Soundcard + new headset question

[the Sliver]

Hey guys and gals,

I'm looking to upgrade from my pair of Zalman 5.1 headphones. They're alright, but the sound is not the best. by any stretch of the imagination. (::: Zalman, leading the world of Quiet Computing Solutions :::)

I have an HT Omega Striker 7.1 (HT Omega - Striker7.1) sound card. What would be a good match for it? If I buy a USB headset, does it still make use of the sound card's capabilities?

My price range around ~250$ and the use would be mostly for gaming.As a result, I would probably prefer surround sound, but the card does have a "virtual surround" feature that I haven't really tried out. Any suggestions?

[Babrbarossa]

http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=41740&vpn=981%2D000116&manufacture=Logitech&p romoid=1324


Nice price on these headphones this week, and they're quite good- especially for the price. That said- I find the Zalmans that you have to be exceptional value. I still occasionally select them over my Sennheiser HD595 set for gaming.

[the Sliver]

I was actually just looking at the G35's on NCIX :).

My one issue would be that it would kind of make my sound card worthless since the G35 is USB and, from what I have read, would not use the sound card at all. This isn't the end of the world, but I did spend 70$ on the card :).

[Slik]

Go for the new Psyko Carbon 5.1 analog set. $200. Worth a look see at Psyko Audio.

[the Sliver]

I've definitely been keeping my eye on those, Slik.

Are there any canadian retailers that sell them, or would I have to go through their website?

EDIT: Nvm, found them on NCIX. No provincial sales tax and 6$ shipping? Yeah... I just bought 'em lol.

[Slik]

Originally Posted by the Sliver

I've definitely been keeping my eye on those, Slik.

Are there any canadian retailers that sell them, or would I have to go through their website?

EDIT: Nvm, found them on NCIX. No provincial sales tax and 6$ shipping? Yeah... I just bought 'em lol.

In my opinion,you won't be sorry one bit. You may have to play with the settings on your sound card etc.but once you do,WOW! In the event you have a problem or you are unable to get them to sound the way you anticipated,don't give up and return them. Call or email Psyko first. They will fix your problem or replace them if necessary. Good luck my friend. Let us know what you think once you have done some testing or gaming with them.

[the Sliver]

Okay so I got the headphones in and initial impressions were crap! However, to make a long story short I realized that my sound card defaulted the new connection to "mono" sound and Windows 7 threw it on "Digital Audio" instead of "Speakers". Once I put it on Speakers and changed it to 5.1, they sounded amazing :). A huge improvement over my old headphones.

Now, I have to state that for music, they only sound marginally better than my old cans and that's mostly due to the better bass. I haven't tried movies yet (I don't ever watch movies on my computer anyway). Keep in mind that I haven't had time to mess around with the equalizer yet and I probably won't bother since pretty much the only thing I do on my computer nowadays is game. But that's what I bought these for and they sound great for gaming. Bad Company 2 never sounded so good and the surround sound effect works perfectly.

So I would not recommend these headphones if you don't do a lot of gaming. However, if you do definitely pick these up!

[SugarJ]

Your impressions match what most reviews I've read say. They are great gaming headphones, and only mediocre for music and movies. FPS gamers love them, and audiophiles hate them. I don't know if the problem with music reproduction is inherent in the design or not. Glad to hear you are happy with your set.

[the Sliver]

I do all of my music listening to and from work through my iPhone and rarely do so on my PC. In the future, I might treat myself to a nice pair of headphones for listening on the go (currently using 60$ earphones to drown out the sounds of Montreal's noisy metro).

I really gotta say that I'm impressed with the gaming performance of the Carbons. It really does help a lot to immerse you further into whatever game you're playing. Pick them up if you're looking for a great gaming headset!