[pric0]

Quote:

If you can find the Titanium 7.1 PCI-e card anymore, it should do a fine job. All the headphones you mentioned are pretty easy to drive. Try the Samson's out first before buying more. I have the AD700, which I find very comfortable, even for long gaming sessions, after I bent the headband a bit to angle the earcups more flat against my head. I haven't heard the Sennheiser headsets myself, but after buying "better" headphones (Q701) I remain convinced that the competitive advantage cannot be improved from the AD700 with a good soundcard and surround processing. I do prefer the Q701 for music and it's awesome for gaming too, but I haven't been able to let go of the AD700 because it's nice without amping, the soundstage is so even and wide, and the headphone is really lightweight with no headband "bumps" or discomfort.

wow, thanks a lot..
yea it's the Titanium 7.1 PCI-e but there's the Sound Blaster version (the one with the closed face design), and it's said to be better, what's your opinion on that?
i will probably get AD700, cause there cant be such fuss about something for no reason..
thanks again

 

[Fulch36]

Okay the majority of my new setup has arrived (just waiting on the new headphone amp) so I can weigh in on a few things: I've now got a ModMic 2.0 that I've been comparing with the mic on my PC360, I've finally been able to try out MyEars 3D Audio and I've begun to compare my shiny new X1's to the PC360.
 
To start with the shortest write-up first: Modmic 2.0 vs PC360 Mic
 

Spoiler: Modmic%202.0%20vs%20PC360%20mic

 
This comparison will be fairly simple seeing as there are already several other reviews of the Modmic 1.0 elsewhere and as far as I know, the purpose of the 2.0 wasn't an attempt to improve the sound quality - it came from switching to another manufacturer (if I'm wrong in this then feel free to correct me). Something that must be noted is that the Modmic (MM from here onwards) is omni-directional and does not feature any kind of noise cancelling, the PC360 mic is uni-directional and is noise cancelling - there is a video on the Antlion Youtube channel that compares the noise cancelling MM3.0 to the MM2.0, the differences between the PC360 mic and the MM2.0 are pretty similar so you can judge the difference for yourself to a certain extent.
 
The MM sounds far more natural to me and those I tested it with, when compared to the PC360 which sounded a little bit robotic. The MM also seemed to produce a greater frequency response in comparison with the PC360 mic, which again helped it to sound more natural by giving a more true-to-life representation of my voice. I recieved no complaints of noise when I used the MM so for my usage the lack of noise cancelling is a non-issue (the enviroment I use it in is essentially my own office at home, the only real sources of noise are my typing and the huge fans in my desktop).
 

 
Next: MyEars vs Dolby Headphone
 

Spoiler: MyEars%20vs%20Dolby%20Headphone

 
I'd read conflicted comments on which was superior or if there was any real difference at all between the two, I tried MyEars out with the PC360 because my X1's had not shown up by the time I wanted to test it out - therefore I had a set of cans that are known for having a great soundstage and positional audio and have used Dolby Headphone from my Mixamp with them for several years.
 
MyEars has a fairly lengthy set-up process that must be completed with each set of cans that you want to use with the software (it took me around 30 minutes though I rushed the latter half of it) and is only compatible with PC audio, whilst the creators did say they were going to get console audio working it seems that all development has ceased. Judging by their Facebook and Twitter feeds it looks like it never really took off so there was little reason for them to continue working on it.
 
So, how did it sound once the set-up was complete? Superb, well in terms of positional audio at the very least. I allowed myself to get accustomed to MyEars for a while before I A/B'd between it and DH, I found that whilst DH is very clear on sounds that are coming from in front of you it isn't so great with rearward sounds (again, this could well just be with the PC360). MyEars was great at simulating a true 7.1 enviroment in terms of speaker placement but it fell flat on it's face when compared to the soundstage of DH.
 
I don't know about other people but the moment I press that DH button on the Mixamp the soundstage grows immensely which I like very much and find that it's more pleasing to my ears during games compared to the more intimate presentation that stereo sound delivers. MyEars sounds like you are wearing some ridiculous contraption that has somehow allowed you to position seven speakers around your head, DH sounds like these speakers are spread out around the room as they would be in a real surround sound set-up.
 
