Need a new soundcard, headphones, mic

  • Thread starter Deleted member 89137
  • Start date
D

Deleted member 89137

Guest
So I decided it is probably about time to retire my HD485's that are falling apart, my pos onboard sound card is pretty lame, and my microphone just decided to stop working.

Budget is about $300usd
Microphone doesn't need to be anything special, preferably something that I can clipon to my headphones, as long as it doesn't sound too terrible I could care less.
I like listening to bass-heavy music and playing FPS games, so headphones with a good 3d layout would be ideal. I notice with my HD485's it's pretty hard to tell which direction shots are coming from, much easier with my half-broken steelseries 5H. Too bad those don't work at all anymore, piece of advice: never buy steelseries anything, it's just overpriced garbage.

I have been told the beyerdynamic dt770's are pretty good, but they cost a bit more than I want to pay, unless someone can find me a deal on them (I recall seeing them on amazon a while ago for $110 ish)

Sound cards I have no clue. I've only owned an audigy 2 and audigy 2 ZS, and have been sticking it out with my onboard for a while.
 
DT770s are used on Head-Fi FS/FT for roughly $100-150 all the bloody time. If you're patient, an awesome deal. I think they also surplus some models to eBay occasionally.

If this is primarily / exclusively for headphones, Xonar Essence STX is basically the big dog. There are a few other headphone-oriented cards out there as well. External + a full headphone amp would be better, but possibly more than you want to bite off.
 
alright, a few things and questions, questions first:

1) are you sure the mic is broken, or is the onboard at fault? (you mentioned its not the greatest)
2) anything wrong with the Audigy 2 or ZS?

things now:

1) you'll get better surround/immersion with stereo headphones if you have something like CMSS (Creative cards) or Dolby Headphone (C-Media cards), I would suggest this over 5.1 headphones for quality reasons (as you've already experienced with your steelseries "gamer" products)

2) the Audigy 2 boards support CMSS (why you bought the ZS after owning the 2?) and would be just dandy for what you want to do here, so if theres nothing wrong with one or the other, I'd do that, I'd take the ZS just because its 7.1, no real other reason

3) theres plenty of good stereo headphones out there, generally open headphones are considered to have better positioning, but this isn't always true (for example Bose TriPort AE's have pretty good localization due to the enclosure design and driver placement, and they're basically closed), common suggestions you're likely to receive include AudioTechnica ATH-AD700 and Sennheiser HD-555, nothing is wrong with either of those and they'd likely both serve you quite well, theres other options as well, like the Denon AH-D1001's, M-Audio Q40's, Sony MDR-V6, etc

4) for a mic, the Zalman clip mic is a fairly popular budget choice, personally I either grab the $1.99 boom mics at Big Lots or a more legit studio/stage mic out of my bag (I also have the equipment for this, I wouldn't suggest spending >$100 on a mic setup just for gaming)

5) if you need a new soundcard, I would suggest Creative, HT Omega, Auzen, and Asus, I like the Auzen X-Plosion and HT Omega Striker, as well as the Creative X-Fi Fatal1ty Pro (yes these are all PCI cards), if you want to get a bit more specialized, the Auzen X-Fi Forte, HT Omega Claro Halo, or Asus Xonar Essence STX would be nice picks, boards I would avoid include the Auzen X-Fi Bravura, Creative X-Fi XtremeAudio, and Auzen X-Studio
depending on availability, the bgears b-Enspirer is a top pick (uses the same processor as the Xonar D2/D2x, has same features, etc), costs around $100, Newegg has at least one right now (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829127002&cm_re=bgears-_-29-127-002-_-Product), but they don't tend to stay available for long periods of time (yes I would take this over any of the previously mentioned cards excepting the Claro Halo and Essence STX, based on price and performance (Claro Halo and Essence STX have the same processor as the bgears, but add a headphone amp and some other features, Forte, while featuring a headphone amp, doesn't offer much else that makes it special imho))
 
obobski said:
alright, a few things and questions, questions first:

1) are you sure the mic is broken, or is the onboard at fault? (you mentioned its not the greatest)
2) anything wrong with the Audigy 2 or ZS?

things now:

1) you'll get better surround/immersion with stereo headphones if you have something like CMSS (Creative cards) or Dolby Headphone (C-Media cards), I would suggest this over 5.1 headphones for quality reasons (as you've already experienced with your steelseries "gamer" products)

2) the Audigy 2 boards support CMSS (why you bought the ZS after owning the 2?) and would be just dandy for what you want to do here, so if theres nothing wrong with one or the other, I'd do that, I'd take the ZS just because its 7.1, no real other reason

