Mattenth
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2014
- Posts
- 2
- Likes
- 0
THE GOAL: With a touch of one or two buttons, switch a wireless headset (with mic) between my PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
CURRENT SETUP:
- Steelseries H Wireless - Overall, I have found these headphones very comfortable and enjoyable. The sound quality, however, doesn't seem particularly amazing, and I can't seem to figure out how to get the volume up. However, they're pretty excellent, and features like the sleek receiver and swappable batteries are very worth-it to me. (Amazon link for the headset).
- USB and SPDIF Switches - To be clear, these are two separate pieces of hardware. Both take 4 inputs and let you switch to 1 output. They aren't hubs - they're both purely passthrough. (Amazon link for the TOSLINK cable).
- Xonar DX Sound Card - This was likely a mistake, but the onboard Realtek I had didn't have the option for output Dolby Digital Surround to work with my headset (only DTS). Additionally, however, I felt like the volume was just extremely low. The DX Sound Card was cheap, so I bought it.
Click here to see a diagram of my current setup
AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT:
- PC Sound Quality - For starters, I still feel like I could get my sound higher in volume while steel being more crisp. I've especially felt like even at max everything, I'm just a hair short of good enough. I've tried the Loudness Equation and "Smart Volume" functions, but they've made voices way too hard for me to hear
- Better Surround Sound - I play a lot of competitive games, and I've started to notice that I'm more reliant on vision than the actual surround sound. While the surround feeling is good enough for immersive single player, it doesn't feel good enough for competitive games. For movies, I sometimes wonder if it's there at all.
- Headphones themselves - I know that the goal explicitly states "wireless," but I suppose I'm willing to change out my PC headphones if I'm certain it's going to get a substantial difference in quality. Several of my friends have recommended the Sennheiser 363 headset, but without any retailer to really try it out, I'm a bit worried I could get buyers remorse and just end up going back to wireless.
I'm not worried about price (though I don't want to spend a ridiculous amount of money). Where do you guys think I can improve the most? How would you improve this setup?
CURRENT SETUP:
- Steelseries H Wireless - Overall, I have found these headphones very comfortable and enjoyable. The sound quality, however, doesn't seem particularly amazing, and I can't seem to figure out how to get the volume up. However, they're pretty excellent, and features like the sleek receiver and swappable batteries are very worth-it to me. (Amazon link for the headset).
- USB and SPDIF Switches - To be clear, these are two separate pieces of hardware. Both take 4 inputs and let you switch to 1 output. They aren't hubs - they're both purely passthrough. (Amazon link for the TOSLINK cable).
- Xonar DX Sound Card - This was likely a mistake, but the onboard Realtek I had didn't have the option for output Dolby Digital Surround to work with my headset (only DTS). Additionally, however, I felt like the volume was just extremely low. The DX Sound Card was cheap, so I bought it.
Click here to see a diagram of my current setup
AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT:
- PC Sound Quality - For starters, I still feel like I could get my sound higher in volume while steel being more crisp. I've especially felt like even at max everything, I'm just a hair short of good enough. I've tried the Loudness Equation and "Smart Volume" functions, but they've made voices way too hard for me to hear
- Better Surround Sound - I play a lot of competitive games, and I've started to notice that I'm more reliant on vision than the actual surround sound. While the surround feeling is good enough for immersive single player, it doesn't feel good enough for competitive games. For movies, I sometimes wonder if it's there at all.
- Headphones themselves - I know that the goal explicitly states "wireless," but I suppose I'm willing to change out my PC headphones if I'm certain it's going to get a substantial difference in quality. Several of my friends have recommended the Sennheiser 363 headset, but without any retailer to really try it out, I'm a bit worried I could get buyers remorse and just end up going back to wireless.
I'm not worried about price (though I don't want to spend a ridiculous amount of money). Where do you guys think I can improve the most? How would you improve this setup?
