[Shin CZ]

I have many questions about using headphones for gaming on let's say a 360 or ps3.


I'd like to have surround sound headphones with good bass.


I heard that 5.1 headphones lack the punch unless you spend a bookoo amount of money. I have no clue how good they are since I've never experienced them.


Any non 5.1 headphones that simulate surround good enough to where if I play Call of Duty 4, I'll know exactly where my enemies is shooting from? Or is that only possible with 5.1+ headphones?


I don't know what you guys mean by drivers or whatnot, so please enlighten this poor soul. I just really want a decent pair, with the proper equipment needed for good surround.

What are drivers?


How do these surround sound headphones connect to the TV/Game System/Receiver?


AMP? What?


I'm totally at a loss.


Also if you guys know a good pair of headphones for what I want and need, care to link me?

 

[advanced101101]

I always used Bose Tri-port headphones very accurate sound for gaming but they aren't made to withstand abuse. Previously used Sennheiser, Sony, Panasonic headphones, bose was the best out of that round up.

 

[CADOBHuK]

5.1 headphones are a gimmick, there isnt a pair that I'm aware of that is capable of even a decent sound. They're basically like plastic toys. You dont need any multi channel technology in headphones to create the surround sound effect, headphones by their nature are capable of convincing surround sound effect with just two drivers. It's called "binaural" when applied to music recordings and "HRTF" when applied to pc games. Creative gaming soundcards such as audigy or x-fi are capable of HRTF effects with every game that supports EAX.

Give me your budget and I'll recommend you a good pair of stereo headphones.

 

[Ethenolas]

Try in ear monitors. Like the ones for live music. I have a pair for my keyboard and they are crystal clear.

Shure SCL4 or Shure SCL3 I use the 4s for live music, but the 3's would do just fine.

 

[Bob7145]

I use the Turtle Beach 5.1 phones. The positioning works pretty well. I can hear dogtag collectors sneaking up behind me in time to turn around and take them out. What most surround phones lack is a good center channel effect but you can see what's in front of you so not a real loss for gaming. They also come with a splitter cable so you can leave your AVR connected to the computers sound card analog outputs. And the headphone amp has individual volume controls for each channel. I like them for gaming although I have not tried other 5.1 phones and feel no need to.


Edit: These phones have a detachable mic so if your playing as a team you can communicate with your squad.

Don't know if they would work with PS3 etc.

 

[Tacoboy]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Shin CZ /forum/post/14278894


I have many questions about using headphones for gaming on let's say a 360 or ps3.


I'd like to have surround sound headphones with good bass.


I heard that 5.1 headphones lack the punch unless you spend a bookoo amount of money. I have no clue how good they are since I've never experienced them.


Any non 5.1 headphones that simulate surround good enough to where if I play Call of Duty 4, I'll know exactly where my enemies is shooting from? Or is that only possible with 5.1+ headphones?


I don't know what you guys mean by drivers or whatnot, so please enlighten this poor soul. I just really want a decent pair, with the proper equipment needed for good surround.

What are drivers?


How do these surround sound headphones connect to the TV/Game System/Receiver?


AMP? What?


I'm totally at a loss.


Also if you guys know a good pair of headphones for what I want and need, care to link me?

I've never heard any say they like their 5.1 headphones.

So I would recommend you get what I use for music.

Audio Technica AD500 headphones, about $65 + shipping & taxes

They are "open" headphones and very comfortable on the head and ears.

You can have them on for hours on end.

 

[Bob7145]

He wants them for GAMING.

There is a difference between "effect" and "knowing" where the guy that's about to knife you in the kidneys is in the dark.

 

[Ethenolas]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob7145 /forum/post/14279990


He wants them for GAMING.

There is a difference between "effect" and "knowing" where the guy that's about to knife you in the kidneys is in the dark.

Exactly, The precision of the in ear monitors i mentioned before is great. I used them for this exact purpose.

 

[Tacoboy]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob7145 /forum/post/14279990


He wants them for GAMING.

There is a difference between "effect" and "knowing" where the guy that's about to knife you in the kidneys is in the dark.

