Project Reality Soundcards and Headsets

[FattyMcBlobbicus]

Well if you take care of them, $150-200 headsets are fantastic. I'm going on two years with my Sennheiser and the headset still looks new.

To each their own. I travel back and forth a lot (student) and take my laptop and headset with me all the time, so it always gets a few bumps. If there was an expensive headset that was built to last (like titanium, aluminium or something, better than plastic and strong cables) I'd maybe buy it, but they don't exist. Even 200 dollar ones are made of plastic. They always break when I move them around a lot.

I prefer my cheap headsets. The sound quality is fine once you go above 25 euros, decent mic with it and you're golden. I'd rather spend the big money on good speakers I can use for movies too.

[PricelineNegotiator]

Well? How are they?

Things have been busy at work, haven't been able to get near the computer at home often. First impression is that they definitely sound different, not sure how much I like the difference. They are super tight on my head compared to my Razer Carcharias. Hopefully will update in dept at the end of next week or even the next. I have to conduct 15 interviews next week and the 4th of July is at the end of the week!

[PLODDITHANLEY]

I bought plantronics first, ok sound but first one died because of the volume control on wire, next one same plus microphone failure. So as previous poster said good sound but not durable.

Now I have a zalman Mic cable tied to a cheap sennheiser, the Mic is great the headphones have the worst sound I've ever had.

[BloodyDeed]

I've got a Custom One Pro with the Headset Gear. Very good headphones but rather expensive.
For Gaming I still use a rather old X-Fi Xtreme Music and for music listening a Fiio E10k.

I would never buy any of these "GAM3R SN1PER ELITE" Headsets. They are usually pretty poor quality, break easily and sound terrible.

[Hurricane]

Generally very few headsets are worth the money.
I still own a Sennheiser PC-350, which was not too bad sound-wise, but nowadays I only use it for the microphone (lies next to me on my desk when playing).

As for headphones, I really like my Sennheiser HD-25, excellent multi-purpose headphones I use for literally anything. DJing, mobile use (w/ smartphone), music/movies/gaming on my PC (with amp for extra badass sound).

Soundcards ... the difference between onboard sound and dedicated sound card used to be much more noticeable. Nowadays most boards have pretty decent soundchips. When my X-Fi died a few years ago I was kinda mad first that I had to go back to onboard, it actually turned out to be almost on par with the new mobo I got in the meantime. I actually do hear a lot more sounds in PR than most people do, especially when it comes to vehicles.

Overall I'd say that dedicated soundcards are most likely not worth the money anymore, and quality headphones and mics will blow any headset out of the water for a lower price.

[Epim3theus]

So i bought a sound blaster z, it was good at first but now its sounds like i'm in a hanger all the time. All sounds are weird and undirectional. I can basically be roadkilled by an apc without me noticing him close by.

Some pointers would be appreciated.

[Spook]

I never buy headsets more expensive than 35 euros or 40 dollars. They break anyway, and I'd rather have a pretty disposable one. The Creative Fatal1ty (although having a stupid name like most headsets) seems to do pretty okay. I've gone through 3 of them now. Now got a turtle beach p11 off Amazon (30 euros). Works okay, bit more bassy, sounds alright. It's got active mic monitoring which is weird, feeds back a bit of your mic to your headset so you can hear when you're being way too loud (mic too close to mouth). Can't turn this off though, which really annoys me.

I know I should buy mic seperate from headset but screw it. I can't be arsed to hassle with all the different wires. Cheapish headsets replaced every year work better for me than 200 dollar headsets.

Had the same mindset until I bought the PC360 couple of months ago. The quality difference in mic and sound compared to the 20 euro stuff I was used to is gigantic.

[Generic PR Gamer]

Ya, got my headset at walmart for about $40. I can hear footsteps too.

[Steeps]

So i bought a sound blaster z, it was good at first but now its sounds like i'm in a hanger all the time. All sounds are weird and undirectional. I can basically be roadkilled by an apc without me noticing him close by.

Some pointers would be appreciated.

Check out this thread on Overclock.net:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1337761/offi ... eries-club

[sprint113]

Speaking of the SoundBlaster Z, are you able to enable X-Fi audio mode under the PR audio settings?

[PricelineNegotiator]

Well, after using the headset the last few weeks a bit and this past weekend a fair bit, I'm fairly confident to say that I am very happy with my purchase. At first, the band and the earmuffs were very tight on my head, but it changed over time, so it was more or less the new pair still fitting to the mold. The audio quality is superb, I can definitely hear more fine sounds and sounds from a further distance with better directional perception. The microphone is great. There is a Dolby surround sound mode that to be honest suck, but I'm not concerned as it is turned off by default.

Overall: 10/10

Thank you everyone for caring enough to give me recommendations.

[inb4banned]

PR is an incredible sound whore game and you get to enjoy it so much more with an X-Fi soundcard plus good open headphones. My AKG Q701 and Titanium HD + external AMP have served me for 2 or 3 years now without a problem. Binaural audio is amazing.

1. Stay away from headsets, the speakers and mic are usually of middling quality. Buy headphones and mic separately.

2. Stay away from headsets/phones with USB, they have a low-end built in sound card and won't be as versatile as normal 3.5mm jacks.

3. You don't need a separate sound card unless you go decide to buy a pair of high-end headphones, if you decide to buy one you should go with an external DAC/Amp.

Check out this post on Head-fi:
Mad Lust Envy's Headphone Gaming Guide: (5/31/2015: Beyer COP+ and Shure 1540 added)

I love linking to that thread even if just to show how Koss KSC-75 ($20) beats almost all headsets.

[Epim3theus]

Speaking of the SoundBlaster Z, are you able to enable X-Fi audio mode under the PR audio settings?

Yeah it will let you choose X-Fi.
I'm not sure what is going on with my SB Z problems still, havent looked in to it much, but its not always there and when its there its only malfunctioning for the game, not mumble and so on.
All in all i'm not very lucky with these cards i guess. I had a Titanium non HD (the cheap one) but had driver problems and was really buggy with the interface thingy and mic. BSOD-ing the pc and stuff. So i took the Titanium out, but after a while i was missing the good sound from when it was functioning ok.
I was hoping the Z would function with less problems.

[Megagoth1702]

Hey, just wanted to show off my custom headset. I think these are the best solutions - high quality headphones with a high quality mic, connected however you feel is good enough. Gaming headsets are usually not great in the quality/money spent department.



This is how the cable looks like:

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

Mic audio example is in the attachment.

On a side note: