What kind of speaker/headphone do you use?

[Brisse 78]

I think surround headsets/phones should've their own category. It's so much different than stereo headphones.

It's not really that different though. You can get a great surround experience through any stereo headphones with the help of Digital Sound Processing including Head-related transfer function filter.

Ever heard a binaural recording on a pair of stereo headphones?

Maybe you have heard the famous Virtual Barber Shop?

(use stereo headphones!)

Pretty good "surround" experience, right? This effect can be simulated with DSP techniques.

[doveman 7]

It's not really that different though. You can get a great surround experience through any stereo headphones with the help of Digital Sound Processing including Head-related transfer function filter.

Not true for me. I use Razer virtual surround with my Samson SR open-back headphones and struggle to hear any directionality or have any sense of a soundstage larger than my headset, whereas with four speakers I have no problem and the soundstage seems much bigger than my room.

[roshnak 41]

Not true for me. I use Razer virtual surround with my Samson SR open-back headphones and struggle to hear any directionality or have any sense of a soundstage larger than my headset, whereas with four speakers I have no problem and the soundstage seems much bigger than my room.

I would guess that whatever HRTF model Razer Surround uses was created with a head model/ear shape that is not compatible with yours.

[Brisse 78]

Yea, I tried the free version of Razer Virtual Surround once, just out of curiosity, and to see how it is compared to Dolby Headphone which is integrated in my sound card driver. Let's just say I was disappointed.

[FatFukinLenny 3]

Sennheiser HD 515 paired with an ASUS Xonar U7, also have some Edifier R1600T on the desk but they don't get used much.

[bullhorn 18]

AKG K240 for mixing, Beyerdynamic DT770 when I need a relatively flat sound with isolation

Ultrasone Pro 900 for everything else.

[grzegorz 33]

Such a large community and so few votes :confused: Voters 41.

[rekkless 240]

I have a set of Logitech G35 7.1 headphones. For the price I'm very satisfied. Well made, the sound quality is good and after you mess around with the equalizer plenty of bass. The surround sound is very good but not amazing. But you certainly can tell where the firing is coming from.

I had a set of Logitech G930 7.1 headphones before them which I thought were just wireless versions of the G35s. But the G930s had SUCH a better surround sound, in fact as good actual speakers for directional audio.

A buddy of mine has the Astro A40s with external equalizer, and well they are the shit, simply amazing if you can afford them then don't think twice.

[jumpinghubert 48]

.....What's really amazing with the 650's is that they make any music genre sound good, without any EQ corrections......

I hate headphones and speakers with a peak in the highs and not flat frequency respone to give boom boom plus pseudoclarity. The HD650 is a rare opposite of that. I think neutrality is an important condition for good 3D-effects. I like orthodynamics because of their perfect flat frequency response. http://www.headphone.com/pages/build-a-graph Edited May 22, 2015 by JumpingHubert

[Dr_Defimus 10]

Heil ProSet Elite - it's one of the few headsets that have a real mic

[devilslayersbane 28]

I've got a set of 7.1 surround headphones.

[KiloSwiss 15]

I'm not an audiophile person but the poll should clearly differentiate between Headsets and Headphones!

When it comes to sound quality for the price then Headphones > Headsets with only a few (but expensive) exceptions being available on the market.

Even a Superlux Headphone for around 30-40$ provides better sound than most Headsets that cost twice as much (or even more), especially the ones with (pseudo) "5.1" audio or other useless "gamer" features.

I think many people klicked on "Premium Headphone" in the poll, even thou they only have a shitty "gaming" headset, advertised as "premium" and "superior", while these headsets actually don't provide anything that comes close to a clear picture or a wide soundstage.*

And let's not talk about the microphones in "gaming" headsets.*

Headphone:

Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro (250 Ω)

Connected to a FiiO E10 USB AMP/DAC

Microphone:

RØDE NT-USB or Antlion ModMic2

*As I already mentioned, there are a few exceptions of headsets that provide either good sound quality or have a decent microphone, and there even exist some that provide both!

But most "gaming" headsets are just overpriced, cheap hardware, falsely advertised as "premium" products.

Edited May 26, 2015 by KiloSwiss

[doveman 7]

I'm not an audiophile person but the poll should clearly differentiate between Headsets and Headphones!

When it comes to sound quality for the price then Headphones > Headsets with only a few (but expensive) exceptions being available on the market.

Even a Superlux Headphone for around 30-40$ provides better sound than most Headsets that cost twice as much (or even more), especially the ones with (pseudo) "5.1" audio or other useless "gamer" features.

Yeah, I bought the Samson SR850 for £30 and by all accounts they're the best choice under £100 and better than most, if not all, gaming/PC headsets. The lack of a mic was a problem though and I didn't want to spend $62 (+import duties) on a ModMic2, so I bought a Panasonic electret capsule for £2 and fitted it to the boom I ripped off a rubbish £3 headset. It's a bit quiet though, so I'm going to build a simple pre-amp with a transistor and a couple of capacitors to boost the signal.

