[Bigbaddie]

I'm wondering what headset would be good. My budget would be around $100-150 CDN. And would I need a soundcard for it. If so, which one would be the best bang for the buck as my budget is kind of firm.

[Darknecron]

Just buy these.

[mjw21a]

I found the Turtle Beach Ear Force P11's have absolutely amazing sound, good noise cancellation on the microphone too. Allows you to use USB for the VOIP functions and analog for the rest of the audio functions, the best of both worlds.

http://www.turtlebeach.com/products/...force-p11.aspx

EDIT: Lol, I only check the above link after posting. Another Turtle Beach headset

[moocow]

Get a good set of cans and a decent microphone.

A set of Sennheiser HD555's (if you can find them cheaply) or Audio Technica AD700's would be your best bet.
Couple that with a clip-on zalman mic and you would have infinitely better sound than any cheap gaming headset.

[mjw21a]

The Turtle Beach P11's aren't expensive, though they're easily the best sounding headset I've ever bought, and right up there with stand along headphones I've bought. They're nice and lightweight which is great for gaming, with the advantage of you being able to hear how loud you're talking when using them which is great for me as I'm often too loud.

[Bigbaddie]

Probably gonna pick up P11's. Can work for my ps3 as well

[mjw21a]

Originally Posted by Bigbaddie

Probably gonna pick up P11's. Can work for my ps3 as well

Yeah, got mine shipped to Australia from the UK for $60 AUD. Easily the best sounding headset I've had, and the noise cancellation on the mic is pretty impressive too. You'll love them.

[mjw21a]

So, did you get the P11's? If so, how are you enjoying them?

[Bigbaddie]

Picking them up on Saturday Pretty excited haha. i'll let you know how i like them after

[mjw21a]

Cool, I'm happy as larry with mine. What sound card are you going to be running them through?

[Bigbaddie]

I asked if i needed a sound card.. no one seemed to say anything so i assumed one wasn't required.

[mjw21a]

No, you don't NEED a new card. You will get better sound quality by running something like an Asus Xonar DX though. Having said that if you're happy with the sound through the headset don't worry.

You plug the analog into your front audio and have the game play through that, and use the Turtle Beach USB audio for your microphone and output for whatever VOIP software you're using. That way you can control your game and chat volume independently of each other

[Bigbaddie]

When i get it in a few days, i'll experiment haha.

Would a cheap Asus Xonar work? the $30ish one?

[mjw21a]

I don't know whether it (the Xonar DG) would be much better than decent onboard audio tell the truth, although it should be better for directional audio with their emulation of creative EAX.... I can definitely confirm that the Xonar DX is better than good onboard audio though.

As far as I'm aware the only real difference between the two cards is the quality of the components used.

[Dakyris]

Originally Posted by mjw21a

No, you don't NEED a new card. You will get better sound quality by running something like an Asus Xonar DX though. Having said that if you're happy with the sound through the headset don't worry.

You plug the analog into your front audio and have the game play through that, and use the Turtle Beach USB audio for your microphone and output for whatever VOIP software you're using. That way you can control your game and chat volume independently of each other

Be careful when using the front audio ports. In my case, I always thought my headset sucked (razer carcarias) so I bought a new one (seinnheiser PC360) and figured if I'm gonna spend $300 on a headset I'd better get a good sound card so I grabbed a Xonar Essence STX (because of the headphone amp). When I plugged the PC360 in the new soundcard the difference was amazing but then I plugged my old carcarias in the STX and was surprised by the sound, they were much better than before so I experimented a bit. Of course the PC360 are great and sound much better than the razer (for more than 3x the price) but for most people it might not be worth the price difference.

I connected both to the onboard sound on the mobo and discovered that my onboard sound is decent, would've been ok to drive the PC360 (without the surround virtualization and the sound quality would've been acceptable at best).

Then I connected both to the front panel audio and the sound was simply terrible. The longer cable that travels through the case absorbs all sorts of vibration and electrical noise and seriously degrades the sound quality.

Be sure to test straight with the motherboard first and then the front panel. It may be fine but depending on what you have in your case it may be simply unusable.

[mjw21a]

Interesting. I've never tried that. Sounds like good advice

[Bigbaddie]

I have speakers right now.. but when i plug it in directly to my motherboard, i hear this feedback even when nothing's playing.. a slight whirring sound. Is that my mobo problem?

[Dakyris]

Originally Posted by Bigbaddie

I have speakers right now.. but when i plug it in directly to my motherboard, i hear this feedback even when nothing's playing.. a slight whirring sound. Is that my mobo problem?

Try holding the connector in place, can you still hear the noise? It could simply be a vibration inside the case (fan, hdd, odd). Or electrical noise but there's not much you can do about that on the mobo itself (if it was a sound card you could try shielding it though).

Do you have multiple input sources on those speakers? Can you test them with something else (possibly another computer, perhaps a cellphone or a mp3 player)?

Can you hear the sound when the speakers are powered on but the source is disconnected? That would indicate something might be wrong with the speaker wires or the amp (if there is one). Maybe they're too close to a source of electrical noise or their cable length matches the wave length of a local radio (don't laugh that's a cheap way to fix a broken antenna).

[mjw21a]

Yeah, I get a fair amount of electical noise when nothing is playing too. I've discovered I can replicate the sound by unplugging the 3.5mm plug and holding it against any exposed metal part of my computer case.

[Bigbaddie]

Yeah i noticed that too.. Didn't really have time to pick up the headset yet.. Might do so after exams.. no time to really use it anyways keep you guys updated in 2 weeks time