3) theres plenty of good stereo headphones out there, generally open headphones are considered to have better positioning, but this isn't always true (for example Bose TriPort AE's have pretty good localization due to the enclosure design and driver placement, and they're basically closed), common suggestions you're likely to receive include AudioTechnica ATH-AD700 and Sennheiser HD-555, nothing is wrong with either of those and they'd likely both serve you quite well, theres other options as well, like the Denon AH-D1001's, M-Audio Q40's, Sony MDR-V6, etc

4) for a mic, the Zalman clip mic is a fairly popular budget choice, personally I either grab the $1.99 boom mics at Big Lots or a more legit studio/stage mic out of my bag (I also have the equipment for this, I wouldn't suggest spending >$100 on a mic setup just for gaming)

5) if you need a new soundcard, I would suggest Creative, HT Omega, Auzen, and Asus, I like the Auzen X-Plosion and HT Omega Striker, as well as the Creative X-Fi Fatal1ty Pro (yes these are all PCI cards), if you want to get a bit more specialized, the Auzen X-Fi Forte, HT Omega Claro Halo, or Asus Xonar Essence STX would be nice picks, boards I would avoid include the Auzen X-Fi Bravura, Creative X-Fi XtremeAudio, and Auzen X-Studio
depending on availability, the bgears b-Enspirer is a top pick (uses the same processor as the Xonar D2/D2x, has same features, etc), costs around $100, Newegg has at least one right now (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829127002&cm_re=bgears-_-29-127-002-_-Product), but they don't tend to stay available for long periods of time (yes I would take this over any of the previously mentioned cards excepting the Claro Halo and Essence STX, based on price and performance (Claro Halo and Essence STX have the same processor as the bgears, but add a headphone amp and some other features, Forte, while featuring a headphone amp, doesn't offer much else that makes it special imho))
Click to expand...

I got the ZS for free.
The microphone I broke.

The audigy 2's both make very loud buzzing sounds through my headphones and speakers when turned up. The ZS is broken in some way, the volume at maximum is very quiet, and the microphone when it worked was barely audible with +20db boost and maximum volume.

I use speakers too, a pair of yamahas (listed in my sig), but they are powered from an ancient pioneer sx-780 receiver, but oldness aside they sound pretty damn good.

As for surround sound headphones, I don't recall mentioning them in my OP, and would definitely like to stray far far away from those things.
 
elite.mafia said:
I got the ZS for free.
The microphone I broke.

The audigy 2's both make very loud buzzing sounds through my headphones and speakers when turned up. The ZS is broken in some way, the volume at maximum is very quiet, and the microphone when it worked was barely audible with +20db boost and maximum volume.

I use speakers too, a pair of yamahas (listed in my sig), but they are powered from an ancient pioneer sx-780 receiver, but oldness aside they sound pretty damn good.

As for surround sound headphones, I don't recall mentioning them in my OP, and would definitely like to stray far far away from those things.
Click to expand...

alright, was thinking the Audigy boards might be trashed if they weren't being used
reason I mentioned surround headphones, you said "good 3D layout", normally people mean "it has to be 9000.9000 sound" by that, sorry for the confusion

you mention a receiver, use that as your headphone amp, ditch the notion of a headphone amp card, grab the bgears and a cheap clip/boom mic, have ~$180 for headphones, ????, profit
 
Only thing about that bgears card is it says it's powered by a C-Media CMI8788 chipset. Pretty sure that's not what the asus card is powered by..
 
elite.mafia said:
Only thing about that bgears card is it says it's powered by a C-Media CMI8788 chipset. Pretty sure that's not what the asus card is powered by..
Click to expand...

guarantee you it is

some links, because I don't feel like having a flame-war with you over marketed specifications (for no real reason):
http://www.pcper.com/comments.php?nid=5970
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1287309
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/259957-28-media-cmi8788-chipset-versus-asus-av200
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2007/09/03/asus_xonar_d2/1

ignore me/facts if you want, I really don't care either way
 
The chip used on the Asus cards is indeed a "rebranded" C-Media OxygenHD 8788. Asus would have you believe it's something they created specifically for their cards, but that most assuredly is not the case :)
 
phide said:
The chip used on the Asus cards is indeed a "rebranded" C-Media OxygenHD 8788. Asus would have you believe it's something they created specifically for their cards, but that most assuredly is not the case :)
Click to expand...

