Headphone connection/set-up help

Dirk · 25 Oct 2007 at 10:56

I'm having to use headphones with my rig for the first time and i'm wondering what would be the best way to set everything up. I'm using an X-Fi Extreme Music, Creative Gigaworks 7.1 speaker system (with 2.1 speakers only) and Senn HD595 headphones.

I've tried using the headphone socket on the control box (which is part of the speaker system) but the sound is not as good as i was expecting. The advantage to using this box is that it sits on my desk in front of me and i can easily switch between speakers and headphones by unplugging/plugging in the headphone jack.

The software i have installed for my soundcard is drivers only without the software bundle. Are there headphone settings in the software that i don't have that would allow me to set up headphone bass/treble/eq levels which are independent of levels set up for my speakers?

Would changing the speaker set-up tab of the Console launcher from '2.1' to 'Headphones' make a lot of difference when i'm using my cans or is there a better way to set up the connections that i'm not aware of?

Does running the headphones directly from a line-out on the soundcard itself make more sense and improve sound quality? (The downside to this would be switching cables every time i switch between speakers/headphones)

The speaker set-up i'm running sounds great as it is when i can run the speakers. I'm happy with it running music and games both using 'Entertainment mode'. It's just that the headphones are definately getting let down somehow by the signal that is supplied through the Control box.

Any help and advice for getting the best from this set up using Headphones would be greatly appreciated.

Leporello · 31 Oct 2007 at 13:57

I don't know whether you want to spend more or what your headphones are, but you could get a small headphone amplifier which you could connect to your soundcard.

w3bbo · 31 Oct 2007 at 19:55

Buy a 3.5mm splitter cable (1male - 2 female). Its what I have used for my XFI and sound is perfect.

Dirk · 1 Nov 2007 at 09:47

Thanks for the help guys. I'm looking into both these options.

I assume a headphone amp gives more options with connectivity so i'll have a look at some specific products to see what's about.

Leporello · 1 Nov 2007 at 18:13

A headphone amp. will give you much better sound and will allow you a wider choice of headphones, i.e., high or low impedance 'phones. I have a set of Sennheiser HD650s with an amplifier and use them for listening to music, watching movies, playing games etc. To be honest, this set up is overkill for most PC based use. My headphones and amp cost just under £500. However, I listen to a lot of music via my Denon AV system and the headphone amp where my headphones produce superb sound.

If you don't want to go the headphone amp route you'll get quite decent PC sound from a low impedance set of cans, i.e., Grado SR60s or SR80s, lower end sennheisers and a few others whose names I forget.

As for things like wireless 'phones or 5.1 'phones, these are at the toy end of the audiophile spectrum. Fine for listening to screams and loud bangs in PC games but rather inadequate for music or movies.

Good luck with your research and enjoy what you buy.