BF3 - ultimate sound card + headset?

stealthgeek

stealthgeek

stealthgeek

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What would be your best combo, if money was no object, for a top-of-the-range BF3 setup? Im looking to upgrade my current setup as I dont think its doing the game justice (x-fi Xtreme Gamer + Sennheiser PC161).

I am getting rid of my aging VideoLogic 5.1 speaker setup and I'll just have a headset connected to my PC, so no external amp...

I am thinking of getting either the Sennheiser PC350 or PC360 headset, but was wondering if my X-Fi card was enough for them - Perhaps a Xonar card?

Or are there better headsets out there?
 
Money no object?

Denon D7000 and a Seperate mic. If you want a 'Headset' then it would be the Beyerdynamic MMX300.

Sound Card - Xonar Essence STX

You wouldn't see much change from £900 if you went with the Denons, £500 with the MMX
 
Should have taken your advice, thought PC350's would be good enough, just sent them back, shocking sound quality....

Felt a bit flimsy and plastic and the bass was non-existent... turned up the EQ, which helped, but then got distortion in one ear - not good.

Have asked Santa for some MMX300's instead...
 
I bought the xonar xense and pc 350 bundle just for this game, and the sound that im hearing is awesome! Because i can hear more, its saved me countless times of being knifed from behind!
 
True, I have to admit the soundstage was better on the PC350's, but everything else was sub-par imo, especially for the price..

I'll see what the Beyers are like come Xmas time, might upgrade the soundcard as well if it struggles...
 
Interested in this as well - although a little confused. I believe all of BF3's audio processing is done by the CPU. Does a sound card therefore help matters at all?
 
Manufaktur is an easy way to spend more money :P

By the time you've chose leather over leatherette and picked colours you like instead of the silly carbon effect you've added like 60eu or something lol
 
Quote from one of the few MMX 300 review that I found

The beyerdynamic MMX 300 headset is really interesting because it is beyerdynamic's first go at designing a gaming headset. The MMX 300s bear a close resemblance to the company's well performing DT770s which have been around for ages. It is clear that the MMX 300s are not a set of DT770s with a microphone attached. The MMX 300s are way easier to drive and have a slightly deemphasized low end compared to the stock DT770s thus giving them a more mid centric sound. Sound stage performance wise this headset is ahead of the pack
Click to expand...

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/beyerdynamic/MMX_300/1.html

Not sure how far the differences go towards the price but saying they're the same thing seems wrong :P If you're buying MMX 300s I guess it's because you want them, not because you want to save a few quid.
 
Top tip for anyone who didnt already know - I had CMSS3D enabled on my X-Fi, it wasnt performing as well as I thought, until in the BF3 Sound options I disabled the enhanced stereo feature, which I think attempts to upmix the stereo output to a surround sound, but it seemed lessened when both this and CMSS3D was enabled - when I disabled this, I was able to pinpoint not only direction, but also distance - and this was on my PC161's!
 
Some games do have a surround sound effect built in to them, which can affect how well CMSS 3D or DH works, as stealthgeek has found out.

Thankfully it seems that this can be turned off in BF3. It's a PitA, when you have games which use a similar feature, and you cannot disable it. :mad:
 
I just upgraded to the Asus Xonar and Corsair Gaming Audio Series HS1A

It's great and only cost me £50
 
stealthgeek said:
Top tip for anyone who didnt already know - I had CMSS3D enabled on my X-Fi, it wasnt performing as well as I thought, until in the BF3 Sound options I disabled the enhanced stereo feature, which I think attempts to upmix the stereo output to a surround sound, but it seemed lessened when both this and CMSS3D was enabled - when I disabled this, I was able to pinpoint not only direction, but also distance - and this was on my PC161's!
Click to expand...

Do you think this could also be an issue on the xbox?
 
Not sure, does the Xbox have that option in the sound options? Have a play around with the settings and see what works - I found the sniper single player mission where you are hiding from the trucks driving along the road to be the best test, since you have the trucks driving in from the left and under a bridge, then off into the distance, so you should get a sense of direction and distance.

I had a look at the MANUFAKTUR site and specc'ed some mmx300's in total matt black, without the sound card and it came to less than a stock pair bought in the UK! Thats plus shipping too
 
yeah that MANUFAKTUR website is cool!
i just configured these beauties!

mmx300.png

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/407/mmx300.png



Uploaded with ImageShack.us
 
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