New to Headphones...

Dale

Dale

Dale

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Joined
5 Jan 2004
Posts
663
Location
Sussex
I'm after a (first ever!!) set of headphones for PC gaming. Interested to hear the opinion on whether you would buy something like the DR150 or NS1000 and brutally attach (I'm thinking duck tape here - lol) a mic to the headset, or would you spend the extra and get something like the PC360 with inbuilt mic? (seems to me that these is an unnecessary premium on quality headphones with an attached mic?)

Audio quality would be nice, I've spent the money on a fairly decent sound card (Creative X-Fi) a while ago, and only ever used speakers before. I play mostly BC2 these days, so I need to hear the buggers creeping up on me! :)

Cheers for any advice.
 
Headphones & clip on mic.

I have the DR50's and they sounds great, ive heard the NS1000's are even better but I cant warrant £50 atm :)

Then get a SPEEDLINK SL-8691-SBK Spes Clip-On Microphone (google search it - its only £6.99) and either clip the croc clip to the headphone cable OR you could cable tie it to the headphone cable.

MUCH better that a headset. IMO.
 
Thanks Angel, appreciate the response. I've been researching as well and tbh there is no way I'm warranting anything like £100+ for the PC350 or 360. This is purely for when gaming with mates (and VOIPing with each other) so it's not going to be uses 100% of the time either.
 
Glad you have decided not to get a so called pro gaming headset. What they cost is laughable IMO. Another forum user compared the PC360's, which he just bought to his HD555 headphones. He was quite surprised to find out the PC360's didn't sound as good, despite costing 2x the price.

Can I ask what X-Fi you have?
 
Cheers Marsman, I'm looking at getting the NS1000's (price hunting as we speak).

RE: X-Fi, it is the Platinum version.
 
Ok. I was kind of bothered you were going to say Xtreme Audio, which isn't in the same league as other X-Fi's. Mainly because it is actually an Audigy SE in fancy dress. Shame on Creative. :p

I have the DR150's. Superb phones for the money. I have an X-Fi too, Xtreme Music, which I use for gaming with the DR150's. :)
 
excellent, well that is good news :-)

I've ordered the headphones and mic now, (odd how internet pricing for the headphones ranges from £150 to £50 lol) and should be with me sometime next week - fingers crossed they are good (I'm sure they will be).
 
if you ordered the NS1000 headphone I would also recommend the Fiio E5 headphone amp, as it makes the NS1000's sound much better (according to a number of users here). I have the E5 fiio with my dr50's and t makes them sound much better with it, richer and more fuller, if you know what i mean.
 
Cheers all for the advice. Adeus, that's what I finally got them for - cheers mate (BTW, your BC2 KDR is frustratingly good!!!)

Will see how they are before I maybe invest in the amp as well. See you on the battlefield :)
 
Dale said:
Cheers all for the advice. Adeus, that's what I finally got them for - cheers mate (BTW, your BC2 KDR is frustratingly good!!!)

Will see how they are before I maybe invest in the amp as well. See you on the battlefield :)
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The amp is on ly £15-£20 so not a massive amount :)

Enjoy - let us know how u get on :)
 
Thanks all for the advice on the headphones, they arrived today and for the first 5 minutes I've tested them I'm very happy.

Only one complaint so far, the cable that comes with them is very very short, only way I can use them so far is by sitting on the floor. That complaint is counteracted however by them being insanely comfortable to wear and the Active Noise Reduction (ANR) is amazing. (please bare in mind though that these are the first headphones I've ever used, so I don't have much if any experience to compare / comment)

Few more questions if anyone can advise / help:

1: are there any guides for configuring my sound card to use the headphones, or would what I have configured for my 5.1 speaker setup suffice (apart from the obvious of changing the speaker config to 2.1)?

2: I'd like to get some kind of audio desktop hub / pass-through which I can use to easily plug the headphones into (my PC is buried right under my desk, and apart from me being a lazy sod it is a pain to get under there to plug in and out)? Has anyone any experience of using such a device?

Many thanks :)
 
Dale said:
Only one complaint so far, the cable that comes with them is very very short.
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They are designed to use on a plane, where long cables are undesirable. Most people buy an extension lead. You can get one with a volume control, from a well known electronic components retailer, but it isn't that long at just under 1m. 3.5mm extension cables with a volume control are almost non existent, why I don't know, but you would have a hard time finding a longer one.

Are you going to use headphone and speakers with your X-Fi? If so, you will require a splitter. What speakers do you have, 2.0/2.1? You could get a 3.5mm splitter, then an extension for the headphones, or get a audio switch box, which you can have on your desk and plug both headphones and speakers into that, that has a selector switch.
 
Cheers Marsman, that makes sense now :-)

I'm using them with my speakers (5.1) on an X-Fi Platinum, which has a 5.25" drive bay control unit (including headphone and mic 1/4" inputs which I'm using currently), I'm just changing the settings in the Creative Control Panel from 5.1 to 2.1 when I swap from speakers to headphones, and then back again when going back to speakers (speakers are plugged into the rear outputs on the soundcard itself, so I can have both plugged in at the same time).

I've already ordered a 1/4" extension cable (the input on the 5.25" control unit is 1/4"), I was kind hoping to have something sitting on the desktop that I could plug them into purely for convenience, but not to worry it certainly isn't the end of the world :)
 
Best to select headphones in the X-Fi options, not 2.0/2.1. Headphones don't work that well with CMSS 3D, when 2.0/2.1 is selected. Selecting headphones is far more accurate I find. Always have the game set to 5.1 or more aswell.
 
Sorry, I've just realised I was being thick, I had headphones already selected. Cheers for the help though :)
 
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