[HeadHuntR]

Hei,
I am planning on buying a headphone in the next couple of days and is wondering whether to buy the Philips Fidelio X1 or not. It is gonna be used primarily for gaming and I'm worried it will not provide any good "surround quality" aka being able to her where footsteps/explosions originates from - hearing peoples footsteps when they come behind you etc. From what I can see it is not avatized to have surround, like most gaming gear have - like virtual surround 5.1 or 7.1. Now this might be me just being stupid, but what kind of virtual surround is the Philips Fidelio X1 able to produce? - none, virtual surround 5.1, 7.1 would be most helpful if anyone could clarify as this is why I'm hesitating at this point. I know the headphone will produce very good sound quality, but will it give me a decent "surround" experience? Also would be nice if anyone could tell me if I need any special gear/software to make the philips fidelio x1 work properly.
 
Also as a side note, I'm considering "powering" it with something like ASUS XONAR U3 - do you guys think this is a good choice or not?

 

[Sam21]

I don't own or have heard the X1 , but it gets good reviews here on head-fi...
 
if you want it for purely competitive reasons then get the AKG K702/Q701 , AD700x these cans are very good for what you described.
if you want it mainly for fun and some competitive gaming then get the X1 or DT990 ... X1 has detachable cable. this feature allows you to connect a V-MODA boom pro and turn the headphone into a headset.
 
If you want to add surround, there are many options [USB soundcards] : 
 
Asus Xonar U3/U7
Creative X-FI Go! pro
Creative Play!
SIIG Soundwave 7.1
 
I prefer the U3/U7 because they have optical out capability.
 
If you want internal cards check out Asus and Creative, both companies have their own surround engines.
 
there is also the razer surround app which is free and works well with some games.

 

[jodgey4]

Virtual surround is all done with DSP... you can take the 5.1 or 7.1 of a game and DSP will make your headset with two speakers sound like it has many. There are some headsets that have more than on driver per ear... but they are gimmicky, low quality, limited in use, and still aren't as good as traditional headphones + DSP. Like ^^ said, you can get an internal soundcard with Dolby Headphone, THX, or something like that to do the DSP.
 
My brother has Phillips X1's and an Asus Xonar DGX soundcard for his competitive gaming set-up. X1's are great for a fun gaming experience... yes, there are headphones that might be better for pure competitive gameplay, but they sacrifice the immersive bass quantity that the X1's provide. I'd also recommend replacing the stock cable... some of the stock ones seem to have a very high impedance which isn't good for these headphones. Monoprice, Mediabridge, anything simple like that should be all you'll ever need. Let us know if you have any more questions!