That's the DSP chip, yes? Somehow, I don't think that's the whole card by any means.
 
ashmedai said:
That's the DSP chip, yes? Somehow, I don't think that's the whole card by any means.
Click to expand...

yes, the DSP

no, the b-Enspirier is not a 1:1 clone of the D2x, but they have the same feature-set, same DSP, identical performance (in terms of compute abilities), only thing that "changes" is the output circuitry, name, and price (the bgears uses, tmk, the reference C-Media design for that chip, the Asus board uses a modified reference design, it also costs more, both measure excellent)

the Striker and X-Plosion use the 8770 and cost about $10 less than the b-Enspirer, no reason to avoid the better processor and features over $10, just a price/performance advantage over the D2/D2x
 
phide said:
I don't think any smartass responses are warranted quite yet, ash.
Click to expand...

Right, so, how is it relevant that all existing sound cards use one of a pool of ~3 DSP chips? (exaggerating somewhat, obviously, but not by that much)
 
ashmedai said:
Right, so, how is it relevant that all existing sound cards use one of a pool of ~3 DSP chips? (exaggerating somewhat, obviously, but not by that much)
Click to expand...

sorry if thats what you got from my post, I tried to explain my logic up above for why I'd take the b-gears over the Striker/X-PLOSION

as far as how its otherwise relevant (and I think you're actually dead on at 3, at least for current production, could *maybe* argue for 4 if you count the poser X-Fi's), not having to spend as much cash to get the same features is always good, no? (assuming you aren't using the extra features of the more expensive product)
 
I'm confused too. I think I may have missed something - I should point out that I don't see obobski's posts because I got tired of him trolling and posting bogus info repeatedly.

E.M, if isolation isn't a big thing, there are 3x DT990 up on Head-Fi FS/FT for $125CD to $210 right now. They'd sound a bit better, if a tad weaker in the bass.
 
Can we not have a flame war here and actually recommend me a good sound card? I have never heard of bgears, and from what it would seem the ONLY thing that card has going for it is it's price and the chipset, other than that, I don't really think I'd touch it. Half the reviews on newegg (yeah I know 99% of the reviews on their are by 4 year olds) say that their card died after just over a year...
 
obobski gave you some good recommendations. Most of the C-Media-based cards are similar enough that you won't really be able to tell the difference between any of them. I'd show a slight preference toward the Asus or Sondigo cards, but you'd be fine with either. The X-Fis are still decent and seem to work fairly well on Windows 7, so those aren't a "bad" option either.

Your budget does shut you out of some of the higher-end stuff that I'd be more inclined to recommend, though.
 
elite.mafia said:
Can we not have a flame war here and actually recommend me a good sound card? I have never heard of bgears, and from what it would seem the ONLY thing that card has going for it is it's price and the chipset, other than that, I don't really think I'd touch it. Half the reviews on newegg (yeah I know 99% of the reviews on their are by 4 year olds) say that their card died after just over a year...
Click to expand...

honestly I'd ignore newegg reviews


if you don't want to bother with it, as I said earlier, HT Omega Striker or Auzen X-Plosion are also good choices, or spend some more and get the D2 (which will have the same features as the bgears, awesome lighted sockets (idk, I've always liked this feature), and Asus drivers and support, granted, it costs more)), the HT Omega and Auzen have nearly the same featureset, D2x has 1:1 features plus Asus' EAX emulation (which I'm really not certain on its performance, you really shouldn't need it in Windows Vista/7 though)

other than those three, Creative's X-Fi Fatal1ty Pro is nice (again, previously mentioned)

if you need PCIe, the D2x from Asus is an option (PCIe bridged version of the D2), the Fatal1ty Titanium (not the thing with the front bay, the black PCIe card) is also a decent board, not too many other PCIe options in the ~$100-$150 range (HT Omega doesn't have PCIe cards TMK)

phide said:
obobski gave you some good recommendations. Most of the C-Media-based cards are similar enough that you won't really be able to tell the difference between any of them. I'd show a slight preference toward the Asus or Sondigo cards, but you'd be fine with either. The X-Fis are still decent and seem to work fairly well on Windows 7, so those aren't a "bad" option either.

Your budget does shut you out of some of the higher-end stuff that I'd be more inclined to recommend, though.
Click to expand...


SONDIGO!
that was the other C-Media vendor I was trying to remember the name of
the Inferno 7.1 was their 8788 offering
http://www.sondigo.com/inferno
 
Well I bought the bgears at microcenter, was 109.99 + tax compared to 105 + shipping on the egg.

Now I just need some headphones. I got a some audio-technica mic, it was 8 bucks, looked very similar to the one I previously had...

So I guess $200 is my budget for headphones.. Should I get the beyerdynamic dt770's then? My current (sennheiser hd485) headphones are open, so IDK if I will like the closed setup. I like being able to hear myself talk when I'm gaming. Any other suggestions that are open?
 
well i don't think that sound card has a headphone amp so watch which dt770's you get, some might not sound that great unamped. actually, i think all those dt770's should be amped, so maybe you should figure that into your budget.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top