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[MisterAnderson]

^I'll say it again. 5.1 headphones are BS.



You don't 'need' a headphone amp just like you don't 'need' a mixmp. But to heavily generalize, sounds will flow a lot better. You'll here more pronounced things in the background and there will be greater separation between different instruments. The lack of bass in the HD555's will be compensated. I could go on.

There's no midmarket when it comes to sound cards worth considering. Your bet for anything after $30 for soundcards would be the $200 Asus Xonar Essence STX. Which, I would forgo unless if you have good speakers and good headphones.

I think you're missing my need for 5.1. I have a 5.1 SPEAKER setup. I plan on using my headphones at night and would just like to have them sound the best they can, with Dolby Surround mode. Ideally using an amp. But first and foremost my priority is to have the best 5.1/7.1 speaker sounds. Second priority is headphones.

Edit: When I was asking if I "need" a headphone amp/would I personally benefit from one, what I meant was would my headphones (Sennheiser HD555) see a big improvement?

 

[Totobeni]

whats the consensus with these-

http://i.imgur.com/UBvfJ.jpg

psyko PC51V1 Circumaural 5.1 PC Gaming Headset System?

They were $300 but can be had for half that now. I guess they use some special tech to achieve true 5.1?

reviews go from amazing to bad.

bullshit or worth the money?[/QUOTE]

From what I read about them in few places, they are better than the multiple drivers ones like Axpro/Ax360/Sharkoon X-Tatic because of the new way they put the drivers but still have many flaws too , but I need to try it before I can say anything about them.

But here is a nice full review (2 parts) on them

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9ZQwS7gQkw[/url]
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1z_A_HGhys[/url]

it seems like the the drivers and audio quality are crap tho.

 

[Darkatomz]

I think you're missing my need for 5.1. I have a 5.1 SPEAKER setup. I plan on using my headphones at night and would just like to have them sound the best they can, with Dolby Surround mode. Ideally using an amp. But first and foremost my priority is to have the best 5.1/7.1 speaker sounds. Second priority is headphones.

Edit: When I was asking if I "need" a headphone amp/would I personally benefit from one, what I meant was would my headphones (Sennheiser HD555) see a big improvement?

I was addressing the person above, but nevermind.

The best solution to speaker sounds would be good speakers first and foremost before considering any sort of amplifier solution. What do you use?

 

[mr stroke]

bought the Turtle Beach DPX21's and the DSS unit is good but not happy with the headphones them selfs(lack bass and sound hollow)

Can anyone recommend some headphones around $150 with good bass to go with the DSS?

 

[faceless007]

(Reposting to see if anyone has an answer)

Does anyone know a good game or demo to test how Dolby Headphone works? Got a new sound card with that feature [Xonar DG] and I'm sure it's enabled, but if it makes a difference in any games so far I can't tell. It differentiates between left and right (though even that effect seems subdued) but if it's supposed to blow me away with how accurately it emulates full surround I'm not getting it. I'm using Sennheiser HD280s. I tested with Bioshock and Batman AA, and I know actual 5.1 works well with those games on my speaker system (can hear things behind me clearly) but it all sounds like the same channel when using Dolby Headphone.

 

[Totobeni]

bought the Turtle Beach DPX21's and the DSS unit is good but not happy with the headphones them selfs(lack bass and sound hollow)

Can anyone recommend some headphones around $150 with good bass to go with the DSS?

This depend on taste, I personally will go with sound stage over bass for gaming, but anyway there are many (many) good ones under $150, but if you look to balance between audio quality , soundstage and good bass go for Denon DNHP1000 ( or Denon DNHP700 ) or Audio-Technica ATH-M50S (or ATH-M50).

Oh and Senn HD595 or HD555-with the foam-mod( so you turn it to 595)- might be actually balanced enough( decent bass after burn in, good soundstage and very good audio quality)for you I guess

But If you want it for bass over audio quality there are Pioneer SE-DJ5000 , JVC HA-RX900, Sony MDR-V700DJ all have decent audio quality (not that clear) and deep bass too, but lack soundstage.

Or if you just want super bass only mammoth go for Sony MDR-XB700.

 

[MisterAnderson]

Let's say I end up sticking with the Xonar DX for the PCI-E factor and the fact that it has 7.1 speaker support. If I end up getting a mixamp down the line for the purpose of amping up my headphones. By just plugging it in USB, does the headphone amp/dolby surround from the Mixamp hardware interfere with the soundcard's drivers?

