Sound worth upgrading?

Pistov

Pistov

Pistov

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Joined
24 Jun 2009
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55
I used to have a PCI X-Fi Fatal1ty sound card back in the day along side a creative 5.1 system which lasted me many years and sounded amazing in games like BF2 and CS and also for films. However the speakers bit the bullet a while back and I don't have a PCI slot anymore so now I use my Sennheiser HD555s which I've had for YEARS along with the onboard sound on my Maximus VII Hero. I have Harman Kardon soundsticks 2.1 for speakers now so I use my headphones + (really) cheap clip-on mic for games like R6 siege where I need directional audio. My question is is there anything I can do to get a noticeable upgrade in sound quality/directional clarity? I keep reading that onboard sound is a lot better than it used to be although I still don't feel like it sounds as clear as it did in the past on X-Fi + speakers. And there's so many different sound cards now. Would I benefit from a new pair of headphones or a hyper X headset, or a new sound card, or a combo of both? I am very happy with the HD555s and although they're still working great they are quite cracked on either side of the headband. Sometimes I notice that my friend notices sounds in game before I do and I know that he has a sound card. Basically I just feel out of touch with how I could improve my gaming sound at the moment? Will be sticking with the 2.1 speakers so getting surround again is not an option. Thanks for your help :)
 
Thanks, those speakers look nice and I would think about getting something like that at some point down the line, but I should have emphasized that I'm specifically looking for better sound in competitive games, so speakers aren't an option because I can't have people hearing that over the mic. I use a separate system for listening to music already.
 
Onboard audio doesn't have any kind of positional sound effect stuff like you get with a sound card. The actual sound quality of onboard audio has gotten better over the years, but is really best used with 5.1 PC speakers than headphones.

HD555's are still good headphones for gaming use, so if they are still working fine, then there's no need to change really; at least not yet. Sennheiser improved upon the old HD5*5 series with the HD5*8 series, and now they have the HD5*9 series. For music use, any improvement is going to be more apparent, but for just gaming whether any improvement is going to be worth the money paid over your current 555's, I'm not sure. Music is all about sound quality; gaming not to much. I suppose it depends on what you can afford.

As for the sound card; a good recommendation normally is the Soundblaster Z, but it seems that there are quite a few people don't like the sound of Creative's more recent Z range of sound cards after coming from an X-Fi. So seeing as you've had an X-Fi, recommending a SB Z, might be a bit more tricky. As with most things audio though, you can't know for certain until you've tried something for yourself. They do have a new AE-5, which is not part of the Z range, but that's £130.

Asus Xonar DX is another good option for around £50-£60, which uses Dolby Headphone for positional/surround sound over headphones, but generally, SBX found on Creative's cards is seen as better for gaming.
 
Pistov said:
happy with the HD555s and although they're still working great they are quite cracked on either side of the headband.
Click to expand...
That's not a flaw, it's feature...
Of fancy looking mechanically miserable... err, "less than optimal" design.

Pistov said:
Thanks, those speakers look nice and I would think about getting something like that at some point down the line, but I should have emphasized that I'm specifically looking for better sound in competitive games
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X-Fi's CMSS-3D has best competitiveness for picking foot steps and such because of its rather heavy sound and frequency response processing...
Killing bass while at it.
SBX Pro Surround loses some in that competitiveness by not headshotting bass.
While Dolby Headphone has tendency for bloating bass as byproduct of overall echo tendency.
Here's good comparison. (put everything to stereo/2.0 and disable effects)

Here's just CMSS-3D and SBX Pro Surround.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQymmAYqp50
https://youtu.be/UE-NorSeH68?t=3m20s

And you're definitely not going to get well competitive sound from closed design headsets.
Binaural sound needs big airy soundstage to shine and closed design is overall poison for soundstage. (because of physics)

AKG 701/702 along with some weak bass Audio-Technicas should be still better for competitiveness than Sennheiser's top HD5xx models.
I managed to snatch good priced two years old 702s and should have them in day or two.
I'll do then some comparison between them and "tape keeping pieces from falling" HD595s...
Which can then rot all they want.
 
Thanks for the advice! I ended up getting the AE-5 as I was very happy with my last Creative sound card, and as the AE-5 was new and seems to have a good amp I thought it made the most sense to get that one rather than try to choose from a selection of older cards. Didn't bother with the LEDs though :rolleyes:

That was about a month ago and it definitely injected some oomph back into my HD555s, think I forgot how much better they sounded before with the X-Fi! The volume goes higher a lot easier now and sounds sound much more rich and crisp. The virtual surround seems to work better in some games than others, although I'm guessing a lot of that could be down to the game design. I haven't really tinkered with the settings or EQ presets much either though. Another bonus is that my friend noticed that my voice was coming through much clearer than before on my 2 quiddish DX clip-on mic!

Unfortunately my HD555s headband has deteriorated rapidly in the past few weeks and so I finally had to tape them up. As the mic quality still isn't the greatest I've been spending the past few weeks trying to decide what I should do. I read up on a lot of headphones and headsets here and elsewhere and only got frustrated with so many different options and opinions floating about, and with me unable to decide whether to prioritise gaming or music performance and so I was getting nowhere. I was also reluctant to risk trying a different brand of headphones after my 555s have served me so well for the past 8 and a half years(!)

