Headphones

[Zebaoth]

I got curious and played elite a bit with my trusty beyerdynamic dt880, nice sound and has all you need.

Usually I prefer my 5.1 system which makes elite truly shine audio wise.

Settings on full range, amplifier two thirds up, and I am sitting inside that ship.

The amount of membrane area from the front and rear channels relentlessly forces the air around me to move,
makes cannon or hull noises palpable on the desk and hotas case.
The first time flying through a mailbox at wall shaking volumes nearly made me fall out of the chair, such a distinct and prominent sound, one of those rare gaming moments I'll always remember.

Having a 15" custom built subwoofer the size of a washing machine gives a whole other meaning to the famous 'honk'.
This sound has frequencies down to the mid-20Hz region, which can not be reproduced by headphones, not to that magnitude.

Every elite player owes it to the audio engineers in this game to at least try and find someone with a potent 5.1 system to play elite on it.

 

[Zeeman]

Tbh I often think that these days one might as well mix on a pair of Pure radio speakers, and some 19.99 ear buds...... after chucking the whole mix into mp3.... actually auditioning a mix via various mp3 compressions is important.... minor grumble over....

I love my Dynaudio monitors, just warm and excited enough, but clinically revealing as well as eye wateringly expensive. I auditioned a pair of <very well regarded> monitors the other day and they sucked all the life out of some very well produced sample tracks, like Billie Jean etc. Gave them a wide pass.

Don't get me started on MP3's.

The whole 4k thing is even worse.

Z...

 

[lysan]

Also, if anyone is surprised how much better ED sounds when using headphones, consider using headphones rather than crappy speakers for music as well. Heck, you dont even have to do it for yourself. There is nothing more depressing than having someone say they like your music after listening to it on laptop speakers... [sad]

Unless you can/want to play very loud, headphones are pretty much a must.

In ED the sound is just outstanding.

 

[the100thmonkey]

Don't get me started on MP3's.

The whole 4k thing is even worse.

Z...

Are you referring to LG's (iirc) 4K soundbar? Seems legit to me.

 

[Deadspin]

I use Sennheiser 320s. Beautiful sound.

 

[mindfaQ]

Both my headphones as well speakers are high quality, so it does not really matter.

 

[bigity]

Agreed. Headphones are a must. I splurged for a set of Fidelio X2's and an already amazing audio stage became leagues better.

Head trackers are pretty nifty, too. I have an EDTracker Pro that I'm falling in love with

Damn. I thought I was splurging with an Arctis 5.

 

[Comrade Napoleon]

Don't get me started on MP3's.

The whole 4k thing is even worse.

Z...

Well so true, whats the point of my Audiostatic Hybrid 180 stats today? More or less useless, as I dont have a record player anymore, was getting a hassle getting a Proper Ortofon Moving Coil Pickup. And My SME arm was getting erratic.
Unless you get hold of some digital uncompressed stuff, its bearable.
And anyway I'm half deaf now
A direct cut LP is still the best I've ever experienced in sound.
Cheers Cmdr's

 

[Gen.Failure]

I also use headphones exclusively on my PC. My audio setup is a Soundblaster Z digital output to a Schiit M/M Dac and amp stack to my AKG K7XX headphones. For games I usually use the surround sound feature on the SBZ soundcard (it does some processing to make the sound more like 5.1 for headphones), but with Elite I don't even have to. They have done one of the best jobs on game audio of almost any game I have played. Every patch seems to bring some new audio surprises for me.

I also have a pair of old Audio Technica AD-700 for when I need an unfair advantage in competitive FPS games, which is all the time.

 

[WindWpn]

Logitech G933 here and love it! A little bulky, but wireless with excellent sound and minimalist mic make it quite nice! I use it for all sound on the box including voip calls, AMC.com, ED, NMS, etc... makes it nice too when there are guests in the next room and its basically quiet expect for when they hear me speaking random "gear down," "hyperspace!," "supercruise," "request dock," etc... coming from the wall which they likely think "What is he doing over there??"

 

[Para Handy]

Well so true, whats the point of my Audiostatic Hybrid 180 stats today? More or less useless, as I dont have a record player anymore, was getting a hassle getting a Proper Ortofon Moving Coil Pickup. And My SME arm was getting erratic.
Unless you get hold of some digital uncompressed stuff, its bearable.
And anyway I'm half deaf now
A direct cut LP is still the best I've ever experienced in sound.
Cheers Cmdr's

Try here:

https://www.linn.co.uk/

(come on you Lotto, give us the dosh.....)

 

[evanevery]

Get the Oculus Rift Headphones. They are a little expensive but they come with free VR! (...and a built in Mic for Voice Attack)

..once you do ED in VR you will never go back to a flat screen (despite the loss in resolution)...

 

[hoppryngil]

I love my Sennheiser 598s, they give a very clear balanced sound. Super comfy to wear which is always a bonus. I've attached a ModMic to them as well, perfect for Elite.

