Gave up on X-Fi Go. Now looking for USB headset. Need recommendations.

Well, I just returned my Creative X-Fi Go USB sound card because it does not support CMSS3D anymore. Now it uses THX software that doesn't work as well. I am now in the market for a nice USB headset that will give me either 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound during game play. My budget is $200. I do not like the huge headsets such as the Logitech G930 and most other Gaming Headsets. I don't really find the huge ear muffs comfortable. I would prefer them to be open ear style.

So far, my first and only choice would be these and this headset would be about the biggest I'd want to go. Sennheiser USA - Gamer Headset - PC Stereo Headset -PC 163D - Gaming, Skype, VoIP - Personal Audio



Your feedback is much appreciated.

 

Step 1.) Get 2 speaker headphones dont worry about surround gimmickry

Step 2.) Be Happy

 

^ This.

I use a Lenovo headset that I bought for $10 brand new. It works great, sounds better than I expected, and I couldn't be happier.

 

If you need supraaural, apart from that Sennheiser you might have to go the second-rate way of sticking a normal headphone you're comfortable with + the crappy Zalman MIC-1 on USB. This won't give you 7.1 though - you'll have to pair it with a 5/7.1-capable soundcard. Now I don't have the Asus U3, but if the Essence STX is anything to go by, Asus' implementation of Dolby Headphone kinda works, but is also kinda sucky in comparison to a G35.

 

There are two criteria you have mentioned:

* Want surround sound support in games.

* Do not want headphones that sit against your skull and completely surround the ear (superaural). Will consider headphones that sit on top of your earlobes (supraaural) as the largest acceptable size.




If you are absolutely dead-set on those two criteria, and will not budge on either one of them, then your only real choice is to separately purchase a sound card that supports virtualized surround sound, and a pair of headphones / headset that you like.

Regarding the sound card, you really have two choices: Creative Labs X-Fi USB SB1090 ($80). This is the bigger brother of the cheap little USB stick that you bought and returned, and this properly supports CMSS3D Headphone mode. Or, you can go with a Dolby Headphone processor that accepts digital coaxial / optical input, like an Astro MixAmp ($125) or Turtle Beach EarForce DSS ($50). However, I do not know if the Dolby Headphone processors are an optioon for you, because I do not know whether your laptop supports digital coaxial / optical output.

Regarding the headphones / headset... If you want to keep it simple, get Sennheiser PC151 and call it a day. $40 is pretty hard to beat. If you want better quality than that, then I'd consider around $100 - $120 as the next "jump" in audio quality. But once you get there, you are at the point of diminishing returns.

 

So basically the going census is that the surround sound is a gimmick and to just use a stereo headphone? If that's the case, I'll just keep using my Sennheiser HD 800's and use my laptops internal mic. Maybe I'll pick up some ear buds for when I game at work. My main thing about not wanting huge ear muff cans is because most of them are uncomfortable (get to hot) and I look like a idiot wearing them while sitting at work.

Anyway, thanks for the advice.

 

I disagree. While surround sound in headphones isn't as great as a full surround sound speaker setup, it does work.

Be aware that the people who tell you that virtualized surround sound is a gimmickusually consider themselves to be "audiophiles." These people typically seek a balanced, neutral sound signature out of their audio gear, because they want to reproduce *music* as closely as possible to the source material. Therefore, they will view any kind of digital sound processing (such as virtualized surround sound) as the absolute opposite of the audio bliss they are chasing.

Be aware that the needs of a gamer are different than a music "audiophile". A gamer wants intentionally processed sound to emphasize directional cues, running on intentionally unbalanced headphones (bass-heavy for visceral impact, and emphasized clarity for directional sound cues).

The quality of the surround sound effect is going to be largely determined by the quality of the algorithm used to process the virtualized surround sound. The two big names in hardware-based surround processing algorithms are Creative Labs CMSS3D Headphone mode (found in X-Fi sound cards) and Dolby Headphone (found in breakout devices like an Astro MixAmp, Turtle Beach EarForce DSS, or baked in to gaming headphones like Logitech G35 and Corsair HS1 / Vengeance 1500).


Having said that, I would not recommend using Sennheiser HD800's for gaming purposes. A pair of $1500 headphones may make Pink Floyd's album Dark Side of the Moon sound godly. But all of the balance, neutrality, sound stage, instrument separation, etc in the world isn't going to do diddly squat in gaming. A pair of "balanced" audiophile headphones will sound downright boring in gaming, and won't perform much better than a pair of $50 headphones because your source material (digital in-game sound) isn't of high enough quality for it to matter.

The general recommendation for audiophile-grade headphones suitable for gaming are Beyerdynamic DT770 or DT880, because of their bass-heavy profile. If you don't feel like spending $200 - $300 on a pair of Beyerdynamics, consider the Klipsch Image One headphones (about $70 - $80 on eBay). They are crap for music, but perform very well on games due to their intentionally bass-heavy sound profile and relatively decent clarity.

 

This is what I thought. While I do consider myself a "audiophile", I am not looking to purchase surround type headphones to listen to music. Again, that's what I use my HD 800's for. My home theater has more money in it than most people spend on their car and I would never imagine a headset with surround capabilities would sound anywhere near to what I'm used to when watching movies or listening to music with my 9.2 Energy V set up. I am simply looking for directional sound when gaming and I believe the Sennheiser's I linked in the OP would do the trick. I am trying to stay away from large cans because every gaming headset with large cans I've ever tried on got uncomfortable after a hour or so. I can't seem to find anything with large cans to be as comfortable as what I'm used to with the HD 800's.

Thanks.

 

The reason I do not bother with surround headphones is because games have build in 3d surround engines based on 2 speaker setups.

Even all the way back to Warcarft 3 I quite remember it having a 3d sound engine for surround sound while using standard 2 speaker headphones.

I have played every genre of game under the sun with standard headphones and in all of them I had proper positioning and full surround without any virtual surround added by hardware/software of the headphones themselves or my sound card.

I admit I liked say 3DCMSS on Battlefield 2 but it was hit or miss if it sounded good with a game or not as it was something tacked on by 3rd party and not part of the games original sound engine.

Now the other side of things is using the G930 that has virtual surround sound at the audio drivers level, out of the 6 or so games I tried it with I didnt feel that I got any more "surround" out of them than I did with my regular dac & headphone combo and there were 2 games that outright didnt work and I had other issues like only hear mumble voice out of one speaker since the software drivers were fooling mumble into thinking I had some kind of crazy 7.1 setup when I actually only had 2 speakers sitting on my head.

So I speak out of experience not just opinion when I say the surround gimmickry was not worth it, I didn't gain anything from it and had much to lose.

Soon as I take the time to snap an ownership picture I will be more than happy to sell my brand new G930 to somebody here and give them a home where they are more appreciated.

I am getting a MMX 300 and that will be my last headset that I try before I just stick with mic/headphone combo that works well for me.