The NEW Gaming Headset/Headphone Topic! (REQUEST STICKY PLZ) - Page 146

Looks like the Warheads are finally coming???
http://www.gamestop.com/xbox-360/acc...-headset/97608

2 more months?! I hope these things sound good.

Not sure. Doesn't say. Just has a mute button. USB powered. No need for batteries.

Turtle Beach DSS 2 Review
By: Kool Bubba Ice
12:46 PM PDT
Views: 0

The DSS 2 is a surround sound processor that try's to re create a speaker 5.1 Home theater Set up using a pair of stereo headphones. What separates the DSS 2 from the mix amp, Dolby headphone, & Yamaha's own Silent Cinema technology, are the 6 equalizer pre-sets & the 9 surround sound pre-sets.

From the manual:

1.Surround Sound Angle
Front Angle 30 degrees
Rear Angle 105 degrees

2. Front Angle 45 degrees
Rear Angle 120 degrees

3. Front Angle 45 degrees
Rear Angle 135 degrees

4. Front Angle 60 degrees
Rear Angle 120 degrees

5. Front Angle 60 degrees
Rear Angle 135 degrees

6. Front Angle 60 degrees
Rear Angle 150 degrees

EQ Presets:

1. Flat
2. Bass Boost
3. Aggressive Bass Boost
4. Treble Boost
5. Aggressive Treble Boost
6. Bass + Treble Boost
7. Aggressive Bass + Treble Boost
8. Mid-Range Boost
9. Aggressive Mid-Range Boost

I never heard the DSS 1 but some are concerned about the Dolby 7.1 logo not on the DSS 2. I read that Turtble Beach excluded this to save money. & the demo on youtube just shows 4 speaker settings along with the manuals illustrations. Ala rear angle & front angle. I cannot tell if it's 4.1 or 7.1, But I think it's a mute point in discussing virtual 5.1 SS.

My previous experience with virtual 5.1 comes from Dolby Headphone. Dolby technologies DSP that simulates 5.1. It's the industry standard & the majority of 5.1 headsets use this technology. Sony uses their own with their own headsets. Yamaha, Denon, Pioneer, also have their own built into their receiver for headphone use. I can only speak for Yamaha's Silent Cinema, which gives a wider left right audio field & does a better job at projecting audio images in the front, but pales in comparison to the 'upgraded' Dolby 5.1 technology in terms of channel separation, & Silent Cinema has the echo effect that turns some gamers off. My old Harman Kardon receiver had Dolby Headphone, which was quite good, but was also plagued with the reverb hall effect.

I cannot speak on Astro's 5.8 mix amp. Not sure if they are using the advanced Dolby technology or not. I do know that the DSS2 has not echo or reverb effects of any kind. Audio sounded just as good without the processing turned on. My only gripe, is, when on, clarity takes a minor hit. I'm not sure why, but it's there. Disappointing, yes, but again, minor.

My intial impressions were very positive. COD turned into another listening experience. I was totally immersioned & engulfed by the sound. The imaging was full, life like & 3D. Of course the effects & quality will change depending on the headphone being used. Headphones with huge sound stages like The AKG 701, Audio Technica AD700 will increase the sense of space between the audio ques & channel separation. This will occur both Vertically & Horizontally. Head phones that already exhibit good separation like the Beyerdynamic DT880 & Sony SA5000 will do so even better.

In progress..

The biggest problem with the DSS/DSS2 is that they are designed to work with their line of headsets and not other companies. Astro's mixamp has a universal aspect to it with its 4-pole 3.5mm input, all you need is the PC headset adapter and most headsets are at your disposal with it, but the DSS isn't as simple unfortunately. The DSS is a regular headphone jack, because Turtle Beach headsets have the connections for voice chat on the puck of the controller, and are designed to just plug into the audio of your TV. This is basically that. So with a Turtle Beach headset, you have the cord from the puck of let's say the X12 plug into your controller for voice, then the headphone jack plugs into the headphone port of the DSS/DSS2 for game audio. You're not completely out of luck with this processor though, you CAN use a SteelSeries Audio Mixer to connect a PC headset to it and have voice chat, but there are 2 main detriments to this. 1 is that the Audio mixer is 40 dollars, and paired with the DSS2's ~80 dollar price tag, you're at about 120 not including S&H. This is almost as much as an Astro Mixamp itself, but the 2nd detriment to this setup is coming from the Audio Mixer. The SS audio mixer is similar to turtle beach's amplified headsets by USB, you hook it up to the USB of your Xbox or DSS2 for power, but the problem is this cheap USB amplification introduces background hiss into your audio. So in order to use your PC headset with the DSS2, you're basically paying the same amount of money as the Astro Mixamp, but your audio quality is diminished with that background hiss.

