[ravissimo]

I recently went to PAX East last weekend in Boston, which was my first PAX event, and was blown away by some of the audio coming out of the different stations they had set up, which lead me to think, What am i doing? i have decent audio set up for portable music, PC music/movies, but nothing tailored to gaming, so i came straight to head-fi to remedy that situation.
 
I've searched through the multiple threads and I've gotten some great information on the sennheiser pc360s and specifically with use with the astro mixamp, which is what I'm thinking of getting. I mainly play Team Fortress 2 and Portal 2 on the PC and i'm not a huge FPS gamer on the Xbox 360, as i'm more into various racing games, particularly the Need For Speed series. However, I did start playing some Battlefield 3 a bit more, and i'm a user of the microphone as I enjoy playing squad deathmatch and 'team-oriented' matches.
 
question here: most of the threads i've seen were back in november/december 2011, i'm wondering if there's been anything released since that can rival the PC360 & mixamp combo? also, besides the positional aspect of FPS games, do the PC360 produce good sound for racing-related audio? or are they designed more for accuracy with positioning when used with the mixamp?
 
I currently have the HD555 and i've read here on head-fi that the differences between it and the PC360 are negligible, in which case I wouldn't have much use for the HD555 and I could throw them up on the sale/trade forum. I've also noticed that the PC360 has risen in price quite a bit from the other prices mentioned in threads as it currently sits at $230-$250 range, so that's a consideration.
 
my gamertag on XBL and username on Steam are the same as here btw, ravissimo, in case anyone happens to play some of the above games.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

I recently went to PAX East last weekend in Boston, which was my first PAX event, and was blown away by some of the audio coming out of the different stations they had set up, which lead me to think, What am i doing? i have decent audio set up for portable music, PC music/movies, but nothing tailored to gaming, so i came straight to Head-Fi to remedy that situation.
I've searched through the multiple threads and I've gotten some great information on the Sennheiser pc360s and specifically with use with the Astro Mixamp, which is what I'm thinking of getting. I mainly play Team Fortress 2 on the PC and i'm not a huge FPS gamer on the xBox 360, as I'm more into the various racing games, particularly the NFS series. I did start playing some Battlefield 3 a bit more though, and i'm a user of the microphone as I enjoy playing squad Deathmatch and 'team-oriented' matches.
question here: most of the threads i've seen were back in November/December 2011, I'm wondering if there's been anything released since that can rival the PC360 & Mixamp combo? also, besides the positional aspect of FPS games, do the PC360 produce good sound for racing-related audio? or are they designed more for accuracy with positioning when used with the Mixamp?
I currently have the HD555 and I've read here on Head-Fi that the differences between it and the PC360 are negligible, in which case I wouldn't have much use for the HD555 and I could throw them up on the sale/trade forum. I've also noticed that the PC360 has risen in price quite a bit from the other prices mentioned in threads as it currently sits at $230-$250 range, so that's a consideration.
My gamertag on xbl and username on steam are the same as here btw, ravissimo, in case anyone happens to play some of the above games.

Save a few dollars, just get the Sennheiser HD558 and an add-on mic.
You can get an Asus Xonar DG (PCI) sound card, $17 after $10 mail in rebate, for the computer.
Then just leave the Mix-amp hooked up to the xBox.
 
 

 

[GL1TCH3D]

I don't play xbox but I currently use my Beyerdynamic T5p headphone + Asus Xonar U3 usb sound card (I have a laptp so I can't exactly just throw in a new sound card).
I find it's superb for gaming and music (the U3 produces a very audible hiss even at regular levels so those quiet parts of your song will be ruined. Not the best sound card but for 33$? Can't complain. An improvement over my useless on-board sound card.

I don't think the U3 works on xbox though. I heard the mixamp sucks on PC so you'd need something else for PC anyway. I hear, if you have the money, the akg k701 is a great choice for competitive gameplay.

And add me on BF3:
GL1TCH3D

xP

 

[ravissimo]

Quote:

Save a few dollars, just get the Sennheiser HD558 and an add-on mic.
You can get an Asus Xonar DG (PCI) sound card, $17 after $10 mail in rebate, for the computer.
Then just leave the Mix-amp hooked up to the xBox.
 
 

i'm attempting to find an all-in-one solution. i'm not a huge fan of the add-on mic, as i find it significantly more convenient to have one that i can turn on and off easily directly from the headset. appreciate the input though, I should really get a better sound card sometime.

