Headset/Sound Card combo for 7.1 Surround Gaming

[Amosarthus]

Hey guys,

 

I'm a gamer and I want to buy a good headset and sound card for gaming. I am NOT an audiophile, but I do listen to music. My current headset is a Razer Kraken Pro, which to be honest, was a waste of money as it is NOT the world's most comfortable headset to my ears. I am not using any sound cards, DACs, or AMPs at the moment (don't know much about them). My motherboard is an ASUS P8Z77-V.

 

I mostly play any game titles that I can get my hands on, FPS included. My music preferences might be weird for some as I mostly listen to soundtracks but also enjoy some Linkin Park, Eminem and classical music (not a basshead). But music is not the main issue here as my main concern is for gaming.

 

I was thinking of going for the Tiamat 7.1s as I heard that they have superb 7.1 Surround Sound and to go with them I was looking at the ASUS ROG Xonar Phoebus as a sound card. But I want to hear what people think before actually throwing my cash on them. If you have any suggestions please leave them below. I know Razer headphones suck (I use one) and I know how many audiophile hate them, but the Tiamat got a lot of positive reviews on its 7.1 audio.

 

I know a lot of the audiophiles out there have something against sound cards (I have no idea why) but as I said, not an audiophile here. Just enjoy good music and gaming audio like the rest of us. Hope you guys can help me out here before I make a purchase.

 

Thanks!

 

 

[BaSkA]

To be honest, don't worry with 7.1 surround on headphones.

The distance between the driver (driver, in singular, as most headsets have simulated surround) and your tympanic membrane is too small to even be able to get the difference from a 2.0 stereo headphone. Even on real surround, it's not worth it.

 

From personal experience, I have the V2100 which has "7.1 dolby surround" uuuuhhh! I never use it. The Stereo 2.0 is better overall... and friends of mine that own other surround headphones/headsets tell the same: the difference in games (positional audio) is almost none. Sometimes the bass/explosions are a little "louder" but it has nothing to do with the surround capabilities.

 

My advice: get a headphone + mic combo, it's the best bang for the buck. If you want a headset, just stay away from razer and look for steelseries, corsair and astro products. That's just my opinion from personal experience and taking about a month when I had to choose my headset.

 

Best of luck.

[Amosarthus]

To be honest, don't worry with 7.1 surround on headphones.

The distance between the driver (driver, in singular, as most headsets have simulated surround) and your tympanic membrane is too small to even be able to get the difference from a 2.0 stereo headphone. Even on real surround, it's not worth it.

 

From personal experience, I have the V2100 which has "7.1 dolby surround" uuuuhhh! I never use it. The Stereo 2.0 is better overall... and friends of mine that own other surround headphones/headsets tell the same: the difference in games (positional audio) is almost none. Sometimes the bass/explosions are a little "louder" but it has nothing to do with the surround capabilities.

 

My advice: get a headphone + mic combo, it's the best bang for the buck. If you want a headset, just stay away from razer and look for steelseries, corsair and astro products. That's just my opinion from personal experience and taking about a month when I had to choose my headset.

 

Best of luck.

Do you have any recommendations? Any headphones you like?

[Amosarthus]

Also, will a soundcard make much difference for gaming?

[pas008]

Also, will a soundcard make much difference for gaming?

sbx studios on creative products are great, makes gaming more immersive to me

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BxO9cd-sYA#t=0

[BaSkA]

Do you have any recommendations? Any headphones you like?

Also, will a soundcard make much difference for gaming?

 

I'm not an expert on headphones. I'd say any closed headphone from Sennheiser or Audio Technica are good options. If you need headsets, I'd say the HyperX Cloud, Astro A40, Vengeance 1500 are all good options. I personally like how comfy the A40 and V1500 are.

 

And, as most sound experts from the forum say, a sound card isn't really a good option... onboard audio is usually good enough (and more) so, if you want better audio, you need a DAC+Amp combo. But I wouldn't bother with this for gaming/movies/music only.

[wapChuawawa]

I'm using Tiamat 7.1 and its great. And i'm also a gamers, FPS mostly(CS:GO, COD, etc.).

From my experience the 7.1 at this headset is supeeeerrrbbb for FPS. Top front side back distance footstep from the enemy just cameout clearly. You can adjust individualy to get the exact volume you want to be for measuring distance the enemy, it's help alot for playing FPS. And the mic is just good enough for in game communication. The sub is enough for music or movies. What else...mmm its not heavy at all, earcups comfortly fit at my ear. By the way i'm just using on board sound card on my Gigabyte Z97X-OC Mobo. And in my personal opinion Tiamat 7.1 is worth the buck. And i will recomend you this headset

For references, before Tiamat, i have several headset, i'm using Alienware Tactx,its good to fullfill your need, but not 7.1 , then i have steelseries siberia v2, its also great headset, clear sound, good for FPS/music/movies except durability, i break 3 of this siberia in a year, maybe because too loud playing music, left speaker broke, 2nd because i drop it from my desk, It become noisy, it sound like im in underwater. I sell the 3rd one before i could break it LOL. Or maybe i just have no luck for siberia.

So thats just my personal opinion. Maybe it can help you to make the decision..sorry for my bad english, not my native language hhehe.

[Amosarthus]

I'm not an expert on headphones. I'd say any closed headphone from Sennheiser or Audio Technica are good options. If you need headsets, I'd say the HyperX Cloud, Astro A40, Vengeance 1500 are all good options. I personally like how comfy the A40 and V1500 are.

