Headphone/Headset Conundrum

ThrawnFile

Weaksauce
Joined
Feb 7, 2005
Messages
70
Alright, I tried and failed earlier so I suppose I will narrow my inquiry more. I am in need of a quality headset/headphone for gaming, music, movies, general use. I use onboard sound (VIA Envy24PT) and have no room for expansion (shuttle SN25P, where I managed to cram a GeForce 7900GTX-dual slot into) though I would love to put an X-Fi in my system.

I’ve been reading a bit more, and it seems that some crowd favorites are the Senn-HD595s and the Medusa 5.1 cans. I can forgo the headset for a separate mic, but given the limitations of my chipset I don’t know what would be better. I’ve also been reading over the specs of the Senns and Grado cans and noticed that they are both below the normal impedance (50 and 32 ohms) of many lesser makes/models. Does that still warrant the need for a separate amp, or will the jack be able to push enough power to fully utilize them.

Now I understand that the nature of surround sound and 2 speaker headphones are based on an opinion as much as actual clarity and quality, but with out the next gen audio processing on the X-Fi card would the 5.1s offer better positional audio for gaming/movies? I suppose I’m willing to forgo the ultimate music listening setup for the ability to locate an opponent by sound before I see them. At the same time I play a lot of WoW as well, where sound doesn’t play as much of a role.

I guess I’m stuck as to deciding what I want as much as what I need to achieve it. And since I don’t want to blow money on crap hardware for the same price as some comparable if not better speaker systems … I need to justify a pair of $200-$300 headphones for more than to not annoy the hell out of my girlfriend.
 
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