Need some advice deciding on headphones

[kyfohatl 10]

Ok so since this is not a case of "will this spec run ArmA..." I decided to just post it here and not the specs thread. I apologize if this isn't the right place for it.

Anyway, I want to buy a decent gaming headset that support either 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound. I have done a fair bit of research and my choices have come down to:

-Logitech G35: seems to be the best choice atm. Has 7.1 surround sound, looks decent and has some nice extra features. Also it's cheap.

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=116_4&products_id=11162

-Sennheiser PC350: Significantly more expensive, but it looks really, really comfortable. The problem is that unlike the Logitech g35 it does not use a USB port which means that is requires a sound card. The headset seems to support 7.1 surround sound if your sound card supports it. I don't know if I have a sound card good enough for that. I didn't specifically buy a sound card, but my motherboard has a built in sound card I believe. I did some research to see if my ASUS P8Z68-V Gen3 Motherboard had a built in sound card good enough but I didn't find any thing. When I open device manager, it shows that I have a "realtec HD audio" and 4 "NVIDIA HD audio" installed (why 4???). So does that mean that I can buy the PC350 and just plug it in and say load up ArmA2 and enjoy 7.1 surround sound? I believe a realtec HD audio sound card supports 7.1 but I'm not sure; some clarification would be nice.

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=116_1219&products_id=17454

I was also looking at a Razer Megalodon. It looks very nice and comfortable, and it has sound card built into it's controller. Unfortunately it seems to have some issues with windows 7 64-bit and you need to download & install a firmware to fix it so I don't think I'll get that.

I'm interested in people's opinions. I'd probably get the PC350 if I knew I could just plug it in and have 7.1 (or 5.1) surround sound just because of how comfy it looks, but as I said I'm not sure if it will work or if I need to buy a sound card.

[Tonci87 163]

Keep away from Headsets with simulated (fake) 5.1 or 7.1 Sound.

Those Headsets are not better than Stereo Headsets but they are much more expensive. You can get an awesome Stereo Headset for that money.

If you want true surround sound then buy a Headset with multiple speakers on each side. I own a Roccat Kave 5.1 and I´m very happy with it. The Sound quality is great and I can always pinpoint where the enemy is shooting from.

[DualJoe 10]

Well I've yet to encounter a good sounding headphone for an acceptible price for me, but I'd recommend the Sennheiser RS 170 or better.

Very comfortable, wireless (I tend to move around a lot and having my head physically atached to my pc is bothersome to say the least), battery will easily outlast even very long gaming sessions, blocks out external noises completely. The most important part however, sound quality seems to be very good for a wireless headset beating everything I've tried up to the same pricepoint from all the popular brands apart from other wired Sennheisers. The only drawback is that you tend to start yelling with these things on, so you may have to lower the volume on your microphone for the sake of your voice-chat-buddies.

Btw, I've never had problems pinpointing sound with a stereo headphone. Seeing how hard it is to find a somewhat decent sounding stereo headphone, I'd wager that the chances of finding a good sounding "surround" headset with 5/7 speakers are astronomically small.

[celery 8]

Steelseries Siberia has won numerous gaming headset comparisons, and it's easy to see why. Combine it with a Creative sound card's CMSS 3D feature and you have a reasonably good 3d effect that's based on when certain sounds are played in the separate channels which is how your 2.0 ears detect direction in the first place. That's all the praise Creative deserves, though, because its software support beyond Windows 98 has been laughable.

Edited September 11, 2012 by Celery

[hellfire257 3]

I've always found that your money will be better spent on a good pair of stereo cans than any multi-channel headsets.

[kyfohatl 10]

Keep away from Headsets with simulated (fake) 5.1 or 7.1 Sound.

Those Headsets are not better than Stereo Headsets but they are much more expensive. You can get an awesome Stereo Headset for that money.