 

[mrklaw]

Let's say I end up sticking with the Xonar DX for the PCI-E factor and the fact that it has 7.1 speaker support. If I end up getting a mixamp down the line for the purpose of amping up my headphones. By just plugging it in USB, does the headphone amp/dolby surround from the Mixamp hardware interfere with the soundcard's drivers?

Xonar DX has Dolby Headphone built in. No need for a mixamp.

DG has no optical out - does that matter or are you feeding your speakers directly from the multichannel outputs?

 

[MisterAnderson]

Xonar DX has Dolby Headphone built in. No need for a mixamp.

DG has no optical out - does that matter or are you feeding your speakers directly from the multichannel outputs?

I have two PC setups: 5.1 analog PC speakers for my room, and optical to connect to a home theater receiver 5.1 setup. As for the headphones, the DX has no headphone amp (even though it does have Dolby Headphone) which is why I asked about possibly getting a Mixamp to drive them with its internal amp.

Edit: When installing a soundcard and you have motherboard sound, do you just uninstall the realtek audio drivers or do I have to like, go into the BIOS and disabled onboard sound as well or something?

 

[mrklaw]

just uninstall I think.

You have Sennheiser 555s right? Don't think you need an amp to drive those well.

 

[mrklaw]

received my Xonar DG and installed it. Working fine with headphones, but I'd like to know the best way to get it to cooperate with my TV speakers.

- I'm currently plugged into the back of the soundcard. If I connect the AC97 header to the front connector on my PC, will that pass through the dolby headphone just fine? Will it be the same quality as hooking up to the rear connector (eg headphone amp).

- If I do use the front connector, I should be able to hook my TV up to the rear L/R, and then it'll auto detect when I plug headphones in the front and mute the speakers?

I don't have any 3.5mm cables lying around so just wanted to check before I went out and bought some.

 

[MisterAnderson]

I got the soundcard in today, installed it the latest drivers from Asus' site. In SPDIF "Dolby Digital Live" is not showing up... only PCM and 7.1 Virtual Speaker Shifter. Does anyone have any ideas?

Edit: Nvm, figured it out. Was a receiver issue. But still can't get dolby headphone to work...

Edit 2: Got Dolby Headphone to work but can't find a way to test the surround sounds? All the test does is "front left, front right" and I can't get a feel for how a 5.1 surround setup is supposed to hear.

Edit 3: Got everything working. Sounds fantastic. But I thought I'd have more control over the Dolby Headphone aspect of the settings as far as speaker positioning and such. Also it was my understanding that 5.1 speaker setup was "front left, front right, center, rear left, rear right, and sub" but under the sound control panel for Windows 7 it's "front left, front right, center, side left, side right, sub"

received my Xonar DG and installed it. Working fine with headphones, but I'd like to know the best way to get it to cooperate with my TV speakers.

- I'm currently plugged into the back of the soundcard. If I connect the AC97 header to the front connector on my PC, will that pass through the dolby headphone just fine? Will it be the same quality as hooking up to the rear connector (eg headphone amp).

- If I do use the front connector, I should be able to hook my TV up to the rear L/R, and then it'll auto detect when I plug headphones in the front and mute the speakers?

I don't have any 3.5mm cables lying around so just wanted to check before I went out and bought some.

I think I read somewhere that the soundcard doesn't "auto switch" if you plug in headphones or whatnot. You'll likely need to manually switch to speakers or headphones in the control panel, but I could be wrong.

 

[faceless007]

Edit 2: Got Dolby Headphone to work but can't find a way to test the surround sounds? All the test does is "front left, front right" and I can't get a feel for how a 5.1 surround setup is supposed to hear.

This is the question I asked a few posts up. What did you use to test Dolby Headphone?

I think I read somewhere that the soundcard doesn't "auto switch" if you plug in headphones or whatnot. You'll likely need to manually switch to speakers or headphones in the control panel, but I could be wrong.

It does switch for me. When I plug headphones into the front-panel jack (which I connected to the headers on the card), it automatically switches to FP Headphone mode in the control panel. Not always though, it's kind of buggy.

 

[MisterAnderson]

This is the question I asked a few posts up. What did you use to test Dolby Headphone?