I wanted to get the PC360's plus the Astro 5.8 setup but it does look like the 5.8 product page has been taken down. What other choices are there? Buy the Astro A-30's and sell off the headphones? Just get the standard Mixamp?

Depends how important wireless is to you. It was important to me bc of my setup, so I started looking on ebay for a 5.8. While I was doing that, Astro started selling the 5.8 stand-alone for a limited time. I jumped on the offer - I preferred that it was new, with a 1 year warranty.

If you need a wireless solution, look for a used 5.8.....if not, go w/ the Mixamp Pro.

If you get the 5.8, make sure to pick up the rechargeable battery pack. I'm impressed w/ how ling it lasts. The throw away batteries they included died in under 3 hours lol.

They damned-well better be, they've certainly delayed them enough times. I can't for the life of me remember where I read it, but there were rumors they were delayed to make them compatible w/ the next Xbox. Apparently that was the most frequently asked question when they 1st displayed them at the Electronics Expo. Hopefully the rumor was accurate...

I had $165 in gamestop trade-in credit, so I got some Turtle Beach X42's.

I debated paying the $35-$65 out of pocket and getting the X400's or PX5's, but I really have no use for blu-tooth, and I heard that using blu-tooth with the Xbox Controller runs the batteries down much faster. Overall, I just wanted some surround for my Xbox, and I like the X42's fine so far. However, I'm still waiting on my optical output adapter to come in, so I haven't had a chance to use them with surround yet.

On Battlefield 3, running the X42's in stereo, they sound great, and my friends on Xbox Live can hear my much better than they could with my old headset.

I can't wait to try out the X42's in surround. Does anyone else have experience with them yet?

While that is true, the bluetooth is dual pairing so you can have bluetooth on your xbox and your phone or ipad or whatever has bluetooth at same time. I use my mw3 deltas(xp500s) for just about everything you can imagine that takes optical and uses bluetooth. I have got quite the use out of them in different scenarios, but you can't go wrong with any wireless headset now. Having absolutely no wires has been great whether i'm playing 360, ps3, or pc.

I have a dss2. Would AKG K518 pair with it nicely? I see that is is better than the K81 in many aspects, however I haven't seen a review of it for 3D gaming.

Can someone Hook their mixamp to their pc and record their voice for Ã* sample.
My headset sounds awful compared to when i connect straight to the motherboards soundcard.

Astros have been spotted in select Best Buy stores. Hopefully they will hit mine soon so I can do a service plan swap.

Service plan swap? Please elaborate.....

I have a 2 year Best Buy service plan on my Tritton headset and the headset is broken. So they will either replace it with the same one or I can use the initial purchase value towards a different one.

When using the 5.8 Mixamp on my Xbox, I get sound from my headphones, but also from the TV. Is there a way to turn off the sound from the TV without having to mute it? I'm using HDMI and optical.

My processor had a setting that allowed the speakers to function when the headphone jack is being used, although I'm not sure why. Check the settings on your receiver/processor.

The Rx unit has no settings. I didn't see any options in the Xbox dashboard, but maybe someone knows a way? I'm sure mixamp Xbox users have encountered this?

What are the alternatives to the Mixamp 5.8?

everything else on the market.

How can you be so obtuse? Is it deliberate?

Yes.

Anybody here bought the XP400's?

They seem pretty much perfect, but now that the Warheads have been talked about again. Not sure if I should pull the trigger or not. Wireless Xbox360 compatible headset is at the absolute top of my wants list.. and I hope to buy once and get it right the first time.

I went with the Creative Aurvana Live instead of the AKG 518. Not that anyone showed any interest at all

there isn't. you're gonna have to turn the sound down manually.

LOL! That may not have been the most friendly response, but to be fair this entire thread is full of discussion regarding the mix amp and alternatives to it.

at Jammy's answer. But to give you something, look at Turtle Beach's wireless headsets.

Wired only.

Mixamp Pro
AX720
DSS (1st gen)
DSS2 (with it's own virtual surround processing)

Then there are various Turtle Beach and other companies with headsets that have their own proprietary amps that have some form of virtual surround.

Don't leave Yamaha's Silent Cinema out. Prett much any 2nd hand receiver has it nowadays. And they can be bought for the price of a mixamp.

Any of them allow you to customize the HRTFs to your own ears? I remember having a sound card back in the day that did that and it was a pretty decent boost to your ability to localize stuff behind you.

I have 420~ post in 5 years. I rarely ask questions as the information is generally easy to find. This thread is a cluster$#@#% (lest I get warned again by the sensitive sallys for using "bad language"). Brining old information to the top of long threads is commonplace.