If you want true surround sound then buy a Headset with multiple speakers on each side. I own a Roccat Kave 5.1 and I´m very happy with it. The Sound quality is great and I can always pinpoint where the enemy is shooting from.

But isn't there a problem with having lots of smaller speakers in a headphone rather than two larger ones? I've heard they detract from the overall sound quality. Though I looked up the Roccat Kave and it looks pretty nice.

I'd recommend the Sennheiser RS 170 or better

No mic? A headset (which is what I've been opting for) would be more convenient than headphones + stand-alone mic; unless there is a good reason to pick headphones + mic over a headset? It's pretty expensive too; at that price range it's competing with the razor Tiamat (true 7.1) which seems to be a good headset.

Steelseries Siberia has won numerous gaming headset comparisons, and it's easy to see why. Combine it with a Creative sound card's CMSS 3D feature and you have a reasonably good 3d effect that's based on when certain sounds are played in the separate channels which is how your 2.0 ears detect direction in the first place. That's all the praise Creative deserves, though, because its software support beyond Windows 98 has been laughable.

Yep, it's popularity definitely shows... completely sold out on PC Case Gear (the Australian website I use to buy hardware), and the white colour is sold out according to the official website (with no eta). I didn't have much luck on ebay either. Good price, good quality and decent all around, though the ear cups look a little too small. I personally like the types that cover the ear; however I've heard from almost all sources that it's very comfortable. One question though: why not use the sound card that comes with it (the SteelSeries usb portable sound card)? Are Creative sound cards the only ones that have something like the X-FI? Sorry if this sounds very nooby I'm not very familiar with the sound card field.

I've always found that your money will be better spent on a good pair of stereo cans than any multi-channel headsets.

That's why I was thinking of getting the Sennheiser, since it's a brand well known for it's sterio headphones. But the PC350 seems to have some issues with bass, which is a shame.

-Apparently headsets that use a usb port (like the logitech G35) will use some processing power. I have an i7 so normally it wouldn't be an issue, but since I play a lot of ArmA2 I need every bit of processing power I can get. Do these headsets use up a significant amount of processing power?

-Finally here's a review of the Razer Megalodon:

A shame imo, I was looking forward to buying one. It looks nice and comfy.

Cheers for the help.

[celery 8]

One question though: why not use the sound card that comes with it (the SteelSeries usb portable sound card)? Are Creative sound cards the only ones that have something like the X-FI? Sorry if this sounds very nooby I'm not very familiar with the sound card field.

It may use a technique similar to Creative's sound cards, but I don't really know as I have the jack version.

[Tonci87 163]

But isn't there a problem with having lots of smaller speakers in a headphone rather than two larger ones? I've heard they detract from the overall sound quality. Though I looked up the Roccat Kave and it looks pretty nice.

Of course, a large speaker is better than multiple small ones if you go for audio quality. The thing with the Kave is that the speakers aren´t small at all. That Headset is huge (I look like this right now d°°b) and quite heavy compared to other headsets (You get a strong neck :p )

[DualJoe 10]

No mic? A headset (which is what I've been opting for) would be more convenient than headphones + stand-alone mic; unless there is a good reason to pick headphones + mic over a headset? It's pretty expensive too; at that price range it's competing with the razor Tiamat (true 7.1) which seems to be a good headset.

Got mine in one of those online 1-day offers for a pretty hefty discount. Still worth the money imo. I threw out my Creative Fatality piece of crap and my logitech gaming headset right away. Both were brand new and not the first pieces of crap headset I bought after reading countless raving reviews on the internet. In the end buying irritatingly bad and uncomfortable headsets has cost me a lot more than a single good one.

Never had problems with the missing mic, because I have one of those usb-microphones with an inbuilt camera. Apart from the extreme convenience of not having to remember to take of your headset when you walk away, and being able to listen to music on my pc all around the house, most of my friends with headsets sound like they have their mics partways in their lungs and suffering from a mass astma-attack. You don't just hear their breathing it sounds like a frigging multiple huricane.