Initially I thought I would end up using MyEars for competitive play (which I don't do very often) and DH for everything else, that was until I noticed the distortion. MyEars seems to distort certain frequencies in the upper-mid to treble region for me (this isn't something I have seen others complain about) - this is nost noticeable when characters are speaking, whilst I could have coped with a smaller soundstage this was the final nail in the coffin for MyEars. I am by no means disappointed by DH but I now know that it can be bettered for at least positional audio.
 

 
And finally: Sennheiser PC360 vs Philips Fidelio X1
 

Spoiler: Sennheiser%20PC360%20vs%20Philips%20Fidelio%20X1

 
I don't think I'm quite done with this comparison yet so it will be updated at least twice more (once when I believe I've spent enough time adjusting to the X1's and again when the new amp arrives) so please don't consider this to be my final impression.
 
A preface on why I purchased these two sets of cans:
 
I chose to purchase the PC360 several years ago when I was very much so into my competitive gaming, I spent several hours a day just playing competitively both by myself and in a party. Seeing as I was typically spending the greatest amount of time on shooters I chose to get something that had great positional audio and a wide soundstage - I was not aware of the MM at this point so I was only looking at headsets. Unfortunately, having endured thousands of hours of use as both my gaming headphones and my music headphones (their presentation suited my preference for music at the time) they have started to develop a channel imbalance issue which is only exaggerated by the channel imbalance on my Mixamp.
 
I decided that my replacement for them did not need to focus on positional audio as much seeing as I spend very little time playing competitively anymore, instead I wanted to find something that could provide me with the one thing the PC360 always lacked: bass.
 
I always considered the PC360 to be bass-light (especially when compared with my bass heavy iem's that I use when exercising) but decided it was the price I had to pay to get the gaming prowess they delivered. I had a listen to the HD650 in a local department store not too long ago and liked what I heard, I had stuck with Sennheiser iem's for years and so liked the 'house sound' they provided - the set-up in the store allowed me to use my own source (only had my phone with me at the time) but I got to spend around an hour or so with them, the only thing I thought they were lacking compared to the PC360 was the soundstage though obviously I could not test their positional audio credentials. I was initially leaning towards the HE-400, then when MLE got his hands on the Annies I set my heart on them - however I began to see the odd reference to a set of Philips headphones that were impressing people and did more research.
 
I purchased the X1's a few weeks ago from Amazon Italy for a sum of £166.50 including shipping, this is roughly half of what I would have to pay to get hold of the Annies or the HE-400 in the UK.
 
And so, onto the comparison:
 
The two sets of cans are similar in both size and comfort for me, though the X1's clamp a bit less and are slightly smaller than the PC360's due to the circular shape of the pads. The X1's definitely feel better made to me, they are largely made of metal with a leather headband and a mesh-foam cushion that is reminiscient of the headband on Turtle Beach's headsets. The pads on the X1's are velour like those on the PC360 but they are slightly different in texture, I prefer the texture of those on the PC360 which feel more like suede to me than the velvety feel of the X1's - that being said, the padding is better on the X1's.
 
The cable on the X1's is detachable unlike the PC360 and is a cloth braided cable - I HATE these kinds of cable with a passion. Why? Because if you've ever attempted to move around, even a tiny amount, whilst using headphones with a cloth cable then you'll have experienced the microphonics these types of cables can deliver. It sounds like someone is unzipping a coat right next to my ear whenever I move around whilst wearing the X1's, the rubber cable on the PC360 still suffers from some slight microphonics but they pale in comparison to the X1's. But, as I said, the cable is detachable and can be replaced on the X1's - something I intend to do as quickly as I can.
 
And so, onto the bit you've probably skipped past the rest of my waffle to get to, the sound:
 
Going into this comparison I was expecting the soundstage to be inferior on the X1's - boy was I ever wrong!! Whilst I haven't had a lot of experience with high-end headphones (besides using the Q701's a friend of mine owns and my brief experience of the HD650's) I didn't think it was possible for the soundstage to get much better than on the PC360, the X1's sound wider in both stereo and DH - they don't ever sound overly distant though. This wider soundstage led me to notice something else that is vastly superior on the X1's - seperation. On some of the busier tracks in my library, the instruments and vocals sounded as though they were jostling for space - I assumed this was because they were badly arranged tracks but again, the X1's proved me wrong.
 
