I should probably invest in a soundcard before buying yet another headset, right guys?
@Big Isy depends what your current headset is, to be honest. What are you using at the moment?
This is my current headset which isn't glorious. It does the job but I fancy something.... fancier. I'm also using the onboard soundcard on the mobo. ALso also, I had these Sennheiser headphones before the current headset and they were amazing. I want something with that sound quality AND a mic.
I should probably invest in a soundcard before buying yet another headset, right guys?
@Big Isy depends what your current headset is, to be honest. What are you using at the moment?
This is my current headset which isn't glorious. It does the job but I fancy something.... fancier. I'm also using the onboard soundcard on the mobo. ALso also, I had these Sennheiser headphones before the current headset and they were amazing. I want something with that sound quality AND a mic.
Yes, what would have that sound quality, and a mike?
You want excellent sound quality and a nice mic built in?
I promise I don't work for Zalman, but a Zalman MC-1 Mic is all that you need. It'll clip on the length of your headphone cable and it's a great quality piece of equipment
Pretty much the all-in-one headsets aren't worth the price. I don't have a Zalman, but have heard amazing things about it (oh, and its $7), and instead opted for complete overkill on my Mic (Blue Yeti), but I strongly encourage you to get separate pieces for your cans and mic. At the very least, when one fails, you are onlly replacing that component and not having to replace both.
Alright, I'm not leaning toward the Beyerdynamic DT 990s for my top choice, above the Astro A50, Sennheiser PC 360/598, and V-MODA M-100. Are those a good choice, particularly for use with the Astro Mixamp? And if I go with the 990s, is there any noticeable sound difference between the 32 ohm and the 250 ohm versions?
Dashui on
Xbox Live, PSN & Origin: Vacorsis 3DS: 2638-0037-166
This might be the best place for me to ask. I'm looking for a decent headset+mic I can use with a 360 and PC (PS3 as well perhaps but I already have a nice pair of Sony wireless for that.)
If anyone has an opinion I would be glad to hear it, even if anecdotal. Also if you could @Adda me if you reply as I always forget to look in Moe's
I promise I don't work for Zalman, but a Zalman MC-1 Mic is all that you need. It'll clip on the length of your headphone cable and it's a great quality piece of equipment
Got one of these after my headset's microphone gave up the ghost. Only had it about a month or so, but certainly no complaints so far. Neither from myself or anyone over voice comms.
seriously though, the astro a40 or the wireless a50 might be the go? What's your budget?
edit: oh, and you want the Mixamp with either of those astro phones. I didn't really make that clear
Yeah I'm looking at the a50 (despite the price) but I can't find anyone talking about a multi-platform setup like I have. As I have my PS3 and 360 connected to my primary pc monitor, I want to be able to switch between all 3 without too much hassle on one pair of headphones.
You'd want a receiver, or to get something like a MixAmp and just swap the cables when you are changing sources.
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GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
So I just ordered six foot TOSlink and Mini-B usb cables to hook my MixAmp to my XBox, and I'm probably going to buy a second MixAmp so I can do the "quick disconnect" thingy and not drag my MixAmp between rooms...
My question is: Does anyone have any experience with the wireless mixamp? Thinking of getting that one for the living room, but I'm not sure if I'm a fan of it taking regular batteries, and requiring an extra 50 dollar purchase for an actual rechargeable lithium ion battery. That seems...excessive. I am just trying to figure out if the extra money is worth not draping six feet of TOSlink and USB cables across my living room when I'm playing XBox.
Personally, I'd try the cables first because they're a lot cheaper than buying another Mixamp. If you bought them from Monoprice you're only out $10 or so if you don't end up liking the cables running across the floor.
GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
Oh, sorry, I probably didn't word my post well. I am already trying the cables, so I can use my existing mixamp. I ordered them from Amazon, and paid basically what MonoPrice charges (Amazon Essentials or whatever they are called).
