Help Picking A Sound Card

[BrettK]

Hey. Okay, so I'm big into gaming and was going to pick up a pair of Sennheiser 363d headphones, but I read around a little and it seems that it'd be wiser for me to buy the Sennheiser G4ME One headphones instead considering the headset is practically the same but cheaper, and therefore instead of using the USB virtual sound card that comes with the 363d's, to just buy a decent sound card.


So...I know absolutely nothing about sound cards, I just know I need a good 7.1 card that'll work well with those headphones. Any recommendations?

Thanks in advance.

 

[rids57]

You don't need a 7.1 card, the headphones are stereo, just two speakers. What you need is a sound card with good virtual surround, either SBX (Creative cards) or Dolby Headphone (Asus Xonar cards).

Which to go for depends on how good you want the sound to be and how much you're willing to spend because even the humble Asus Xonar DGX will drive that headset as it's input impedance is only 50 ohms. The more expensive the card the better the components used and the better the sound, though it must be said, the improvements are subtle.

Personally with a decent headphone like the G4ME One I would go for one of the following:

Creative Sound Blaster Z (OEM) £52
Asus Xonar U5 £65
Asus Xonar U7 £75
Asus Xonar Essence STX £140

All of the above have dedicated headphone amps that will make the most of the G4ME Ones.
The only real flaw with the Sound Blaster Z is that it has no gain switching and the gain it does have is aimed at high impedance headphones, so controlling the volume might be a bit tricky with the 50 ohm Sennheisers.
The U5 and U7 are external sound cards that connect to the PC via USB. The benefit is that there is less chance of picking stray interference up from the graphics card and you also get a headphone socket and volume control knob on the desktop.
The STX is a high end sound card aimed squarely at high quality headphones and as a result produces the best sound quality of all. It has a very powerful headphone amp with a choice of gain settings selected in software, so is suitable for everything from low impedance headphones and IEMs to 600 ohm headphones.

With some of today's games having their own headphone drivers a growing band of gamers are using external DACs and headphone amps intended for hi-fi music. Obviously this only works if the game has it's own headphone driver like Battlefield, which creates a binaural stream so that even though you are listening in stereo, you hear surround sound. This is only doing in software what the sound cards do in hardware, no magic involved.

 

[jamjar]

another option is to get a Asus Xonar d1 or ds card and a small headphone amp which is what i did , its great ! Topping NX1 Portable Earphone Headphone Amplifier Mini Stereo Audio Amp for MP3/MP4/Mobile Phone/Computer

 

[TwsT]

I do a nice little deal actually

OcUK Symphonia Headphone Amp and Soundcard Bundle @ £99.90 inc VAT

Winner of Best Headphone Amplifier of the Year 2012 – Hi-Fi World Magazine

The Epiphany Acoustics EHP-O2 is a battery powered portable headphone amplifier which has been designed from the ground up by electronic engineer 'NwAvGuy' to offer some of the best, if not the best, specifications and hi-fi functionality on the market today. This has been accomplished by months of development using top of the range audio testing equipment to fine tune and carefully select the most optimum design, layout and components. The specifications achieved speak for themselves.

- High power output
- 2 x high capacity rechargeable batteries
- Highly optimised component selection and circuit design
- Ultra low output impedance
- In built power management circuity
- 1 x 3.5mm analogue input
- 1 x 3.5mm headphone output
- 1x and 5x gain settings

Technical Specifications:

- THD @ 1kHz: 0.0017%
- Noise level (ref 400mV): -105dB
- Power output @ 33O : 641mW
- Crosstalk: 65dB
- Channel balance: 0.6dB
- Output impedance: 0.5 Ohms
- Battery life: up to 11 hours
- Dimensions (W x H x L): 108.5mm x 30mm x 82mm

Included Accessories
- AC adapter
- 1.2m mini jack interconnect
- 4 x self adhesive rubber feet

Soundcard
The Xonar DGX sound card combines Dolby Headphone 5.1 high definition surround with Asus’ own GX 2.5 gaming audio engine and an on-board headset amplifier. These result in accurate and deep audio that brings every nuance and sound across fully, making the new Xonar DGX an ideal sound card for gamers who want to remain totally aware of their play environments.

- Built-in Headphone AMP
- Powers up every sound detail in gaming
- 3 gain modes for different usage scenarios
- Dolby Headphone for an immersive 5.1 surround imaging
- GX2.5 for realistic 3D audio effects
- PCI-E

Only £99.90 inc VAT.

ORDER NOW

 

[BrettK]

Thanks guys. A lot of the technical stuff was, unfortunately, lost on me. I basically just need a card that will enable me to get the most out of the G4ME One headphones so I can hear exactly where people are on a map in a game by their footsteps etc. I pretty much only play Counter Strike online, so being able to pinpoint where sounds are coming from is what I need most. I also don't have much room to have too many external things laying about. I'd literally have to sit anything like that on top of my computer case.


On that note though, the Sennheiser 363d headphones come with a small USB soundcard thingy, don't they? Might I be better off just buying those after all considering the cost of them will work out cheaper (as I'm now just realising) than buying G4ME One headphones + a soundcard?


Thanks again for the help!

 

[Disco_P]

In the short period of time that I played CSGO, I used a Sennheiser PC350 and an Asus Xonar DGX in stereo mode with every enhancement turned off. I had 0 issues being able to hear footsteps and make fairly accurate estimates of enemy locations. It's not going to be able to tell you exact locations but it really did help.

I tried 5.1/7.1 but virtual surround sounds like butts and didn't help.

I would still be using a DGX today if I wasn't offered a bargain price on a Xonar Xense that tickled the sennheiser fanboy in me.