Hi everyone, this is my very first post and I love your forums... Only have been an observer for the last 2-3 months. And now I seriously need some sound advice.
Here's what going on:
- I want to buy a sound card and headphones TOMORROW MORNING (Black Friday), over the internet (only ZipZoomFly, Amazon or Newegg).
Actual Situation:
- 6 Year old halfway functional Altec Lansing Speakers 2.1 (will upgrade later on to a 5.1 or 7.1, but I don't want to know anything about them yet).
- 4 Year old A90 Plantronics
- Intergrated sound from NF4 DFI Ultra-D socket 939 (Even I can tell it is bad)
Uses:
- I watch a lot of anime and movies with good quality, so it would be nice something that will let me enjoy movies at full force (Surround and such).
- I do NOT play First Person Shooters. Only once every month. Maybe I'll start playing fear when I get a better sound because that game is evil with sound.
-I play lots of Warcraft 3, usually with some good MP3 on background.
- Most of the music I play are MP3/WMA... like 99.9%. My Pc has MP3s on 24/7 with or without volume. I usually don't put huge efforts on MP3s listening only as background while playing, cleaning, etc... I seldomly just listen to MP3s, but it happens at times.
About the Sound Card: - I know basically nothing about Soundcards.
- My first impression was to buy de X-Fi Platinum with the Front Deck and remote (aprox 190$ in newegg). The remote will be very useful for all the movies I watch, and to turn up or down the volume I also kinda like the Front Deck (*bling* factor). Eventually I will help even more when I buy the speakers
- I do not "NEED" the front Deck and Remote and extras, but I think I want them. I can live with something much simpler as long as it has quality sound (right now I have a remote from a TV Turner and it partially works with Winamp).
- I'm not buying the ExtremeMusic, I'm only going for the X-Fi because of the bundle with Deck and Remote.
- My Budget is around 100$ for a simple card without extras (Deck, Remote) and 190$ for the full thing (like the X-Fi Platinum).
- My choices right now are the X-Fi Platinum (full bundle) or one of the simpler Audigy2 ZS Packages around 80$-90$.
- Please feel free to suggest any other brands.
About Headphones:
- I know less about Headphones that I know about Sound Cards.
- Microphone is NOT necessary, but I guess I could use it. Don't restrict your search to Microphones+Headphones. Though you could suggest a CHEAP extra microphone.
- Sennheiser caught my ears when someone let me borrow an IPOD playing MP3s on Sennheisers. The thing is that I simply can't remember which model they were
I know they were white, and covered your whole ear with insane isolation. I think they looked like the 497 with the grid like art on the oposite side of the "speaker" (I seriously know NOTHING about headphones). Also I don't think they were top of the line, just really good compared to everything I'm used to. I think they had a microphone but not sure because it DID NOT stick out like most Micro+Headphones combos (like the A90). They also had a little thing that looked like an splitter/converter, i have no clue if it was an USB to normal jack adapter or what but I know it was a little box where you had to connect a few things to use them in the IPOD.
- I would prefer white/very light colored headphones, but it is just a small plus, nothing restrictive.
- So far I only have seen the 280 Pro/Silver and the PC155/PC160/PC165. I also noted the HD 497 because it looks like the one I tried (not sure though). Again don't know the diferences between them. My first choice is the 280 Pro/Silver as of now.
- Some Big Pluses and important features are:
- USB card is a big plus because I will be taking my Headphones to lanparties, friend houses and cybercafe's. Again it is not restrictive.
- Volume adjustment on Headphones
- 5.1 sound
- Somewhat portable (don't have to be tiny, but they can't be huge). Something I can put around my neck if necessary. The A90 have a good size, but they can (and I expect them) to be bigger than that.
- My Budget is around 100$ for the Headphones again, they must be Newegg, Zipzoomfly or Amazon ready.
Thanks for listening
Here's what going on:
- I want to buy a sound card and headphones TOMORROW MORNING (Black Friday), over the internet (only ZipZoomFly, Amazon or Newegg).
Actual Situation:
- 6 Year old halfway functional Altec Lansing Speakers 2.1 (will upgrade later on to a 5.1 or 7.1, but I don't want to know anything about them yet).
- 4 Year old A90 Plantronics
- Intergrated sound from NF4 DFI Ultra-D socket 939 (Even I can tell it is bad)
Uses:
- I watch a lot of anime and movies with good quality, so it would be nice something that will let me enjoy movies at full force (Surround and such).
- I do NOT play First Person Shooters. Only once every month. Maybe I'll start playing fear when I get a better sound because that game is evil with sound.
-I play lots of Warcraft 3, usually with some good MP3 on background.
- Most of the music I play are MP3/WMA... like 99.9%. My Pc has MP3s on 24/7 with or without volume. I usually don't put huge efforts on MP3s listening only as background while playing, cleaning, etc... I seldomly just listen to MP3s, but it happens at times.
About the Sound Card: - I know basically nothing about Soundcards.
- My first impression was to buy de X-Fi Platinum with the Front Deck and remote (aprox 190$ in newegg). The remote will be very useful for all the movies I watch, and to turn up or down the volume I also kinda like the Front Deck (*bling* factor). Eventually I will help even more when I buy the speakers
- I do not "NEED" the front Deck and Remote and extras, but I think I want them. I can live with something much simpler as long as it has quality sound (right now I have a remote from a TV Turner and it partially works with Winamp).
- I'm not buying the ExtremeMusic, I'm only going for the X-Fi because of the bundle with Deck and Remote.
- My Budget is around 100$ for a simple card without extras (Deck, Remote) and 190$ for the full thing (like the X-Fi Platinum).
- My choices right now are the X-Fi Platinum (full bundle) or one of the simpler Audigy2 ZS Packages around 80$-90$.
- Please feel free to suggest any other brands.
About Headphones:
- I know less about Headphones that I know about Sound Cards.
- Microphone is NOT necessary, but I guess I could use it. Don't restrict your search to Microphones+Headphones. Though you could suggest a CHEAP extra microphone.
- Sennheiser caught my ears when someone let me borrow an IPOD playing MP3s on Sennheisers. The thing is that I simply can't remember which model they were
I know they were white, and covered your whole ear with insane isolation. I think they looked like the 497 with the grid like art on the oposite side of the "speaker" (I seriously know NOTHING about headphones). Also I don't think they were top of the line, just really good compared to everything I'm used to. I think they had a microphone but not sure because it DID NOT stick out like most Micro+Headphones combos (like the A90). They also had a little thing that looked like an splitter/converter, i have no clue if it was an USB to normal jack adapter or what but I know it was a little box where you had to connect a few things to use them in the IPOD.- I would prefer white/very light colored headphones, but it is just a small plus, nothing restrictive.
- So far I only have seen the 280 Pro/Silver and the PC155/PC160/PC165. I also noted the HD 497 because it looks like the one I tried (not sure though). Again don't know the diferences between them. My first choice is the 280 Pro/Silver as of now.
- Some Big Pluses and important features are:
- USB card is a big plus because I will be taking my Headphones to lanparties, friend houses and cybercafe's. Again it is not restrictive.
- Volume adjustment on Headphones
- 5.1 sound
- Somewhat portable (don't have to be tiny, but they can't be huge). Something I can put around my neck if necessary. The A90 have a good size, but they can (and I expect them) to be bigger than that.
- My Budget is around 100$ for the Headphones again, they must be Newegg, Zipzoomfly or Amazon ready.
Thanks for listening