The plan is to eventually have a second MixAmp that's always in the living room, so I don't have to move my MixAmp between the living room and my PC. My question is whether I want to continue running cables and buy a second regular wired MixAmp, or go the wireless route when I decide to get a second one.
My question is: Does anyone have any experience with the wireless mixamp?
I have a wireless mixamp that I use to keep wires from running across the living room. It works quite well, but it almost always runs on USB power so I can't comment on battery life. I don't know how much range it gets since it's never cut out on me the odd time when I am walking around with it.
I think that the internet has been for years on the path to creating what is essentially an electronic Necronomicon: A collection of blasphemous unrealities so perverse that to even glimpse at its contents, if but for a moment, is to irrevocably forfeit a portion of your sanity.
Xbox - PearlBlueS0ul, Steam
If you ever need to talk to someone, feel free to message me. Yes, that includes you.
I posted this in the TV thread before I spotted this thread.
Can I get an expert opinion on this AV receiver. How is it as an entry level receiver?
Right now I am running an old school DVD/receiver with zero HDMI ports. Wanted something a little more modern. I am no audiophile, but would like something half decent.
The reviews seems positive, and the little blurb at the bottom about 4K compatible makes me think it will have a decent lifespan.
A good friend of mine has a Yamaha receiver, albeit a much more expensive one, and he's quite happy with it. There are a number of choices for receivers in the $250-400 range, and all of them are generally good. The Onkyo TX-NR414 is worth a look as is the Denon AVR-1613. I just bought a Denon AVR-2112CI about a week ago to replace my ancient Onkyo TX-SR500 and I'm extremely happy with it. It's also worth looking out for deals for last year's model and refurbs from authorized resellers because you can get some really awesome deals that way. I got my Denon from Accessories4less and other than getting held up in a shipping depot in NJ due to Sandy my experience with them was great.
I'm still in the process of routing cables through walls but one of the main reasons I spent a bit more money on the Denon was the higher level/more advanced Audyssey room equalization it came with. The room my home theater is irregularly shaped with a partial cathedral ceiling, so having a room calibration that uses more than three measurement areas was pretty important to me. Also, I'd rather have more HDMI inputs than I initially need because I like having room for expandability and futureproofing. I wouldn't worry about 4K upscaling because we are many years off from that being affordable for the average consumer, and while some receivers do have built in upscaling it's not necessary because all TV's have it too. Some will do a better job than others and sometimes better than the TV, but you're money is better spent on more HDMI inputs, room equalization, or putting it towards a Harmony remote.
So, I think that I've finally finished my DAW setup. Total cost $60 for a Reaper personal license. By far the best deal out there for this type of work.
Ample use of Audacity, Rebirth http://www.rebirthmuseum.com/ and LMMS will be included, but I just still get this feeling that I'm going to end up with a 303 or 909 and a tweaky analog synth. Got the hammer action 88 keyboard covered, and a pro grade mic, so it's almost ready to go....
just gotta talk myself into/out of finding a 303 or 909....
All Blue Mics for incredible deals. I own a yeti, managed to snag it for $70 when it first came out. The snowballs are awesome too, but the yeti is something special.
Kane Red RobeMaster of MagicArcanusRegistered Userregular
I have a Blue Snowball, picked it up a couple years ago when my headset mic died so I would be able to upgrade to better headphones later, and I have absolutely no problems with the quality of the mic, but I was curious if there was some obvious way I am missing to increase the gain? I'm a pretty quiet guy, and while this isn't a problem while recording since I can just up the volume in post, when playing games with my friends they always complain that I am super quiet.
since my current headset is going, i'm looking into getting a wireless one this time. any opinions on best wireless headset maker?
my friends have been suggesting sennheiser and it's looking good. i don't want to spend much more than 160 or so, and i was looking at the 323D, possibly 333D.
how about the logitech g930? i think a friend of mine has those as well, and i managed to find a couple places where they are pretty cheap. any audiophile opinions on these headsets?