To attempt to convey just how much of an improvement I experienced between the two, I actually noticed that there were backing vocals during the chorus of one of my favourite tracks of all time that I'd never heard before - I had always thought it was simply some distortion that I was hearing due to how far forward the PC360 pushes the mids and treble!
 
As for the bass that the PC360 is lacking, the X1's deliver in spades - I had never really been bothered by the lack of bass in the PC360 until recently, a friend of mine begun producing dubstep a while ago and has been doing rather well for himself from it - he got me into more electronic music that I previously didn't really appreciate. I ended up leaving the PC360's behind when I visited some family over Christmas and so had to do all of my listening through my iem's which are rather bass heavy, switching back to the PC360 a few weeks later left me craving that bass and wishing the PC360 didn't sound so lifeless when listening to those types of music. The X1's deliver all the bass I could ever want, the presentation of it is most definitely not neutral but it is rarely pushed far enough forward to inhibit my enjoyment of the other frequencies in a given track.
 
This presentation is rather different when compared to the PC360 and has taken me a long time to adjust to, because of this I don't want to comment on the mids and treble just yet until I think I've become accustomed to the X1's a little more. As for gaming with them, again this is something I haven't had a lot of chance to do with them just yet though I am looking forward to seeing how the boost in soundstage and seperation manifests itself in games.
 
My only other comment on the X1's at the moment is with driving them, I mentioned earlier than I've purchased an additional amp to help the Mixamp drive them - I initially didn't think it was going to be necessary until I attempted to play a little bit of League of Legends whilst in a Skype call last week. Whilst this game is hardly known for having superb audio, everything sounded so thin and distant when the game/voice balance dial was at a 50/50 split that I nearly switched back to the PC360 there and then. My plan is to get an amp now and then sometime in the coming months, purchase a Xonar DG to handle Dolby Headphone and have the audio sent over Optical Toslink to an external DAC (I've read conflicting reports over whether the DG will do Dolby Headphone over Optical but if it doesn't work then I'll just stick the card up on eBay).
 

 
I'll update this post at some point (or maybe just do a seperate new one that solely covers the PC360 vs the X1's), I'm happy to add pictures or answer any questions anyone has regarding either of these sets of cans. I reeeeeeeeeally hope the X1's do make it to the US so you guys can compare them to what you own, I have a feeling they will sound a lot like the HE-400 but they should be more comfortable due to their weight and the headband design.

 

[Evshrug]

Fulch36,
An absolutely delicious amount of info in your post, well done! I highly recommend that you save the hyperlink to your post, so that once new posts bury it, you can still recall it for someone who asks. I would highly appreciate it if you could repost your MyEars vs Dolby Headphone experience to my thread, which recently covered different surround technologies and adding your experience would be very helpful for others to reference. I also wonder what you would say about the CMSS-3D sample I have in my article... I wish I had my own recorded sample of THX TruStudio Pro for others to compare, but I still haven't figured out how to record videos with the processing "baked-in." I may resort to just recording via the mic-in and GarageBand, and trying to sync up a video clip.

My thread:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/646786/evshrugs-if-i-knew-then-what-i-know-now-discussion-journal/15#post_9102117

pric0,
Both Titaniums are made by Creative as part of their Sound Blaster line... Luckily there are only two models, the titanium and titanium HD. The HD model of course uses the same surround processing (CMSS-3D, that can do 3D surround) and the improved amp will only make a slight difference for the easy-to-drive AD700, the benefit would be from the higher quality DAC and greater availability... The cheaper Titanium has suddenly gone out of stock in most places (Newegg lists it as discontinued), while recently J&R (on amazon) put the Titanium HD on sale for $110. Creative is also selling their new Sound Blaster Z at around $100 if you missed the Ti HD deal, it can also perform 3D surround but it uses SBX Pro Studio instead of CMSS-3D to do that (I haven't heard SBX, but my ears responded to creative's last processing effort better than CMSS-3D or Dolby Headphone, and it's suspected that SBX sounds the same as what I have). You can also check the used market for a cheaper price, or, if you don't think it will be important to hear sounds come from above or below you, you can get an Asus sound card with Dolby Headphone for a cheaper price too.

