External 7.1CH Audio Output Supported by Headphone?

I am going to be ordering a NP9170 very soon and I am also in the market for some good gaming head phones.

I see in the hardware description that the unit does not have the ports for 7.1 but it says "External 7.1CH Audio Output Supported by Headphone". Are there special headphones it is referring to or does this just mean it will simulate 7.1 through the headphone jack.

Also any recommendations on a good gaming headset would be appreciated (Preferably under $120 but that is not a hard cap).

 

Don't buy a headset, just invest on a good headphone. The internal mic is enough.

 

Here are some decent headphones: RANKED: Best Budget Headphones Under $100 - Business Insider . If I was choosing I'd go with either the Grado or the Audio Technica.

 

I appreciate the responses and I will consider going with just hte headphones but I am still curious about the original question.

Are there special headphones it is referring to when the description mentions "External 7.1CH Audio Output Supported by Headphone". or does this just mean it will simulate 7.1 through the headphone jack.

Also has anyone used the SteelSeries Siberia V2.

 

When they say 7.1 is supported by X, Y, Z, they mean than you need to plug things into those jacks to get more than 2 channels out. You need 4 stereo jacks to get 8 channels of audio out of the laptop. The is a jack that is optical capable, but without DD live or equivalent to encode 5.1 on the fly, you'll only get stereo out of it unless you are streaming from an AC3 type source (DVD, blueray, encoded mkv)

THX TruStudio Pro that comes one these laptops will allow you to simulate 7.1 over headphones, and it works moderately well. It's not as good as Dolby headphone for pin pointing sound locations in FPS games in my personal opinion, but it does a good job of providing space. Most multi speaker 5.1/7.1 headphones are gimics IMHO, and the ones that have a built in Dobly chip or similar are better.




However, most headsets are garbage, and the ones that aren't cost way more than a comparable set of headphones. Buy a nice set of headphones, and use the internal mic or buy an external one.

I use this Amazon.com: HDE® Mini 3.5mm Flexible Microphone for PC/Laptop/Skype: Computers & Accessories
instead of the internal mic. It cuts down on external noise a little bit, as well as feedback when I am using the built in speakers. At $2, I bought 4.

 

Thanks ShadowKntSDS I was figuring it was simulated 7.1 and I agree about the head phones. I was interested in checking out the Turtle Beach Ear Force z64 because it has multiple speakers in each ear to give a truer representation of the individual channels but this laptop does not provide the jacks necessary to use them.

I have read enough reviews about the SteelSeries Siberia V2 headset to give them a go since I am getting them for $55. I know they do not have the same range as the headphones listed earlier but they should be adequate for game play and I like having the ability to physically mute the mic inline.