[lionaire]

i was planning on picking up a set of AD700s, primarily for gaming on my macbook pro.  do i need any equipment to really get a decent sound out of them?  people were saying i really should get a cmss sound card to go with them.  anyone know if the xfi go card, or the creative expresscard sound cards are any good?
 
heres a link to the above mentioned cards
 
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001BS3A3E/ref=s9_simh_gw_p23_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=10QYEDRGVTPY1NV7M6YR&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846
 
 
http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Labs-SB1100-Blaster-System/dp/B002651ZNI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1275955390&sr=1-1

 

[ninjowned]

If you want the cmss on a laptop... I use one of these and it works great. Just got it actually.
 
http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Labs-SB1090-Blaster-Surround/dp/B0017QQQAE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1275955993&sr=1-1

 

[WaveRider69]

For gaming you'll be fine with anything. 
 
For music you will want a good sound device and an amp.  Trust me if you are going to pick those up,  plan on amping them otherwise you'll likely be disappointed in music.  Adding the amp takes it to a whole new world.

 

[ROBSCIX]

I would tend to disagree, games are the same as anything else and can benefit from good audio reproduction.  Why just use anything in games? -Seems like poor advice to me.

 

[Fazzmania]

If you play competitive FPS a good setup can increase your performance in game dramatically, as it's much easier to plot the positions of enemies by the sound of their footsteps. Not the mention the immersion factor of crisp bulletfire and explosions.

 

[ROBSCIX]

Exactly, why would you want to limit your enjoyment of a game by using low quality gear.

 

[Armaegis]

Go with the expresscard. It's a good price with comparable audio performance, and more importantly it uses up fewer system resources (the X-fi Go! is reportedly a resource hog).

 

[isaac1417]

Easy! coz on-board sound card is really flat and boring when enjoying games and movies...
 
But I would recommand any thing but creative x-fi... I used to have one but the only thing it provided to me is unstopable crackling noise...also its customer service is very terrible.
 
Now I own a Xonar Essense STX, pretty great sound quality.

 

[lionaire]

Quote:

Exactly, why would you want to limit your enjoyment of a game by using low quality gear.

well because i dont want to spend 70 bucks on something that wont improve the game by a lot.

 
Quote:

If you play competitive FPS a good setup can increase your performance in game dramatically, as it's much easier to plot the positions of enemies by the sound of their footsteps. Not the mention the immersion factor of crisp bulletfire and explosions.

i do tend to do that.  can the headphones do that kind of stuff with just the standard onboard sound?  or do i need to get the xfi card to really hear the 3d type sounds
 
 
stop trolling hybrys
Quote:

 

lulz.  You overpaid so you can emulate a PC.

 

Congrats, that's super dumb.  But don't worry, you're not the only one.

 

Sidenote: I hate people with money.  -_-

 

[Draca]

Quote:

well because i dont want to spend 70 bucks on something that wont improve the game by a lot.

 
i do tend to do that.  can the headphones do that kind of stuff with just the standard onboard sound?  or do i need to get the xfi card to really hear the 3d type sounds
 
 
stop trolling hybrys

Lolwtf.
 
It was a humorous point that was actually valid. For the record I do own a Macbook Pro and occasionally play games on it, but if gaming was your primary goal then lulz are certainly in order.
 
That aside,
 
For gaming sound can certainly make quite a big difference - knowing which direction the enemy is coming from in FPS games especially is a huge advantage. Onboard sound doesn't tend to be as good as it could be when it comes to this but YMMV.
 
Creative has some decent budget external/express cards that will do the job. I use the X-Fi expresscard for games when I can't use my Apogee Duet (i.e. when I boot into Windows). Keep in mind only the 17" MBP has an expresscard slot.
 
The X-Fi card has got a high noise floor and isn't immune from interference but it's very reasonable in terms of directionality and also has a host of other features like EAX which you may or may not want to use.

 

[lionaire]

Quote:

Lolwtf.
 
It was a humorous point that was actually valid. For the record I do own a Macbook Pro and occasionally play games on it, but if gaming was your primary goal then lulz are certainly in order.
 
That aside,
 
For gaming sound can certainly make quite a big difference - knowing which direction the enemy is coming from in FPS games especially is a huge advantage. Onboard sound doesn't tend to be as good as it could be when it comes to this but YMMV.
 
Creative has some decent budget external/express cards that will do the job. I use the X-Fi expresscard for games when I can't use my Apogee Duet (i.e. when I boot into Windows). Keep in mind only the 17" MBP has an expresscard slot.
 
The X-Fi card has got a high noise floor and isn't immune from interference but it's very reasonable in terms of directionality and also has a host of other features like EAX which you may or may not want to use.

 
thanks.  i am similar to you.  my primary by far is the osx operating system.  i only go into windows to game,  my computer isnt primarily a gaming platform either.  thanks for the advice.  you should know, i have a 15" mbp and i have an xpress card slot
 

 

[Draca]

Quote:

 
thanks.  i am similar to you.  my primary by far is the osx operating system.  i only go into windows to game,  my computer isnt primarily a gaming platform either.  thanks for the advice.  you should know, i have a 15" mbp and i have an xpress card slot
 

That's interesting, what model do you have?
 
IIRC, Apple removed the expresscard slot on the June 09 models and replaced it with an SD card reader.

 

[ROBSCIX]

Quote:

well because i dont want to spend 70 bucks on something that wont improve the game by a lot.

 

You can find used X-Fi based cards for well under $70.  If you are a hardcore gamer go with a gaming card as it will give you the best support for games.

 

[lionaire]

Quote:

That's interesting, what model do you have?
 
IIRC, Apple removed the expresscard slot on the June 09 models and replaced it with an SD card reader.

i have an older model.  i bought mine the summer of 2007.  thank god.  who the hell needs an sd card reader? just plug in your camera, or buy a usb powered reader.   id much rather have the express slot.  

 
Quote:

You can find used X-Fi based cards for well under $70.  If you are a hardcore gamer go with a gaming card as it will give you the best support for games.

there are gaming laptop cards?  seems kinda niche.  the xfi card i found was about 70, from amazon, 50 from others.  

 

[medex]

What makes the AD700 need an amp and the A700's not?  The AD even has a lower impedance.  My A700's get absolutely no benefit from an amp.