[St. Jimmy 272]

It's not really that different though. You can get a great surround experience through any stereo headphones with the help of Digital Sound Processing including Head-related transfer function filter.

Ever heard a binaural recording on a pair of stereo headphones?

Maybe you have heard the famous Virtual Barber Shop?

(use stereo headphones!)

Pretty good "surround" experience, right? This effect can be simulated with DSP techniques.

Yes I've heard that one with Logitech G930 with the virtual surround on and off and with Beyerdynamic Custom One Pro. That's the reason why I suggested the separation because at least cheap virtual surround in gaming headsets isn't good and you can get confused with directions.

So we agree ;)

[Brisse 78]

I think many people klicked on "Premium Headphone" in the poll, even thou they only have a shitty "gaming" headset, advertised as "premium" and "superior", while these headsets actually don't provide anything that comes close to a clear picture or a wide soundstage.*

And let's not talk about the microphones in "gaming" headsets.*

I would not take the results of the poll to seriously. You mentioned one reason. Another one is that the thread probably attracts people with an interest in audio equipment and as such, they probably have more premium equipment than average joe.

---------- Post added at 13:39 ---------- Previous post was at 13:34 ----------

Yes I've heard that one with Logitech G930 with the virtual surround on and off and with Beyerdynamic Custom One Pro. That's the reason why I suggested the separation because at least cheap virtual surround in gaming headsets isn't good and you can get confused with directions.

So we agree ;)

You are not supposed to use virtual surround when listening to a binaural recording. It is recorded using two mics placed inside a dummy head to replicate what you would hear if it was your head instead of the dummy head. Applying virtual surround to that will only harm the sound. Virtual surround is used to downmix multichannel (often 6 or 8 channels) to stereo and include audio cues that helps you judge the position of the sound source. It does not work well if the source is stereo.

[Sniperwolf572 758]

SteelSeries Siberia v2

[devilslayersbane 28]

Sades 7.1 Surround headset Very affordable, yet comfortable and offering a sound that rival's Turtle Beach and SteelSeries, especially when used with your own equalizer. Not perfect, but if you're gaming on a budget like I am then they are perfect. :D Comes with it's own basic driver, but you're better off with a free downloadable equalizer.

[NeMeSiS 11]

Usually 5.1 speakers. Unless i play MP (which is quite rare), then an okayish stereo headset.

[Bee8190 10]

I'm using my PC for everything; games, movies, music..so: PC ---> Toslink ---> Nuforce DAC ---> Nad356bee ---> Focal 826v ---> BK gemini II Sub. Would anyone in the know recommend adding a dedicated sound card in the mix as I've read rather mixed responses on whether it's worth having one or not? Some say it's waste of money and others swear that eliminating the internal PC noise can/will see improvements?

[NeMeSiS 11]

I'm using my PC for everything; games, movies, music..so: PC ---> Toslink ---> Nuforce DAC ---> Nad356bee ---> Focal 826v ---> BK gemini II Sub. Would anyone in the know recommend adding a dedicated sound card in the mix as I've read rather mixed responses on whether it's worth having one or not? Some say it's waste of money and others swear that eliminating the internal PC noise can/will see improvements?

I have a rather old X-Fi XtremeGamer and heavily recommend something better than onboard audio if you care about audio quality and if you have at least midrange speakers.

[DancZer 65]

I agree that the poll options are not perfect, but still better then noting. As i see next time when somebody make a similar poll he should go deeper in the headphone categories to clarify what is the dispersion of the headphones.

The chart shows that most of the players(2/3) play with headphones.

Edit: Btw it's amazing that only 58 players voted after 10 days.

[bullhorn 18]

Considering the poll is 60% 'Premium Headphones', might as well divide it into 'Studio headphones' and 'Gamer headsets/headphones' and remove the rest. :)

[Grumpy Old Man 3540]

I'm using my PC for everything; games, movies, music..so: PC ---> Toslink ---> Nuforce DAC ---> Nad356bee ---> Focal 826v ---> BK gemini II Sub. Would anyone in the know recommend adding a dedicated sound card in the mix as I've read rather mixed responses on whether it's worth having one or not? Some say it's waste of money and others swear that eliminating the internal PC noise can/will see improvements?

You're using Toslink and have internal PC noise?

What?

I have a rather old X-Fi XtremeGamer and heavily recommend something better than onboard audio if you care about audio quality and if you have at least midrange speakers.

He's using a digital output with an external DAC.

[NeMeSiS 11]

He's using a digital output with an external DAC.

You are right, i should have read more carefully. In that case probably won't matter much when it comes to gaming. I do like the upmixing/post processing features my card when listening to music, but that is more of a personal preference.

[Bee8190 10]

You're using Toslink and have internal PC noise?

What?

Every PC suffers from EMI, CPU throttling etc..The Question was whether internal sound card, like the Asus Xonar would bring additional benefits on top of having an external DAC and or beat it in terms of improvements / performance