalVeauX]

Heya,
 
Guys, he just said Dnb, Dub and Techno. How can anyone recommend the AD700 here? The word gaming automatically brings in that copy & paste junk doesn't it? Ugh man. Seriously. No. OP: AD700 has no bass. You will hate it for your genres. It's like butterfly farts in your ears for bass. He didn't even mention if he likes immersion games or competitive online-fps-footstep-listening games even. Absolutely nothing. And of course, here comes the standard "AD700!" recommendation copy & paste automation responses of the internet. Ugh man. Headfi can give you a headache some days.
 
OP: Based on your musical preferences, here's some suggestions:
 
Beyer DT990 PRO (open)
Beyer DT770 PRO (closed)
Fischer Audio FA-011 (open)
Panasonic HTF600 (closed)
Ultrasone HFI 580 (closed)
Shure SRH440 (closed)
Sennheiser HD449 (newly released; closed)
Denon D2000 (used if possible to save $; closed)
 
*Bolded are simply my recommendations for your overall situation.
 
As for a sound card, get something with Dolby Headphone. The Asus Xonar DG is a very inexpensive option. The Xonar STX is a more expensive, but more capable and higher quality option if it fits your budget. The Creative Titanium HD is actually a good card, and would suit your needs as well. I would suggest trying to get the Xonar STX if budget allows.
 
Very best,

 

[rycon]

Thanks for the suggestions MalVeaux
 
For the soundcard I decided to go for the Xonar STX
 
Can you suggest a website that sells either the Beyer DT990 PRO or Fischer Audio FA-011 headphones and ships internationally (Malta)?
 
Gaming I usally play FPS or RPG.

 

[MalVeauX]

Heya,
 
Try:
 
Headphone.com (currently has a discount even)
GDAudioBase (for the Fischer)
Amazon?
 
Very best,

 

[Ra97oR]

lol, AD700 have no bass? It is just slightly less than neutral and it have a great bass impact. AD700 have bass but not bass decay, which surprisingly server well in fast electronic music.

DT770Pro which I would not recommend. It is rather muddy compared to other offerings.

DT990 is a good choice if you can pick one up cheap.

 

[MalVeauX]

Quote:

lol, AD700 have no bass? It is just slightly less than neutral and it have a great bass impact.

No, it doesn't. It's not just slightly less than neutral. It's out right shy on bass. Take your AD700, load up Audacity, and play 100hz tones, then 60hz, 50hz, 40hz, and 30hz. Now get an actual neutral headphone that is flat fro top to bottom (not one that ends at 100hz like the AD700) and listen to those frequencies. It's not slightly less. It's absolutely stark out hallow the AD700 is. It's not capable of sub bass. And impact? No sir. There's no impact. It cannot even generate the sound pressure for the impact of the bass. 100hz is hardly the kind of bass that someone who listens to DNB, Dub and Techno is listening for. This music revolves around bass that is 20hz to 50hz. Take a listen and look at a frequency spectrum while listening. Male voices are around 200hz by the way. AD700's have very little bass. And they have next to no sub bass which is crucial for the OP's genres.

Do you even have this headphone? Ever actually listened to it extensively?
 
Very best,