Oh, by the way, what I use is Creative's Sound Blaster Recon3D USB, it's an external sound card that can also be plugged into a console like PS3 or Xbox. It uses THX TruStudio Pro for virtual surround, that's what Creative after CMSS-3D and before SBX, and it's so far the best surround processing I've heard for my ears. The AD700 sounds great straight off it, it even responds well to the bass boost feature, though I don't think it's USB powered amp is enough by itself for my Q701s... without double-amping, the Q's soundstage collapses and sounds dull, even a bit harsh with hot treble sounds like the CoD4 heli guns. With the Q's this is solved with either my Tube amp or my new FiiO E12, but the AD700 doesn't need that. With a modest bass boost, I was actually impressed with the AD700 while playing through Metro 2033, particularly when the Anomalies fly by. WOOOOOOOOM! NamelessPFG has a Titanium HD he's keeping and a Recon3D he wants to sell for like $70; get that, the AD700, and a ModMic or something and you'll have a very competitive headphone setup. That's just based on my opinion and taste, but then I say it from using the combo.

 

[Johnsonr520]

Thanks to headfi I just went 33-10 in COD lol. Finally got to try cod in surround sound, definetly a huge improvement on my performance.

 

[Evshrug]

Woot! Now, play Reach on the SWAT playlist in the Zealot map
Also, try out the campaign opening cinematic for Reach.

 

[pric0]

Quote:

Fulch36,
An absolutely delicious amount of info in your post, well done! I highly recommend that you save the hyperlink to your post, so that once new posts bury it, you can still recall it for someone who asks. I would highly appreciate it if you could repost your MyEars vs Dolby Headphone experience to my thread, which recently covered different surround technologies and adding your experience would be very helpful for others to reference. I also wonder what you would say about the CMSS-3D sample I have in my article... I wish I had my own recorded sample of THX TruStudio Pro for others to compare, but I still haven't figured out how to record videos with the processing "baked-in." I may resort to just recording via the mic-in and GarageBand, and trying to sync up a video clip.

My thread:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/646786/evshrugs-if-i-knew-then-what-i-know-now-discussion-journal/15#post_9102117

pric0,
Both Titaniums are made by Creative as part of their Sound Blaster line... Luckily there are only two models, the titanium and titanium HD. The HD model of course uses the same surround processing (CMSS-3D, that can do 3D surround) and the improved amp will only make a slight difference for the easy-to-drive AD700, the benefit would be from the higher quality DAC and greater availability... The cheaper Titanium has suddenly gone out of stock in most places (Newegg lists it as discontinued), while recently J&R (on amazon) put the Titanium HD on sale for $110. Creative is also selling their new Sound Blaster Z at around $100 if you missed the Ti HD deal, it can also perform 3D surround but it uses SBX Pro Studio instead of CMSS-3D to do that (I haven't heard SBX, but my ears responded to creative's last processing effort better than CMSS-3D or Dolby Headphone, and it's suspected that SBX sounds the same as what I have). You can also check the used market for a cheaper price, or, if you don't think it will be important to hear sounds come from above or below you, you can get an Asus sound card with Dolby Headphone for a cheaper price too.

Oh, by the way, what I use is Creative's Sound Blaster Recon3D USB, it's an external sound card that can also be plugged into a console like PS3 or Xbox. It uses THX TruStudio Pro for virtual surround, that's what Creative after CMSS-3D and before SBX, and it's so far the best surround processing I've heard for my ears. The AD700 sounds great straight off it, it even responds well to the bass boost feature, though I don't think it's USB powered amp is enough by itself for my Q701s... without double-amping, the Q's soundstage collapses and sounds dull, even a bit harsh with hot treble sounds like the CoD4 heli guns. With the Q's this is solved with either my Tube amp or my new FiiO E12, but the AD700 doesn't need that. With a modest bass boost, I was actually impressed with the AD700 while playing through Metro 2033, particularly when the Anomalies fly by. WOOOOOOOOM! NamelessPFG has a Titanium HD he's keeping and a Recon3D he wants to sell for like $70; get that, the AD700, and a ModMic or something and you'll have a very competitive headphone setup. That's just based on my opinion and taste, but then I say it from using the combo.

i can stress this enough.. but man, thanks so much
i dont have a problem to buy the 1st Titanium , it's sold in lots of stores in my country, and they are in stock.
the price he sells the recon3d is good, but i think i'll prefer the Titanium's.. the problem is which one, and that's cause the one you said that is on sale, cant be delivered to my country (israel.. probably cause of our parasite customs and high tax).
 