I've also been looking into getting a headset, and that model does look nice. The only turnoff [besides the high price] is that its cord is straight, as opposed to being spirally, like on a corded telephone receiver. My current set of headphones actually uses a straight cord, comparable to what that Sennheiser headset uses. I've lost count of the times that the wire got pulled out of my MP3 player from being caught on something else.
Basically, I want something like Senn, except with a spiral cord (Preferably less than 80 USD.) Actually, it might be okay for the cord to be straight, as long as it's designed to be detachable. In that case, I'd be able to buy a spiral cable like this separately, and swap them out.
I've been looking into a good gaming/ entertainment headset for my pc, iphone, vita, ps3, and possibly 360. I have lowered it down to these 2 because they are within my price range of 200 dollars and work on as many devices as possible with the Astros working with everything and the Sony Pulse everything but my 360. I was wondering if anyone with knowledge of headsets would know which would be a better choice, the types of games I play tend to be stuff like The Walking Dead, Uncharted, Persona, Infamous, and Skyrim. Outside of Halo don't really play any competitive FPS
I AM THE VAMPIRE
0
GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
edited November 2012
I can't comment on the A30's, because I have a set of A40's, but the mixamp alone is worth buying an Astro setup for. Having the ability to get 7.1 out of pretty much any device I want is pretty great. The mixamp connects using TOSlink, so it will work out of the box with the PS3 and the PC (provided you have optical out on your PC), and will work with the 360 with a 5 dollar adapter from Monoprice (here: http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=108&cp_id=10830&cs_id=1083005&p_id=7526&seq=1&format=2)
I would get the Astro setup with the mixamp over the Sony Pulses every day, but that's just me.
The other nice thing about the mixamp is that it uses standard connections all the way around, so later on you can upgrade the headphones to something like a pair of Seinheiser PC360's if you wanted.
I'd love to get a pair of Astros but wow $250+? Wouldn't I be better off just buying a separate $80+ headset for each system (PC/PS3/Xbox)?
The point of the 250 dollar package isn't even the A40's, it's the mixamp...so in that sense, no, you wouldn't be better off doing that. The Mixamp is the real part of the package you want, the actual A40 headphones are a mid range setup to get you started with full 7.1 headphones. A lot of people here actually buy just a Mixamp and pair them with a set of PC360's, but that's going to cost you over 350.
Also, if you're not in a hurry, when Astro runs sales (which isn't often), they run really good sales. Can definitely snag a Mixamp + A30/A40 combo for an absurdly reasonable price if you're patient and keep an eye out.
For now, my setup is a Astro Mixamp run through to some California Silverados. Unfortunately, I'm going through the onboard audio on my PC... due to SLI dual-slot graphics cards there's no available space to add a soundcard to my PC.
Dehumanized on
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GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
edited November 2012
As a side note, I move my Mixamp + A40's between my compute room and living room daily, so you really only need one setup for all your systems unless you are super lazy. Takes me 45 seconds to unplug the TOSLink/USB from the back of the Mixamp, walk in to my living room, and plug in the cables to my PS3 or 360.
I have three sets of the cables, mind you, which is a bit of cable management...but I basically always keep a set plugged in to my PC, PS3 and 360. I just tuck the cables in my living room away when I am not using the A40's out there.
All said and done, the entire setup, with the Slim adapter for my 360 and the 6ft spare cables from Amazon Essentials cost me right at 300 before shipping, and that gives me full 7.1 on every system I care about.
Is it cheap? No, but good audio equipment never is. It's probably because I've been a DJ for years, but spending 200+ on headphones is nothing new to me. My Pioneer HDJ-1000's cost me that, and they aren't even great listening headphones, just good DJ headphones.
e: In the interest of full disclosure, I needed to buy a new sound card for my PC as well, an Asus Xonar DX, so that was an extra 85 bucks...but not everyone will need that.
