advice on sound card headphones

[Gazcoop]

Hi all i have abit 35e with on boardsound , am looking at buying 5.1 headphones, but am i better off buying sound card and stereo headphones ??? this if for gaming budget is bout £60

[Lee`]

With £60 you could maybe get both, I recently got a sound blaster Audigy zs2 for £15 and you could get;

Speedlink SL-8793 Medusa 5.1 ProGamer Edition Headset - Ebuyer

[TooNice]

I recommend a X-Fi + stereo headphone combo. Any X-Fi with the exception of the Extreme Audio (which lacks the EMU20K1 chipset - and is pretty much Creative's typical attempt at misleading buyers by slipping a lower end product with a higher end brand) will do. the Extreme Gamer is probably the cheapest one now, but keep an eye for the discontinued Extreme Music on Ebay (same card without the lower profile).

For headphones, I tend to recommend the Koss oss KSC-75/PortaPro or the Sennheiser for their incredible quality for the money (they compete well against many headphones over twice their costs, and offer better sound quality than surround sound headphones I've tried).

Personally, I prefer the sound of the Koss overall, but you'll find fans of both headphones. Still, I just found this offer, and if the goal is to stay as close to £60 as possible, while getting a genuine X-Fi, then it's pretty much the best option.

[Gazcoop]

Cheers so 5.1 headphones are not that good then ??do these cards really give u 3d sound ??

[2Cold Scorpio]

Hey, TooNice, I read this and took your advice and got myself a set of Koss KCS-75s. They had a good bundle deal with a set of Koss Sparkplugs, so I got 2 new sets of headphones for $26! One of the new computer I'm building, one for my portable CD player.

[TooNice]

Ah, let me know what you think of them once you get them. The 'Plug' don't have as many followers as the KSC-35/75, but it's good to have isolating headphones to complement them (the KSC series are fully open).

[2Cold Scorpio]

Heck, I just thought two good quality sets of headphones for under $30 was a good deal. They should be here Monday at the latest (Good grief Amazon is slow...NewEgg has officially spoiled me!).