I just could tell in games that it was surround mode... but I still have no idea how to test surround using the xonar software. By testing the left and right speaker though you can just tell that the sound is in Dolby mode compared to stereo.

I am having some minor issues in Dolby Digital Live mode though through my receiver. There's lots of popping when a sound comes on suddenly when navigating through explorer/websites/etc. Like for example if I have Steam minimized in the background and someone messages me, there's a speaker pop sound as the sound effect comes on. Also randomly (and rarely) it seems voices in games will sound like chipmunks almost...like Alyx from Half-Life 2 will suddenly sound very strange and I have to restart my computer to fix it. This has only happened once so far, but does anyone know anything about these issues? Is it possible I don't have the latest drivers for the Xonar DX? I went to the Asus site and grabbed what looked to be the most recent... if anyone knows otherwise I'd appreciate the help.

 

[jett]

I don't get Dolby Headphone. I've tried it out with my HD555's on PowerDVD and MPC-HC, I don't gain any extra surround sound and it adds a kind of hideous filter to the sound. Do I need special hardware for this crap? I thought it was just software.

edit: surround actually sounds better without DH...lolz.

 

[Gvaz]

I was looking into an amp for my Senn 555's, cause my friend suggested it to me. I don't really know what the point of this is though, why would you want one?

 

[mr stroke]

still on the fence on what soundcard to buy. Sounds like you guys are having luck with Asus card using Dolby Headphone?



any difference between the Asus cards vs Creative'?

?

same price as the Asus and the reviews seem about the same

 

[Darkatomz]

Creative's drivers are a COMPLETE POS. Not to mention that EAX (something that only Creative cards have native support for) is pointless these days. Not to mention the higher end Xonar cards use better components, which lead to a better sound. And, headphone amp and upgradeable op-amps.

If you're looking for a soundcard and you have a budget of ~$200, go for the Asus Xonar Essence ST or STX. The ST has a better jitter clock, but uses a regular PCI slot. The STX uses a PCI-E slot.

But before you worry about a soundcard, I'd worry more about having good speakers or headphones first.



Side note, I really don't know why this thread exists. 5.1 headphones is practically a misnomer. You will never find headphones that have this as quality as a regular pair of headphones. Dolby is questionable to me when it comes to headphones too, but this one is a little more opinionated than the last. That, and you could use the soundcard for more than just headphones obviously.

 

[mr stroke]

Creative's drivers are a COMPLETE POS. Not to mention that EAX (something that only Creative cards have native support for) is pointless these days. Not to mention the higher end Xonar cards use better components, which lead to a better sound. And, headphone amp and upgradeable op-amps.

If you're looking for a soundcard and you have a budget of ~$200, go for the Asus Xonar Essence ST or STX. The ST has a better jitter clock, but uses a regular PCI slot. The STX uses a PCI-E slot.

But before you worry about a soundcard, I'd worry more about having good speakers or headphones first.



Side note, I really don't know why this thread exists. 5.1 headphones is practically a misnomer. You will never find headphones that have this as quality as a regular pair of headphones. Dolby is questionable to me when it comes to headphones too, but this one is a little more opinionated than the last. That, and you could use the soundcard for more than just headphones obviously.

I thought both Creatives and Asus cards have Dolby Headphone?

My biggest scare with either card is the shitty drivers. Both the Asus and Creative cards have poor reviews on Newegg and Amazon. I guess both cards have poor driver support, but maybe the Creative more so?

I remember my old Soundblaster card being a POS years back(blue screen of death)

 

[Darkatomz]

I thought both Creatives and Asus cards have Dolby Headphone?

My biggest scare with either card is the shitty drivers. Both the Asus and Creative cards have poor reviews on Newegg and Amazon. I guess both cards have poor driver support, but maybe the Creative more so?

I remember my old Soundblaster card being a POS years back(blue screen of death)

They do. Asus' drivers are typically fine. My biggest beef is the very seldom updates. As for problems, I haven't had any, and I don't know of anyone personally that has. Where are you seeing the negative reviews for the ST, STX, or DG cards on NewEgg??