I have a pair of Swan M200 MkIIs connected to my PC. I would like the best gaming soundcard I can get that will do these justice. From my understanding, this is either the Creative Titanium HD or the Asus ROG Phoebus card provided the driver updates have resolved the initial issues. Locating a Phoebus review that gives a pre- and post- driver update perspective is nigh impossible. Is there another card that I should get instead? Could someone speak to their first-hand Phoebus experience?
Also, I picked up my first AVR this week: a Pioneer AVX-53; a middle of the road box from my understanding. I am interested in a stereo setup only at this point unless there is a very compelling 5.1 sale going on. The Polk Audio RTI series set gets rave reviews from a price-performance perspective. At the point of the A9s I can get a pair of Martin Logan Motion ESLs though. That spun me off into learning about impedance mismatches which - correct me if I am wrong - should not be an issue when pairing my AVR with those speakers unless I really pump the volume.
I would prefer wall mount speakers but am having a hard time locating reviews on them. Could someone point me in the direction of Average Joe's Home Theatre Reviews? I don't have anyone taking me under their wing therefore finding credible hifi review places that don't scoff at speakers that cost $5,000+ a pair is tough.
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GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
edited November 2012
After owning an Asus card, I've sworn off everything Creative, for what that's worth. I can't comment on the Phoebus, but I have a Xonar DX, and I love it.
I know quite a few PA'ers have a Xonar Essence ST/STX and love them (from what I've read here), so that may be something to consider as it's right at the same level as the Phoebus.
After owning an Asus card, I've sworn off everything Creative, for what that's worth. I can't comment on the Phoebus, but I have a Xonar DX, and I love it.
I know quite a few PA'ers have a Xonar Essence ST/STX and love them (from what I've read here), so that may be something to consider as it's right at the same level as th te Phoebus.
Yep, I love my Xonar Essence STX. It's the best sound card I've ever owned, and has a built-in headphone amp that puts most budget standalone amps to shame. Asus is really knocking it out of the park with their sound cards. They're top notch at every price point, and there's absolutely no reason to consider Creative.
minor incident on
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+1
Donovan PuppyfuckerA dagger in the dark isworth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered Userregular
edited November 2012
My Asus DX puts out some nice clean feed. S'not really a headphone card, though.
And for some reason it doesn't autodetect the channel mix of inputs? Like, I've got it set to 5.1 which is fine for gaming and such, because if they support it they tend to output it. But for watching youtube videos or listening to CDs/FLACs, the sound only comes out of the front and center speakers if I don't manually go into the soundcard settings and switch it to stereo input mode to make all five speakers kick in.
Unfortunately, I'm going through the onboard audio on my PC... due to SLI dual-slot graphics cards there's no available space to add a soundcard to my PC.
@Dehumanized, I think you can get a USB soundcard that does Dolby Digital Live for like $50. It's worth it.
I can't comment on the A30's, because I have a set of A40's...
I can, and I'll say that the A40's are absolutely worth the additional $50 over the A30's. Unless you're gaming in a noisy-ish environment, in which case yeah you want closed drivers (and the A30's do block out quite a bit of external noise). But the overall sound quality on the A30 is pretty meh compared to the A40, the mic isn't quite as great, etc. I'd almost regret buying mine, except I got the sweet PAX exclusive tags from a couple years ago, and they make pretty decent out-and-about headphones (compared to the A40, for sure).
The Astro Mixamp is worth every penny if you're doing any console gaming. And once you're buying the Mixamp, the A40 headset only costs a bit over $100 more (to get the set), and it's absolutely worth that (though not the $200 asking price for the headset alone). Basically the A40 system is worth the money, the A40 headset is not.
As for price overall, I'll never understand people who will spend $300 on a console, hundreds on games, a thousand or more on a PC, a thousand on a TV, then freak out at a $250 headset. Like, hearing is an entire sense that gamers on the whole completely tend to ignore, often pumping into shitty desktop speakers from shitty onboard stereo audio, while dropping hundreds upon hundreds just on video cards. No, this is not the first time I have made this rant.
