Hi, new member here, but long time lurker, especially of this thread.
Might be the wrong thread to ask this as most of the stuff here is related to console gaming, and i'm on PC, but i'll give it a go anyway. That said, i have a AKG K702 on the way, and i'm in the market for a dac/amp setup.
What dac/amp setups are the go-to solutions now days? I know there are a lot of threads on this here on the forum, but most of them are old, and there are lots of new equipment that has come out in recent years. My needs are purely for PC gaming, competitive FPS, sound direction and footstep pinpointing to be specific. I played a lot of competitive CS 1.6 back in the day, i can't remember what headset i used, but based on the sound alone, i could tell where the enemy was walking with inch precision. This is what i'm after. There is a jungle of options it seems like, so i'm after some advice. Is the new sound blaster sound cards/software good (AE-7/AE-9)? They seem a little overpriced to me for what you get. Sound blaster x-fi series? How good is their "scout mode" which is designed to enhance footsteps? Sennheiser GSX 1000? One review i saw stated that the GSX 1000 is not that good for headphones over 50 ohms, which could be a problem for the K702 and the DT770 80's i guess. Thoughts/experiences here?
Or just use onboard output with an external amp and call it a day? How much difference does these new "virtual surround" algorithms do when strictly looking at geographical pinpointing (footsteps/gunshots)?