[slross83]

Ok guys help me out if you would. Ive been doing alot of research on many different sets of headphones, and i ve narowed it down to 2 options. First let me state that i am a pc gamer and nothing else. Dont listen to music much other than in my car. I  currently have a sound blaster xi fi extreme gamer pro fatality card .
 
Im leaning towards the pc 360 sennheisers. which will cost somewhere in the low 200 range. Reason being they have great reviews and only need 50 ohms to drive which im not positive on this but i think my sound card would do it. IF im wrong please say so.
 
Amazon also has the pc 350 xense bundle for 300 which gives the 350 but also that sweet @ss soundcard with the built in amp. Which  from my understanding is needed to drive the 150ohm requirement of the 350s.
 
Now i know some of you will probably say just get the ad700 and a mic to clip on but i dont like the idea of doing that. Unless the ad700s just make a huge difference in sound quality. I have kids so any extra cords or wires is a nono.
 
One of my concerns if i go with the 360s i would be using cmss3-d. If i go with the 350 bundle i would be using dolby for virtual surround. Which is better in your opinions?
 
If you think another set of headphones would be better please let me know these are just the ones ive done alot of research on and im trying to stay under 300. So please dont recommend a set of 300 dollar headphones that need 300ohms to power. Thanks for reading.

 

[slross83]

also on a side note i know the 350s are closed cans and have that pleather type feel.while the 360s are open and have that valour type feel. I had decided already on the 360s until i saw the bundle of the 350s and that nice xense soundcard. so i guess in essense y question is rather simple. would the 350s amped with that xense card sound better than the 360s with my soundblaster card.

 

[mjs0008]

I played halo pc professionally for a few years and always used a cheap headset, I hate to imagine how good I would be with my current setup considering it's positioning ability is ten times better than anything I had in those days.


I recommend either the ad-700 or senn. hd 598 and astro mixamp since I think your soundcard is capable of dolby headphone but I may be mistaken.

As for the pc 350 or 360's you could get the ad-700 and a astro mixamp for around $200 if i'm not mistaken and it should be just as good if not better than the 350 and xonar or 360.


I'm sure others will chime in with better ideas but personally the mixamp and ad-700 would probably do fine for you.


Good Luck.

 

[slross83]

not to get off topic but correct me if im wrong. my card doesnt have a optical or digital out. it just has the regular jacks on the back. so i couldnt do dolby from the mixamp because of the lack of a digital connection to the mix amp. but i hate to go the ad 700 route because i would then have my  sound card the headphones the seperate mic then the seperate mix amp. Im anal no pun intended and like a clean simple setup. Thanks for replying though

 

[mjs0008]

your soundcard does have toslink out and in, the exact location of it on the card is a mystery to me though as i'm not 100% familar with your card.

With the mixamp you could mod an ad-700 with a boom mic or clip on mic and it wouldn't essentially have more cord real-estate than any generic headset since they would both connect to the same place you are correct though as theoretically more cord's would be visible I guess.

This is your soundcard correct.  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102019

 

[slross83]

this is my soundcard http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Blaster-XtremeGamer-Fatal1ty-70SB046A00000/dp/B000IZAN4K

 

[mjs0008]

hm I see I am mistaken then, I apologize, the combo you were looking at would probably be a good idea then.

It would also allow you to upgrade in the future to something like what I originally thought would work.


Goodluck.

 
 

 

[PurpleAngel]

How about upgrading to the Creative Labs Titanium HD, sometimes the get as cheap as $100 (after mail in rebate).
The Titanium HDs built in headphone amplifier would improve the sound of any headphones you plug into it.
But the Titanium HD only comes with 2.1 analog speaker output.
you can hook up 5.1 speaker from a speaker 5.1 set that has built in digital input and a 5.1 decoder.
 
Also Creative Labs is launching two new sound cards in a month (or two).
 
Headphone wise, For about $150 you can get the Sennheiser HD-558 and a Zalman mic.

 

[slross83]

ive really started to dislike soundblaster so if i could stay away from them i would

 

[Dsnuts]

Well you came to the right place.. I own the same card you have as well as the Titanium HD card for gaming on my gaming PCs.. I will be honest with you..Most guys will recommend the Ad700 and mix amp. your sound card with X-fi CMSS-3D will do directional sound just fine. And the idea of buying an expensive sennheiser PC350 or 360.. No...Ad700? no
 
I am the co founder for one of the premier BF online clans.. =SOC= For my own research and use as I game a lot. You don't need any of those. The headphone to use is The SAMSON SR850. It is better than the AD700 and is better than my HD595 Sennheiser which is an upgrade from the PC360 which is just a renamed HD555 with a mic.  Got all that?
 
So the Samson SR850 is a professional monitoring phone and when combined with your CMSS-3D on. You will be shocked at how precise and great this combo is for gaming.. I have the AD700 and the problem with that phone are 2 things. First it is too airy/ open. The sound stage is very wide and while most guys will just say get this because of this wide stage. IT is too wide. What I mean by this. On games you will notice when enemies shoot at you from what should be 20 ft away it often sound like 25ft away.. A bit too far off. You don't want to use closed headphones as sound become too closed in and can cause an echo which is not wanted.
 