The Astro Mixamp works with all the consoles (well, maybe not the Wii now that they dropped the RCA input), plus PC, plus it'll work with whatever headset you feel like picking up in the future. It allows your Xbox, PC, and PS3 to make sweet love to your ears. And, I shit you not, the surround sound effect is good enough that it has actually helped me in games. Like, I can hear where shit is coming from, well enough that I've managed to get the drop on people. It's awesomesauce.
It's a smidge overpriced, I'll admit. But this ain't a cheap hobby, and I've not once regretted my purchase (going on...three years later?).
mcdermott on
0
GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
Preach it brother. I didn't 'get' it either until I finally plopped down the cash for my A40's and a sound card to push the mixamp. I'm so hooked, I bought everything needed to connect to both my consoles. It really does make the experience better, it's not just hype. I haven't plugged my shitty desktop speakers back in since I got my A40's.
I also agree on the pricing. The A40's alone are not worth 200, but the A40's + Mixamp absolutely is worth the money. A Mixamp by itself is 150 bucks.
Posts
You want excellent sound quality and a nice mic built in?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sennheiser-Corded-Gaming-Cancelling-Headset/dp/B003DA4D2U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1352810656&sr=8-1
Pretty much the all-in-one headsets aren't worth the price. I don't have a Zalman, but have heard amazing things about it (oh, and its $7), and instead opted for complete overkill on my Mic (Blue Yeti), but I strongly encourage you to get separate pieces for your cans and mic. At the very least, when one fails, you are onlly replacing that component and not having to replace both.
Joe's Stream.
If anyone has an opinion I would be glad to hear it, even if anecdotal. Also if you could @Adda me if you reply as I always forget to look in Moe's
I want to know more PA people on Twitter.
made ya look :P
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better
bit.ly/2XQM1ke
edit: oh, and you want the Mixamp with either of those astro phones. I didn't really make that clear
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better
bit.ly/2XQM1ke
Got one of these after my headset's microphone gave up the ghost. Only had it about a month or so, but certainly no complaints so far. Neither from myself or anyone over voice comms.
http://steamcommunity.com/id/pablocampy
Yeah I'm looking at the a50 (despite the price) but I can't find anyone talking about a multi-platform setup like I have. As I have my PS3 and 360 connected to my primary pc monitor, I want to be able to switch between all 3 without too much hassle on one pair of headphones.
I want to know more PA people on Twitter.
My question is: Does anyone have any experience with the wireless mixamp? Thinking of getting that one for the living room, but I'm not sure if I'm a fan of it taking regular batteries, and requiring an extra 50 dollar purchase for an actual rechargeable lithium ion battery. That seems...excessive. I am just trying to figure out if the extra money is worth not draping six feet of TOSlink and USB cables across my living room when I'm playing XBox.
The plan is to eventually have a second MixAmp that's always in the living room, so I don't have to move my MixAmp between the living room and my PC. My question is whether I want to continue running cables and buy a second regular wired MixAmp, or go the wireless route when I decide to get a second one.
I have a wireless mixamp that I use to keep wires from running across the living room. It works quite well, but it almost always runs on USB power so I can't comment on battery life. I don't know how much range it gets since it's never cut out on me the odd time when I am walking around with it.
If you ever need to talk to someone, feel free to message me. Yes, that includes you.
Can I get an expert opinion on this AV receiver. How is it as an entry level receiver?
Right now I am running an old school DVD/receiver with zero HDMI ports. Wanted something a little more modern. I am no audiophile, but would like something half decent.
The reviews seems positive, and the little blurb at the bottom about 4K compatible makes me think it will have a decent lifespan.
Any advice is much appreciated.