 

[Cataferal]

Hey guys. I'm looking for advice on headphones with decent soundstage (primarily for gaming), if anyone could help. I've picked up the Ear Force DSS already, but committing ~£100 towards a pair of headphones is proving harder than I first thought. Obviously, there isn't ever going to be a single product that receives popular, unanimous praise, but at the same time, I'm struggling to find anything that fits these prerequisites:

-Clarity on the mid-higher end (ie, doesn't need booming bass). I have the DSS' Bass booster to compensate if the lower end is slightly lacking.
-Great soundstage - obviously I want something to exemplify the DSS' surround sound trickery.
-A comfortable, secure fit for 3+ hour sessions.
-Matches a budget of up to £100 ($180).

The Audio Technica AD700s looked perfect from the outset, with a priority being placed on the positioning and clarity of the higher-end. However, after reading reviews on Amazon, I found that complaints regarding the large (non-adjustable) fitting of the headphones were pretty prevalent. Apparently it slips off even relatively large heads with ease, with many customers even returning them on these grounds despite their high praise for the sound quality. Can anyone confirm whether this is actually an issue?

Meanwhile, the Sennheiser HD555's seem to get a lot of thumbs up, but allegedly lack an equivalent soundstage to Audio Technica's offering. I've also heard the Beyerdynamic DT770s are superb too, but are very bass-focused. I'm looking for a more neutral, natural sound if possible.

TL;DR: Are there any other decent alternatives to the AD700? Or are reports of its jumbo-sized design exaggerated?

 

[Psychotext]

Can anyone with the Earforce DSS tell me what I'm supposed to be setting my PS3 / 360 to? I'm a bit of a muppet when it comes to sound tech.

 

[Cataferal]

Can anyone with the Earforce DSS tell me what I'm supposed to be setting my PS3 / 360 to? I'm a bit of a muppet when it comes to sound tech.

For PS3, you need to go Sound> Optical>and then select all the options except for DTS.

For 360, go System Settings>Console Settings>Audio> Digital Output>Dolby Digital 5.1.

The DSS processor should work out the rest. If it can't achieve DD 5.1, then it'll revert to a 2.1 signal automatically.

 

[iNvid02]

i use this, it works pretty darn good, sound is great.

ps3 > a40s+mixamp via optical
pc > xonar essence stx > a40s+mixamp via coaxial

 

[Psychotext]

For PS3, you need to go Sound> Optical>and then select all the options except for DTS.

For 360, go System Settings>Console Settings>Audio> Digital Output>Dolby Digital 5.1.

Thanks.

 

[faceless007]

Does anyone else have the Asus Xonar DG? I got one a month ago and am not really impressed. 99% of the time it works fine, but in some games I've been getting problems where some sounds simply won't play when they're supposed to (gunfire, sound effects) and it seems to get worse the longer I'm playing. I've also encountered intermittent stuttering and hitching and at least one BSOD crash (Bioshock) due to the sound card. I'm fairly sure it's the sound card because this didn't happen on my old sound card.

Win7x64, latest drivers.

 

[itsnervedamage]

Hey guys. I'm looking for advice on headphones with decent soundstage (primarily for gaming), if anyone could help. I've picked up the Ear Force DSS already, but committing ~£100 towards a pair of headphones is proving harder than I first thought. Obviously, there isn't ever going to be a single product that receives popular, unanimous praise, but at the same time, I'm struggling to find anything that fits these prerequisites:

-Clarity on the mid-higher end (ie, doesn't need booming bass). I have the DSS' Bass booster to compensate if the lower end is slightly lacking.
-Great soundstage - obviously I want something to exemplify the DSS' surround sound trickery.
-A comfortable, secure fit for 3+ hour sessions.
-Matches a budget of up to £100 ($180).

The Audio Technica AD700s looked perfect from the outset, with a priority being placed on the positioning and clarity of the higher-end. However, after reading reviews on Amazon, I found that complaints regarding the large (non-adjustable) fitting of the headphones were pretty prevalent. Apparently it slips off even relatively large heads with ease, with many customers even returning them on these grounds despite their high praise for the sound quality. Can anyone confirm whether this is actually an issue?

Meanwhile, the Sennheiser HD555's seem to get a lot of thumbs up, but allegedly lack an equivalent soundstage to Audio Technica's offering. I've also heard the Beyerdynamic DT770s are superb too, but are very bass-focused. I'm looking for a more neutral, natural sound if possible.

TL;DR: Are there any other decent alternatives to the AD700? Or are reports of its jumbo-sized design exaggerated?