The answer is a semi open can. The samson SR850 is a semi open can . The 2nd thing wrong with the Ad700 is the anemic bass response or the lack there of. It has almost no bass sounds for music and games throwing out a thud instead of a boom. The samson has full dynamic bass and because of its monitor nature. The sounds in game are precise beyond belief...I have put over 2K hours on BC2 alone with this combo and I can make out at what part of the map a guy is shooting at me with my eyes closed. I can tell what part of the building is being invaded and at what level with my eyes closed. I can tell if a guy is anywhere near me.. All with my eyes closed. the Samson on buy.com will cost you $50 and a clip on mic to throw on your headphone will cost around $10.
 
I know it might sound ridiculous to think a budget set like this would out trump a $250 one..The real truth is you don't need to spend a craptacuar amount of cash to get perfect positional sound in games. You can even buy an upgrade. A titanium HD and a Samson SR850 for less of the cost of one PC360.. I can certainly bet you the PC360 just because it has a big price tag and a built in mic will not do better than what I just mentioned... People don't believe what I suggest.. That is until you try it for yourself.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

ive really started to dislike soundblaster so if i could stay away from them i would

Asus Xonar DG (PCI), has a built in (decent) headphone amplifier and has Dolby (Digital) Headphone 5.1.
And they are low priced and sold at lots of Internet mail order business.
 
 
 

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

Well you came to the right place.. I own the same card you have as well as the Titanium HD card for gaming on my gaming PCs.. I will be honest with you..Most guys will recommend the Ad700 and mix amp. your sound card with X-fi CMSS-3D will do directional sound just fine. And the idea of buying an expensive sennheiser PC350 or 360.. No...Ad700? no
 
I am the co founder for one of the premier BF online clans.. =SOC= For my own research and use as I game a lot. You don't need any of those. The headphone to use is The SAMSON SR850. It is better than the AD700 and is better than my HD595 Sennheiser which is an upgrade from the PC360 which is just a renamed HD555 with a mic.  Got all that?
 
So the Samson SR850 is a professional monitoring phone and when combined with your CMSS-3D on. You will be shocked at how precise and great this combo is for gaming.. I have the AD700 and the problem with that phone are 2 things. First it is too airy/ open. The sound stage is very wide and while most guys will just say get this because of this wide stage. IT is too wide. What I mean by this. On games you will notice when enemies shoot at you from what should be 20 ft away it often sound like 25ft away.. A bit too far off. You don't want to use closed headphones as sound become too closed in and can cause an echo which is not wanted.
 
The answer is a semi open can. The samson SR850 is a semi open can . The 2nd thing wrong with the Ad700 is the anemic bass response or the lack there of. It has almost no bass sounds for music and games throwing out a thud instead of a boom. The samson has full dynamic bass and because of its monitor nature. The sounds in game are precise beyond belief...I have put over 2K hours on BC2 alone with this combo and I can make out at what part of the map a guy is shooting at me with my eyes closed. I can tell what part of the building is being invaded and at what level with my eyes closed. I can tell if a guy is anywhere near me.. All with my eyes closed. the Samson on buy.com will cost you $50 and a clip on mic to throw on your headphone will cost around $10.
 
I know it might sound ridiculous to think a budget set like this would out trump a $250 one..The real truth is you don't need to spend a craptacuar amount of cash to get perfect positional sound in games. You can even buy an upgrade. A titanium HD and a Samson SR850 for less of the cost of one PC360.. I can certainly bet you the PC360 just because it has a big price tag and a built in mic will not do better than what I just mentioned... People don't believe what I suggest.. That is until you try it for yourself.

I own the Superlux HD-668B headphone, great headphones for everything, Samson SR850 is a rename Superlux, they share the same cup design.
My HD-668B stopped working after less then two months (Hopefully I can fix them).
I do not believe the Superlux/Samson are good at taking normal wear and tear, several of the other Superlux users have talk about how their Superlux stop working with in the first year.
But the headphones are so low cost that you can buy 2 or 3 at the time so you have spare(s).
The HD-668Bs come with two cables, a 3' and 10'. The SR850 has a fixed cable.
The SR850 is 32-Ohm, the HD-668B are 56-Ohm.
 
 
 

 

[slross83]

yeah i have heard of them being cheaper quality build wise.

 

[slross83]

guys i appreciate what your saying but id rather not get the sr850 due to cheap build quality even though i could buy 4 of them for the price of one pc360. Anyone else have any suggestions???

 

[PurpleAngel]

I'm still pushing the Sennheiser HD-558 and Zalmen Mic
Total would be $150 (mail order) as you can get the HD-558 for $137 total (mail order) and $10-$12 for the Zalmen mic.
And they both should work fine with your current sound card,