Origin: theRealElMucho
I'm still in the process of routing cables through walls but one of the main reasons I spent a bit more money on the Denon was the higher level/more advanced Audyssey room equalization it came with. The room my home theater is irregularly shaped with a partial cathedral ceiling, so having a room calibration that uses more than three measurement areas was pretty important to me. Also, I'd rather have more HDMI inputs than I initially need because I like having room for expandability and futureproofing. I wouldn't worry about 4K upscaling because we are many years off from that being affordable for the average consumer, and while some receivers do have built in upscaling it's not necessary because all TV's have it too. Some will do a better job than others and sometimes better than the TV, but you're money is better spent on more HDMI inputs, room equalization, or putting it towards a Harmony remote.
Here' a few links to check out:
http://hometheater.about.com/od/avreceiversreviews/tp/budgetreceiver.htm
http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/onkyo-tx-nr414-review-best-receiver/
Origin: theRealElMucho
Ample use of Audacity, Rebirth http://www.rebirthmuseum.com/ and LMMS will be included, but I just still get this feeling that I'm going to end up with a 303 or 909 and a tweaky analog synth. Got the hammer action 88 keyboard covered, and a pro grade mic, so it's almost ready to go....
just gotta talk myself into/out of finding a 303 or 909....
Joe's Stream.
Oh, IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A DAMN GOOD MICROPHONE:
http://www.woot.com/plus/i-got-dem-blue-microphone-blues
All Blue Mics for incredible deals. I own a yeti, managed to snag it for $70 when it first came out. The snowballs are awesome too, but the yeti is something special.
Joe's Stream.
my friends have been suggesting sennheiser and it's looking good. i don't want to spend much more than 160 or so, and i was looking at the 323D, possibly 333D.
how about the logitech g930? i think a friend of mine has those as well, and i managed to find a couple places where they are pretty cheap. any audiophile opinions on these headsets?
Basically, I want something like Senn, except with a spiral cord (Preferably less than 80 USD.) Actually, it might be okay for the cord to be straight, as long as it's designed to be detachable. In that case, I'd be able to buy a spiral cable like this separately, and swap them out.
I would get the Astro setup with the mixamp over the Sony Pulses every day, but that's just me.
The other nice thing about the mixamp is that it uses standard connections all the way around, so later on you can upgrade the headphones to something like a pair of Seinheiser PC360's if you wanted.
The MixAmp is a wonderful piece of hardware, I'd fully recommend it.
A good call on the S model, I didn't know that. I have an old school Elite, so I need the slim adapter.
k I have a Slim so thats good, I would love to hear opinions on the pulse
The point of the 250 dollar package isn't even the A40's, it's the mixamp...so in that sense, no, you wouldn't be better off doing that. The Mixamp is the real part of the package you want, the actual A40 headphones are a mid range setup to get you started with full 7.1 headphones. A lot of people here actually buy just a Mixamp and pair them with a set of PC360's, but that's going to cost you over 350.
For now, my setup is a Astro Mixamp run through to some California Silverados. Unfortunately, I'm going through the onboard audio on my PC... due to SLI dual-slot graphics cards there's no available space to add a soundcard to my PC.
I have three sets of the cables, mind you, which is a bit of cable management...but I basically always keep a set plugged in to my PC, PS3 and 360. I just tuck the cables in my living room away when I am not using the A40's out there.
All said and done, the entire setup, with the Slim adapter for my 360 and the 6ft spare cables from Amazon Essentials cost me right at 300 before shipping, and that gives me full 7.1 on every system I care about.
Is it cheap? No, but good audio equipment never is. It's probably because I've been a DJ for years, but spending 200+ on headphones is nothing new to me. My Pioneer HDJ-1000's cost me that, and they aren't even great listening headphones, just good DJ headphones.
e: In the interest of full disclosure, I needed to buy a new sound card for my PC as well, an Asus Xonar DX, so that was an extra 85 bucks...but not everyone will need that.
