Sennheiser Game Zero - Need some input

[Fhaz]

Hi guys,

 

I bought the Sennheiser Game Zero two days ago and got really exited when it arrived yesterday. Except for the fact that I get really low bass tones, like almost non existent. As far as I could test the microphone, will do some more testing this afternoon didn't have the time yesterday evening, the mic is not that great? At leats I'd expect the mic to be worth the money I spend on the headset..

 

I am not an audio junky and I am in need of some input on what to do here, a friend recommended this website to me since the community is really nice and actually contributes to your question so here I am.

 

I've read a bit about the low bass tones and the low microphone and came up with a variety of answers for people that were using specific hardware. Well I am using the onboard sound card on my Asrock Z77 Extreme4 motherboard which has the Realtek ALC898 chip if I'm correct, and I wonder what would be in my best interest (meaning having great sound quality and a great microphone). There are apperantly no drivers available from the Sennheiser website for the Game Zero headset and what I kind of want to know is, can I get the microphone to work properly and the bass tones to improve by buying a sound card? (preferably I'd like to achieve this without spending more money, but maybe I should stop dreaming and face reality that I bought a stupid overrated product.).

 

Someone stated that if you want to get the maximum out of this headphone I would probably want to buy the http://tweakers.net/pricewatch/320500/creative-sound-blaster-z-%28retail%29/specificaties/, but then again that would be another 80 euros I'd like to keep in my pocket.

 

So that.. or;

I'm on the brink of doing this but maybe I should just return the product and hope I get a refund on my money and buy something totally different..

 

What do you guys think?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Fhaz.

[Fluffinator]

Maybe you could try a EQ boost, or try them on a friends computer to see if it's your on board audio chip that's not functioning correctly, either that or you had too high of expectations on how it would sound. A sound card wouldn't really necessarily make the bass better, it's pretty much all in the headset on how the sound curve will sound. Some headsets have a lot of bass and some don't, like my ATH-M50x's bass sucks but the high's are very good..while listening to my DT 990's the bass is very crisp and natural compared to my ATH-M50x's.. All depends on the headset.

[Fhaz]

Maybe you could try a EQ boost, or try them on a friends computer to see if it's your on board audio chip that's not functioning correctly, either that or you had too high of expectations on how it would sound. A sound card wouldn't really necessarily make the bass better, it's pretty much all in the headset on how the sound curve will sound. Some headsets have a lot of bass and some don't, like my ATH-M50x's bass sucks but the high's are very good..while listening to my DT 990's the bass is very crisp and natural compared to my ATH-M50x's.. All depends on the headset.

 

I'll bring them to a friend this afternoon and test them there, he also uses the on board audio chip. Also, I came across some people stating that after combining the headset with an amp the sound was as promised in most reviews, as was the base. Does that make sense? I don't really know who to trust, as there are people stating that when you use your headset for 100 ish hours the sounds get better, now I am no professional, clearly, but that sounds like bs to me.

 

The second thing I wonderd about, how can I improve the microphone? I bought a new headset in the first place to improve the quality of my microphone ( I had a dull 20 euro headset and wanted something far far better.. )

 

Edit:

 

I went to my volume mixer and selected recording equipement and selected my microphone, in configurations under the tab levels I boosted it to +30 db, now people can hear me but I keep hearing a humm, and when I put the Game Zero to mute (flip the mic all the way up) the hum gets way worse..

Any thoughts on this?

 

And:

from http://www.tomsguide.com/answers/id-2352884/purchased-sennheiser-g4me-headphones-sound-quality-good.html

 

Well, well, well... Not quite - having a amp won't help much, since the source sucks.

Integrated audio is by far the worst way to 'enjoy' sound. Because, face it, there is no way in nine hells that a small chip /that costs several cents/ can be of same build quality as a dedicated sound card or an external dac /both worth about a 100 bucks/. Any component costs money and if you're building cheap crap, you will be skimping on everything extra. The result of that will kick in as distorted sound, no mids, flat bass, cut off highs, clarity drops /f.e. voices can be quite hard to follow, especially in old english movies, instruments are not punchy/...

As to have quote myself here: "as long as you use integrated audio, you won't hear a difference between decent and sub-par headphones."

But back to you, you have three options:

one - get an DAC+AMP - http://www.jdslabs.com/products/48/o2-odac-combo/

two - get a sound card that can power up your headphones - http://www.soundblaster.com/products/Sound-Blaster-X-Fi...

three - use integrated on-board audio and 'enjoy' crappy sound.

 

Are these my options or is this just not true?

 

Edit 2:

 

Went to my friends house and the microphone worked perfectly fine there, without a boos to the microphone, but the bass was still not there. I think, and more people mention this, that the headset simply doesnt support good low tones for a nice bass. So one out of two mysteries are solved, leaving the microphone problem..

He uses his onboard sound chip the Realtek ALC1150, which is an improvement over my ALC898. Would that be the problem then? If so, then I guess upgrading my pc with a sound card would benefit me?

Also I think I'm going to return the headset and ask for a refund, but the next headset I will buy might experience same problems due to the (maybe?) outdated sound chip on my motherboard?

[Fhaz]

Okay I just returned the damn headset and bought the Kingston Hyper X Cloud. Love it, its awesome. Fits all my needs so this topic can be closed

[BoredErica]

Maybe you should have done a tone sweep.