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Dutchgamer1982 (Udelukket) 5. nov. kl. 13:34
best gaming headphone solution.. advise wanted...
talking to a friend about his pc's audio.

he currently has a motherboard with an ALC897 soundchip
and a Sennheiser game360 headphone

he plays shooters, and want better audio for better situational awareness (hear the enemy coming)
as well as ofcourse, just better sound, for he CAN hear the difference between his own system with 897 chip and that of friends having an 4080 chip.

he has an mini itx system so internal soundcards are off the board.

his system is modern, am5, decent grafic card.. so he has no need for a new system in that regards

he is now however considering buying a new motherboard of nearly 300 euro just to get an alc4080 chip while also in dubio if in his case an alc1220 or alc4080 would be the better pick (giving him the most edge in his shooters)

while I am in no doubt than either will be an improvement over his ALC897.. spending 300 euro just for an audiochip hurts...

I also not know for sure which is the best for HIM.. while I know the alc1220 is the superior chip.. the 4080 has more software volume enhancing stuff that when you use an headphone MAY overall make it better?
-> I don't know I game only with speakers not headphone to me the alc1220 sounds better but I have heared some people saying they prefer the alc4080

regardless
I think he is much better off with a complee different solution if he is willing to spend THAT kind of money...

that is EITHER an external dac + an external amplifyer

OR

an external soundcard, via usb

BUT as I never ever bought the first one myself.. and am a pc guy not an audio guy I would not know which to advise him.. and as for soundcards.. well the last one I bought has been quite a while ago.. and I basicly always stuck to creative out of old 90s habit.. i really don't know which brands and models are todays best picks

nor do I know if either those 2 options would actually give him any gain over that alc4080 or alc1220


he want mostly better "directional awareness for in FPS." you know hear the enemy coming..
as well as "a bit more volume" and ofcourse a generally "sounding better.. I can hear the quality difference"

so let me her your thoughts..
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Golden Meowlie 5. nov. kl. 14:25 
There's no difference
#1
Dutchgamer1982 (Udelukket) 5. nov. kl. 16:00 
couple hours googling... and found the folowing option :

buy an Fosi K7 DAC (209 euro) -> that alone is cheaper and better than that motherboard idea)
->
buy an Sennheiser 560S (139 euro) -> the succesor of 2 generations newer than the still good but dated headphone he has and with 130 ohm vs his 50ohm a massive boost forward
->
buy an Sennheiser HD 500 BAM (50 euro -> an plug in micrephone for that headset.. as unlike the 360 newer ones of that brand do not come with one build in)

total 398 euro...

what you say people? should I advise him to do this..
#2
Golden Meowlie 5. nov. kl. 17:01 
What's wrong with 7.1 virtual surround? Did he remember to turn on windows sonic?
#3
Rod 5. nov. kl. 18:44 
In old professional cs they used sennheiser HD600 for the stereo clarity with a soundcard typically Creative. And a seperate mic is used.


I still use this system for various reasons. I use HD660S2 for stereo clarity and i bought the Creative AE-7 soundcard to power it. And as for my mic i use a 3.5mm clip on Modmic. Why? Because this setup does not involve usb the last time i used a simple usb mic everytime i held a key to talk on discord there was a big latency spike visible in Latencymon and it put me off using USB for sound especially when i already have 8000hz peripherals talking i do not need my sound on USB. This is the best gaming setup tbh maybe they fixed USB spikes but i am not going to buy it just to test i think for gaming stick to analogue 3.5mm mic and headphones linked to a PCIE soundcard.
Sidst redigeret af Rod; 5. nov. kl. 18:46
#4
Monk 5. nov. kl. 20:44 
The best approach is to get better headphones, it will make more of an impact than anything else, then look to a dac / amp over a sound card.

If the game supports virtual surround, I've found the dolby atmos for headphones app on the windows store to be quite impressive.

But overall spending that 300 ish on a better pair of headphones (plus a seperate mic) would give the best improvement they could get.

While sennheiser make very good headphones, you will pay an ammount of a 'brand tax' with them so are not always the best option, if he can get to a store that sells and let's you test headphones would be best, or make use of amazon's awesome return policy to trial a few pairs (try to make sure amazon is the seller though as to not screw over any small shops).

If they can spend 300 on a mobo they are very close to picking up a pair of shure srh1540's which I use for gaming and are amazing (around £350 these days, £500 to £600 originally), second hand could also bring up some great options.

The ohm rating doesn't mean better or higher quality so dont pay any attention to that, in blind tests people cannot generally tell the difference anyway.
#5
Talby 5. nov. kl. 22:02 
Already has the Sennheiser PC 360 Special Edition, which is pretty decent - if that is still in good shape I would try a cheap sound card like the Sound Blaster Play!3 ~$25 USD which has far better virtual surround (almost as good as the classic CMSS) it is what I am using with my headphones, it works very well on my desktop / laptop and have used Samson SR850 / JVC HARX700 / Hifiman HE400SE / apple earbuds (all generations).

Otherwise get the stuff you already mentioned, sounds like a decent starter audiophile experience.
Sidst redigeret af Talby; 5. nov. kl. 22:03
#6
Bad 💀 Motha 6. nov. kl. 5:31 
USB DAC with built in Amp is the way to go. And it's driver-less

If you want an actual sound card you can probably get a used SoundBlaster XFI PCIE card for around $30 or so.

With Realtek or Creative, the biggest mistake people make is selecting Headphone Mode. Don't do this just select 2.1 Stereo

You can also try enable Virtual Surround or Windows Sonic Audio Enhancement
#7
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