hard call, but i think i still want the hd version.. will need to check buying options for it, if not ill buy the non-hd.
thanks again man very detailed explination

 

[NamelessPFG]

Quote:

Ok, so on a different topic, last night I was using the Annies straight off the mixamp (magni is on it's way back to Schiit for an exchange) and I went onto youtube via the Xbox 360 app.  I decided to search for sound test clips and came across this:
 

 
At about 14 seconds, a helicopter sound effect moves around.  At one point, I heard the helicopter moving up and over my head.  I was surprised to hear this, as the way I understood it, standard dolby headphone only did positional audio in a single plane and that true 3D surround (including sounds above and below you) was only achievable from PC soundcards playing content designed with 3D surround playback in mind.
 
Anyway, listening to this got me wondering about something.  Mad (or anyone, really), when you put headphones and headsets through the paces, do you have a standard set of content you try out to see how they perform in specific areas?

 
This case seems to be a bit different, as I'm guessing from the video itself that the helicopter recordings were meant for a 10.2 speaker system-pictured with two height channels, at that-being binaurally mixed for headphone use.
 
Current Dolby Headphone processors can only get a 7.1 signal at most, and a typical 7.1 system has no height channels whatsoever. It may be possible to pull off some HRTF/ERTF trickery to get the illusion of height from a ring of speakers all placed at the same elevation, but that's much harder than it is with headphones because of the natural crossfeed involved.
 
My general go-to games for positional audio are Unreal Tournament, Battlefield 1942, Battlefield 2, and Thief, all of which make nice use of my X-Fi card's DSP (especially BF2).
 
Quote:

Yes it was EAX I'm pretty sure. So the Soundblaster Z is the only card for $100 that can drive my Beyer DT 990's and provide good surround sound for gaming? Right now I've only seen that and a used STX for like $150. Only thing I heard is the Z is not that great for music, and the STX is a good all rounder.

 
Is there any reason you're not considering the X-Fi Titanium HD at all? No proper built-in headphone amp?

 

[Fulch36]

Quote:

Fulch36,
An absolutely delicious amount of info in your post, well done! I highly recommend that you save the hyperlink to your post, so that once new posts bury it, you can still recall it for someone who asks. I would highly appreciate it if you could repost your MyEars vs Dolby Headphone experience to my thread, which recently covered different surround technologies and adding your experience would be very helpful for others to reference. I also wonder what you would say about the CMSS-3D sample I have in my article... I wish I had my own recorded sample of THX TruStudio Pro for others to compare, but I still haven't figured out how to record videos with the processing "baked-in." I may resort to just recording via the mic-in and GarageBand, and trying to sync up a video clip.

My thread:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/646786/evshrugs-if-i-knew-then-what-i-know-now-discussion-journal/15#post_9102117

 
I'll repost the comparison on your thread in just a bit, had a read through your first post and couldn't agree more with your comments regarding what works for each individual - it was that fact that drove me to really want to try MyEars, if everyone could come up with their own profile that works then it would be possible to have a baseline to work with in order to compare the other technologies with (ie if a custom MyEars profile is the best that surround sound can get for me then how does CMSS-3D compare for me, how does DH compare etc).
 
This would of meant that we got of put together some kinda MyEars profile repository for newcomers to try, they try each profile to find out which works best for them and then see what general surround sound tech worked best for the person who made that profile (so if MLE made one and a newcomer found that his profile worked best for them then they know that DH is the way to go). That way, someone who is new to the tech could pretty much gurantee it will work for them to at least some degree.
 
I tried out the video in your thread and it actually made the audio sound most similar to MyEars but without the distortion that I suffer from. I found another Youtube video comparing CMSS-3D and DH, this confirmed my thoughts about DH somehow making the soundstage sound wider to me - I would place CMSS-3D in between MyEars (ie smallest soundstage, worst audio quality but best positioning) and Dolby Headphone (ie largest soundstage, best audio quality and worst positioning) but would say that the audio quality differences between DH and CMSS-3D are EXTREMELY minor (ie in the video comparing the two I heard some very slight distortion when the window washing platform hit the ground on CMSS-3D that wasn't there with DH).
 
