Gaming headset help please :)

chid76

chid76

chid76

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Am thinking of upgrading my current headset (am using creative fatality HS-800 at the moment), they will be plugged into a x-fi champion edition soundcard (the one with the front bay).

Am looking upto £100 and was wondering what the best options are. I know it's a little subjective, but I was wondering if £100 headsets really sound £70 better than £30 ones?
I have been looking around on the interwebs a bit but would like some unbiased first hand opinions if possible.

Was also considering getting a non gaming headset and a clip on mic, but this conflicts with my bear chested gaming sessions pwning people with my moobs out, and I don't fancy clipping a mic to my chest hair lol :p
 
Would much prefer a stereo set that can make use of cmss-3d. I want to be able to plug them into the front bay as I have 5.1 speakers in the rear card plugs.
 
chid76 said:
Would much prefer a stereo set that can make use of cmss-3d. I want to be able to plug them into the front bay as I have 5.1 speakers in the rear card plugs.
Click to expand...

In that case Creative Fatality, £30 and work very well with CMSS3D. However since moving up to propper 5.1 with the Kave, using CMSS3D gives a duller and muted sound in comparison.
 
elrasho said:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SP-000-RC
Click to expand...

Your kidding right the KAVES are the biggest pos available

poor sound re-production
90% of vibration units don't work consistently
they suffer from horrible interference from the inbuilt controller
they are uncomfortable
extremely poor quality mic

I stripped my down after they broke before taking them back and the quality inside is awful

Buy a decent set of stereo cans and use dolby headphone mode, all these 5.1/7.1 head sets are a gimmick
 
If you look on a prior thread, I was looking at much the same as you. a lot of these 5.1 / 7.1 headphones do work, but are out mached by the soundstage on a good pair of standard headphones.

I have gone for the PC 360's http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SP-047-SN

Little over the £100 you set, but open back for a better sound stage. the PC 350 linked for £100 I understand are still, very close.

I have matched mine with a Essence STX card, as this will make a huge difference to the sound!

If you have a free PCI slot this is crazy good for the money:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SC-011-AS&groupid=701&catid=11&subcat=
 
P.S forgot to add, if you looking at a non gaming mic, from what I have read the two main options are AD700's or HD555's Which one again depends on your sound card, dolby = AC700 CMSS-3D = HD555. This is due to driver angle. I think..
 
Yeah, I think I am going to be looking at the 350's or maybe stretching to the 360's. I don't mind paying for quality but i'm wondering if they really sound £70-£100 better than the creative set I already have.

As I said in the OP, I already have a creative fatality champion edition sound card that I will be using them with.

Sound card is similar to this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SC-060-CL&groupid=701&catid=11&subcat= but is the first edition from when they come out.
 
chid76 said:
Yeah, I think I am going to be looking at the 350's or maybe stretching to the 360's. I don't mind paying for quality but i'm wondering if they really sound £70-£100 better than the creative set I already have.

As I said in the OP, I already have a creative fatality champion edition sound card that I will be using them with.

Sound card is similar to this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SC-060-CL&groupid=701&catid=11&subcat= but is the first edition from when they come out.
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If you are cautious about the value increase in sound quality then get the HS1a for about £35 as they'll be markedly better than your fatality's.

The PC 350/360 are meant to be very good though.
 
Sennheiser are very good for all-round performance in my opinion. I haven't tried the PC350/60 but I have a Sennheiser HD558 which is supposed to be very similar and they are much better than most other gaming headphones.

A very good headset I used to own was the Siberia V1 which to this day I still regard as a very, very good performing headphones for the money. It definitely rivals some of the more expensive ones and costs considerably less if you look around.

Just some options to think about.
 
bigjimmyauk said:
Your kidding right the KAVES are the biggest pos available

poor sound re-production
90% of vibration units don't work consistently
they suffer from horrible interference from the inbuilt controller
they are uncomfortable
extremely poor quality mic

I stripped my down after they broke before taking them back and the quality inside is awful

Buy a decent set of stereo cans and use dolby headphone mode, all these 5.1/7.1 head sets are a gimmick
Click to expand...