 

And, as most sound experts from the forum say, a sound card isn't really a good option... onboard audio is usually good enough (and more) so, if you want better audio, you need a DAC+Amp combo. But I wouldn't bother with this for gaming/movies/music only.

Have you used the Cloud? Issit good? I want comfort because the Krakens (although they are marketed as the most comfortable headsets) hurt my left ear when used for long periods of time. Also, V1500 vs V2100? Does wireless degrade sound quality?

[Amosarthus]

I'm using Tiamat 7.1 and its great. And i'm also a gamers, FPS mostly(CS:GO, COD, etc.).

From my experience the 7.1 at this headset is supeeeerrrbbb for FPS. Top front side back distance footstep from the enemy just cameout clearly. You can adjust individualy to get the exact volume you want to be for measuring distance the enemy, it's help alot for playing FPS. And the mic is just good enough for in game communication. The sub is enough for music or movies. What else...mmm its not heavy at all, earcups comfortly fit at my ear. By the way i'm just using on board sound card on my Gigabyte Z97X-OC Mobo. And in my personal opinion Tiamat 7.1 is worth the buck. And i will recomend you this headset

For references, before Tiamat, i have several headset, i'm using Alienware Tactx,its good to fullfill your need, but not 7.1 , then i have steelseries siberia v2, its also great headset, clear sound, good for FPS/music/movies except durability, i break 3 of this siberia in a year, maybe because too loud playing music, left speaker broke, 2nd because i drop it from my desk, It become noisy, it sound like im in underwater. I sell the 3rd one before i could break it LOL. Or maybe i just have no luck for siberia.

So thats just my personal opinion. Maybe it can help you to make the decision..sorry for my bad english, not my native language hhehe.

Thanks for the help, but I think I'm not going for the Tiamat in the near future. Until Surround 7.1 makes more of a difference in games, I think I'll stick with virtual Razer Surround. Btw, how long have you been using the Tiamats? Any wear or tear? Might influence my decision in the future because the Krakens are really horrible. After 1 and a half years, the leatherette cups have torn and the green foam can be seen, tears can be seen on the headband and also the green rubber that coats the bendy part of the mic has torn off. Really sucky. And sad.

[Amosarthus]

Also, are USB headphones better than the ones with 3.5mm jacks? Or is the only difference between them the fact that you can't use the USB connector on your phone?

[BoredErica]

Also, are USB headphones better than the ones with 3.5mm jacks? Or is the only difference between them the fact that you can't use the USB connector on your phone?

USB headphones mean they bypass your onboard sound (or whatever dac/amp you typically use). Which can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the circumstance. (If you're going to get a sound card and then a USB headphone, that would be pretty hilarious.) Razer audio products should be illegal, I'm going to PM a mod now to make any mention of that a bannable offense in this subsection. Seriously, the gamur l337 auwdeeoh gear crap is so old, so stereotypical, and so retarded. Sound cards typically don't make sense because an external amp and dac does what it does and better at the same price. The only reason to get a sound card is a) You are so ridiculously space constrained, you cannot space 4 inches of desk space for anything external B- You are looking for a specific surround sound feature that is only from a few sound cards c) Your onboard sound is toast/glitching out and you need a cheap replacement. A $150 sound card like Asus STX on the other hand makes no sense. You have a dac and amp, it's glued onto your motherboard. Unless it is faulty, you likely won't hear a difference. This might seem like bullshit to you because spending that much money on audio gear seems like a lot so therefore it must make a difference, but that's a faulty assumption. Plus, even if you could, the sound card is outclassed by an external amp/dac.

 

Despite your longer than average OP I saw nothing on a budget. That's probably the best place to start. Figure out what headphone to get, then think about amp/dac if it is needed. Headphones first.

[Amosarthus]

I think I'm going for either a HyperX Cloud or the Vengeance 1500. No more sound card. @BaSkA, which one is better?

[Amosarthus]

USB headphones mean they bypass your onboard sound (or whatever dac/amp you typically use). Which can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the circumstance. (If you're going to get a sound card and then a USB headphone, that would be pretty hilarious.) Razer audio products should be illegal, I'm going to PM a mod now to make any mention of that a bannable offense in this subsection. Seriously, the gamur l337 auwdeeoh gear crap is so old, so stereotypical, and so retarded. Sound cards typically don't make sense because an external amp and dac does what it does and better at the same price. The only reason to get a sound card is a) You are so ridiculously space constrained, you cannot space 4 inches of desk space for anything external B- You are looking for a specific surround sound feature that is only from a few sound cards c) Your onboard sound is toast/glitching out and you need a cheap replacement. A $150 sound card like Asus STX on the other hand makes no sense. You have a dac and amp, it's glued onto your motherboard. Unless it is faulty, you likely won't hear a difference. This might seem like bullshit to you because spending that much money on audio gear seems like a lot so therefore it must make a difference, but that's a faulty assumption. Plus, even if you could, the sound card is outclassed by an external amp/dac.

 

Despite your longer than average OP I saw nothing on a budget. That's probably the best place to start. Figure out what headphone to get, then think about amp/dac if it is needed. Headphones first.

Thanks for the input. Budget for headphones I think now I'll lower to about maximum a V2100's price. Or around there. Currently its Cloud vs V1500.

[BoredErica]

People often like the Clouds in this forum. They should be pretty comfortable and have good sound quality, but the integrated mic while removable, is not that great.

[Amosarthus]

Does the Vengeance have a good mic?

[BoredErica]

Does the Vengeance have a good mic?

Decide for yourself.

http://youtu.be/8iK0SgBfQiQ?t=6m51s