[oxmox 73]

The best headphones are in Stereo and the best Headset (probably the MMX300 from beyerdynamic) on the market is in Stereo. I have the same opinion like Tonci87 and you will find many sound freaks in Hi-Fi forums who will suggest you to get good Stereo headphones but not advice to buy any headset due to worse sound quality for the buck. An additional good clip microphone isnt that expensive and you get von Zalman already one for around 10 bucks. At the end you pay a lot more for Headsets and get less quality when it comes to to the headphones.

Just one quote from another forum:

One of the best Headsets is probably the MMX300 from beyerdynamic, which is around 300€ (around 400 $ US) but competes with 150€ HiFi Stereo Headphones when it comes to sound quality. But the microphone alone on this MMX300 is over 100€, which isnt worth it since good quality micros from Zalman are around 10 bucks. The MMX300 is actually a modified dt770 (150€) so far I did read.

Some Stereo Headphone I would look for, of course there are more around with different prices. Just look around in one of these HiFi forums get some informations, some have more bass some less:

Ultrasone HFI 580 -

Shure SRH840

Creative Aurvana Life

Beyerdynamic DT770

Beyerdinamics DT990 pro

Superlux HD-681B or HD-668B or without B

Shure 440

AKG K530 (if you still can find some)

Our ears only hear in STEREO and thats why it is not suprising that the High End Headphones are all in Stereo and not in 5.1/7.1, even High End Headsets i.e. MMX 300 is in stereo. Virtual surround is currently better than true surround headphones.

Just compare good Stereo Headphones with the 7.1 Razer Tiamat a true surround Headset:

The Razer headset needs 8 speakers for around 200€, wheras a Stereo Headphone has only two of it. No wonder the sound quality is different if you compare it since true surround headphones need so many speakers but cant offer the same quality.

Here is a sound video with binaural recording, listen to it with a Stereo Headphone and be surprised to hear in surround:

Virtual Haircut

Edited September 11, 2012 by oxmox

[Haystack15 10]

I did some research to see if my ASUS P8Z68-V Gen3 Motherboard had a built in sound card good enough but I didn't find any thing. When I open device manager, it shows that I have a "realtec HD audio" and 4 "NVIDIA HD audio" installed (why 4???).

Heyyoo!!

I somewhat have the same series motherboard as you! (P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3)

But anyways, You might have four "Nvidia HD Audio" showing up in your Device manager maybe because you have multiple NVIDIA related products that has HDMI? And this information may or may not help you, but your mobo should be capable of supporting 7.1 sound configurations.

I have two GPU's that both have HDMI. When I open up device manager, It shows a total of 8.

[Infam0us 10]

Go for some real quality headphones, none of these so called "gamer" headsets that use lesser quality components and can often charge more!

http://www.whathifi.com/reviews/accessories/headphones

I myself have Sennheiser 558 with a Creative X Fi and its by far the best sound quality I've heard on a PC, works great when I do sound production on it too. :)

[Robster 11]

I would recommend to look for the most comfortable stereo headset you can find... nothing so fancy or expensive... in my own experience buying the most expensive or fancy headset is a waste of money, since there are a lot of good quality stereo headsets but not many of them are comfortable enough, whatever may be the price or quality of materials...

[CarlGustaffa 4]

I just got the G35s, and I'm seriously not impressed. I can't even get any kind of "surround" detected at all from Arma, resulting in just really weird sound through these. I've had Sennheiser in the past (HD series, but for music/mixing application) and they've been totally awesome, but lacking the "punch" (which is good, I want them totally dry), although I don't think anybody would call them "gaming" headsets :p And way too expensive to keep buying, as they don't last too long with me.

What I do like about the G35s:

* Seems pretty robust, although time will tell.

* Really long USB cable, means I can relax in my comfy chair while watching a movie wearing a headphone (I like it loud, sadly I also have neighbors :D).

