New Gaming Headset-USB/Analogue?

[Slightly Quarky]

I'm looking to buy a new gaming headset, and I ask the age-old question of: USB or Analogue?

I've had a decent USB headset, a Microsoft Lifechat LX-3000, for almost 4 years now, and the sound from it is quite nice, and the microphone is good too. (Only recently has it started to go iffy so I'm getting a new headset)

If I go analogue, I'd have to get a sound card, most likely the Asus Xonar DX. Any other suggestions for decent sound cards would be appreciated, because I only have my Asus P8P67's onboard sound at the moment.
I'm not sure which analogue headset to get, I'd like to have a microphone of course, and maybe surround sound? I've heard conflicting stories about surround sound in headsets, but I'd appreciate some input.

If I go USB, I wouldn't have to spring for a sound card, but again, I have no real idea of which headset to buy. I was looking at surround sound ones again, like the Logitech G35s, but some opinions and suggestions would be helpful.

I'd prefer circumaurals over other types of headsets.

For a budget, I have a relatively high budget, maybe around $150-200 being the limit, in total, mind you, so I won't go for a $150 sound card and a $200 analogue headset.

Bottom line:
Want a new gaming headset- USB or Analogue?
If analogue, need a sound card. Asus Xonar DX?
Any suggestions for usb and analogue headsets.
Surround sound?
Preferably circumaural.

Thanks. If anyone needs any more info, I'd be happy to give it, within reason.

 

[PP Mguire]

Unless you're buying some studio quality (usually 700+) cans then a sound card isn't needed.

I personally want the Mass Effect Razer 5.1 wireless headset but I wont be spending 200 on headphones before I replace my current 2.1.

You got all kinds of decent setups in that price range. I wouldn't go surround unless you're ok with emulated because 90% are.

 

[Apokalipse]

Your motherboard comes with an onboard sound card, so there's no point getting a USB headset which is likely to have a comparable DAC anyway. And you are still open to being able to upgrade either one.

Also, I think 5.1 sound in headphones are useless.
Even if the headphones actually do have extra drivers for 5.1 sound, all that means is the drivers themselves will have to be made more cheaply anyway.

For a budget, I have a relatively high budget, maybe around $150-200 being the limit

Audio Technica AD700's (~$100)
Beyerdynamic DT440's (~$130)
AKG K242HD's (~$150)
Audio Technica AD900's (~$185)

Zalman microphone (<$4)

SMSL SD-1305A (~$55)
Can use optical out from any other sound card, including the onboard motherboard sound, or an X-Fi/Recon3D if you want EAX effects, etc

 

[Slightly Quarky]

Unless you're buying some studio quality (usually 700+) cans then a sound card isn't needed.

I personally want the Mass Effect Razer 5.1 wireless headset but I wont be spending 200 on headphones before I replace my current 2.1.

You got all kinds of decent setups in that price range. I wouldn't go surround unless you're ok with emulated because 90% are.

Alright, so I won't really have to spring for a sound card then, which is good.
I'm no audiophile, could you explain what emulated means, in terms of surround sound?

Your motherboard comes with an onboard sound card, so there's no point getting a USB headset which is likely to have a comparable DAC anyway. And you are still open to being able to upgrade either one.

Also, I think 5.1 sound in headphones are useless.
Even if the headphones actually do have extra drivers for 5.1 sound, all that means is the drivers themselves will have to be made more cheaply anyway.


Audio Technica AD700's (~$100)
Beyerdynamic DT440's (~$130)
AKG K242HD's (~$150)
Audio Technica AD900's (~$185)

Zalman microphone (<$4)

SMSL SD-1305A (~$55)
Can use optical out from any other sound card, including the onboard motherboard sound, or an X-Fi/Recon3D if you want EAX effects, etc

Okay, so surround is pretty much out of the question. It was an interesting thought though.
xD Is it bad I've never heard of any of those brands you've given me? However they do look nice, especially with some of these reviews.

I must ask, do noise cancelling headphones degrade sound quality in any way? I noticed none that you've linked are noise cancelling (or maybe I'm just stupid and can't recognize them), is there a reason for this? Or it is just preference?