 
Quote:

I don't play xbox but I currently use my Beyerdynamic T5p headphone + Asus Xonar U3 usb sound card (I have a laptp so I can't exactly just throw in a new sound card).
I find it's superb for gaming and music (the U3 produces a very audible hiss even at regular levels so those quiet parts of your song will be ruined. Not the best sound card but for 33$? Can't complain. An improvement over my useless on-board sound card.
I don't think the U3 works on xbox though. I heard the mixamp sucks on PC so you'd need something else for PC anyway. I hear, if you have the money, the akg k701 is a great choice for competitive gameplay.
And add me on BF3:
GL1TCH3D
xP

appreciate the input that the mixamp doesn't particularly sound very good on PC, that might sway my decision to get it at all. it sounded pretty solid to me at PAX East when i demoed Diablo III, but I'm not sure what audio card was being used on that PC. That's also not usually my type of game, so I wouldn't be the best judge of audio quality in that environment. Max Payne 3 was much more fun to try out and I could tell the mixamp and xbox work well together. The Beyerdynamic T5P's are definitely out of my price range, and the PC360s are a bit of a stretch, but manageable especially if i sell a few other cans i have lying around.
 
I wish I could test out the mixamp in a variety of settings, but unfortunately it's only sold directly from Astro. I'd order it immediately from Amazon if it were available since they're much more reliable and I'm a Amazon Prime member. I couldn't even find a phone number on Astro's website for support if needed, which is almost unforgivable.
 
I currently use both a desktop PC and laptop PC for playing some TF2 and Portal 2, but my mobile solution stinks sound-wise. I have a Creative X-Fi TItanium at the moment on my desktop and I plug my HD555 directly into that and use a desktop mic, but i'd rather have an integrated solution. Whenever i build my next PC, i'll be putting an ASUS Xonar card in it, but I don't see the need to switch right now.
 
If I pick up the PC version of BF3, i'll add you, but currently I only have it for the X360, although i suck at it with analog sticks. I really should get the PC version since my K/D ratio is usually the opposite on PC compared to the xbox. I know it's significantly better for audio/graphics, I'm just not a huge fan of Origin and all the DRM that has apparently plagued the PC version.

 

[GL1TCH3D]

Quote:

Save a few dollars, just get the Sennheiser HD558 and an add-on mic.
You can get an Asus Xonar DG (PCI) sound card, $17 after $10 mail in rebate, for the computer.
Then just leave the Mix-amp hooked up to the xBox.
 
 

i'm attempting to find an all-in-one solution. i'm not a huge fan of the add-on mic, as i find it significantly more convenient to have one that i can turn on and off easily directly from the headset. appreciate the input though, I should really get a better sound card sometime.

 
Quote:

I don't play xbox but I currently use my Beyerdynamic T5p headphone + Asus Xonar U3 usb sound card (I have a laptp so I can't exactly just throw in a new sound card).
I find it's superb for gaming and music (the U3 produces a very audible hiss even at regular levels so those quiet parts of your song will be ruined. Not the best sound card but for 33$? Can't complain. An improvement over my useless on-board sound card.
I don't think the U3 works on xbox though. I heard the mixamp sucks on PC so you'd need something else for PC anyway. I hear, if you have the money, the akg k701 is a great choice for competitive gameplay.
And add me on BF3:
GL1TCH3D
xP

appreciate the input that the mixamp doesn't particularly sound very good on PC, that might sway my decision to get it at all. it sounded pretty solid to me at PAX East when i demoed Diablo III, but I'm not sure what audio card was being used on that PC. That's also not usually my type of game, so I wouldn't be the best judge of audio quality in that environment. Max Payne 3 was much more fun to try out and I could tell the mixamp and xbox work well together. The Beyerdynamic T5P's are definitely out of my price range, and the PC360s are a bit of a stretch, but manageable especially if i sell a few other cans i have lying around.
 
I wish I could test out the mixamp in a variety of settings, but unfortunately it's only sold directly from Astro. I'd order it immediately from Amazon if it were available since they're much more reliable and I'm a Amazon Prime member. I couldn't even find a phone number on Astro's website for support if needed, which is almost unforgivable.
 
I currently use both a desktop PC and laptop PC for playing some TF2 and Portal 2, but my mobile solution stinks sound-wise. I have a Creative X-Fi TItanium at the moment on my desktop and I plug my HD555 directly into that and use a desktop mic, but i'd rather have an integrated solution. Whenever i build my next PC, i'll be putting an ASUS Xonar card in it, but I don't see the need to switch right now.
 
If I pick up the PC version of BF3, i'll add you, but currently I only have it for the X360, although i suck at it with analog sticks. I really should get the PC version since my K/D ratio is usually the opposite on PC compared to the xbox. I know it's significantly better for audio/graphics, I'm just not a huge fan of Origin and all the DRM that has apparently plagued the PC version.

Origin is a pain... Install one program just to use another >.>
But don't you need to buy the "online pass" if you give someone else your copy?