5.1 vs 7.1 Gaming Headset...

[PowerPie5000]

I'm looking for a reasonably priced gaming headset which must have surround sound... Is the difference between 5.1 and 7.1 very noticeable? Are there actually any games that make full use of 7.1 sound?

I don't really want to spend more than £80 and have mainly been looking at the Corsair Vengeance 1500, Roccat Kave 5.1 and Plantronics Gamecom 780 headsets. Does anyone know if the Chinese brand 'Somic' are any good? They certainly seem to offer a nice range of surround headsets .

Please feel free to recommend something, cheers

 

[PowerPie5000]

I'm not bothering with the Plantronics Gamecom 780 as i've just found out it's 'virtual' surround and not true surround . I'm looking for either a 5.1 or 7.1 'true' surround headset for no more than £80... Not bothered about branding as long as it's good quality (i'm not bothered about audiophile quality either, hence the reason i'm not spending £££'s on a headset ).

 

[PowerPie5000]

I had the Roccat Kaves before and they're pretty good, only thing I would say is that after a couple years of use the headband became weak and snapped...

I've since upgraded them to the Razer Tiamat Elite 7.1 headset... They're very good, but tbh so far (i've only had them a couple days though) I'm not sure I can really tell the difference between the 2 and in having 7.1 over 5.1.

I'll probably end up getting the Corsair Vengeance 1500 headset... Reviews seem good and it's 7.1 (although there's probably no real difference over 5.1, but they're within my budget).

5.1 and 7.1 is a gimmick in headphones.

Please look into getting yourself a real pair.

I have a 'real' pair for listening to music (Sennheiser HD 600 ), and i personally don't think 5.1 (or 7.1) headsets are a gimmick when it comes to gaming... I borrowed a friends 5.1 headset a while back and was quite impressed (I think they were Tritton branded, i can remember them being white).

It's not a gimmick as long as they have well placed seperate speakers for each channel (none of this virtual surround rubbish) .

 

[PowerPie5000]

You have a pair of Senn HD 600 and are looking for another headset for gaming?

Are you using onboard audio to drive the HD600 while gaming or something? I know the HD 600 doesn't have the widest soundstage in the world, but combine with some of the "virtual" surrounds like dolby headphone or cmss3d it's positional audio should be as good as any of the 5.1 headsets and it should sound better too!!

I don't use my HD 600's with the PC (the onboard Realtek ALC892 won't do them any justice anyway)... I know i can use Dolby, CMSS3D or Rapture3D software to create 'virtual' surround sound, but it's just not the same as true surround using seperate channels and multiple speakers in the headset. The HD 600's are fantastic when it comes to music, but i'm pretty sure they're not designed for gaming or positional audio.

Is it best to get a USB headset (i think they have a built-in sound chip) or one that connects to the seperate audio outputs (front, rear, center etc...) on my motherboard?

 

[PowerPie5000]

Well, you made your mind up, but, a good stereo headset should give just as good positional audio as any 5.1 headsets. Actually they will give better positional audio.

Plug in your HD600's into your PC and go listen to this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmL-YRxC6Y8&hd=1.

I'm not sure how a stereo headset could possibly give better positional/surround audio than one with dedicated speakers for each channel? I must admit that Youtube link sounded brilliant as far as Youtube quality goes (it did have a slight echo and the rear sound was slightly weak - but maybe it's just me).

IF I was you I would buy a sound card that can drive those headphones. The new creative Z is in your budget of £80 and has a 600Ohm headphone amp, so will open up those HD600's a lot Buy it, try it out and return it under DSR if you aren't happy.

I think i'd prefer the X-Fi Titanium or a decent Xonar card over anything that uses the Sound Core3D chip... I used to have an Auzentech X-Fi Prelude a few years ago, but i ended up selling it as i never really listen to music on my PC and the Windows 7 x64 drivers at the time were a bit shoddy for gaming (i got it cheap anyway as it was used and actually made a small profit by selling it on ebay ).

The onboard Realtek ALC892 (7.1 THX certified) does an admirable job when it comes to gaming, albeit i'm using an average pair of Creative Gigaworks T20 speakers (which are still quite good for their size)... I'll look into getting another dedicated sound card if i have space next to the massive GPU in my Micro-ATX gaming rig!