 

[Apokalipse]

Alright, so I won't really have to spring for a sound card then, which is good.
I'm no audiophile, could you explain what emulated means, in terms of surround sound?

Emulated means it mixes 5.1 input into two channels, played back by two physical drivers.

xD Is it bad I've never heard of any of those brands you've given me? However they do look nice, especially with some of these reviews.

Those brands tend to produce headphones that are actually good. But you don't really find them in a lot of retail electronic stores.

Brands like Beats and skullcandy are highly overpriced, underperforming, and are sold to the masses who don't know any better, for the same reason they sell HDMI cables for well over $100. They have huge profit margins, and are simply not worth that amount of money.

Sennheiser is somewhat of an exception, they do produce some pretty decent headphones - although they have a whole bunch of mediocre ones too.

In terms of the sound quality you can get for the money, Sennheiser headphones range from being below average to fairly close to the good brands.

I must ask, do noise cancelling headphones degrade sound quality in any way?

Yes.
Basically, noise cancelling works by recording the background sound, and playing back an inverted wave through the headphones that cancels it out.

It will reduce the background noise you hear, but microphones are not perfect (especially cheap ones), and there is latency involved. So it will colour the sound.

If you really want to reduce background noise, it's generally better just to have better isolation (which you get from closed headphones)

However, with closed headphones, because there is restricted air movement (and therefore driver movement), they tend to have lower sound quality than open headphones. So there's another general tradeoff.

All the headphones I listed are open design.
Personally, I would suggest open headphones unless isolation is really important to you (maybe if you intended to wear them while travelling)

 

[Slightly Quarky]

Emulated means it mixes 5.1 input into two channels, played back by two physical drivers.

Those brands tend to produce headphones that are actually good. But you don't really find them in a lot of retail electronic stores.

Brands like Beats and skullcandy are highly overpriced, underperforming, and are sold to the masses who don't know any better, for the same reason they sell HDMI cables for well over $100. They have huge profit margins, and are simply not worth that amount of money.

Sennheiser is somewhat of an exception, they do produce some pretty decent headphones - although they have a whole bunch of mediocre ones too.

In terms of the sound quality you can get for the money, Sennheiser headphones range from being below average to fairly close to the good brands.

Yes.
Basically, noise cancelling works by recording the background sound, and playing back an inverted wave through the headphones that cancels it out.

It will reduce the background noise you hear, but microphones are not perfect (especially cheap ones), and there is latency involved. So it will colour the sound.

If you really want to reduce background noise, it's generally better just to have better isolation (which you get from closed headphones)

However, with closed headphones, because there is restricted air movement (and therefore driver movement), they tend to have lower sound quality than open headphones. So there's another general tradeoff.

All the headphones I listed are open design.
Personally, I would suggest open headphones unless isolation is really important to you (maybe if you intended to wear them while travelling)

Yeah, I assumed that normal electronic stores don't really carry those brands, the only ones I've seen are Sennheisers, and even then there's not much. Although I have learned to stay away from brands like Skullcandy.

Huh. I never knew noise cancelling headphones did that, I assumed they just enclosed your whole ear and that was it.
I probably will try open headphones now, they do seem to be better in a way, I don't really need isolation much, I just like to listen to music/games quite loud sometimes, so I'm worried that the noise would spill out. But that's not really a worry anymore, seeing as I won't use these for travel.

Thanks for the feedback and information, I'll definitely look into those ones you've suggested and any others I can find with good reviews.

~Edit:
It seems that Audio-Technica have a really good record, looking at a bunch of reviews of their products, would it be a good idea to try and go for one of their headphones? I'm trying to save as much money as possible, and their AD-500s are on sale for 55 dollars on Amazon, which seems like a good enough deal. I know the AD-700s are reduced a lot from their original price, but I'd like to keep my options open.

 

[PP Mguire]

In terms of all forms of pure audio the brands he linked are very very good. Just to put that out there if you wanted a second opinion.

As for surround, I know some people who swear by it, emulated or not. IMO if you want good surround then buy a true 5.1 speaker setup to get the full effect or it's wasted.