I've got AD900s and I convinced my dad to go with AD700 (He's less willing to put out $300 for headphones) and they are both pretty terrific. Sound quality is unquestioned, I didn't have a chance to test side by side (opposite coasts) and listening to completely different sources so I can't give a good comparison breakdown but I have no complaints with either on sound as long as you acknowledge this line is not boomy. The 900s are probably meatier but not bassy at all.

Fit wise, I don't think I've ever had them fall off my head or shift. I'm not headbanging, but I'm not really paying attention to them either. Um...just for you I measured my head circumference at right above the ears around the temples, to ~22". Is that abnormal? I have no idea. I haven't had a lot of full size over ear serious headphones, but over the 2 or 3 I've had access to, the AD900s are neither the tightest (kind of headache inducing) nor the loosest (not that loose though).

The thing I like about the AD700/AD900 is that they are open back and have a way way more open soundstage. Sometimes closed back and in-ear sort of sound like they are in your head and almost seem like they create this pressure in your brain or something. These are way more open.

I use the same setup, Earforce DSS to headphones when I do quiet console gaming, and I do straight into Striker 7.1 on the PC. Both great, although seriously I'm not quite sure how much difference I notice with regard to surround sound stage in games. More noticeable in movies I would say. The 555s and Bery's are the 2 other things I saw thrown around a lot in this price bracket too, so I don't think you are missing any obvious additional options.

Long story short, I have no speakers hooked up to my PC and I spend probably 4 hours or so a day listening to podcasts and music, and maybe a couple hours gaming at the PC wearing these headphones and I have literally never felt like I want more from them. I almost want to buy another set for no reason, I like them that much.

 

[Hazaro]

ATH-AD700 are nice. I like my set a lot.

 

[scogoth]

Looking for replacements for A40 as they've developed crackling on the mic input. Any suggestions?

 

[Jarmel]

Looking for replacements for A40 as they've developed crackling on the mic input. Any suggestions?

New A40s?

 

[iNvid02]

or maybe just replace the mic, you can get an upgrade kit to the new mic and earcups for $15

 

[Cataferal]

I've got AD900s and I convinced my dad to go with AD700 (He's less willing to put out $300 for headphones) and they are both pretty terrific. Sound quality is unquestioned, I didn't have a chance to test side by side (opposite coasts) and listening to completely different sources so I can't give a good comparison breakdown but I have no complaints with either on sound as long as you acknowledge this line is not boomy. The 900s are probably meatier but not bassy at all.

Fit wise, I don't think I've ever had them fall off my head or shift. I'm not headbanging, but I'm not really paying attention to them either. Um...just for you I measured my head circumference at right above the ears around the temples, to ~22". Is that abnormal? I have no idea. I haven't had a lot of full size over ear serious headphones, but over the 2 or 3 I've had access to, the AD900s are neither the tightest (kind of headache inducing) nor the loosest (not that loose though).

The thing I like about the AD700/AD900 is that they are open back and have a way way more open soundstage. Sometimes closed back and in-ear sort of sound like they are in your head and almost seem like they create this pressure in your brain or something. These are way more open.

I use the same setup, Earforce DSS to headphones when I do quiet console gaming, and I do straight into Striker 7.1 on the PC. Both great, although seriously I'm not quite sure how much difference I notice with regard to surround sound stage in games. More noticeable in movies I would say. The 555s and Bery's are the 2 other things I saw thrown around a lot in this price bracket too, so I don't think you are missing any obvious additional options.

Long story short, I have no speakers hooked up to my PC and I spend probably 4 hours or so a day listening to podcasts and music, and maybe a couple hours gaming at the PC wearing these headphones and I have literally never felt like I want more from them. I almost want to buy another set for no reason, I like them that much.

Thanks for the insight. I actually measured my head after this, and found I'm a similar 22"er. Google tells me this is bang on average, so go us with our medium sized heads. Maybe some people received defective pairs, or simply weren't used to its relatively loose design. It's good to hear that AD700s are ultimately comfortable to wear for long periods too. I might have to put the money down shortly.

As for the DSS; I've been using it up until now with low-grade closed HD201s. In my experience on the gaming side of things, Killzone 3 and other likewise big-budget FPS/Action titles with carefully designed surround-sound mixes tend to benefit just as much as movies (having also tested The Dark Knight). The sense of movement within a 3D space in these games is more evident than, say, God of War 3, which features quite a few sequences with distant, fixed shots of a scene. I get the impression this processing unit was designed for games which grant you control over the camera (pivoting around a spot, rather than light panning from afar), like Uncharted 2 or even Demon's Souls.

