Surround sound headphones, <£100?

bobboberts · 20 Jan 2019 at 23:28

Marsman said:
And then he will have to buy a sound card on top of that in order to get positional/surround sound effect.

I get the impression the OP was looking more at spending £70. K702 + sound card would be at least £130; so double that.

You talk about top level accuracy; but not everyone needs or wants that.

Yeah, as I say in the OP, I currently just use a really cheap set of headphones that I find have a decent sound (probably because I've never used top-end headphones before) so most things would likely be a step-up. I use the sound on my motherboard too, as I haven't had a soundcard for years.

Gimpymoo · 20 Jan 2019 at 23:33

Cloud Alpha Pro and a Xonar DGX would make a cracking upgrade for £100 IMO if the ops budget could stretch to that?

EsaT · 21 Jan 2019 at 21:25

bobboberts said:
Yeah, as I say in the OP, I currently just use a really cheap set of headphones that I find have a decent sound (probably because I've never used top-end headphones before) so most things would likely be a step-up.

Not so with gaming brands.
Typical gaming brands have no bottom for how bad sound quality can be.
Asus Strix, Corsair, Razer, Roccat, Steelseries, all have total trash frequency response:
https://nl.hardware.info/reviews/60...-luisteren-testresultaten---frequentierespons
Like also Turtle Beach whose real gaming ability is "head in bucket under water" level...
Compared to Superlux HD-330 which cost me mighty 30€.
Didn't even bother testing directly against imitation target of that Superlux, Beyerdynamic DT990, because that's step ahead of Superlux.

Gimpymoo said:
Cloud Alpha Pro and a Xonar DGX would make a cracking upgrade for £100 IMO if the ops budget could stretch to that?

Audigy Fx is better than Xonar DGX.
Besides being newer card very likely getting lot longer support from Creative than what Asus gives, it also has Creative's binaural sound simulation, which makes bass bloating Dolby Headphone of Xonars completely mediocre.
Dolby Hypephone is barely tolerable with bass neutral headphone and rather horrible with any above neutral bass headphone.
With closed design stronger bass headphone it must be sucktastic for details.

bobboberts · 22 Jan 2019 at 12:56

EsaT said:
Not so with gaming brands.
Typical gaming brands have no bottom for how bad sound quality can be.
Asus Strix, Corsair, Razer, Roccat, Steelseries, all have total trash frequency response:
https://nl.hardware.info/reviews/60...-luisteren-testresultaten---frequentierespons
Like also Turtle Beach whose real gaming ability is "head in bucket under water" level...
Compared to Superlux HD-330 which cost me mighty 30€.
Didn't even bother testing directly against imitation target of that Superlux, Beyerdynamic DT990, because that's step ahead of Superlux.

Audigy Fx is better than Xonar DGX.
Besides being newer card very likely getting lot longer support from Creative than what Asus gives, it also has Creative's binaural sound simulation, which makes bass bloating Dolby Headphone of Xonars completely mediocre.
Dolby Hypephone is barely tolerable with bass neutral headphone and rather horrible with any above neutral bass headphone.
With closed design stronger bass headphone it must be sucktastic for details.

So what headphone & soundcard combo would you suggest for around £100?

bobboberts · 22 Jan 2019 at 15:45

And to follow up on that, presumably I would want a soundcard that supports Dolby etc?

EsaT · 22 Jan 2019 at 19:55

bobboberts said:
So what headphone & soundcard combo would you suggest for around £100?

If you want headset I don't think there's much competition for HyperX Cloud.
For headphone Creative Aurvana Live made by Fostex should be very nice for price.
Though myself would get open headphone.
After using them for 15+ years there's no turning back when not needing sound isolation.

For sound card Audigy Fx basically mirrors Xonar DGX in tech, while having Creative's lot better binaural sound simulation.
Also it lacks this "feature" of C-Media sound chip using cards:
http://maxedtech.com/uni-xonar-faq-troubleshooting-guide/#q18

bobboberts said:
And to follow up on that, presumably I would want a soundcard that supports Dolby etc?

In PC use you don't need any Dolby sound formats and Dolby Headphone is seriously overhyped mediocrity.
Because of all Dolby this and that hype I originally thought it would be actually good.
But then I found gameplay recordings in Youtube and it's rather horrible compared to Creative's algorithm:
There's that bass bloat and then it has awful tendency for echo and sounding like some public path/shower room.
Also have seen it described as gothic cathedral.

bobboberts · 23 Jan 2019 at 00:28

Will the Audigy Fx be good for a while (until I do a new build in a year or so?)

PapaLazaru · 23 Jan 2019 at 10:23

Sennheiser PC 373D is down to £100 in places. Sometimes simplicity is better and they are great for the money. USB audio, so no need for a sound card.

I use the older version for gaming and it is a great setup. And this is coming from someone who's main headphone setup for music would cost you about £900.

Marsman · 23 Jan 2019 at 11:06

As Papalazaru has mentioned; worth considering the Sennheiser PC373D for £100. It did cost a fair more at some point. Just seen it now for £100.

However, there are some concerns.. There a few negative comments about the microphone quality (surprised, as that is usually where Sennheiser's premium headsets excel) and I've seen two people say the 7.1 is not as good as the previous PC363D. For £100 though; worth considering. I wouldn't say they were worth the money if they were still around the £150-60 mark.

bobboberts said:
And to follow up on that, presumably I would want a soundcard that supports Dolby etc?

No need for Dolby features on the card, unless you have a 5.1 speaker system connected via optical. SBX prostudio on the Audigy FX will be used in place of Dolby Headphone and does a better job when gaming.

bobboberts said:
Will the Audigy Fx be good for a while (until I do a new build in a year or so?)

Yes; a least no reason for it not to be. Better choice than the Xonar DGX for reasons Esat has already mentioned, including what is most important of all; driver support. Some Xonar cards haven't had driver update in years.

Hard to know which is a better choice; HyperX Cloud Alpha + Audigy FX, or Sennheiser PC373D.

bobboberts · 23 Jan 2019 at 12:21

Marsman said:
As Papalazaru has mentioned; worth considering the Sennheiser PC373D for £100. It did cost a fair more at some point. Just seen it now for £100.

However, there are some concerns.. There a few negative comments about the microphone quality (surprised, as that is usually where Sennheiser's premium headsets excel) and I've seen two people say the 7.1 is not as good as the previous PC363D. For £100 though; worth considering. I wouldn't say they were worth the money if they were still around the £150-60 mark.

No need for Dolby features on the card, unless you have a 5.1 speaker system connected via optical. SBX prostudio on the Audigy FX will be used in place of Dolby Headphone and does a better job when gaming.

Yes; a least no reason for it not to be. Better choice than the Xonar DGX for reasons Esat has already mentioned, including what is most important of all; driver support. Some Xonar cards haven't had driver update in years.

Hard to know which is a better choice; HyperX Cloud Alpha + Audigy FX, or Sennheiser PC373D.

I've decided that the Alphas plus Audigy is the way to go, on the basis I will get some 5.1 speakers at some point and the soundcard will give me more options with my setup.

Thanks to everybody for their input, it's been informative and helpful.