Help!!!! I can't decide!!!

[HaxEJxuK]

So, this is first time me and my brother is going to jump on nice(not nicest) headphone/headset, sound card and mic if going headphone route. I concentrated more on performance than sound. So I searched and read threads but more I read it more confusing it got. First I'll let my brother buy a set up and be guineapig. Also, this set up will be mainly for gaming

It seems that getting nice headphone and mic is better route than headset as sound quility is much better looking most of threads. As far as head phone goes, people seem to like HD555 or AD700(well, this one is in price range) but I'm open to anything at this point. Sound card wise, no idea as lots of people stated issues with creative cards, read somewhere that Auzentech uses different chip now which aren't as good as it used to be, maybe Xonar DX or D1??? I think I read somewhere that chip that was used in Auzentech cards are now used by only xonar. hmmmmm mic, Zalman would be good enough? I mean it's not next to mouth but like on you chest. I affraid that i have to yell to get it to work. Sometimes I'll gaming while my wife is sleeping.

I guess you get the point and I'm sure this was covered some where but by peices.

Can you recommand headphone/headset, sound card and mic(if you recommand headphone) strictly for gaming that is in $200 range for all?

Thank you very much!

EDIT:

I'llbe reinstalling windows for my brother and thinking about Vista for eye candy in games but will still use XP 64 if sound card has issue with Vista. Also Both him and I play FPS so good positional would be nice.

 

[kool bubba ice]

Not to ruffle feathers, but the 555/700 are so popular cause they are 'cheap' & offer a good bang for the buck. They might be the 'best' at that price point, but you could do much better. Depends on your budget. Are you a competitive gamer or more casual?

 

[ashmedai]

JVC HA-RX700
Zalman mic (clips on the headphone cable)
Zero DAC/amp (takes S/PDIF input from whatever you have onboard)

Couldn't hurt to come back later and get something like DT880s or HD650s.

 

[persisting1]

If this is only going to be a gaming rig, I wouldn't go Vista.

 

[spaceman]

He has XP and wants good positioning.

For that, at that budget, I would get an X-FI Titanium, the $100 one without the cover, a pair of the Koss SB40 and/or the JVC 700 w/ a zalman mic. You can get both headphones and go with whichever one does the best positional audio. I just don't know about the 700 yet but the koss sure as heck does positioning well.

 

[HaxEJxuK]

Not to ruffle feathers, but the 555/700 are so popular cause they are 'cheap' & offer a good bang for the buck. They might be the 'best' at that price point, but you could do much better. Depends on your budget. Are you a competitive gamer or more casual?

Me and my brother is casual players. Don't compete or anything, I don't even have time to lol. I built many many PCs but this is going to be my first time buying sound card cause I spent all money to nicer CPU/RAM/GPU if I had money for sound card.

JVC HA-RX700
Zalman mic (clips on the headphone cable)
Zero DAC/amp (takes S/PDIF input from whatever you have onboard)

Couldn't hurt to come back later and get something like DT880s or HD650s.

I just found about JVC HA-RX700 before reading your reply. It seems nice alternative since reviewers are saying it performs as good as A900 for around $30 which is pretty hard to believe since A900 is about $250. Also I take Zalman mic is good? nice and clear?

If this is only going to be a gaming rig, I wouldn't go Vista.

Hmmmm what would be the reason for this? Dropped FPS compared to XP? Some games don't show eye candy as it should in DX10? FPS I don't care about cause I'm getting new graphics card soon and it's going to be minimum G92 8800GTS but it's going to be more like GTX260. Only games I'm going to play are CS:S, DOD:S, L4D, D3 and maybe new COD. I think I can turn all eye candy on and still get playable fps with these games.

He has XP and wants good positioning.

For that, at that budget, I would get an X-FI Titanium, the $100 one without the cover, a pair of the Koss SB40 and/or the JVC 700 w/ a zalman mic. You can get both headphones and go with whichever one does the best positional audio. I just don't know about the 700 yet but the koss sure as heck does positioning well.

Good positioning is nice but good positioning with better sound is nicer. I can give up little bit of positioning if one does sound better than the other noticebly.
So no Xonar DX or any other card? I'm just hesitating to get Creative cards cause I've heard so many different issues with it.

Thanks guys

 

[spaceman]

The Titanium is ok. It is the end result or final build and works great with XP. Vista does not use hardware acceleration for sound, it all goes through the cpu in software. So you do not really benefit much from having a sound card and an external dac/amp like the zero would give you really tight sound.

The JVC is a solid choice. It would not be the first time a low end headphone used a high end driver.

Oh and I have had my zalman for 4 years now. No problems.

 

[persisting1]

Hmmmm what would be the reason for this?

Sorry I should have been more specific. I was refering to audio for gaming, not atcually gaming. Since this was posted in the computer audio section.

spaceman said it perfectly...

Vista does not use hardware acceleration for sound, it all goes through the cpu in software. So you do not really benefit much from having a sound card and an external dac/amp like the zero would give you really tight sound.

 

[HaxEJxuK]

Doesn't Alchemy driver fix this issue for Vista?

So basically for positioning, use XP, x-fi and nice headphone and give up on some eye candy or go Vista and get all the eye candy but not much of point to get x-fi and nice headphone other than maybe for better sound quality?

Sorry I should have been more specific. I was refering to audio for gaming, not atcually gaming. Since this was posted in the computer audio section.

spaceman said it perfectly...

 

[ashmedai]

Doesn't Alchemy driver fix this issue for Vista?

Only partly, and only sometimes. Anyway...it gets processed by a chip on a sound card, or by a chip on the sound card...the only difference in who processes what in the digital domain is 1) what types of processing are supported, and 2) whether your CPU can handle the extra work. Most of the time, neither matters.

 

[HaxEJxuK]

So basically if you like your eye candy more than sound, then go Vista and forget about new sound card and headphone but only get nicer head phone such as HD555, AD700 or HA-RX700 for clarity and better sound and skip sound card?

 

[spaceman]

Well, yeah but get the Zero right? You did not mention that bit.

Vista + Zero = best musical sound no doubt.

 

[elito]

DX1 and D1 are the same card, just different interface..PIC and PIC-E.

 

[HaxEJxuK]

Well, yeah but get the Zero right? You did not mention that bit.

Vista + Zero = best musical sound no doubt.

Good to know but how good is it for gaming?

DX1 and D1 are the same card, just different interface..PIC and PIC-E.

Sorry, I said that since those are same card like you said but use depends on my use. Since this is going to be for me and for my brother who has ATX. He has more option as to which one to use but not me since I've got MATX.

 

[Alai]

Good to know but how good is it for gaming?

Anything good for music is guaranteed better for gaming. Anything good for games (games don't exactly focus on having melodic audio)... not guaranteed good for music. Therefore, it's great for music; and futhermore, it's great for gaming.