I would definitely say that CMSS-3D gives me better rearward positioning as well, I would say I get something like 240 degress of surround sound from DH compared to a full 360 from CMSS-3D but again this is only based on these two videos. Vertical positioning is also better in CMSS-3D for me though I'm guessing this is expected, I'm assuming from the '3D' bit that it's meant to simulate height in audio as well - the scene in the Crysis video where the shuttle aircraft goes overhead sounded better in CMSS-3D.
 
The video comparing DH and CMSS-3D: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9ApNLMmeAs&list=UUqM-oxfSa1Z_BRgEq5amQUQ&index=21
 
^ Actually, I just noticed your posts in the comment for that video!!!
 
What I'm tempted to do now is scrap the idea of getting a DG and get a Creative card with CMSS-3D or SBX/THX surround built-in, that way I can do a direct comparison between that and DH over a variety of games/media. I can also try out Silent Cinema at some point though that will not be for several months, I have a Yamaha reciever that supports it back home but I always just used my actual 5.1 set-up with that. If I can make the soundstage a little bit wider from CMSS-3D (hoping my amp might accomplish this) then I would be 100% satisfied with that.
 
I'm assuming that the card the guy in the video is using supports both CMSS-3D and THX based on your exchange with him in the comments?

 

[apav]

Quote:

 
Is there any reason you're not considering the X-Fi Titanium HD at all? No proper built-in headphone amp?

That's the only other sound card I'm looking at. Would you go for that over the Z? I'd like the card to have an amp, but I'm getting an amp anyway to hook it up to my laptop.

 

[Evshrug]

Nameless,
Some 7.1 surround tracks are designed with two speakers as height tracks, but they're meant to be positioned only a few feet above the fronts, so... they don't add a strong sense of height. Of course even that is moot point because games still are only designed with the 2D ring configuration in mind. I'm just saying SOME 7.1 setups with SOME movies support SOME height effect. Dolby Pro Logic IIz, right? Anyway, doesn't amount to much.

I think the Ti HD would be on apav's list if it had E9-level amping. The STX basically does. I'm not sure about the Z-series, but it IS supposed to be more powahful. Mad insists that even the low-voltage-required 32 Ohm DT990 requires gobs of current to sound full of body, and apav was getting the 250 ohm version which requires plenty of current AND voltage. Do you know the numbers for the Ti HD's headphone amp section? It may not matter though, as I believe he bought an external amp anyway... so the Titanium HD should be considered.

Hey, let's set up a Super Bowl party! I'll order pizza, we can DVR the commercials, and... Oh. Right. Internet makes me forget geography sometimes XD


Pric0,
I couldn't even tell you were from a different country You're lucky to see the Ti in stores, I can't find it in the USA (at Best Buy, they only have the X-Fi Fatality & Recon3D PCI-E). NamelessPFG is the pro on Creative's soundcards and can best fill you in on what the HD version offers as an upgrade (and what Creative soundcards in general offer vs other options), though PurpleAngel and others have made good points about other models.

And helping makes me happy, it's addicting and I share my advice every day.

 

[Evshrug]

Fulch36,
Replied in my thread

 

[apav]

Quote:

Nameless,
Some 7.1 surround tracks are designed with two speakers as height tracks, but they're meant to be positioned only a few feet above the fronts, so... they don't add a strong sense of height. Of course even that is moot point because games still are only designed with the 2D ring configuration in mind. I'm just saying SOME 7.1 setups with SOME movies support SOME height effect. Dolby Pro Logic IIz, right? Anyway, doesn't amount to much.

I think the Ti HD would be on apav's list if it had E9-level amping. The STX basically does. I'm not sure about the Z-series, but it IS supposed to be more powahful. Mad insists that even the low-voltage-required 32 Ohm DT990 requires gobs of current to sound full of body, and apav was getting the 250 ohm version which requires plenty of current AND voltage. Do you know the numbers for the Ti HD's headphone amp section? It may not matter though, as I believe he bought an external amp anyway... so the Titanium HD should be considered.

Hey, let's set up a Super Bowl party! I'll order pizza, we can DVR the commercials, and... Oh. Right. Internet makes me forget geography sometimes XD


Pric0,
I couldn't even tell you were from a different country

You're lucky to see the Ti in stores, I can't find it in the USA (at Best Buy, they only have the X-Fi Fatality & Recon3D PCI-E). NamelessPFG is the pro on Creative's soundcards and can best fill you in on what the HD version offers as an upgrade (and what Creative soundcards in general offer vs other options), though PurpleAngel and others have made good points about other models.

