gaming sound card and headset?

[jordo_99]

hey, I'll be getting a soundcard and headset (w/ mic) for gaming soon. I just wanted some input as to what you guys have liked and what you'd suggest. I'm an avid movie/music person, but I'm really getting this stuff for gaming so if it sounds awesome for music/movies that's great. I do a little recording with my computer as well, but like I said, gaming quality comes first for me right now.


here's my current sound card for reference
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?Item=N82E16829120103


As for a headset; I'm also hoping to get a 5.1 headset (suround sound for gaming). I will use the headset exclusively for gaming and occasionally for late-night music/movies.


BTW, my budget is ~$150 for headset AND sound card...I may push it up to $175-200 if it's worth the extra danero.

[jordo_99]

well...I'm thinking that I'll probably get either the Creative eXtremegamer card or the FaTaL1Ty version of the card unless I hear that I should do otherwise.

Also, I can't decide between an Icemat, Tritton or Turtle Beach headset. Their models are very similar being true 5.1 surround sound (3 speakers and 1 sub in each ear for 8 total drivers). Any opinions on headsets guys?

LINKS:

Tritton: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826235002
Turtle Beach: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826502008
Icemat: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826249016

[Exedy]

X-FI XG 7.1 + AudioTechnica ATH A-500 maybe? + Zalman mic

Or best soundcard and other headphone/headset...don´t know

[shiznit93]

I used ATH A900s for a while, very nice gaming headphones but kind of overkill if that's all you need them for, A500 should be just fine. I didn't like the closed feel and I listen to music often so I got some HD650s and never looked back.

[Asgard_thor]

my vote is Icemats

[jordo_99]

well...I just bought the XtremeGamer Fatality edition (yes...i know, I hate the FaTaL1Ty trend as much as everybody else) sound card today because it came with a $50 rebate...

now all I've got left to get the headset? Any last thoughts?

here's what's leading the way for me:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826235003


BTW...since I saved $50 on the sound card, I'm thinking of going all-out and getting the Medusa 5.1 ProGamer headphones.

[shiznit93]

TW...since I saved $50 on the sound card, I'm thinking of going all-out and getting the Medusa 5.1 ProGamer headphones.
5.1 headphones are garbage, they will never be as good as quality stereo headphones. Get the A500s or A700s or if you have an amp the Beyer Dynamics and they will blow that medusa crap away. After all, humans have 2 not 5.1 ears and we hear positional sound just fine.

[jordo_99]

After all, humans have 2 not 5.1 ears and we hear positional sound just fine.

i'm sorry, but that's just plain terrible logic...interpretting sound and directing sound are intirely different. or ears are designed to be able to hear from all angles, not to send sound from all angles...that's just ridiculous.


5.1 headphones are garbage, they will never be as good as quality stereo headphones. Get the A500s or A700s

yeah, i know that 5.1 isn't very good for quality sound (music/movies...etc), but I've heard very good things about it from a gaming standpoint.

I have stereo equipment hooked up to my computer for music/movies. I'll only be using the headset for music/movies if it's too late at night and I'm worried about waking people up.

thanks for the input, it's just that I'm just not too excited about dropping $100+ for headphones, especially if they don't have a mic.

So, does anyone have an recommendation for a nice gaming headset for me to get? I really need one that can emulate the sounds from all angles because I play FPS games in amatuer leages like CAL, TWL, Sunlit...etc and it seems like my sound is holding me back quite a bit.

[YukonTrooper]

+1

You'll be much happier with a quality pair of stereo headphones. Then just get a desktop mic, or better yet mod a noise cancelling mic to your stereo headphones. You can then attach and remove the microphone at will.

If you're not opposed to buying used, I'd take a stroll over to head-fi. I've purchased three pairs of headphones there, all in great condition. Your money will go much further that way.

[DesertFox]

If your sound is holding you back now, no x-fi, 5.1 piece of crap is going to help you, your dreaming.

All you need is the simple HD audio on your mb and any semi decent wrap around headset with a good mic.

The 3d postional audio on onboard sound is very good these days.

Having a x-fi certainly will make your sound much richer in games which support eax 5 but I don't think it gives you any edge over onboard.

Now having a good headset is definitely better, using a medusa pro gamer lulz headset, just makes me chuckle when I hear gamers bragging about getting it :D

If you want a good headset, think stereo, think bose, think sennheiser, if you want 5.1 or 7.1 sound, get decent speakers and use that but any headset that offers 5.1 or 7.1 is just a gimmick and will never compare to a good stereo headset.

Most gamers in fps shooters don't seem to listen, I don't understand it but if you actually listen, you will be able to instantly know where the sound is coming from with a good stereo headset, if you use a 5.1 headet, it will confuse you.

Personally I find the Sennheiser 161 headset to be very good, I also have an x-fi but that will be crap if you ever move to vista, so I'd recommend a good HD onboard solution or if you really must get a sound card, then go for asus.

X-fi crackles, creatives support sucks and they knowingly gimp their drivers so they can sell you their newest product.

[jordo_99]

ok, thanks guys. I'll take a look at some stereo headsets and once I have that narrowed down I'll post them. Anything in particular I should look for?

[Donnie27]

ok, thanks guys. I'll take a look at some stereo headsets and once I have that narrowed down I'll post them. Anything in particular I should look for?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102018

Original Price: $239.99
You Save: $110.00
$129.99
($79.99 after $50.00 Mail-In Rebate)
3 Business Day Shipping $7.70
(Not available in HI, AK and PR)
In Stock

Not the best but surely not the worse. That is unless you're one of the folks Boycotting Creative Labs:up:

[nn_step]

why would you give up a card with absolutely no problems for one which is famous for driver problems?

