Soundcard (+ Headset) for 99% gaming? Sourround price<200€/275$

Hi guys,
I'm playing CS:S and some times CoD4 and BF:BF but not really often so it's about CS:S (and maybe BF3 if i'll buy it).
I wonder if it is a good idea to buy a soundcard (+Headset) for gaming to "replace" the on-board Realtek HD. I've got the Roccat Kave real 5.1 Sourround sound headset and I think it's good for gaming because of the 6 speakers but I don't know whether a new setup may be even better. I do not need the super high music quality I want to hear the direction of the shots/footsteps and stuff as the title sais 99% gaming, and not noob gaming, I'm a good player
People say that the Creative X-Fi cards are the best for gaming so maybe the Creative Titanium bulk? I think the only difference between the bulk and the original one is the RAM, don't know if the RAM is that an advantage..
The Auzentech Forte 7.1 seems to be even better than the Creative but I don't know if it's true/ whether the Headset is good enough to recognize the difference.
So maybe I have to change the headset too, but just if it's a really big difference.
If that's the case the Asus Xonar Xense Bundle may be interesting. But the PC 350 is "just" virtual 7.1, I think, so it has 2 speakers. Is it although possible to recognize the sound direction or is it better/worse than the Kave real 5.1?
The Psyko 5.1 seems the be the very best gaming headset but I think 200$ are way too much... but if it's THAT big difference I may think about it.. but atm it's not available in Germany..

I hope you can help me

I haven't tried them but the G35 seem nice. It is usb too so you don't need a sound card.

I know, the G35 is a good headset but I don't think that a USB soundcard is that good and the Kave is almost as good as the G35 too so I don`t think that it is a big difference.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132018

Get the Xense bundle. I own it and love it. The virtual 7.1 of the PC350 is better than most "5.1" headsets I've tried.

thx JonSimonzi that are some good news but do you really recognize whether the sound it coming from the front or the back? I don't know how it should be possible with just 2 speakers And how is there a good option for configuration like the x-fi cards have?

I've got the Razer HP-1 surround headset and Auzen X-Fi Prelude. The mic is often uncooperative, but otherwise they're great for games, and decent for music.

IMHO, the human brain has far better programming to decide where a sound is coming from than some computer program has the ability to calculate pretend surround though stereo speakers.

NeXuid said:

thx JonSimonzi that are some good news but do you really recognize whether the sound it coming from the front or the back? I don't know how it should be possible with just 2 speakers And how is there a good option for configuration like the x-fi cards have?

Click to expand...

Yes, you can easily pin point exactly where sounds are coming from.





That's a screenshot of the 7.1 option turned on in the control panel. Those speakers are in default potions, but you can drag them to wherever you want. Say if you have music playing, you can take one speaker and drag it in a circle around that area, and it sounds exactly like it's circling your head. I don't know the audio logistics of it either of how they do it, but they do.

The headset itself is one of the most comfortable headsets I've ever worn. The ear cups are HUGE, and encompass the entire area around your ear, so nothing is even touching your ear. It's very lightweight and comfortable, and it doesn't even sound like a head set. The first few days I got it, I had to keep on taking it off to make sure sound wasn't coming out of my speakers, because it does that good of a job emulating speaker sound, not just sounding like a headset pressed on your ears. Just to give you an idea of how big the ear cups are, since I grossly underestimated it myself before buying it, here's it compared to my old standard Turtle Beach headset.



Not a bad thing, I love it, it's just huge

wow JonSimonzi lots of information, thank you a friend of mine has the steelseries siberia v2 i think and he sais that you can hear the direction too sooooo i think i'm going to buy the bundle. Or is there an overpowered feature only x-fi cards can give?

OK, I definitely will buy the xense bundle, the Kave is just way too heavy for me.. It's very uncomfortable
Are there some goods settings for CS:S or do I have to check them myself?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132018&Tpk=asus xense

Not beatable @ this price

aaaand not available in Germany
think this one http://www.planet4one.de/planet/wbc.php?sid=4555035246dbc&pid=893565&tpl=pdetail.html is good too

But any sound settings? You guys got some?

Get it shipped. I had a part shipped from there to here why not vice versa?

But atm 279.99 US-Dollar = 203.747635 €
it's the same price and I have to pay less shipping costs in my shop than in yours.

NeXuid said:

But atm 279.99 US-Dollar = 203.747635 €
it's the same price and I have to pay less shipping costs in my shop than in yours.

Click to expand...

Ok. Go to your shop. Whatever gets you the product.

also take a look at these http://www.audio-technica.com/cms/headphones/567089b73c33056f/index.html/

they can usually be found for less the 100 usd paired with a good soundcard they are hard to beat.

I personally have a asus essence and the ad900, and I have been blown away coming from my onboard sound lol

don't know if this was addressed but most 5.1 and 7.1 headsets are still only two speakers with virtual surround sound.

most decent sound cards will do this for you, so in my example I have a basic mid-range set of headphones with my sound card creating a virtual sound space. you do only have two ears after all.

hope this was some help

crazyman2501 said:

don't know if this was addressed but most 5.1 and 7.1 headsets are still only two speakers with virtual surround sound.

most decent sound cards will do this for you, so in my example I have a basic mid-range set of headphones with my sound card creating a virtual sound space. you do only have two ears after all.

Click to expand...

I've not seen any advertised as such with only two speakers. Maybe "Surround", but not 5.1 or 7.1.

You may only have two ears, but they hear many things, and your brain can turn tiny echoes from many directions and microscopic delays between those echoes into direction. "Virtual surround" with just two speakers doesn't have a brain behind it to do the reverse of all that work. It can make the sound "bigger", so it sounds like you're in a giant cave or something, but it can't emulate direction. A nice multimedia studio with a good set of surround speakers at good distances around the room are obviously going to be a lot better than multi-speaker headphones, but IMNSHO any set of 5.1 headphones is going to be better for gaming than stereo with "virtual surround".

Virtual surround "surrounds" you like a fat guy tele-fragging you. You know he's there, and you know he's fat, but not where he came from. 5.1 and 7.1 are several independent people aiming at you from the corners of the room.

I would actually like to know any 5.1 headphones with more then two drivers. I only know of a few that have them. I know all the logitech and razer headphones have two drivers, and use a usb sound card to create 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound.

My buddy has a pair of g35's and these have only two drivers. the logitech software is what creates the 7.1 effect.

here is a decent read on how logitech produces 7.1 sound with the g35.
http://blog.logitech.com/2009/05/06/logitech-g35-headset-under-the-hood/
There are headphones on the market with more then two drivers like this one http://www.psykoaudio.com/index.php/PsykoWave-Technology.html

crazyman2501 said:

I know all the logitech and razer headphones have two drivers, and use a usb sound card to create 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound.

Click to expand...

Uh, no. The USB cable is for power. Each channel is independent. Maybe some cheaper models are "virtual", but the ones that have 6 3.5mm plugs are not.

Which headphones are you talking about? I agree if the headphones have the 3-6 seperate analog channels will have there own driver.
but the logitech's only have a usb cable. the psyko's I linked should have 3 3.5mm jacks, though there is very few headphones on the market with those.


Also this was a good read, although a little old, about gaming sound over headphones.
http://www.head-fi.org/search.php?search=holy+grail+gaming