[genclaymore]

  How do people feel about the HE-500 for gaming? I was also looking at the AKG K712 Pro and the Alpha Dogs.

You might have better luck with that question in the HE-500 thread. Unless one of them comes over here to this thread and help you. I should say one that actually use it for gaming too.

 

[SoAmusing777]

  You might have better luck with that question in the HE-500 thread. Unless one of them comes over here to this thread and help you. I should say one that actually use it for gaming too.

All right. Where exactly is that thread?
And you never told me what Xaudio2 is.
Also, does anybody know any good games off the top of their head that support 3d audio?

 

[genclaymore]

 
All right. Where exactly is that thread?
And you never told me what Xaudio2 is.
Also, does anybody know any good games off the top of their head that support 3d audio?

http://www.head-fi.org/t/551345/hifiman-he-500-he-as-in-high-end-proving-to-be-an-enjoyable-experience-in-listening this one seem to be the most used thread for the HE-500's.
 
Also Xaudio2 is the poor replacement for the Direct sound hal, It would had been better if MS just simply pushed Devs into using just OpenAL instead of giving us Xaudio2.I can't stand Xaudio2 api as it don't sound right where your using stereo or using surround sound, the sound usually be off or the bass is messed up.
Also The unreal engine 3 games tend to have a option in their engine.ini to change the game from using Xaudio2 to OpenAl, as it be on Xaudio2 by default. its a simple line change. AudioDeviceClass=Xaudio2.ALXaudio2Device to AudioDeviceClass=ALAudio.ALAudioDevice and the game will switch to using Openal But only if both of those are listed in the engine.ini, UE using games that has those options are Borderlands2, UT4,Painkiller Hell and damnation,Rise of the triad remake also  Mass effect 2/3 the last time I checked and a lot of Unreal engine 3 games. Some UE3 games doesn't have that command line to do it, I don't remember which ones dont. I recall that battlefield 3 is OpenAL besides Battlefield 2. Doom 3 is OpenA as wellL, so is Quake 3/4,killing floor,UT2k4, off the top of my head and from the games I have installed.

 

[SoAmusing777]

  http://www.head-fi.org/t/551345/hifiman-he-500-he-as-in-high-end-proving-to-be-an-enjoyable-experience-in-listening this one seem to be the most used thread for the HE-500's.
 
Also Xaudio2 is the poor replacement for the Direct sound hal, It would had been better if MS just simply pushed Devs into using just OpenAL instead of giving us Xaudio2.I can't stand Xaudio2 api as it don't sound right where your using stereo or using surround sound, the sound usually be off or the bass is messed up.
Also The unreal engine 3 games tend to have a option in their engine.ini to change the game from using Xaudio2 to OpenAl, as it be on Xaudio2 by default. its a simple line change. AudioDeviceClass=Xaudio2.ALXaudio2Device to AudioDeviceClass=ALAudio.ALAudioDevice and the game will switch to using Openal But only if both of those are listed in the engine.ini, UE using games that has those options are Borderlands2, UT4,Painkiller Hell and damnation,Rise of the triad remake also  Mass effect 2/3 the last time I checked and a lot of Unreal engine 3 games. Some UE3 games doesn't have that command line to do it, I don't remember which ones dont. I recall that battlefield 3 is OpenAL besides Battlefield 2. Doom 3 is OpenA as wellL, so is Quake 3/4,killing floor,UT2k4, off the top of my head and from the games I have installed.

Thank you!

I concur, and ah, does sound crappy.

Awesome. Wow, even Bf3, surprising.

 

[genclaymore]

 
Thank you!

I concur, and ah, does sound crappy.

Awesome. Wow, even Bf3, surprising.

Actually i was wrong about BF3, It uses software sound API that dice made and not OpenAL, Might be able to get around that using alchemy but I not sure as I don't have my dad's X-FI Xtreme gamer on hand to try. 

 

[Viceroy]

  Currently using:
Creative X-Fi Titanium (non-hd), no emi shield
Fidelio X1
 
When using the V-MODA BoomPro Mic cable or just a standard aux cable, I get a lot of outside noise (probably from my video cards). The strange part is I only get this when it's in game mode, When I'm in entertainment mode, it seems to go away. This also happened when I had a TiHD.
 
Would an amp such as a Fiio E09K solve this?
 