Your bad experience with them doesn't make them poor headsets. Classic user slating a product because it broke on them :rolleyes:

The Kaves are much much better than your giving credit for. I had a pair of Creative Fatality headsets for a year which have just 1 speaker in each cup, so to get surround sound you have to enable something like Dolby Headphones/CMSS 3D.

Having compared this to the Kaves, the Kaves produce surround sound miles better. To avoid repeating myslef have a look at this thread I made earlier: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18333925

basically if you want surround sound in gaming using a headset, get 5.1 headset speakers. Having separate speakers is a lot better than virtual surround sound.
 
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elrasho said:
basically if you want surround sound in gaming using a headset, get 5.1 headset speakers. Having separate speakers is a lot better than virtual surround sound.
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That's your opinion though, not a fact that headphones with multiple drivers are better.

If these Kave's really are better. Then why do so many gamers prefer a good quality pair of headphones + CMSS 3D or DH?

To be fair, you have used a cheap poor quality headset with CMSS 3D, and decided that what CMSS 3D is capable of, wasn't good enough?
 
elrasho said:
Your bad experience with them doesn't make them poor headsets. Classic user slating a product because it broke on them :rolleyes:

The Kaves are much much better than your giving credit for. I had a pair of Creative Fatality headsets for a year which have just 1 speaker in each cup, so to get surround sound you have to enable something like Dolby Headphones/CMSS 3D.

Having compared this to the Kaves, the Kaves produce surround sound miles better. To avoid repeating myslef have a look at this thread I made earlier: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18333925

basically if you want surround sound in gaming using a headset, get 5.1 headset speakers. Having separate speakers is a lot better than virtual surround sound.
Click to expand...


No it is not , once you've experienced dolby headphone on a really good set of cans you would say the same.

positional cue's on dolby headphone are far more accurate than the roccat kaves would ever be. The caves are also ridiculously tinny.

i'm not getting in a debate i'm just telling you cold hard facts.
 
Marsman said:
That's your opinion though, not a fact that headphones with multiple drivers are better.

If these Kave's really are better. Then why do so many gamers prefer a good quality pair of headphones + CMSS 3D or DH?

To be fair, you have used a cheap poor quality headset with CMSS 3D, and decided that what CMSS 3D is capable of, wasn't good enough?
Click to expand...

bigjimmyauk said:
No it is not , once you've experienced dolby headphone on a really good set of cans you would say the same.

positional cue's on dolby headphone are far more accurate than the roccat kaves would ever be. The caves are also ridiculously tinny.

i'm not getting in a debate i'm just telling you cold hard facts.
Click to expand...

Am I missing something here? How can Sennheiser P360s that have a single 3mm audio jack be better than three 3mm audio jacks that the Kaves have?

I agree the sound does sound tinny on the Kave, but all you need to do is adjust the volume in Winodws 7 to about 50% and leave the faders on the controller in the middle... tinniness gone.

Also how do you get Dolby Surround sound on the Sennheiser P360? It uses analgue audio jacks, doesnt Dolby only work with digital (SPDIF/Optical)? Im sure CMSS-3D will sound a lot better on P360s than my old Creative Fatality but I'm struggling to understand how Dolby/CMSS3-D virtual surround sound is better than having individual speakers dedicated to each channel like the Kaves have.
 
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elrasho said:
Am I missing something here? How can Sennheiser P360s that have a single 3mm audio jack be better than three 3mm audio jacks that the Kaves have?

I agree the sound does sound tinny on the Kave, but all you need to do is adjust the volume in Winodws 7 to about 50% and leave the faders on the controller in the middle... tinniness gone.

Also how do you get Dolby Surround sound on the Sennheiser P360? It uses analgue audio jacks, doesnt Dolby only work with digital (SPDIF/Optical)? Im sure CMSS-3D will sound a lot better on P360s than my old Creative Fatality but I'm struggling to understand how Dolby/CMSS3-D virtual surround sound is better than having individual speakers dedicated to each channel like the Kaves have.
Click to expand...

Would you rather have 5 crap speakers or 2 decent ones?

Same rule applies here with the headphones, and Dolby Headphone is actually a VERY good surround synthesizer, it works from a headphone jack if you have a soundcard that supports it, but for me I use an astro mixamp, which needs to be fed the optical or digital source.
 
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