 

[Apokalipse]

As far as surround goes, think about this:
• Let's say the headphones manufacturer is spending $90 to manufacture just the drivers. If they put 6 drivers in the headphones (5.1), that means each driver has to be made for $15 each.
But if there are only two drivers, they can be made for $45 each. Which means the drivers are going to be better.
• You have two ears. In order to determine direction, your brain has to do background processing. With the right set of programming and/or hardware, this can be emulated with only the two drivers in standard headphones.

The X-Fi's do a decent job at this, with their hardware acceleration. Though unfortunately, Microsoft removed support for hardware accelerated audio in DirectX 10/11. So Creative had to create a wrapper to do it via OpenAL instead.

Though as far as sound quality itself goes (which depends on the DAC stage), Creative have historically tended to be less than stellar. Although some of their more recent cards are not bad (the Titanium HD competes well with Asus cards).

If you want good surround audio processing and good sound quality, you can simply use an external DAC via digital (optical or coax) output from a cheap X-Fi/Recon3D, and not worry about whether the DAC on the X-Fi/Recon3D is any good (because you won't be using it).

But if you go for 5.1 headphones, you will be sacrificing sound quality for any given amount of money anyway. Plus, it's something that none of the high-end (sound quality wise) headphone brands bother with.

It seems that Audio-Technica have a really good record, looking at a bunch of reviews of their products, would it be a good idea to try and go for one of their headphones? I'm trying to save as much money as possible, and their AD-500s are on sale for 55 dollars on Amazon, which seems like a good enough deal. I know the AD-700s are reduced a lot from their original price, but I'd like to keep my options open.

I use AD900's personally. What I like about them are:
• The drivers are fast, and produce details well
• They have low impedance, which means you don't have to have an amp for them to sound good (some headphones which have high impedance really need an amp)
• They're comfortable, and very light on the head

Anyway, I'd probably suggest at least the AD700's. For something like headphones, I think it's better in the long term to just get something good to begin with. They don't exactly become obsolete the way PC components do. As long as you don't break them, they'll work just as well years down the road.

 

[Slightly Quarky]

As far as surround goes, think about this:
• Let's say the headphones manufacturer is spending $90 to manufacture just the drivers. If they put 6 drivers in the headphones (5.1), that means each driver has to be made for $15 each.
But if there are only two drivers, they can be made for $45 each. Which means the drivers are going to be better.
• You have two ears. In order to determine direction, your brain has to do background processing. With the right set of programming and/or hardware, this can be emulated with only the two drivers in standard headphones.

The X-Fi's do a decent job at this, with their hardware acceleration. Though unfortunately, Microsoft removed support for hardware accelerated audio in DirectX 10/11. So Creative had to create a wrapper to do it via OpenAL instead.

Though as far as sound quality itself goes (which depends on the DAC stage), Creative have historically tended to be less than stellar. Although some of their more recent cards are not bad (the Titanium HD competes well with Asus cards).

If you want good surround audio processing and good sound quality, you can simply use an external DAC via digital (optical or coax) output from a cheap X-Fi/Recon3D, and not worry about whether the DAC on the X-Fi/Recon3D is any good (because you won't be using it).

But if you go for 5.1 headphones, you will be sacrificing sound quality for any given amount of money anyway. Plus, it's something that none of the high-end (sound quality wise) headphone brands bother with.

I use AD900's personally. What I like about them are:
• The drivers are fast, and produce details well
• They have low impedance, which means you don't have to have an amp for them to sound good (some headphones which have high impedance really need an amp)
• They're comfortable, and very light on the head

Anyway, I'd probably suggest at least the AD700's. For something like headphones, I think it's better in the long term to just get something good to begin with. They don't exactly become obsolete the way PC components do. As long as you don't break them, they'll work just as well years down the road.

Alright, I'll probably go for the AD700's then, in that case. Would it be beneficial if I bought a sound card, or would my onboard audio, a Realtek ALC 892, be good enough for the AD700's?

 

[Apokalipse]

Onboard sound can vary in quality. These days, it's usually not bad. Though a decent sound card will improve on it.

You could get one of these:
Hi-Fi Audio DAC SD-192 Optical / Coaxial Decoder 24BIT/192Khz RCA & 3.5MM Output | eBay
MUSE Mini 24Bit 192Khz Coaxial Optical USB Input DAC Headphone Out,Black | eBay
and use optical out from your motherboard