New Headphones for PC gaming

[rids57]

I just have a short good quality extension lead permanently plugged into the card

 

[Cookeh]

I would never use IEMs with a PC, I would only use them with a phone, tablet or laptop.

Headphones for a PC, TV, console, etc

You should get a pair or SteelSeries Flux IEMs. You'd soon change your mind. For £50 they are utterly brilliant little IEMs indeed - wide sounstage, good separation and clarity and are pretty fun to listen to. 'Budget IEMs' without compromising on sound or comfort. Its essentially the only 'gaming' branded product I will ever purchase or recommend.

 

[wildest_jjk]

Ok so after reading through all of the posts again I think in terms of comparable price, the choices are:

AkG K550
DT770
DT990 Pro

So combined with some sort of mic and an Asus sound card for virtual surround sound. Which would people suggest out of this list?

Also just to make sure, no one has mentioned Turtlebeaches, which I might get laughed at for saying. Are these even close to the above headphones?

Thanks everyone

 

[Cookeh]

DT990s are open so will leak some sound, but they will have the wider soundstage and so better positional audio than the other two.

I dislike the 550s, sound too harsh to me and are very fatiguing due to their analytical nature.

DT990s are slightly better than the 770s to my ear too.

Also no, the Turtlebeach cannot compare to a 'phone half of its price...

 

[Ryanr1987]

Ok so after reading through all of the posts again I think in terms of comparable price, the choices are:

AkG K550
DT770
DT990 Pro

So combined with some sort of mic and an Asus sound card for virtual surround sound. Which would people suggest out of this list?

Also just to make sure, no one has mentioned Turtlebeaches, which I might get laughed at for saying. Are these even close to the above headphones?

Thanks everyone

The Beyers are both better then the K550. AKG cannot seem to master the closed headphone. It's thin, weird treble with an average soundstage but good positional accuracy

The 770 and 990 are similar but the closed 770 has better positional accuracy but a smaller less open stage.

I'd pick the 990 overall because of the airy feel.

A better buy then all these are the K612.

 

[wildest_jjk]

Right guys I'm going to start off with ordering a sound card I think. Still cannot make a decision on headphones.

As mentioned I already have Sennheiser CX300 In-Ears which I do use at the PC sometimes for ease. As well as this I have Edifier R1600T's. Finally I will be getting headphones when I have decided. With all this in mind what is the best choice of sound card to get?

Thanks for all of the help everyone

 

[wildest_jjk]

Anyone?

Thanks guys!

 

[Cookeh]

DG/X for £20/£25. Best budget option, capable of powering mid-fi easily enough. You can always upgrade to a good dac/amp combo later on.

 

[wildest_jjk]

DG/X for £20/£25. Best budget option, capable of powering mid-fi easily enough. You can always upgrade to a good dac/amp combo later on.

Awesome, thanks for the help!

I will most likely go with your choice then. With regards to amps for PC's I have always wanted to be able to control the sound and inputs etc via a physical device. Is an amp what I would need? Are there any examples?

Thanks

 

[Stuen4y]

DG/X for £20/£25. Best budget option, capable of powering mid-fi easily enough. You can always upgrade to a good dac/amp combo later on.

Awesome, thanks for the help!

I will most likely go with your choice then. With regards to amps for PC's I have always wanted to be able to control the sound and inputs etc via a physical device. Is an amp what I would need? Are there any examples?

Thanks

Go for the DG if you have PCI slots, I have both and I think the headphone AMP in the DG is a bit better than the DGX. Both sound cards have an integrated Headphone AMP with three settings for output impedance (to match the input impedance of the headphones) - Voip mode <32ohm, Pro gaming mode 32-64ohm, and Exciter mode >64ohm. I would not trust them powering more than 80-90ohm headphones though. Even on Pro gaming mode you can sometimes hear more digital noise being picked from the PSU ripple, the high speed digital buses, etc. Both cards are probably on the same level as the integrated sound with headphone amps you can get into modern motherboards and the Asus drivers are not that good at all. I myself am using the Uni Xonar drivers with Windows 8.1 64Bit as the "official" is still beta and makes quite a lot of problems.

I would recommend you to absolutely forget all the 5.1, 7.1 and Dolby surround software interpolations of sound for headphones. They are great for cinematic experience with multiple speakers spread around in the room. However, stereo headphones are more than enough for perfect spacial orientation and positioning when sound is coming from a source so close to your ears. The acoustical characteristics of the resonance chamber is very important though, so some models will be better at providing deep sound as it comes from distance and other will just buzz in your ear.

 

[wildest_jjk]

Just an update guys. I've just purchased the Creative Aurvana Live headphones with the Zalman Mic.

Figured it would be worth giving these a try considering they are my first pair of headphones. Would these benefit from a sound card? I will be using for gaming and I have been used to Astro A40's with virtual surround etc.

Thanks

 

[Cookeh]

Everything benefits from a souncard. Will it be necessary? Not strictly.

 

[wildest_jjk]

Everything benefits from a souncard. Will it be necessary? Not strictly.

Thanks again for the response. For virtual surround on these is it necessary/possible?

Cheers

 

[Cookeh]

Best bet would be a siundcard then if you want to emulate surround sound. Razer has some 3rd party software for this (Synapse 2.0 I think it is). Failing that, a soundcard would be a good idea. Cant go wrong with the Xonar DG for the money and its Dolby software is pretty good for surround sound reproduction. Creatives CMS3D or something (name escapes me atm) software with their soundcards is, imo, better for oositional audio but not as good for surround in movies/gaming.

 

[Deleted member 101777]

[Post deleted.]

 

[wildest_jjk]

Thanks again

Are there any better alternatives to the Xonar DG that are worth it for a small increase in price?

Also what would I need to get the CAL!'s connected to my Xbox? A mixamp or something?

Cheers

 

[Cookeh]

Not really, tbh. Next step up is roughly double the price.

Im afraid I know nothing of console connectivity, but I am aware that most users tend to use mixamps to connect to consoles. I think there is a topic on it in the sticky at the top of the subforum