PC : Headset\Mic & Sound Card

[The Storm]

Hi all

I love music and excellent sound quality from the PC.
I have narrowed down my search for a sound card to :

- Creative Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS Pro
- Terratec DMX 6FIRE 24/96

In general it seems people recommend getting Terratec if your interest is in high
quality audio for the purpose of music production and Creative if the main interest
is gaming. I am torn between the two !!! As I would like this sound card for both purposes.
Because I use my PC for playing games like Half Life 2, Counter Strike: Source and
I would like to use the PC for making music on an amatuer level.

Also I'm looking to buy a Headset with MIC for gaming.
I have selected this headset :

Speed Link - Medusa

What experience have you had with this headset? The way it is set up is ... the speaker
output from the sound card is fed into the Speed link amp and the speakers are connected to it.
See link : Speed Link-Medusa SPEAKER \ AMP Setup

Since the audio from the pc is going via the Speed link amp and my main amp, will the
sound quality drop since it's been filtered through the speed link amp?It seem I will have
to consider 3 volume levels - windows, my sound card & speed link.

The other alternative is the Plantronics DSP-300 Stereo Computer Headset
Which connects to the PC via USB and doesn't need a soundcard.

What do you advise?

 

[thomase]

Dont get a USB headset. What is the point of buying a soundcard then? Also, many would argue against "5.1" headphones. The best headset I believe is the Sennheiser PC150. You can get better sound quality by getting regular headphones and a separate mic. I don't know about mic options, but if you search around this forum, you will find many headphone suggestions. I also don't know how much you want to spend....

 

[Newbify2]

I would like to use the PC for making music on an amatuer level.

Reason why I picked Terratec DMX 6FIRE 24/96. Games are cool and all but making music is a lot sweeter.

 

[The Storm]

Dont get a USB headset. What is the point of buying a soundcard then?

i thought of usb because then I wouldn't need to interfere with my PC to Speaker
conection there would be nothing getting in the way.

Also, many would argue against "5.1" headphones.

Why?
I thought it would be a good thing for counter strike, u could hear the enemy creeping
up behind you. Or a better example would be all the cool sound effects in games like Half
Life 2.

The best headset I believe is the Sennheiser PC150. You can get better sound quality by getting regular headphones and a separate mic. I don't know about mic options, but if you search around this forum, you will find many headphone suggestions. I also don't know how much you want to spend....

I absolutley adore my Sennheiser HD25-1's, I use them with my ipod and are perfect
for portable use. I didn't want to use my HD25-1's because I don't want to abuse them to
much for purposes such as gaming. They're more of a luxury item esp since they
cost £100

I think the Sennheiser PC150 seem like an interesting purchase.... I 'll look into that.

 

[The Storm]

Reason why I picked Terratec DMX 6FIRE 24/96. Games are cool and all but making music is a lot sweeter.

Thank you for your contribution, Terratec seem such a good company
with affordable high quality products.

 

[Newbify2]

If you really get into music production I would suggest the Audiophile 2896 from M-audio
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Audiophile2496-main.html
I don't have any experience with this product but I've heard some good words about it and the other professional quality m-audio cards.

 

[thomase]

i thought of usb because then I wouldn't need to interfere with my PC to Speaker
conection there would be nothing getting in the way.

Assuming you are considering an Audigy 2 for games, there is no point in getting a USB headset because it TOTALLY bypasses your soundcard. Buy one or the other, not both.

Why?
I thought it would be a good thing for counter strike, u could hear the enemy creeping
up behind you. Or a better example would be all the cool sound effects in games like Half
Life 2.

Audigy 2 has special audio processing tech that gives you surround sound over regular headphones. This works automatically (when you enable CMSS) if a game uses DirectSound3D. Even without an Audigy 2 (or other soundcard) there is a DirectSound3D software algorithm that works pretty well. Google "miles sound system" and download their demo software. This includes an app which plays sound in a circle around you. You can choose many different algorithms. DirectSound3D Hardware uses whatever is built in on your soundcard. An example of a good software implementation is QSound. Back to Audigy 2... even if the game does not use DirectSound3D (like Doom3 or HL2), the Audigy 2 has a mode where it takes multi-channel (4.1, 5.1, etc.) output from ANY program and processes it to give you surround sound over headphones (again, when you enable CMSS). In any case, the "surround" effect should be AT LEAST as good as most "5.1" headphones and it will be much better if your headphones are high quality.

I absolutley adore my Sennheiser HD25-1's, I use them with my ipod and are perfect
for portable use. I didn't want to use my HD25-1's because I don't want to abuse them to
much for purposes such as gaming. They're more of a luxury item esp since they
cost £100

I would think that using your Sennheisers at home with your computer can't be any more abusive than carrying them around with your ipod everwhere you go. Is your computer not also a "luxury item"? Why not just use these headphones with a separate mic?

 

[The Storm]

If you really get into music production I would suggest the Audiophile 2896 from M-audio
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Audiophile2496-main.html
I don't have any experience with this product but I've heard some good words about it and the other professional quality m-audio cards.

Yeah I heard loads about them too. But there no point buying the card which doesn't
quite cater for the need of the gamer too, plus that particular card doesn't
even have a headphone port! If it had a headphone port.. I'd buy it now!

 

[The Storm]

In any case, the "surround" effect should be AT LEAST as good as most "5.1" headphones and it will be much better if your headphones are high quality.

I would think that using your Sennheisers at home with your computer can't be any more abusive than carrying them around with your ipod everwhere you go. Is your computer not also a "luxury item"? Why not just use these headphones with a separate mic?

Thomase

Cheers for the advice. I'll use my Sennheiser headphones and any cheap mic for good.
For this surrround effect... should I still stick with the Audigy 2 ZS, or would the
Terratec Card be just as good? What do I loose out on in terms of gaming if go for the
Terratec? Audio sound is just as important as sound for gaming as I intend
to use Propellerhead's Reason & record vinyl to mp3, I beleive Creative doesnt
support ASIO drivers (whatever that is) for music production.

Then my next purchase will be just a new soundcard.....

 

[thomase]

I can't comment subjectively on the Audigy vs. Terratec because I haven't compared them. You will probably find comparative reviews if you search. For one thing, Terratec will not support higher than EAX 2.0. Also, I believe Terratec uses Sensaura 3D algorithms which may or may not have the Virtual Ear tool included. Virtual Ear lets you tweak the 3D sound to your specific ears. I haven't been able to try it because it did not come with my OEM Soundmax/Sensuara drivers, and I don't think you can get it anymore (if its not already included) since Creative bought Sensaura.

You do seem a lot more into music than gaming though....

 

[darkpark]

if you can afford it than get both of them! i run two sound cards in my machine. one is used for games and the other one is for music listening. installation was easy and i haven't had any resource or driver conflicts.

in any case, i'd vote for the dmx fire. eventhough it isn't an audigy that doesn't mean that you can't play games with it. it supports upto EAX 2.0 which i think is good enough for most games.