5.1 headset, USB or Jackplugs?

Hi guys

I am looking for a surround sound headset with a mic, and I am overwhelmed by the amounts of brands and configurations out there.

The local shop is advertising the Roccat Kave headset, and i have read some reviews where it scores pretty good. But It has four jacks, one for the microphone the others for front speakers, center&bass and rear speakers. And it needs one USB for power. Luckily I got an M17X, so it supports all this.

However, I have noticed that some other 5.1/7.1 headsets, like the logitech models use only one USB chord, how come? Does it have any advantage or disadvantage over jacks?

And I dont know really how good the soundcard in the M17x is, I have only used a pair of Koss headsets on it so far.

 

The models with a single USB cord have their own sound card built in. On the one hand, this means that they are entirely independent of your PC's sound card, which is good if you have really crappy onboard audio. On the other hand, if you have a really good sound card, then it will be pretty much lost on that headset since it will be using its own sound device.

As for the M17x, I don't know anything about its sound card, but the fact that it has surround sound output jacks seems like an indicator that it should be pretty decent.

tl;dr - you should be just fine either way, getting a multi-plug or USB surround headset.

 

Ok, thanks.

 

Jackplugs, imo. If you start plugging/unplugging the headset, you might have some annoyances in getting programs to swap to laptop speakers without a small fight. Also, you might want to read up on usb sound cards and performance impacts - they can be massive or relatively minor, but they always have at least some impact.