[Vuroth]

My current situation:  Realtek built in audio, playing through 15-year old Sony MDR-V600s.  Which I love.  But they're starting to fray in a bad way.  Plus, my kids borrow them like half the time.
 
Budget:  500-700, but flexible, for the full upgrade.  
(Probably Asus Xonar Essence STX + headphones, but I'm open to suggestions.  Should I be thinking about a DAC or headphone amp?)
 
Criteria:
- The big one is minimal sound leakage.  So, I guess, closed cans.  (this is a marital issue...)
- Comfort - if the gaming session goes 2-3 hours, I don't want to be uncomfortable.  Also, it's conceivable that my head is slightly wide....
- mic - I do game with ventrilo/teamspeak/skype from time to time, so a mic would be nice.  so maybe gaming heaset, maybe not.
- Probably 70% gaming, 30% listening to my .flac collection.
 
I do know there are some excellent guides out there, and I've read them, but every time I read a review and think "this sounds perfect" it winds up being open, which at a guess disqualifies it.
 
Any help would be appreciated.
 
V

 

[trog]

With gaming and in view of more demanding cans later, i would say a X-FI Titanium HD and a seperate desktop headphone amp is an option 

 Go with wired, stereo cans as they beat "headsets" any day SQ/$$

 

[PurpleAngel]

Asus Xonar Essence STX and AKG K550
 
Nothing wrong with the Titanium HD with external headphone amplifier.
External headphone amplifiers come with a low impedance (sound cards do not), which is a plus for low Ohm headphone like the AKG K550.
But you are spend more cash, minimum of around $150 for the external amp.
 
A lower cost way is
Used Asus Xonar DX or D1 sound card ($55), which has all most the same surround sound features as the Essence STX
And the O2 (Obective 2) external headphone amplifier ($155)
Plus the price of the AKG K550.

 

[NamelessPFG]

$500-700...that's quite a budget. You could even afford some nice electrostatic setups with that, were it not for the isolation/closed-back requirement (very few closed-back electrostatics exist).
 
Still, you could have a setup like an X-Fi Titanium HD + Objective2 or FiiO E9 + (AKG K550 + ModMic) or Sennheiser PC350 with ease.
 
What games do you play?

 

[Vuroth]

Games list:
Diablo 3
League of Legends
Tribes Ascend (somewhat)
Starcraft
Mass Effect series
Civ 5
various space games, such as X3, Sword of the Stars 2, etc.
 
As for the budget, I use the computer more than the TV, so why not aim for at least as good sound there?
 
Just how big a difference is there in sound bleed between closed and open?  My wife's computer is right behind where I sit at mine, and I'd really like to minimize what she can hear....

 

[NamelessPFG]

Hmmm...nothing that dramatically benefits from the X-Fi DSP's features, aside from Mass Effect 1. But if you were to get into Starsiege: Tribes or Tribes 2...
 
Open headphones will leak (in both directions) more than closed ones, of course. This doesn't mean closed headphones have perfect isolation (it depends on the model, obviously), but they do tend to fare better in that regard. Too bad it also means having a smaller soundstage.

 

[Vuroth]

Quote:

Hmmm...nothing that dramatically benefits from the X-Fi DSP's features, aside from Mass Effect 1.

In that case, is there a big difference between Asus Xonar Essense STX and Creative X-Fi Titanium HD?
 
I think the reviews I've read have sold me on the O2 and the K550s, so thanks for the heads up on those.
 
V

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

In that case, is there a big difference between Asus Xonar Essense STX and Creative X-Fi Titanium HD?
 
I think the reviews I've read have sold me on the O2 and the K550s, so thanks for the heads up on those.
 
V

So only $55 to add a sound card (DX or D1) to your combo.

 

[NamelessPFG]

Quote:

In that case, is there a big difference between Asus Xonar Essense STX and Creative X-Fi Titanium HD?
 
I think the reviews I've read have sold me on the O2 and the K550s, so thanks for the heads up on those.
 
V

 
The bigger differences seem to be in sound signature and headphone amplification, if you go by hearsay around here. I don't really think you could go wrong with either card per se, unless EAX 3/4/5 and a general advantage in DirectSound3D and OpenAL games is that important to you (and you haven't listed many games using those APIs), in which case the X-Fi line is the only choice.
 
Also, if you have a PCI slot free and not just PCI-Express slots, you may also want to consider the HT Omega Claro Halo.

 

[Vuroth]

Quote:

So only $55 to add a sound card (DX or D1) to your combo.

I take it then the difference between the 60 dollar DX/D1s and the 200 dollar STX is that the STX has a built-in headphone amp?  And if I go with an O2, I'd be wasting my money taking a STX (and possibly an X-Fi Titanium, though obviously there are more differences there) over the DX/D1?

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

I take it then the difference between the 60 dollar DX/D1s and the 200 dollar STX is that the STX has a built-in headphone amp?  And if I go with an O2, I'd be wasting my money taking a STX (and possibly an X-Fi Titanium, though obviously there are more differences there) over the DX/D1?

The DX/D1 and STX (& ST, DS, DSX) all use the same C-Media CMI-8788 audio processor.
I believe the DX/D1 also has a little nit more of a cleaner signal then the STX)
The STX offers separate headphone and speaker output, coaxial output, headphone amplifier, replaceable op-amps. which is stuff I'm guessing you do not really care about.
The O2 (Objective) headphone amplifier has a low impedance (lower then STX or X-Fi), which is a plus for a headphone amplifier.
And the O2 is technically a portable headphone amplifier, so you can travel with it.

 

[Vuroth]

I just wanted to report back and say I couldn't be happier with the advice I got.  I wound up going for the Creative soundcard (was on sale, got a good deal) along with the O2 and the AKG K550s.
 
I only just got the O2, and I was surprised how much it added.  Definitely no regrets.
 
Thanks, and cheers.
 
V