[toby5678910]

No votes for the SONY MDR-F1? It has a great sound stage, and is the most comfortable pair of cans ever produced, good for all night gaming shesh.

 

[T.B.N.]

I'm a little late to the party, but what an awesome thread. Thanks OP.
 
I feel that getting good computer gaming audio is a difficult task. Not only do you have to worry about your headphones and amp, you have to worry about setting up what the source, which usually means messing around with competing sound cards' options. I have an X-Fi and I think it sounds pretty good, but EAX is dead (and it doesn't work in Windows 7) and no games that I know of use the onboard processor/RAM.
 
I have been trying to decide whether to get an external DAC or stick with soundcards, many of which have pretty good DAC's in their own right. The only thing I'm worried about is the EMI that might affect the sound quality. Although the ASUS soundcard has an EMI shield on it.
 
Now I really need an amp.

 

[Blasto_Brandino]

 
Alright, The Sony MDR-F1 headphones are superior to the HD650's for gaming, movies, and general all around computer/ TV use (I own both)  The HD650's although more detailed, have a weird soundstage, the MDR-F1's have an EXCELLENT soundstage, with equally good directionality. They have bass (IMO) on par with the HD650's, and great clarity, and excellent all around set of cans. I leave mine plugged into my computer whenever I'm not using my speakers. And they are tough as nails due to the fact they are nearly completely magnesium, the HD650's love them as I do, feel like a toy compared to the F1's

And you can pick up a pair of F1's for $100 used, or $300 new (worth it) There is a reason I owned 3 of em. (I recently sold a pair)

 

[Mochan]

Quote:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Touche /img/forum/go_quote.gif Do you just enable Dolby Headphone in drivers or do you also change some sound settings in games you play? Are there surround and/or EAX options that have to be activated or does the game stay in default stereo mode? What are your findings on small/medium/large room settings? How do they differ? Dolby Headphone and SVN are terrible for music and it seems to me they would ruin the immersion in games and SVN compresses the dynamic range. Do you think it's something for competitive FPS gaming only or would you use it in "normal" gaming too? Also, does anyone have an idea how Ultrasone HFI-780 are regarding positioning in games?

From what I heard, the game needs to be in pure stereo to have the best quality on Dolby Headphone. I like the medium room settings, it has the best "space image" to my ears. Large setting is too much distorted. Small one is very good. What I can say about SVN option is that it lowers gunshot and blasting noise, and amps footsteps sounds a lot. But the consequnce of that is that you hear your enemy - which is 10 meters away, like he's behind your back. That can be desorienting at first, but that you set the "middle room" (wider soundstage)option and then it's perfect. This works best for COD4

Anytime you game on stereo headphones, it *must* be in Stereo. If it isn't.... you lose the sounds mixed to the other channels.  Both DH and CMSS HP should work with stereo 2-channel output from the game.
 
And again... CMSS HP is better IMO. Way better. No comparison when it comes to 3D Positional cues and especially putting the sounds behind you.

 

[OperatorPerry]

Check out my AD700 boom mic mod:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/490831/my-elegant-ad700-boom-mic-mod

 

[WayTooCrazy]

TB HPX! 

 

[Audioholic]

Ok, I wanna share something new! My step-father was 'till recently in the band, so he calls me one day to help him move the drums, guitars, and other instruments to the basement. In the basement in the corner I saw... something covered with spyderweb and dusty rag. Turns out that it's an old tube amp that the band used a long time ago and spare tubes. So I asked him if he can change the tubes and give me that amp for my headphones. He said and I quote: "Hahaha, no screwin way!" (in Croatian). But he did borrrow it to me for two days. I had some trouble hooking it up to my STX , cause jacks were weird and old, but with some adapters I managed to set it up. The sound was... out of this world. The hights were so present but not harsh, mids were like...I mean like...Ok, I will describe it like this: the sound was strong, but not loud and invasive, it was so detailed but not tireing, the soundstage was very wide but so natural, and when I put on DT 880 pro and played Nightwish Eva I... started to cry for no reason!! That never ever happened to me before... And for games? Oh, yeah, it was great, but now the soundstage was so perfect that I didn't need dolby headphone any more. Pure stereo was fantastic and best for positioning purposes and thus rendered DH useless. Once in Bad Company 2 I was peeking out of this building when a sniper's bullet whizzed by my head and hit the wall by me so realisticly that I twitched my head so fast that my Beyers fell off  my head and I poked myself in the eye with desktop mic

.
 