Also, I found that pressing the"Dolby Bypass" button speaks to the virtues of the DSS' processing capabilities, in that it strips the mix back down to an extremely unnatural pan. This ouput makes sense for speaker setups, but is quite disorientating when used in conjunction with headphones - so it's a relief that the unit's standard Dolby 5.1 mode does a wonderful job of centralizing all these channels a bit. Things tend to make sense with that mode turned on.

 

[cnizzle06]

So far, I've been gaming with just the shitty built-in speakers on my flat screen, but I really want some great sound quality when I'm playing portal 2 on my PS3, however I can't afford a grand 7.1 speaker set-up at the moment.

Any suggestions?

 

[Mr Nightman]

So far, I've been gaming with just the shitty built-in speakers on my flat screen, but I really want some great sound quality when I'm playing portal 2 on my PS3, however I can't afford a grand 7.1 speaker set-up at the moment.

Any suggestions?

what kind of budget we talking?

 

[cnizzle06]

what kind of budget we talking?

Probably less than ideal. Around 150?

 

[Mr Nightman]

Probably less than ideal. Around 150?

I would personally recommend a 2.1 speaker system with a decent sub and multiple inputs, I have a set of logitech z4's and they can sure bumb some walls, and sound crystal clear, I shall try to find you a decent deal.

 

[cnizzle06]

I would personally recommend a 2.1 speaker system with a decent sub and multiple inputs, I have a set of logitech z4's and they can sure bumb some walls, and sound crystal clear, I shall try to find you a decent deal.

I'll definitely check-out and consider whatever you suggest, but I was thinking that a definite upside to headphones is that I wouldn't disturb my girlfriend when she's sleeping. But maybe at my price range, that's out of the question.

 

[Mr Nightman]

I'll definitely check-out and consider whatever you suggest, but I was thinking that a definite upside to headphones is that I wouldn't disturb my girlfriend when she's sleeping. But maybe at my price range, that's out of the question.

Yea I hear you man, I personally don't know too much about gaming headsets, have a cheap ass pair of logitech headphones that were 18 bucks, lol, so not too knowing of expensive sets. I did find these logitech 2.1 speakers for 110, 200 total watts, which I am sure would be great.

 

[chrisisawesome]

Probably less than ideal. Around 150?

For that price you might have great results using the Tritton AX720. The other alternative (and more expensive) would be the Astro a30/a40, or just the Mixamp and another set of headphones. The Astros will for sure give you better sound quality and will allow for limitless upgrading in the future by buying better headphones.

 

[cnizzle06]

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

What about a pair of Sennheiser HD555 and an Ear Force 7.1 Sound Processor? That would run me around 160ish.

 

[chrisisawesome]

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

What about a pair of Sennheiser HD555 and an Ear Force 7.1 Sound Processor? That would run me around 160ish.

Oh yea! I forgot about the Turtle Beach DSS. I've heard good things about it, ie; exactly like the mixamp except the voice chat capabilities.
HD555 get a lot of praise, do the hd555 foam mod to make them like the 595's. Thats definitely a good setup!

I'd also recommend the AKG K240s headphones, they're about $15 more than the 555's and they're very good (I have them)

 

[Iztli]

I recently purchased the Roccat Kave 5.1 headphones... The sound qualily is insane

"Imagine a headset, not with simulated, but with very real 40mm speakers plus an additional vibration unit, arranged at a 12° angle, embedded into each earcup"

 

[cnizzle06]

Oh yea! I forgot about the Turtle Beach DSS. I've heard good things about it, ie; exactly like the mixamp except the voice chat capabilities.
HD555 get a lot of praise, do the hd555 foam mod to make them like the 595's. Thats definitely a good setup!

I'd also recommend the AKG K240s headphones, they're about $15 more than the 555's and they're very good (I have them)

Yeah, I've heard about the mod. Sounds like a very cool way to increase the value of the headphones. Thanks for the help man.

 

[gutterboy44]

In a new apartment, my my Logitech Z5550 setup has basically become a 3.1 channel setup for the TV with the two surround speakers becoming 'B' speakers for the kitchen. I want to have a solid headphone setup for my PS3 gaming at night and even during the day.