I have a pair of Swan M200 MkIIs connected to my PC. I would like the best gaming soundcard I can get that will do these justice. From my understanding, this is either the Creative Titanium HD or the Asus ROG Phoebus card provided the driver updates have resolved the initial issues. Locating a Phoebus review that gives a pre- and post- driver update perspective is nigh impossible. Is there another card that I should get instead? Could someone speak to their first-hand Phoebus experience?
Also, I picked up my first AVR this week: a Pioneer AVX-53; a middle of the road box from my understanding. I am interested in a stereo setup only at this point unless there is a very compelling 5.1 sale going on. The Polk Audio RTI series set gets rave reviews from a price-performance perspective. At the point of the A9s I can get a pair of Martin Logan Motion ESLs though. That spun me off into learning about impedance mismatches which - correct me if I am wrong - should not be an issue when pairing my AVR with those speakers unless I really pump the volume.
I would prefer wall mount speakers but am having a hard time locating reviews on them. Could someone point me in the direction of Average Joe's Home Theatre Reviews? I don't have anyone taking me under their wing therefore finding credible hifi review places that don't scoff at speakers that cost $5,000+ a pair is tough.
I know quite a few PA'ers have a Xonar Essence ST/STX and love them (from what I've read here), so that may be something to consider as it's right at the same level as the Phoebus.
Yep, I love my Xonar Essence STX. It's the best sound card I've ever owned, and has a built-in headphone amp that puts most budget standalone amps to shame. Asus is really knocking it out of the park with their sound cards. They're top notch at every price point, and there's absolutely no reason to consider Creative.
And for some reason it doesn't autodetect the channel mix of inputs? Like, I've got it set to 5.1 which is fine for gaming and such, because if they support it they tend to output it. But for watching youtube videos or listening to CDs/FLACs, the sound only comes out of the front and center speakers if I don't manually go into the soundcard settings and switch it to stereo input mode to make all five speakers kick in.
A bit annoying.
@Dehumanized, I think you can get a USB soundcard that does Dolby Digital Live for like $50. It's worth it.
I can, and I'll say that the A40's are absolutely worth the additional $50 over the A30's. Unless you're gaming in a noisy-ish environment, in which case yeah you want closed drivers (and the A30's do block out quite a bit of external noise). But the overall sound quality on the A30 is pretty meh compared to the A40, the mic isn't quite as great, etc. I'd almost regret buying mine, except I got the sweet PAX exclusive tags from a couple years ago, and they make pretty decent out-and-about headphones (compared to the A40, for sure).
The Astro Mixamp is worth every penny if you're doing any console gaming. And once you're buying the Mixamp, the A40 headset only costs a bit over $100 more (to get the set), and it's absolutely worth that (though not the $200 asking price for the headset alone). Basically the A40 system is worth the money, the A40 headset is not.
As for price overall, I'll never understand people who will spend $300 on a console, hundreds on games, a thousand or more on a PC, a thousand on a TV, then freak out at a $250 headset. Like, hearing is an entire sense that gamers on the whole completely tend to ignore, often pumping into shitty desktop speakers from shitty onboard stereo audio, while dropping hundreds upon hundreds just on video cards. No, this is not the first time I have made this rant.
The Astro Mixamp works with all the consoles (well, maybe not the Wii now that they dropped the RCA input), plus PC, plus it'll work with whatever headset you feel like picking up in the future. It allows your Xbox, PC, and PS3 to make sweet love to your ears. And, I shit you not, the surround sound effect is good enough that it has actually helped me in games. Like, I can hear where shit is coming from, well enough that I've managed to get the drop on people. It's awesomesauce.
It's a smidge overpriced, I'll admit. But this ain't a cheap hobby, and I've not once regretted my purchase (going on...three years later?).
I also agree on the pricing. The A40's alone are not worth 200, but the A40's + Mixamp absolutely is worth the money. A Mixamp by itself is 150 bucks.