And helping makes me happy, it's addicting and I share my advice every day.

You are awesome When I bought my DT 990's, the seller included this amp for free.
http://www.amazon.com/CAD-Audio-HA4-4-Channel-Headphone/dp/B005O656B8
 
Don't really know how powerful that is. I just got to buy a 6.3mm to 3.5mm male to male cable and I'm all set Most likely going to get the Sound Blaster ZX. New sound card (so hopefully driver support is good), amplifies up to 600 ohms, and comes with a neat little module so I won't have to pull out my desk each time I need to plug and unplug my headphones.

 

[Johnsonr520]

Quote:

Woot! Now, play Reach on the SWAT playlist in the Zealot map

Also, try out the campaign opening cinematic for Reach.

wow, I don't know why I havnt done that. I completely forgot about teting reach's audio

 

[chicolom]

Quote:

And finally: Sennheiser PC360 vs Philips Fidelio X1  
Going into this comparison I was expecting the soundstage to be inferior on the X1's - boy was I ever wrong!! Whilst I haven't had a lot of experience with high-end headphones (besides using the Q701's a friend of mine owns and my brief experience of the HD650's) I didn't think it was possible for the soundstage to get much better than on the PC360, the X1's sound wider in both stereo and DH - they don't ever sound overly distant though. This wider soundstage led me to notice something else that is vastly superior on the X1's - seperation. On some of the busier tracks in my library, the instruments and vocals sounded as though they were jostling for space - I assumed this was because they were badly arranged tracks but again, the X1's proved me wrong.
 

 
What's that? 
 
You say the X1 has wider soundstage and better separation than PC360?

 

[NamelessPFG]

Quote:

That's the only other sound card I'm looking at. Would you go for that over the Z? I'd like the card to have an amp, but I'm getting an amp anyway to hook it up to my laptop.

 
I generally favor the X-Fi Titanium HD over most other sound cards on the market wherever gaming is concerned, due to feature set and excellent audio quality. Do note that I have a slight bias toward somewhat older titles, where most of the X-Fi gaming features beyond CMSS-3D Headphone are utilized.
 
The lack of a proper headphone amp IC is no drawback to me, as it wouldn't drive my Stax setup anyway, and my dynamic cans of choice are sensitive enough to work well out of anything.
 
Quote:

Nameless,
Some 7.1 surround tracks are designed with two speakers as height tracks, but they're meant to be positioned only a few feet above the fronts, so... they don't add a strong sense of height. Of course even that is moot point because games still are only designed with the 2D ring configuration in mind. I'm just saying SOME 7.1 setups with SOME movies support SOME height effect. Dolby Pro Logic IIz, right? Anyway, doesn't amount to much.

I think the Ti HD would be on apav's list if it had E9-level amping. The STX basically does. I'm not sure about the Z-series, but it IS supposed to be more powahful. Mad insists that even the low-voltage-required 32 Ohm DT990 requires gobs of current to sound full of body, and apav was getting the 250 ohm version which requires plenty of current AND voltage. Do you know the numbers for the Ti HD's headphone amp section? It may not matter though, as I believe he bought an external amp anyway... so the Titanium HD should be considered.

Hey, let's set up a Super Bowl party! I'll order pizza, we can DVR the commercials, and... Oh. Right. Internet makes me forget geography sometimes XD

 
To my knowledge, Dolby Pro Logic IIz is actually 9.1, with two added height channels over 7.1. Signal-wise, the height channels are matrixed into two of the existing channels for a 7.1 setup. So far, I know of absolutely no games that utilize it.
 
I don't have any specs off the top of my head for the Titanium HD's headphone jack; amplifiers were never my strong suit anyway. I'm just concerned about the headphones being able to function at all.
 
Oh, and here's a heads-up for everyone: Stax SR-207 + SRM-252S! It won't sell cheaply at this rate, though. There's also an SRM-1/Mk2 Pro that I'd like to get my hands on, but I just can't afford it right now...not that I really even need it, but it would really cut down on all the clutter on my desk.