[InterSpool]

My Plantronics 377 Gamecom headset gave out for the 2nd time (I bought this headset twice because it worked for it's purpose and price) in 3 years and after realizing that contact points were glued in most of the "gamer" headsets, I could not justify buying another pair and throwing money into the bottomless pit. I have 2 pairs of Siberia V2's in my home as my reference headsets. They have not crapped out on their users -- yet. Siberia V2's are terribly uncomfortable to me, my ear touches the driver inside of the ear pad. I would like to also state for the record that comparing the Siberia V2's back to back against the new Samson SR850 the sound quality is similar. Yes, the SR850 is a little "crisper" in the mid range and the bass is slightly over powering on the V2's in most songs, but I can honestly say it isn't a "night and day" difference like most people would want you to believe. Build quality is still up in the air for either headsets as the SR850 are brand new and I have not seen a Siberia V2 break with my own eyes -- yet. 
 
So after countless hours of reading over the past 4 days I finally got the Samson SR850 and Xonar DG. **ANYONE WHO IS A NEWBIE AND IS CONSIDERING A XONAR DG WITH ANY SET OF HEADPHONES -- THIS CARD CAN AMP THE CRAP OUT OF YOUR "EASY TO PUSH" HEADPHONES AND WILL GIVE YOU THE VOLUME THAT ONBOARD SOUND CARD LACKS**. Even plugging in my old Plantronics to the Xonar gave it a nice increase in volume and once equalized sounds MUCH better than default EQ settings with default amping. 
 
Here is the dilemma...
 
I cannot figure out the best way to run Xonar DG. Listening to music, I have EQ'd it to my tastes using 2 channel audio and headphone chosen for analog out and Dolby box unchecked. Once I choose either "Pro Gamer" or "Exciter mode" for amplification, these headphones really go loud enough to blast your ears out. (So do the Siberia's btw). I think I have music dialed in, and yes it sounds great. Not life changing, but great.
 
For gaming and movies, I am totally lost. Way too many options... 2 channel, 6 channel, 8 channel? Dolby? 7.1? Windows settings set to 2 speaker or 5.1 audio? For reference, I play Arma.
 
When watching a movie like Batman Dark Knight Rises, I know that all the different modes sound different but cannot discern which one is giving most accurate representation of sound and direction. Someone please help.. my brain is melting with audiophile reading.
 
PS - I still need to set up a mic for this thing and thinking of going mod mic. I really want it to be on left side of my face so I can combine the cables with heat shrink. Anyone gone this route? Thanks.

 

[MalVeauX]

Heya,
 
On the DG, with headphones, for simply sound quality, I would remove ALL emulation (dolby, surround, etc).
 
For the amplification, it's constant, but what you're actually setting when you choose those options is the gain setting. For the SR850, you will want to use the lowest gain setting, it's a multiplier of the gain. Higher will produce more volume, but at the cost of having more noise/hiss/grain added. High gain settings are better for headphones that have high resistance (think 300+ ohms). For low impedance headphones, use low gain settings and simply turn up the volume.
 
When you go to play a game, turn on dolby headphone. Done.
 
Very best,

 

[InterSpool]

Thanks for reply. 
 
Ok, so for games, leave in 2 channel and click Dolby headphone, got it. 
 
Would you recommend same thing for movies?
 
For music, if I am in the "loud mood", I definitely need to go to Pro Gamer setting at the very least! I agree with you that it does impart a small amount of hiss as you go up.