[jordo_99]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102018

Original Price: $239.99
You Save: $110.00
$129.99
($79.99 after $50.00 Mail-In Rebate)
3 Business Day Shipping $7.70
(Not available in HI, AK and PR)
In Stock

Not the best but surely not the worse. That is unless you're one of the folks Boycotting Creative Labs:up:

yeah, I'm kinda wishing I hadn't gotten that FaTaL1Ty card now...though the idea of a refurbished sound card kinda turns me off. Still, I would probably have gotten that and maybe I still will and return the card when it gets here.



why would you give up a card with absolutely no problems for one which is famous for driver problems?

I assume that you're talking about dropping my Chaintech card...

I'm actually giving it to my younger brother. Also, Chaintech has some good drivers out there, but they are far from easy to find at times. I spent many hours searching for a driver that would work for Vista and when I did it wasn't even chaintech's driver.

hopefully that has changed though and my brother will have it working just fine (hopefully he doesn't go to Vista for a while either :D )

[Donnie27]

yeah, I'm kinda wishing I hadn't gotten that FaTaL1Ty card now...though the idea of a refurbished sound card kinda turns me off. Still, I would probably have gotten that and maybe I still will and return the card when it gets here.

I assume that you're talking about dropping my Chaintech card...

I'm actually giving it to my younger brother. Also, Chaintech has some good drivers out there, but they are far from easy to find at times. I spent many hours searching for a driver that would work for Vista and when I did it wasn't even chaintech's driver.

hopefully that has changed though and my brother will have it working just fine (hopefully he doesn't go to Vista for a while either :D )

Please note, the $79 after rebate is for a NEW CARD, not refurbished one. They had this deal before with the final price being $89. Creative has gotten a Black eye lately and I think this is their way of trying to win some folks back. I talked to one of the Newegg reps and they said they are selling very fast.

[nn_step]

I assume that you're talking about dropping my Chaintech card...

I'm actually giving it to my younger brother. Also, Chaintech has some good drivers out there, but they are far from easy to find at times. I spent many hours searching for a driver that would work for Vista and when I did it wasn't even chaintech's driver.

hopefully that has changed though and my brother will have it working just fine (hopefully he doesn't go to Vista for a while either :D )
you do realize you can just use VIA's website to get the drivers for the card right?

[shiznit93]

what ever you do stay away from Bose, could be the most overrated brand of all time, pure garbage.

[jordo_99]

you do realize you can just use VIA's website to get the drivers for the card right?


yeah, that's what I ended up doing. I just got frustrated because Chaintech had little if anything that I could find on their site related to VIA's drivers...I did end up finding them, but for some reason some of the drivers weren't working 100% right...it worked, but not like I wanted them to if that makes sense.

I actually ended up having to get a driver from another 3rd party site that would work how I wanted them to. It was an older version of the driver of something. I really don't remember anymore because I dropped Vista about 1 month after installing it and now I'm back on XP pro and everything is running great again.

[AliG]

If you're tight on the budget, you could always get an ASUS Xonar
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132006

Sound quality is supposed to be superb (though not quite at the level of the prelude 7, but that's to be expected) and is EXTREMELY well priced for what it offers. Highly recommended by anyone that owns and I'm planning to get one myself for my new logitech 5.1 surround speakers.

As for the headset, with the xonar you have a very big budget left over, so I suggest either a high end sennheiser or creative

[Donnie27]

If you're tight on the budget, you could always get an ASUS Xonar
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132006

Sound quality is supposed to be superb (though not quite at the level of the prelude 7, but that's to be expected) and is EXTREMELY well priced for what it offers. Highly recommended by anyone that owns and I'm planning to get one myself for my new logitech 5.1 surround speakers.

As for the headset, with the xonar you have a very big budget left over, so I suggest either a high end sennheiser or creative

But that's the X-Fi Elite that also sounds better than the other X-Fi and pretty close the Prelude 7.1 comes with Headphones and Boom Mic for Gaming. Again, we're talking $79 here:shrug: that seems pretty hard to beat! Then he'd still have money leftover for serious headphones. Something like these. (http://www.abesofmaine.com/item.do?item=AKGK701&id=AKGK701&l=PRICEGRABB)

[jordo_99]

lol, yeah. those headphones are pretty BA, but WAY too much for me. I'm looking in the $70-80 range for a headset.

[AliG]

its up to you, but I would recommend getting either the prelude or xonar with some high quality headphones as the x-fi cards have too many driver issues and the what not (plus the prelude 7 uses the x-fi chip but has better overall components)

[Donnie27]

its up to you, but I would recommend getting either the prelude or xonar with some high quality headphones as the x-fi cards have too many driver issues and the what not (plus the prelude 7 uses the x-fi chip but has better overall components)

But everyone doesn't have X-Fi Driver issues. Sure some folks do! At least one member here Never got his Xonar to work right. There is no perfect hardware and problems can be caused almost any Hardware. Prelude also costs twice as much leaving less money for the Headphones.

[AliG]

that's true, but after creative didn't even try to recruit the guy that made some of the best drivers around and instead tried to sue him (and I believe still is), just about everyone I know is boycotting them

[Donnie27]

that's true, but after creative didn't even try to recruit the guy that made some of the best drivers around and instead tried to sue him (and I believe still is), just about everyone I know is boycotting them

I'm not boycotting them but they have moved up my list of despicable jerks!