Spec me a headset

CaptainRAVE

CaptainRAVE

CaptainRAVE

Man of Honour
Joined
21 Nov 2004
Posts
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My wife has finally had enough of my Logitech Z5500 system booming out. So she has offered to buy me a headset for Christmas. I don’t mind this as I have owned some brilliant headsets in the past.

It must have surround sound. Ideally wireless. Obviously I want the sound to be of excellent quality.

Options?

Thanks :)
 
A very detailed response, thank you. I need to process all of that!

The Beyerdynamic DT990 look good. I will be using my Realtek onboard audio, but you say that will be ok? Am I going to need some kind of amp? (Leaning toward these based on the reviews around and mention of detail in the sound).

Oh, the AKG K702s look good too!

My room is quiet, so they don’t need to be noise cancelling and I don’t need a mic either.
 
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Have read quite a few people saying Realtek works well with the Beyerdynamic DT990. Definitely leaning toward those. I guess there is no harm in trying and going from there.

Good thing I posted, I was looking at all the expensive gaming headsets and it sounds like the offerings posted above are much better.
 
Going to order these I think - beyerdynamic DT 990 PRO Studio Headphones

Is something like this needed at all? Creative Sound BlasterX G1 7.1 24-Bit/96 KHz HD Portable Gaming USB DAC Sound Card with Headphone Amplifier - Black
 
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Marsman said:
Amazing how someone can be a member for 14 years and still not know not to post competitor links to products OcUK sell.
Click to expand...

Is it worse, I was also a mod :p

To be fair they don’t sell the first. Forgot to check the second.

My biggest problem is that the PCI express slot squishes it against my 1080Ti resulting in colossal heat. It is why I don’t use my Xonar D2X anymore. Might see what other ports are free.

Out of curiosity, how does the D2X hold up these days?
 
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EsaT said:
If only available PCI-e slot is above graphics card that's certainly problem.
In another forum once hit to case of heat from GPU below sound card and CPU above literally causing glitching/malfunctioning of sound card.
Below graphics card would be better position, because heat rises upwards.
What motherboard do you have?


D/A conversion/signal quality wise D2X is certainly still capable.
Most important advances in audio have happened years ago.

For gaming with headphones common drawback of Xonars is use of old Dolby hype Headphone.
Whose bass bloat is just about tolerable with neutral bass headphones like K702.
With above neutral bass headphones like DT990/K712 it sounds rather horrible.
After all we're talking about accurately hearing what's happening in the game and at most controlled bass boost.

And headphone output just has very mediocre 50 ohm output impedance:
https://reference-audio-analyzer.pro/en/report/amp/asus-d2x.php#rw3
Though I guess it should be called positive that it's not 100 ohms, like in most "DX-family" cards and latest gaming hype Strix Raid Pro.
But that would still cause bloating of bass in say HD5xx serie Sennheisers.
Whose lowish impedance rises to 200 or higher at driver's resonant frequency near 100Hz.
And heavy decrease of electric damping factor in most headphones. (related to how tightly signal controls driver)
Click to expand...

Fortunately the PCI-e slot is below the GPU. There is also a little more room between them than I remember (probably because my replacement 1080Ti is not quite as bulky as the original that I had). I have popped the Xonar D2X back in for now and it doesn't seem to be getting hot or affecting temperatures (I had also forgotten how much better the sound is from it!).

This is my motherboard - z87-d3hp.

So a Sound Blaster Z, such as this one https://www.overclockers.co.uk/crea...ound-card-retail-70sb150000001-sc-087-cl.html, would give me a better sound with the Beyerdynamic DT990s? For one thing it looks like it has a dedicated headphone socket which my D2X doesn't have (so I would have to either plug into my Logitech Z5500 control pod or have to change out the front speaker connection for the headphones whenever I want to use them).
 
CaptainRAVE said:
@EsaT thank you, you have been very helpful. I will be adding the DT990 250 ohm Headphones (with straight cable) and Creative Sound Blaster Z to my Christmas list!
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They are amazing. Thank you again :D

I can hear so many sounds that I never have with my speakers. I wouldn’t fancy playing a scary game with these :p

Any recommended settings in sound blaster z software or leave as default?
 
Well the sound blaster z was a disaster. Crackling in Spotify and somewhat in games too causing some stuttering. Tried every suggestion online. Will return them and try a new AE-5 tomorrow. Hoping to not have the same problem.

No issue with onboard audio, but obviously doesn’t pack the same punch.
 
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