I've seen several posts from gamers that preferred simulated 5.1 with quality headphones over real 5.1 headphones.

I would have to guess they use really poor quality parts in 5.1 headphones to keep the costs down.

But as I never play first person shooters myself.

I'm just adding my 2 cents.

 

[Ethenolas]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Tacoboy /forum/post/14280142


I've seen several posts from gamers that preferred simulated 5.1 with quality headphones over real 5.1 headphones.

I would have to guess they use really poor quality parts in 5.1 headphones to keep the costs down.

But as I never play first person shooters myself.

I'm just adding my 2 cents.

All that 5.1 headphone garbage is smoke and mirrors. There is no such thing. Don't listen to the marketing. You need accuracy. And exactly as you stated, quality headphones will give that to you.

 

[xAVHTx]

A nice set of headphones that I can recommend to anyone is the Sennheiser HD595. If you want to spend about half that, the HD 555 are also good.

 

[CADOBHuK]

There is no 5.1 effect thats needed with headphones. They use binarual/HRTF technology to let you hear not only front/back but above/below too. Thats possible with mostly any game and any stereo headphones, as long as you have a creative gaming sound card. All 5.1 headphones are junk and should be only laughed upon.

 

[Shin CZ]

Well, I'm a console gamer, not a pc gamer, so no sound card?


Bah, there's so much about 5.1 vs stereo, but I'd really like to have the right headphones for what I need, yet still be capable of blowing me away when I watch movies, etc.


I heard the Astro's A40 is good. Any thoughts?

http://www.astrogaming.com/products/..._Audio_System/

 

[codered]

I'd avoid any kind of "5.1" headphones. You can get positioning that's just as good, or better, from high-quality stereo headphones. I recommend checking out Audio Technica A500 or A900, AKG K701, and Beyerdynamics DT770. If you need a mic, get a separate clip-on mic or something - most headset headphones aren't very good.


Even if you lose a bit of the directionality you "might" get from "5.1" headphones, I think the sound quality you'd get from any of the headphones I listed would blow you away enough to distract you from that

 

[Shin CZ]

Do you need anything else to simulate surround with these stereo headphones? I assume just plugging it directly to the Tv or receiver won't work well. I really am a newbie at this.


Remember, not a pc gamer.

 

[codered]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Shin CZ /forum/post/14288006


Do you need anything else to simulate surround with these stereo headphones? I assume just plugging it directly to the Tv or receiver won't work well. I really am a newbie at this.


Remember, not a pc gamer.

Right. I'm not sure if your receiver (if you have one) supports Dolby Headphone or something like that, because that would be one way to get the surround effect. However, due to the way headphones work (speakers right next to your ears, etc.), you will most likely be able to tell where your enemies are and such even with purely stereo sound. I've tried that with my A500s and Counterstrike Source on my PC, and it was pretty easy to determine exactly where footsteps were coming from.


As for movies, they may require actual surround processing (e.g. Dolby Headphone that I mentioned) to get the effect, if you have a receiver that supports it.

 

[CADOBHuK]

I know that with creative soundcards, multi-driver headphones are useless junk, and they have nothing over a good pair of stereo headphones, even in terms of positioning. There is no such "need" where they would have an upper hand with pc games and creative soundcards.

But surround sound effect in pc games depends on the HRTF processing, even if I used a non-gaming soundcard I'd only get flat stereo that doesnt have any front/back cues. I dont know what kind of sound processing does ps3 use, so 5.1 might make sense for you if ps3 is incapable of HRTF. However, even in that case I'd gladly give up the surround effect for the vastly superior sound quality of real stereo headphones.

 

[Shin CZ]

I took the plunge and got the Astro's A40.

http://www.astrogaming.com/products/...on_A40_System/


I'll be hooking it up via optical digital, so I hope it's enough for my needs.

 

[oilstain]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Shin CZ /forum/post/14288741


I took the plunge and got the Astro's A40.

http://www.astrogaming.com/products/...on_A40_System/


I'll be hooking it up via optical digital, so I hope it's enough for my needs.

Found through a search.


So, Shin, what's the verdict?

 

[ifor]

I would have gone with these:

http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-audio/razer-carcharias/