Looking for good headphones for my Xonar DG card

[ReiceMcK]

So I've been looking at these, but really I'm not sure what I should be looking at to make good use of my value sound card, but my budget is about £100.

What I need is a decent gaming headset, but my concern is that these products are catered to people who are only concerned with the bass quality. I need a gaming headset so that I can talk to my friends clearly and such, but I want good sound quality outright, for music and such. can anyone else vouch for anything?

I'm also having a little trouble with my card. If I plug headphones directly into the jacks of my sound card, they won't work, so I have to plug them into my motherboard. Will the card still be working if I do this? I also heard that USB headphones aren't affected by sound cards but I'm almost certain that the card improved the sound quality for my USB-powered headphones.

 

[rids57]

If it's good sound you're after then you'll be better off with separate headphones and a clip on mic. Gaming headsets are aimed squarely at gaming and chatting to team mates and sound quality comes a poor second.

 

[MartynB85]

If it's good sound you're after then you'll be better off with separate headphones and a clip on mic. Gaming headsets are aimed squarely at gaming and chatting to team mates and sound quality comes a poor second.

I did exactly this, but bear in mind that with some headphones you may not be able to hear yourself speak so will end up shouting, well i did anyway....

 

[Marsman]

If you'd prefer a headset, I'd go for something from Sennheiser.

I'm also having a little trouble with my card. If I plug headphones directly into the jacks of my sound card, they won't work, so I have to plug them into my motherboard. Will the card still be working if I do this?

If you have connected the headphones to the green port on the card and got no sound, then it's possible that either the sound card is not set as the default sound device in Windows sound properties, or the card is set to use the front panel. If you connect the headphones to the motherboard's onboard audio, then they will not be using the sound card.

I also heard that USB headphones aren't affected by sound cards but I'm almost certain that the card improved the sound quality for my USB-powered headphones.

USB sound devices have their own built in sound processing, so won't use the sound card in any way. Only by connecting headphones or speakers directly to the card, can you make use of what it has to offer.