Make My Ears Happy Please :)

[Frame352]

Hi guys,

Okay, first off, I've been using onboard sound for years. It never blew me away, but did the job. With my new build however, I want to invest in a dedicated soundcard, and while I'm at it, I'll get new 2.0 or 2.1 speakers and a good headset.

This rig will be primarily used for gaming, with the occasional interweb browsing of course. But it's not really going to be used for music and movies.

Headphones will be of more importance than the speakers, which will only be used when browsing or when my nephews come over to play games. On top of that, my "computer room" (ha ha) just doesn't have the right layout for 5.1 or 7.1 etc.

I'm getting the Antec P182 case, so would like to avail of the front audio port for the headphones, and use the port at the rear for the speakers, so I guess the card needs front audio connectors.

So with a budget of about £200, which three items would you recommend? As they say in all the best threads, spec me up please

Thanks in advance!

 

[Mansize_tissue]

Hi guys,
I'm getting the Antec P182 case, so would like to avail of the front audio port for the headphones, and use the port at the rear for the speakers, so I guess the card needs front audio connectors.

Hmm, that rules out almost every Creative X-Fi card! Well, apart from the Xtreme Gamer. Unfortunately, i don't know if Auzentech's cards allow you to connect the front audio ports on your case to the card; 'anybody else have any input here?

Instead, i'd just plug the headphones into the volume control module you're likely to get with speakers. However, if you want to use a microphone, you'll have to plug it directly into your sound card. A possible solution here could be having a male-->female 3.5mm jack extension cable permanently connected into the microphone port on your sound card, then just connect your microphone into it when necessary. Of course, all of this won't be necessary if you aren't planning on using a microphone!

So, this is what i'd get:

£50 - Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music - OEM
£80 - Acoustic Energy Aego M 2.1 Speakers (can someone confirm these have a headphone socket somewhere on them?)
£70 - Sennheiser HD555

Alternatively, you could get some Audio Technica headphones which are well suited for gaming, such as the A500 or A700 (if you find a good deal). Or, if you're more of a fan of open headphones there's the AD500 (i think) and AD700.

 

[<F0rb>]

That is pretty much the best you can do for the money. Will be very similar to my setup, but i think i will go for logitech z10's.

 

[simisker]

[...]Acoustic Energy Aego M 2.1 Speakers (can someone confirm these have a headphone socket somewhere on them?)[...]

Sadly, that's the Aego's achilles heel - they don't have a headphone socket.

 

[Frame352]

Okay, thanks for the feedback guys.

Right then, supposing I forego the convenience of using the front ports on my pc case (I know I could use a splitter, or extension cable as Mansize suggests), what would my options be then?

And bare in mind, as I said in my original post, the speakers will not be as important as either the card or the headphones, so don't know if I could spend less on them, and more on the card or cans?

All thoughts, feedback much appreciated. Thanks again

 

[Hen_Dawg]

I can vouch for the Audio Technica's. I have the A900 which do a great job in games. It's the soundstage I believe they call it. Had to order them from Japan though, via Audiocubes.
The other popular one is the Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 80 Ohm. Cost around £70-80. Look into them

 

[iBot]

creative
logitech
any other pc speakers

avoid

cheap amp + any after market speakers ***

 

[Hen_Dawg]

creative
logitech
any other pc speakers

avoid

cheap amp + any after market speakers ***

What he says is true. But to stay within budget and get headphones and soundcard it will be hard to get amp and speakers as well. Could be done though.

 

[fizzy]

avoid

cheap amp + any after market speakers ***

Depends on what you mean by cheap.

I have been using a Cambridge Audio A1mk3se amp, with some eltax speakers and decent speaker & interconnect cables - bought 2nd hand from a hifi enthusiast colleague who was updating his 3rd or fourth system or something. Very good for the measly amount I paid for it.

Also picked up a Yamaha AX620 surround amp in a hifi store sale, fully guaranteed for a song - which is pretty decent sound quality for a surround amp, and has a headphone socket too. Ideal for setting up a budget surround setup for gaming - far better than the "surround amp package" setups around the same price. Also helps that had a few spare speakers lying around. Also you can use the digital signal from your sound card into the amp and bypass the sound card dac's completely.

At one point I even went so far as to buy a dedicated DAC unit for the amp (bought a dac magic 2i) - again 2nd hand for a steal. Made a lot of difference in sound quality, and could hook my cd player up to it as well. Seems hard to get new stand alone DACS these days though.

The only drawback is that all this kit isn't quite as compact/convenient for pc's in relation to a designed for pc device.

 

[xsnv]

creative
logitech
any other pc speakers

avoid

cheap amp + any after market speakers ***

How cheap is cheap?

A £35 Cambridge audio A1 amp and a pair of £50 Gales will sound better than 90% of the pc speakers out there...