Gaming headset usb or 3.5 jack?

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alphaqforever247

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I do have a x-fi card looking for a new headset under 100 dollars. i notice there are alot of usb headsets now are these better? any recommendations on headsets?
 
i thought using a usb headset would take sound cards out of the equation...
 
When you pay for a USB headset a half or a third of the budget is effectively going to the built in DAC that lets you hook it up via USB... If you already have a decent sound card you might as well just get a pair of solid stereo headphones (analog/3.5mm).

Do you need a closed pair for isolation or to not bother others or is open fine? Will you use it primarily for gaming or also music or movies?
 
Impulse said:
When you pay for a USB headset a half or a third of the budget is effectively going to the built in DAC that lets you hook it up via USB... If you already have a decent sound card you might as well just get a pair of solid stereo headphones (analog/3.5mm).

Do you need a closed pair for isolation or to not bother others or is open fine? Will you use it primarily for gaming or also music or movies?
Click to expand...

I would like an open ear one so I can kinda hear what's going on around me. I will mainly use it for gaming then movies then music. Currently t I have a plantronics game con 377 that just snapped on me. I taped it still works but annoying



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I'm not big on actual headsets because I find most of them to be a pretty poor value compared to good headphones that are in their same price range (and adding a mic should realistically be negligible to the cost of building a headset). There's a few high end exceptions like the Sennheiser PC360 (or PC350 but that one's closed IIRC), I hear even one of the analog Tritton AX headsets is pretty decent (also closed tho).

In light of that, I'm just gonna toss out a couple headphone recommendations, you can pair any of them with something as cheap as a $5 Zalman clip on mic (it'll get the job done but it picks up background noise like whoa) or you can spend a little more for something like the $30 Antlion ModMic... It's a bit overpriced, but the magnet mounting system for attaching the boom mic to any headphone is clever and elegant, and the mic is pretty darn good (clearer and picks up less noise than a Zalman clip). You could mod something cheaper with a Labtec mic and duct tape but it won't be as snazzy. :p

As for headphones, the Samson SR850 are an excellent value for open headphones; one of the best sub-$100 options, specially for gaming since they've got an excellent sound stage. Stock pads are a little meh but they aren't hard to mod if you wanna improve comfort. Personally I think something like the JVC RX700 or Creative Aurvana Live are better for movies/music (more fun sounding) but they don't have the SR850's sound stage and detail (those two still do pretty decent with sound positioning, they're both closed but vented so they don't isolate a lot, specially the CAL). They're also more comfortable IMO tho.

Moving on up the price scale, specially since you'll probably spot holiday deals on some of these, the Sennheiser HD518 or even a used pair of HD558 are two very good choices right around $100 (I've only heard the latter, can't vouch for the 518). Richer sounding than the SR850 and still very good at positioning, also better with music (very nice mid-range). Apparently you can get barely used (possibly returns) 558's from some Amazon merchants.

Audio Technica ATH-AD700 are another very popular recommendation for gaming around $100, and I guess if online gaming's all you'd use them for then they're great (expansive sound stage)... They're very bass light tho, makes music/movies sound bland IMO, to me they're not worth the money as general use headphones.
 
Impulse said:
I'm not big on actual headsets because I find most of them to be a pretty poor value compared to good headphones that are in their same price range (and adding a mic should realistically be negligible to the cost of building a headset). There's a few high end exceptions like the Sennheiser PC360 (or PC350 but that one's closed IIRC), I hear even one of the analog Tritton AX headsets is pretty decent (also closed tho).

In light of that, I'm just gonna toss out a couple headphone recommendations, you can pair any of them with something as cheap as a $5 Zalman clip on mic (it'll get the job done but it picks up background noise like whoa) or you can spend a little more for something like the $30 Antlion ModMic... It's a bit overpriced, but the magnet mounting system for attaching the boom mic to any headphone is clever and elegant, and the mic is pretty darn good (clearer and picks up less noise than a Zalman clip). You could mod something cheaper with a Labtec mic and duct tape but it won't be as snazzy. :p

As for headphones, the Samson SR850 are an excellent value for open headphones; one of the best sub-$100 options, specially for gaming since they've got an excellent sound stage. Stock pads are a little meh but they aren't hard to mod if you wanna improve comfort. Personally I think something like the JVC RX700 or Creative Aurvana Live are better for movies/music (more fun sounding) but they don't have the SR850's sound stage and detail (those two still do pretty decent with sound positioning, they're both closed but vented so they don't isolate a lot, specially the CAL). They're also more comfortable IMO tho.

Moving on up the price scale, specially since you'll probably spot holiday deals on some of these, the Sennheiser HD518 or even a used pair of HD558 are two very good choices right around $100 (I've only heard the latter, can't vouch for the 518). Richer sounding than the SR850 and still very good at positioning, also better with music (very nice mid-range). Apparently you can get barely used (possibly returns) 558's from some Amazon merchants.

Audio Technica ATH-AD700 are another very popular recommendation for gaming around $100, and I guess if online gaming's all you'd use them for then they're great (expansive sound stage)... They're very bass light tho, makes music/movies sound bland IMO, to me they're not worth the money as general use headphones.
Click to expand...

hey thanks for the reply really considering the samsons, looked them up great reviews. do u have a link to the zalman microphone? or any other mics you would recommend?
 
Zalman:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00029MTMQ?ie=UTF8&force-full-site=1&ref_=aw_bottom_links

Modmic:
www.modmic.com - They used to sell it at Amazon but it seems they've been having supply issues with newer revisions so it's only sold direct right now, you can still look it up on Amazon to read the reviews tho. They assemble and test the bits stateside and it seems some batches failed their QC, hence the delays as of late.

A sound card's technically a DAC, anything that converts digital audio info to analog has a DAC in it... In common parlance around here DAC is usually shorthand for external/USB sound cards or DACs. External DAC can have some advantages like no dependency on drivers if you're using USB, cleaner environment, etc. They won't do CMSS-3D or Dolby Headphone tho, if you're a fan of such things.

The X-fi's a solid sound card tho, I wouldn't upgrade/change it at all before getting new headphones, speakers and headphones will make far more of a difference than source (unless the source is particularly bad, like old mobo audio).
 
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