Well, as good things never last, two days have passed and I had to return the amp, and no amount of begging and crying convinced my step-dad to change his mind. I don't have that kind of cash to buy an amp like that, but he is in his 60's -something, and rat-poison is cheap, so I'll post back in a few days when I'll have it again. Just kidding.

 

[Trysaeder]

Did you ever use the K701 for games or was that only trying out in a store?

 

[Audioholic]

I never try out things in store. I borrow stuff and bring it home. K701 were more "music" headphones than for games to my ears.

 

[Alexis Pinsonnea]

I've got a question about playing the Xbox 360 with earphones. Should I change the set-up to stereo or leave at 5.1?
 
BTW, last week I got the Beyerdynamics DT-880 because of this thread.

 

[Audioholic]

Quote:

I've got a question about playing the Xbox 360 with earphones. Should I change the set-up to stereo or leave at 5.1?
 
BTW, last week I got the Beyerdynamics DT-880 because of this thread.

Whoa, congrats Alexis! You won't regret it! Which version did you get? For Xbox I would definitely use stereo. It may take some time to get used to, but once you do, it's a LOT better. You'll see... 
 

 

[Thompson]

If only I found this topic earlier lol...
 
So according to your journey:
 
STX > XFI? So that would mean I am better of with an Asus Essence STX then a AuzenTech Bravura 7.1?
 
And what is your opinion about the difference between the 770, 880 and 990. I can buy 770 or 990 for 150 euros and 880 for 230 euro's... Pretty big difference! Also, to your opinion, is it really that important (for gaming, pc use) is you have 32 ohm, 250 ohm or 600 ohm? And will the STX or Bravura be able to drive 32/250/600?
 
Sorry lot of questions but it's a lot of money to me so I wanna get it right the first time

 

[T.B.N.]

Quote:

If only I found this topic earlier lol...
 
So according to your journey:
 
STX > XFI? So that would mean I am better of with an Asus Essence STX then a AuzenTech Bravura 7.1?
 
And what is your opinion about the difference between the 770, 880 and 990. I can buy 770 or 990 for 150 euros and 880 for 230 euro's... Pretty big difference! Also, to your opinion, is it really that important (for gaming, pc use) is you have 32 ohm, 250 ohm or 600 ohm? And will the STX or Bravura be able to drive 32/250/600?
 
Sorry lot of questions but it's a lot of money to me so I wanna get it right the first time

 
I'm not qualified to answer most of your questions (sorry 

) but I know that when choosing a soundcard for gaming, keep in mind that EAX is all but dead. It requires very awkward workarounds in Windows Vista/7 to even work, and very few games support it. It is unfortunate, because audio in gaming has really taken a back seat to graphics. 
 
So I believe (someone correct me if I'm wrong) that what you should be comparing between the two cards is the quality of the DAC and perhaps whether you'd like the ASUS card's Dolby headphones or the CMSS 3D. I can't comment on those.
 

 

[Thompson]

Quote:

 
I'm not qualified to answer most of your questions (sorry 

) but I know that when choosing a soundcard for gaming, keep in mind that EAX is all but dead. It requires very awkward workarounds in Windows Vista/7 to even work, and very few games support it. It is unfortunate, because audio in gaming has really taken a back seat to graphics. 
 
So I believe (someone correct me if I'm wrong) that what you should be comparing between the two cards is the quality of the DAC and perhaps whether you'd like the ASUS card's Dolby headphones or the CMSS 3D. I can't comment on those.
 

 
Thanks for the fill-in.
 
So then, would people here find the STX or the Bravura more suitable for gaming and powering a headphone? Or maybe even a different card?
 

 

[Alexis Pinsonnea]

Quote:

Whoa, congrats Alexis! You won't regret it! Which version did you get? For Xbox I would definitely use stereo. It may take some time to get used to, but once you do, it's a LOT better. You'll see... 
 

 
Version? I got the DT 880 Pro. Is that what you meant?