 

[PowerPie5000]

I don't think USB has anything to do with real or virtual surround (i could be wrong though?). If i get another sound card then it'll have to be PCI as my GPU is blocking the small PCIe x1 slot and i don't want to use the other full sized PCIe x16 slot (otherwise it will reduce my GPU's PCIe slot to x8)... I don't think there's any difference between PCIe and PCI when it comes to sound cards anyway.

The HD 600's do sound great on my PC, but unfortunately they don't have a mic (i prefer the mic to be attached to the headset).

What PCI card would you recommend?

 

[PowerPie5000]

Ok, if i get the Roccat Kave headset then i'll need a splitter so that i don't have to keep swapping speaker and headset cables . Do all Xonar cards have a header for front panel audio? Also, do all Xonar cards support 'Dolby Headphone' incase i decide to use my HD 600's? There seem to be many variants with different features!

Cheers!

 

[PowerPie5000]

yeah, it's a confusing mess sometimes!! Not all xonar cards have the front panel audio connector, the DG is the only one under £100 with a headphone amp and it has a front panel connector too.

It's a pain switching between speakers and headphone all right, it's part of the reason I went for the creative Z. But, for you, I think you need to decide if you want to go with the senns and a sound card or to get a 5.1 headset? I think you are too focused on this "true" 5.1 surround thing.

Going with a USB headset might be the simplest and easiest thing for you to do, so maybe your choice of the Corsair vengance 1500 is the right one. You could leave these plugged in and use your speakers as well. Since you don't listen to music on your computer audio quality isn't as much of a problem. And you will probably more than happy with this.

Of course there is another option Just keeping you on your toes!! Get the Xonar DG and an external headphone amp which has an optical input. That's why I was asking what you were using to drive the HD600s. You can output the dolby headphone through the spdif to the external amp. This option means you can leave speakers and headphones plugged in at the same time.

I use my HD 600's with my Denon setup (which does have optical)... But it's downstairs and my gaming PC is upstairs! Do you think the cheap Xonar DG will be a noticeable improvement over the onboard Realtek ALC892? It's seems a good price and like you said, it has both a headphone amp and front panel connector. It also supports 'Dolby Headphone' which does seem better than i initially thought... I'll just have to put up with a clip-on mic .

Is there anyway to get a Dolby Headphone utility so that i can properly test it with my onboard audio? Or does it come as part of the Xonar driver package?

 

[PowerPie5000]

I would stay away from the Roccat Kave personally, while I think they sound great in games (had a pair myself and so did my partner) they have a fatal design flaw with the headband that will give you headaches over time (I believe the weight is the problem as they are pretty heavy), I even tried putting stuff around the headband to create more padding but that didn't help. Such a shame as I did love them and they were still great for music paired with a Xonar card. There's probably better 5.1 alternatives but I just put them in the cupboard and bought 2x Logitech g930's and had done with it - shame as the Xonar card is practicly new and unused.

I'm thinking maybe i should just use my Sennhesier HD 600's (and a some sort of clip-on mic) along with the Xonar dolby headphone virtual surround support. The Xonar DG fits the bill for me as it's got a heaphone amp, front panel audio connector, Dolby headphone support and auto jack sensing... I'm sure it will sound ok with my speakers too .

Is virtual surround through a decent pair of headphones the way to go?

 

[PowerPie5000]

you might try a xonar DG or DGX, a great card for the price. And might give you a good insight into what you might expect from a more expensive card.

Forgot about this thread . I bought a Xonar DG in the end and it's a big improvement when using headphones . It also sounds noticeably better with speakers too (there was too much bass with the Realtek and the highs weren't as clear).

Do Asus actually still support the DG? The drivers on their website are dated sometime last year whilst the DGX (same card with PCIe connector instead) has newer drivers dated sometime this year... The card is still being sold and seems quite popular, so why are the drivers so old? The ports on this thing are quite tight too! And i find it strange how it has front left/right, center/sub and side speaker ports, but no mention of rear speaker ports (unless they go in the side speaker port?).

EDIT: i've noticed the default sample rate on the Xonar DG is 96Khz... Isn't it best to use 44.1Khz or 48Khz for gaming?