Until today when I seen HifiMan HE400i new for £180!! Seemed like too good a deal to pass on and so it instantly made my decision an easy one. Took money out of my savings account which I have up until now only saved in to make sure I got them at this price :D they won't arrive until after Christmas but can't wait to try them out. Will get a modmic to go with them in the new year, and my 555s will be passed down to a good home :)

Anyway yeah, sorry for my over-excitedness :D that's my Christmas present to myself. And it's also the only Christmas present I've bought for anyone so far :| priorities!
 
Good choice, I do love my HE400i, great for music and gaming :)

The only negative I have is that the cable is quite short and very stiff, so I got a longer (6ft), more flexible replacement off the rain forest for £15, which works just fine.
 
Bout time I upgraded heheh. Yeah I did read that. I'll probably end up ordering one too but I do sit quite close to my pc so will see how the standard one is first.
 
Pistov said:
Thanks for the advice! I ended up getting the AE-5 as I was very happy with my last Creative sound card, and as the AE-5 was new and seems to have a good amp I thought it made the most sense to get that one rather than try to choose from a selection of older cards. Didn't bother with the LEDs though :rolleyes:

That was about a month ago and it definitely injected some oomph back into my HD555s, think I forgot how much better they sounded before with the X-Fi! The volume goes higher a lot easier now and sounds sound much more rich and crisp. The virtual surround seems to work better in some games than others, although I'm guessing a lot of that could be down to the game design. I haven't really tinkered with the settings or EQ presets much either though. Another bonus is that my friend noticed that my voice was coming through much clearer than before on my 2 quiddish DX clip-on mic!

Unfortunately my HD555s headband has deteriorated rapidly in the past few weeks and so I finally had to tape them up. As the mic quality still isn't the greatest I've been spending the past few weeks trying to decide what I should do. I read up on a lot of headphones and headsets here and elsewhere and only got frustrated with so many different options and opinions floating about, and with me unable to decide whether to prioritise gaming or music performance and so I was getting nowhere. I was also reluctant to risk trying a different brand of headphones after my 555s have served me so well for the past 8 and a half years(!)

Until today when I seen HifiMan HE400i new for £180!! Seemed like too good a deal to pass on and so it instantly made my decision an easy one. Took money out of my savings account which I have up until now only saved in to make sure I got them at this price :D they won't arrive until after Christmas but can't wait to try them out. Will get a modmic to go with them in the new year, and my 555s will be passed down to a good home :)

Anyway yeah, sorry for my over-excitedness :D that's my Christmas present to myself. And it's also the only Christmas present I've bought for anyone so far :| priorities!
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Those headphones need gobs of power to make them really sing properly. I was using mine with a Schiit Aasgard (1000mW>32Ohms) and they were nice. They were also quite decent on a 300mW>32Ohm headphone amp that was built into a HIFI amp I was using.

Plugged into a standard 60-100mW source they sound dull and quiet. Pick up an amp/dac combo like the Schiit stack (UK suppliers exist) or get a soundcard with a beefy HP amp on it.
 
mistersprinkles said:
Those headphones need gobs of power to make them really sing properly. I was using mine with a Schiit Aasgard (1000mW>32Ohms) and they were nice. They were also quite decent on a 300mW>32Ohm headphone amp that was built into a HIFI amp I was using.

Plugged into a standard 60-100mW source they sound dull and quiet. Pick up an amp/dac combo like the Schiit stack (UK suppliers exist) or get a soundcard with a beefy HP amp on it.
Click to expand...

I got them about a week ago and they sounded damn good and I picked up on bits of songs that I have never really noticed before. But it didn't really get exceptionally loud even with the maximum gain setting on my soundcard (which does have a decent amp I thought). Plugged them into my dad's amp and they sounded incredible. But unfortunately the left cup was vibrating at lower frequencies, no matter the volume. I just returned them today. After reading about issues with variability between units and perhaps not so great quality control, and having an HD555 that worked perfectly for 8 and a half years (ok except for the whole sellotape thing) then getting this with a fault straight away, it left a sour taste in my mouth and so I decided not to get a replacement. I really want to try the Senn HD600 and HD650, and I think I will get one of these at some point when I've had the chance to compare them as I get a nice discount on their products. But today, I have ordered the Fidelio X2 as it should be easier to drive and I feel like I can have more faith in the solidity of their construction. Don't think I'll get them until the 2nd due to the festive period but I'll report back then :) until then it's back to the Selloheisers! I'm definitely interested in getting a proper dac/amp combo at some point but for now this will hopefully do.
 
Get the Oppo PM3's. I've listened to the 650's, 600's, 400i (owned 400i for months actually) and I like the PM-3's better. YMMV. They get plenty loud even with 60mW these PM-3's but if you feed them a lot of juice they sound spectacular.
 
They do look really nice and I will remember them next time I'm looking for a portable headphone, thanks. I just received my Fidelio X2 today and it also looks and sounds and even feels amazing :) the build quality is superb, I'm glad my HE400i were faulty now because I have more faith in the construction of these ones!
 
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