Difference between USB and head phone jack sound?

I really need a good headset. I'm prepared to spend say $75 or so. But I want really nice sound quality (mostly going to be gaming/listening to music, but mostly gaming), and it would be nice if it kinda kept my sound in, and other sounds out. Meaning that other people can't hear my sound (because it might disrupt them if I have it loud). Portability is big plus, doesn't need to be tiny, but if it had a nice little case or something so when I put it in my backpack it doesn't accidentally get smooshed.

Oh and comfort too, I'd wear these for a couple (read 5 or so, sometimes) hours at a time, and so a completely over the ear, or comfortable design is important. For some reason when I wear normal headphones that just clamp your ears my body feels weird and I get a sick feeling unless I take them off (only after like 2 hours of use though).

So anyone know of nice headphones like this (roughly in order of importance):

Comfort++
Quality++
Price around $75
Portable (at least semi)
Private (doesn't leak alot of sound out)

Oh, and whats the difference between USB and normal headphone jack headsets?

 

Meh, I realise the title wasn't the best for this thread. Could'a chosen a better one.

I've been looking at some reviews online. But I'd love some personal opinions.

I've read that USB have a built in sound card. This will make it sound alot better right? Because computers don't have built in sound cards do they?

Or will I get better sound quality from the normal plugs?

I've been looking alot at http://www.steelseries.com/products/steel_sound/steelsound_5h_v2/information

 

Some USB ones have built in sound. I personally use a USB one ear headset, and it's been awesome. I can never go back to Audio In headsets. The main reason is that it separates the two sound outputs. When I'm on Ventrilo, my headset recieves the Vent Input and Output, and my speakers receives everything else, my music, the background music and sound effects, the Vent channel comments/entering/leaving. This lets me listen to the conversation without disruption(in one ear) and hear the SFXs and music(and potentially angry roommates) from the other

BTW, the one I use is a PS2 headset with the SOCOM game

 

You can always get a USB sound card if you want quality with a regular pair of headphones. I personally would go with the normal 3.5mm headphone because then I can use it on everything, instead of just my computers. But thats just me.

 

Ok, those are good ideas, and I've been reading and it seems that alot of the time the USB soundcard headsets aren't very good quality anyway, so I think I'll get normal ones.

Does anyone have any experiance with the SteelSound 5H? Are these good, any other around the same price range hidden gems that I'm overlooking?

 

Well I think I'm going to order the SteelSound 5H v2, Only bad things I've read is bad bass (pity), and that the microphone doesn't pick up voices well, and gets to much background noise (not such a problem).

 

I like my plantronic audio .90's... a year or so old now though.

As to best USB/Firewire soundcard, I would have to say that would either be a Yamaha product or TerraTec..

Yamaha: http://www.yamahamultimedia.com/yec/idx_cavit.asp
Terratec: http://sounden.terratec.net/

 

I'm not really looking for an external sound card. But I know that some headsets have sounds cards built in, but I've heard they aren't very good, and then they can only be used with computers, so I decided to go the 3.5mm (or what ever it is) route.

And yeah I don't think they even make the plantronic audio .90's anymore

 

Don't go for the USB-thingies, I haven't heard of them before and they will seriously limit the use of your headphones.

If you're going to use for an extended period how about checking out some cans? They provide decent bass but aren't too stellar in sound cancellation--that is unless you want to spend 300+. I suggest checking out Sennheiser's selection as most of what they produce are great quality and some are quite cheap.

Personally I would go for the Shure E2C's. They're in-ear sound cancellation earphones with a two week break in period. They will feel very awkward at first but will eventually feel natural later. You won't hear anything, I kid you not. I used to wear these while driving but I nearly killed twenty or so people. Shure's customer service is great too!

So it depends on whether you want cans vs in-ear headphones.

 

Well I don't think I want in-ear headphones (like the ipod ones). But what I really want is a headset (ie has an attached mic).

And thanks for the info about the USB, I've pretty much decided not to get a USB headset.

 

Just to backup what pennpaper said, the Sennheiser's are awesome. I've got the 595's which are really fantastic, but about double your stated $75 price limit. I'd definitely see what you could get from Sennheiser in your price range. I find the following website to be great for info. about the headphones and so good for research, however I'd buy what you decide upon from another site (though they do have sales reps you can call and negotiate prices with)

http://www.headphone.com/

 

I would do an incremental upgrade path

a) Buy headphones first. Where abouts in the world are you? Always helps to demo cans in-store - SQ, comfort and looks
b) Then test it through your laptops headphone jack

For example, I'm an avid IEM user (to not be disturbed by others, rather than disturb them ) and I had to buy a usb solution after encountering the hiss through my laptop's headphone jack