I've had the ZXR before and there was no issues so I guess that EMI shield helped. But I want to keep CMSS-3D.

 
 
Does anyone know if using an amp out of a X-Fi Titanium (hd or non) would solve the hissing/interference sounds? Or would it just make it louder?
 
 
I've tried a few external USB sound cards, and none of them really sit well with me. I've used:
 
X-Fi Surround 5.1 SB1090: it has CMSS-3D, but it's in entertainment mode only. It's missing MacroFX and Elevation Filter from game mode.
Creative Omni: With alchemy enabled, SBX gets disabled when I play the game

 

[GoldenboyXD]

   
 
Does anyone know if using an amp out of a X-Fi Titanium (hd or non) would solve the hissing/interference sounds? Or would it just make it louder?

I would like to know as well... I'm using a non-HD Titanium and i think the solution for this is to get an external DAC/AMP. While using an AMP will just amplify it?

 

[Silverwind]

Just picked up a pair of Fidelio X1 headphones.
 
Haven't picked up any amplification running off RealTek onboard sound.  About 90% sold on getting a soundblaster Z to power these. I play a lot of half-life2/source based games like L4D2 and TF2.  Also games like Shogun total war, bioshock, X-COM, Fallout new vegas, a good mix.  I listen to music maybe 20% of the time, mainly while I surf and not during gaming.
 
Anyone have some comments to toss at me before I seal the deal?

 

[Viceroy]

  Just picked up a pair of Fidelio X1 headphones.
 
Haven't picked up any amplification running off RealTek onboard sound.  About 90% sold on getting a soundblaster Z to power these. I play a lot of half-life2/source based games like L4D2 and TF2.  Also games like Shogun total war, bioshock, X-COM, Fallout new vegas, a good mix.  I listen to music maybe 20% of the time, mainly while I surf and not during gaming.
 
Anyone have some comments to toss at me before I seal the deal?

 
Depends. How close will the SBZ sit to your video card(s)? And are they loud? I had a hissing/interference issue with the Sound Blaster Zx whenever my video cards started to work hard.

 

[Silverwind]

   
Depends. How close will the SBZ sit to your video card(s)? And are they loud? I had a hissing/interference issue with the Sound Blaster Zx whenever my video cards started to work hard.

 
The SBZ will be one slot from my (one) radeon 7950.  No interference now using the onboard sound and the 7950.  The fans are very loud at 100% but usually run 30-40%.

 

[Viceroy]

   
The SBZ will be one slot from my (one) radeon 7950.  No interference now using the onboard sound and the 7950.  The fans are very loud at 100% but usually run 30-40%.

 
My guess is you should be OK.

 

[hallonpaj]

I have a suggestion...could some of the settings for the STX and Creative Z series of cards be added into the first post?

I can bet that that is something many readers are after...myself included

As such I'll be using either an AKG k612 pro or Q701 with a Z series card with an external amp (Magni seems like the front runner at present) for 99% gaming.

From this thread I've learned that I can output from the headphone jack to the Magni amp with 3.55mm jack to RCA splitter while retaining the surround sound processing as well as not experiencing any distortion due to double amping.

From a settings perspective I'm still a bit confused on what needs to be set where to what and which games require config tweaks to get the best surround cues.

But I'm slowly reading all the pages. 60/199 done so far

Thanks to the OP for this thread! So guys please share some settings

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

I got the settings in an answer 1-5 pages back in this thread =)

 

[Orihalcon]

 
I got the settings in an answer 1-5 pages back in this thread =)

Thank you!
 
Maybe I should have started back to front...doh!

 

[SoAmusing777]

Anyone have any suggestions for my next headphone? I'm thinking HE-500. I want something like the AKG k712/k702 annie, but just with more bass. The AKG's pretty much excel in mids, highs, and all the things you'd want for gaming (soundstage width and depth/airiness). Neutral headphones are my type. Would like them to be great for gaming as well.

 

[Silverwind]

Just picked up a set of Fidelio X1 headphones. Using Realtek motherboard audio until I can get something more fitting.

My goal is to have good surround gaming and good amplification.

Should I get soundblaster z with external amp, soundblaster z by itself, or soundblaster Zxr?

The X1 headphones are 32 ohm, is the impedance of 22+. Ohms of the soundblaster z going to impact the sound quality?

Budget is about 100-200.