Need Some Gaming Headphones

[Iron Sights]

I'm in the market for some gaming headphones and wanted to hear what the good people of hexus have to say

I was interested in Gamecom 367 - Plantronics GameCom 367 purely on price
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Plant...Gaming-Headset

However I might be tempted to go for some 5.1 surround sound e.g:

Gamecom 777 - Plantronics GameCom
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Plant...Gaming-Headset

So basically budget is no more than £40, ideally the cheaper the better but I can spend a few quid more provided its worth it.

I've never owned surround sound headphones so are they better or am I better with the gamecom 367

[nibbler]

The 367 ones will have surround sound surely?

[Iron Sights]

The 777 comes with an external sound card which allows it to do 5.1 Dolby surround sound, however there is no mention of this on the 367, incidently the newer version of the plantronics 777 will support 7.1 according to hexus.

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=26180

So does this actually make a difference and what should I get?

[Uriel]

Do you have a soundcard? Most X-Fi and Xonar soundcards plus some onboard audio devices simulate surround sound over stereo headphones.

To some extent Xonar and certainly X-Fi give better gaming feature compatibility than the USb devices in headsets.

[george1979]

I've been looking at headsets in a recent thread too. Was looking at the speedlink medusa 5.1 but a few people commented on here that they aren't that good. Still wanna get 'true' 5.1 cans (I know they're never as good as speakers) but have decided to save up a little more cash for the Roccat Kave set. They've had some really good reviews and they look good too.

Did look at the 777's but as far as I know they don't have separate cones, its simulated 5.1 which can still do the job but the review for the roccat's were better.

[Uriel]

You're right that 'true' 5.1 cans can never be as good as speakers. However - virtualised surround can theoretically be as good as speakers. Potentially they could be better than speakers in some cases. Imagine that instead of simulating 5.1 speakers they just simulate the whole game environment in 3d space (5.1 is 2d without further psychoacoustic trickery as all the speakers are in a single plane). You only have 2 ears - right? The best possible surround sound would mimic what you hear...

I abandoned my 5.1 PC speakers after getting a good setup with Dolby Headphone (although having a 1 year old son has something to do with that too). Generic virtualisation like Dolby Headphone or CMSS-3D Headphone doesn't work well for everyone though. Dolby Headphone works incredibly well for me but you might not experience it in quite the same way.

To get as good as a high end speaker set you would need a custom setup. The SVS Realizer is calibrated to the user, headphones and accurately models a speaker system and listening room. That'll set you back US $3k though, plus getting access to a decent enough listenign room for calibration. Maybe the price will come down in a few years for us mere mortals...

[Golden Dragoon]

I bought a pair of turtle beach XLC's from tesco for £14, and bought a 2.5-3.5mm adaptor for the mic (they are designed for the xbox and I use them on it as well) and they work perfectly fine for my needs and are comfortable.