Hardware & Technical Headset recommendations

Hi all, apologies, I originally posted this in the 'General' thread before finding this section :eek:

I'm brand new to ED and I'm having fun with it even at this early stage. I have many years of flight simulation under my belt so I've found ship control to be the easiest part so far.

I'm going to invest in a headset soon and would appreciate anyone chipping in with their recommendations. I'm looking for one that I'll be able to fit the track ir 5 track clip pro to. I'll also give the voice attack software a go as soon as possible. I'm patiently waiting for the consumer version of Oculus Rift next year hopefully.

My budget is around £80. I'm liking the look of the Corsair gaming CG-H5100:-

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SP-025-CS&groupid=702&catid=1058


Anyone got one?

Not sure if it will be able to accommodate the track clip pro though. Any help or recommendations much appreciated.
 
Genuine "gaming" headphones are a fad. A marketing trick really... Unlike most other "gaming" peripherals (which instills a mental image that it's in some way shape or form better than "non gaming" gear for games), headphones are pretty much the same across the board. Keep that in mind when your purchasing. Not that all headphones by gaming peripheral companies are bad, but some are legitimately over priced.

That said, I can definitely recommend you something since I've owned dozens of headphones over the years, and I can tell you it really depends on what your looking for.

Headphones like the Razer Taimat 2.2's have AWESOME bass... Overkill really, but there's nothing quite like listening to a tank roll by and practically feeling it. The loud rumbling bass gives a very immersive feeling as explosions and gunshots have a lot more impact, but arnt very good for "competitive" gameplay. Ear's cant tell directional with low frequency, and the heavy hitting bass wash's out the mid frequencies. They're still really good for "rattle your ear off with coffee grinder sounds" dubstep if your into that. The problem I've found with these is you basically need an amp to get the most out of these. The dual bass drivers consume too much and default audio ports wont be able to push enough to them to make them shine (most bad reviews are because of this, just users not knowing their hardware)

Audio-Technica AD700's on the other hand are kind of the polar opposite. IMO theyre crap for music since the high frequencies and low/ultra low sounds are washed out, but mid tones (where you'll hear foot steps, and your ears have the best directionality). They are deemed to be the best headphones for competitive FPS, and I must say theyre pretty good.

If your into surround sound, any headphone will do. Dont buy into the "virtual surround sound" marketed up gimmicks. All that's happening is the SOFTWARE is processing the signals in a way that most (very key word) ears will perceive sound from different directions. Any headphones can do this, its all software side. That said, theyre generally considered to be inferior to discreet driver based surround sound (heaphones that have multiple speakers positioned around the cup). These not only have a higher compatibility with more users, they also generally work better. The Razer Taimat 7.1's work well here, but the best of the best discreet driver surround sound experience you'll get will come from the Psycho Carbon's...

Psycho Carbon's make a set of headphones that have the speakers positioned in the headband, of all places. They use "sound tubes" to direct the sound into various spots in the cups, which has 2 major benefits, and 1 major downside. First, it replicates true to life surround sound by 1) having a natural lag between the each ear, and 2) the sound is actually coming from distinct directions (when it enter's the cup, the sound will be emitted from a position actually 90* in front of or behind the ear). However, the downside to this amazing positional audio is the quality suffers horribly. You wont be able to tell in most games (since your not listening to FLAC sound tracks here), but the sound pipes make the audio sound... far away. Which actually helps in it's primary goal. Oh and theyre complicated to setup.

Let's see... what else.

I've got a set of Beyer Dynamic DT880's, which are my go to 100% of the time now. Amazing for music and gaming alike, and do an excellent job with virtual surround sound, but are expensive. For comms or casual gaming I like my SoundBlaster 3D Wrath's... Theyre wireless and have a good mic built in.



Anyways... I can help more if I know exactly what your looking for in a headset. Theres a huge variety, so it all depends on what you want them to do.
 
I have a pair of Sennheiser PC363Ds. A little out of your budget but well worth it IMO for comfort and sound quality. Fits a Trackir 5 pro clip as well.
 
Gaming headsets are really just a marketing scam. Most gaming headsets have drivers(the speakers in the ear cups) that are tuned for low frequencies, meaning they enhance bass. This can drown out the mid and high frequencies. But some people like it. Studio/DJ headsets have a flat response, meaning you can hear the mid and high frequencies clearer. This is good for FPS games like Crystles said.

The most important thing to realize is that the whole 'true surround sound' headsets are all a gimmick. Like the Roccat Kave 5.1 (I've owned a pair they are a good budget gaming headset don't get me wrong), the Razer Taimat 7.1 and Cooler Master CM Storm Sirus 5.1. They have multiple smaller drivers in each ear cup to produce surround sound. But this setup is inferior in sound quality to the normal stereo headsets, which has one big driver per ear cup usually.
Stereo headsets can produce surround sound! Digital surround sound encoders have come a long way. These encoders come with good soundcards OR some headsets have a built in virtual surround soundcards (these are usually USB headsets) like the Logitech G35 and Razer virtual 7.1 Kraken which uses their own surround encoder.

So plugging in a stereo headset into a capable soundcard can give you brilliant surround sound in movies and games, plus you have big stereo drivers that blow away all those silly 'true surround sound' headsets. However the Razer's virtual surround encoder they use isn't too bad. From what I've head Dolby headphone is the worst surround encoder.

So this is why so many informed gamers have started using studio quality headsets like the Audio-Technicas and Sennheisers with soundcards to get the best sound quality and best surround sound in games they can.
As for a budget, with these studio quality headsets, the more you pay, the better the quality and less distortion. That's the world of audio engineering.

You can look into Steelseries. Their H-series headsets apparently have a flat response, but are getting bad reviews due to people using them without soundcards and saying their bass is bad. The Razer Kraken isn't a bad headset as far as gaming headsets go.

Hope all this helps!
 
I have set of Sennheiser Momentum headphones, they dont seem better than my Kave 5.1 (these have 5 conectros to plug into my SB soundcard)
 
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