 

[Strangepork]

From the ultimate in quality go for a pair of Beyer DT150. Man they are ugly... but sound awesome. It's the industry standard for music production, so they are reference quality, comfortable and accurate.

 

[babelfisch]

From the ultimate in quality go for a pair of Beyer DT150. Man they are ugly... but sound awesome. It's the industry standard for music production, so they are reference quality, comfortable and accurate.

AKG aren't bad either.

 

[Zeeman]

Are you referring to LG's (iirc) 4K soundbar? Seems legit to me.

No, 4k video. Basically, like MP3's, we're being sold higher and higher quality tech to play poorer and poorer quality source material.

Most people I know still don't have ubiquitous 1080P content (even then, most still get a crap picture because no one has told them they need to switch the video aspect ratio to 1:1 picture mapping, and to make it harder, each company calls that something else), let alone 4k. Fortunately, 1080 divides into 4k nicely, (which is why everyone raves about 4k upscaling - because it's easy).

Put a 720P source on there, and then tell me how it goes... Keep in mind, this is for the entertainment world, not PC gaming and graphics.

Anyway, I'm going heavily off topic here.

Z...

 

[Zeeman]

Well so true, whats the point of my Audiostatic Hybrid 180 stats today? More or less useless, as I dont have a record player anymore, was getting a hassle getting a Proper Ortofon Moving Coil Pickup. And My SME arm was getting erratic.
Unless you get hold of some digital uncompressed stuff, its bearable.
And anyway I'm half deaf now
A direct cut LP is still the best I've ever experienced in sound.
Cheers Cmdr's

Oh, no, don't get me wrong, we *do* have the source material available, it's just not really promoted/accepted/whatever. There are hi-res music files out there, heck, even an uncompressed CD rip is worthwhile (and I actually did this, my NAS drive is full of uncompressed CD that I've bought and ripped).

Same with video - there is good 4k content that will make use of the goodies, it's just that most people don't even know the option is there. Heck, look at iTunes - 128k music. If you want 256, you need to pay extra - and prices are already near the same as a CD - so why? Well, convenience, of course... For me, though, if I'm going to cough up $20 odd for an album, I'll be the CD at the least.

I also use headphones exclusively on my PC. My audio setup is a Soundblaster Z digital output to a Schiit M/M Dac and amp stack to my AKG K7XX headphones. For games I usually use the surround sound feature on the SBZ soundcard (it does some processing to make the sound more like 5.1 for headphones), but with Elite I don't even have to. They have done one of the best jobs on game audio of almost any game I have played. Every patch seems to bring some new audio surprises for me.

I also have a pair of old Audio Technica AD-700 for when I need an unfair advantage in competitive FPS games, which is all the time.

I'm using Audio Technica AD-700's at the moment. quite happy with them, and they weren't even quite cheap. Will probably end up with a good pair of Sennheiser headphones at some stage, but the AD-700's have been pretty good so far.

Z...

 

[the100thmonkey]

Get the Oculus Rift Headphones. They are a little expensive but they come with free VR! (...and a built in Mic for Voice Attack)

..once you do ED in VR you will never go back to a flat screen (despite the loss in resolution)...

I did, actually.

The headsets are too bulky, even now, and the interface is too much of a pain. Sure, it's very immersive, but it's super-annoying to have to lift your headset to take a swig of beer, and no, I'm not going to drink it through a straw. That way lies madness.

 

[Tarman]

AKG aren't bad either.

I've had a pair of AKG K240 MkII for about seven years now. Super comfy as well as good sound for music as well as Elite. I killed the first curlycord after 4 years but the straight cord (patchable cords on a headset, wooot) has held up so I haven't had to pony up for new wires just yet and the sound quality has held up.

For louder times of day I have a cheapo set of comp speakers with a single baby sub but the desk they sit in is a massive cavernous office desk with hutch which adds a lot of tone. The sub is under the desk behind my pedals so Elite will push sounds through the ship floorboards so to speak.

 

[jasonbarron]

Just an update about my sound card. I ordered the Soundblaster Z and it arrived yesterday. After some drama installing it in the wrong slot and crashing half the connected devices in my rig, I finally got everything going late last night, fired up ED and let her rip on her maiden voyage.

Long story short was that after about an hour of non stop multiple eargasms where I was at the CG dueling various PvPers, I turned in for the night...I peeled the headphones off and got shakily to my feet and noticed that my wife was gone from her spot at the desk right behind me where her computer is located. I found her in the bedroom with this annoyed energy coming off of her. I asked her what was up and she told me that the sounds of multi cannons/spacestation traffic controllers/ships exploding/thrusters reverberating/rivets popping loose from the bulkheads everytime I hit boost coming out of my headphones finally became too much for her to bear and she had to flee to the relative quiet of the bedroom.

This was with the volume set at about 38% mind you. I don't think I'll be needing that amp...