I just bought a Turtle Beach DSS for my current earphones, Westone UM2 (which I love). My god does the DSS have awful hiss. I think I am going to return it based on this alone. Once I am in the car driving in GT5 I don't notice the hiss, but as soon as there is any down time in audio, the hiss is amazingly loud. I have switched USB power sources from direct AC to battery backed up USB, etc and every one gives an awful hiss.

I think a headphone amp with basic EQ settings would be best for me. I get a pretty good sound stage with my UM2's so I don't think surround processing really adds much.

What is a solid headphone amp with EQ sub $200? If it does Dolby Digital processing, even better. This Turtle Beach DSS is trash.

Edit: Turned out my UM2's and DSS didn't get along. My new hd555's and the DSS are great together - newer post

 

[Cataferal]

I just bought a Turtle Beach DSS for my current earphones, Westone UM2 (which I love). My god does the DSS have awful hiss.

Not that it excuses the hiss entirely, but in my experience the effect is greatly diminished when you use headphones.

 

[cnizzle06]

I just bought a Turtle Beach DSS for my current earphones, Westone UM2 (which I love). My god does the DSS have awful hiss.

Hm, has anyone else experienced this?

 

[gutterboy44]

Not that it excuses the hiss entirely, but in my experience the effect is greatly diminished when you use headphones.

I thought this might be the case. Maybe my in ear monitors have too low impedance or something? I am not really that savvy when it comes to technical details like that. I ordered a pair of Sennheiser HD555. I wanted headphones for gamings since taking the earphones in and out is a pain.

I will keep you posted if the DSS hiss is reduced. Right now it is very loud with the UM2's

 

[sk3tch]

So today I saw Repi from DICE on twitter talking about how the sound guys on his team (and you know how great the Battlefield sound is) recommend the Psyko Carbons highly.

http://www.psykoaudio.com/index.php/Carbon.html

So I pre-ordered a setup from Competitive Gaming Audio (they add equipment to have them work natively on 360/PS3).

Anyone have experience with them? My understanding is if my expectations are a bit lower for quality I will be amazed by the positional audio for gaming. I will be keeping my AT-AD700s for music, etc., but selling my Astro A40 MixAmp and Senn HD595s to fund the Psyko purchase.

I'm just having some second thoughts as there just are not many reviews of the Psyko Carbons out there (granted, they did release earlier this month) other than folks that are affiliates, etc.

 

[mr stroke]

In a new apartment, my my Logitech Z5550 setup has basically become a 3.1 channel setup for the TV with the two surround speakers becoming 'B' speakers for the kitchen. I want to have a solid headphone setup for my PS3 gaming at night and even during the day.

I just bought a Turtle Beach DSS for my current earphones, Westone UM2 (which I love). My god does the DSS have awful hiss. I think I am going to return it based on this alone. Once I am in the car driving in GT5 I don't notice the hiss, but as soon as there is any down time in audio, the hiss is amazingly loud. I have switched USB power sources from direct AC to battery backed up USB, etc and every one gives an awful hiss.

I think a headphone amp with basic EQ settings would be best for me. I get a pretty good sound stage with my UM2's so I don't think surround processing really adds much.

What is a solid headphone amp with EQ sub $200? If it does Dolby Digital processing, even better. This Turtle Beach DSS is trash.

Returned my DSS and Turtle Beach headset because of the hissing. Its really bad. A lot of reviewers on Amazon experienced the same thing.

 

[endlessflood]

So today I saw Repi from DICE on twitter talking about how the sound guys on his team (and you know how great the Battlefield sound is) recommend the Psyko Carbons highly.

http://www.psykoaudio.com/index.php/Carbon.html

So I pre-ordered a setup from Competitive Gaming Audio (they add equipment to have them work natively on 360/PS3).

Anyone have experience with them? My understanding is if my expectations are a bit lower for quality I will be amazed by the positional audio for gaming. I will be keeping my AT-AD700s for music, etc., but selling my Astro A40 MixAmp and Senn HD595s to fund the Psyko purchase.

I'm just having some second thoughts as there just are not many reviews of the Psyko Carbons out there (granted, they did release earlier this month) other than folks that are affiliates, etc.

I'll be very interested to see what they're like, as you say the DICE audio guys are the best in the business anything they think highly of must be good. With the PS3 option at your link above, I see they add a Turtle Beach USB sound card for the chat side of things, I just hope it doesn't introduce the hissing that people complain about with the EarForce DSS.