* Cable seems rock solid, which to some may be a drawback since that also implies being pretty stiff.

* Grew comfortable extremely quickly, didn't have to sleep with them for a month before getting used to them :o.

* Being USB, there are no noise coming from the soundcard - a big pain especially in onboard soundcards.

What I don't like, only after 6 hours of use:

* I'm not able to get "surround" triggered from Arma, pretty much the only game I play (where sound is the most important).

* Even the "demo" sometimes experience problem with the "surround" channels; sometimes I only get to hear left and right. No visual clues either.

* Have proven problematic to use with ASIO4ALL drivers (special low latency drivers for sound and music production, builtin latency may be enough though, haven't tested in depth yet), although you probably won't use these for that (see later). Forces me to completely disable other sound cards, or sounds may go silent in non ASIO4ALL capable applications (such as in a web browser, I won't get sound from youtube - which suck!). Disabling other sound cards removes (obvious) incompatibilities, but still - unnecessary. These are still early hours, so may change with experiments.

* Stereo sound ("surround" disabled by headset switch) is beyond horrible. Although I didn't expect to get the "dry" sound I prefer for such a cheap headset, this is just insane. I'm not talking just about gaming, but any application where you think you'd recognize the sound.

For pure gaming: Might do the trick, but only if you're as cheap as me, and can play Arma in stereo mode with a degraded sound.

Pure Arma: No, just stay away. Better off getting a proper stereo headset, and get a relatively noiseless soundcard instead.

Production: Lol. Not only no, but hell no!

Combined production with gaming: Same as above - just stay away.

Arma related sound problem: If you can afford a mixer (or a realtime mixing app), you should consider mixing 90/10 - 70/30 (stereo spread) on a decent stereo headset instead. Music will suffer (naturally), but at least the ingame mixer doesn't do hard pans anymore, which is completely unrealistic. I had a lot better "sound spatial awareness" using this setup than I do with my newly acquired (and soon to be tossed away, except at least at least I now have a mic again) G35s.

Oh well, I guess I got what I paid for - lesson learned.

[Rak 0]

I recommend the G35's. My short review of it would be:

Pros:

- Sound quality is excellent. Not only for gaming, but for music and movies too. Given, it's not a 500$+ audiophile headphone with sound reproduction out of heaven but it's as good as you're going to get for 100$. It doesn't have a "thumping" bass(which I don't like) but mid and lows sound great.

- It's sturdy if you treat them right and looks rather plain but in a good way.

- Mic quality is excellent. Especially if you're on TS or Mumble a lot, your friends will appreciate the difference.

- Ergonomics. You can mute your microphone by raising it(comes in super handy) but also with a button on the left earpiece. There's a red light at the tip of the microphone telling you if it's on or off, so no more "did I mute myself?" doubts. Also, you can program the 3 additional buttons on the left earpiece. I programmed them for music stop/next/previous functions. And the last but the best of them all is the volume control scroll, which makes controlling the volume super precise and easy.

- Long cable, it's hinderance for me but if you love your cables long, then you'll like it.

- Sound quality, seriously.

Cons

- Not really comfy (it gets uncomfortable for me after 2 hours).

- 7.1 is just a gimmick. You'll be disappointed if you buy this for surround, it doesn't work and actually confuses programs. I disabled it.

I highly recommend it if you currently have an onboard soundcard and looking for a better sound upgrade(my laptop's sound card is horrible, so I opted for a USB headphone instead). If your soundcard is decent, I'm sure you can find a better sounding Sennheiser or AKG with regular 3.5mm jack.

Edited October 13, 2012 by Rak

[Darkhorse 1-6 16]

Of course, if you have a dog (or other pet) that likes to chew on stuff then you'll end up sobbing when you have to give your $100 headset a proper burial, and you'll end up getting a $20 Logitech set out of resignation.