How do I headset?

TetraNitroCubane

Currently I don't do a whole lot of gaming online, but that's starting to change and because of that I've found myself with a need for a microphone. My set up at the moment involves a free-standing USB mic, with my audio coming out of 5.1 surround speakers hooked in through an Audigy X-Fi. Obviously this creates some problems, mostly that the mic picks up the speakers, which leads to lots of background noise and feedback. I'm reluctant to invest in a headset mic, because this would render both my 5.1 speakers and my soundcard useless during gaming, but I suppose there's really no way around it. The X-Fi does have a "line in" port for a mic, but so far as I know there's really no way to plug a headset into the soundcard without spending silly amounts of money on a 5.1 headset (I could be wrong about that, but I've heard they're quite expensive).

What I'm most curious about is what headset offering out there will provide the most reasonable sound quality for the price? I'm not looking to drop $200 on a headset, but at the same time I'd prefer not to have awful sound quality if that's possible. The number of available headsets is staggering, and I'm curious what PA recommends. Additionally, it'd be nice if there were an easy, physical button-type way to mute the headset (Some of the programs I've been using lately don't support Push to Talk). Any help or recommendations would be much appreciated! Thanks.

Kuroi Ookami

Why not get a noise canceling headset, and dual them? My friend has set up, and shown me how to set up (I think this might be only do-able in Windows 7, I don't see you mention an OS) where you can hear your sound and stuff coming out of the speakers, and only voice stuff goes through the headset. He plays his games fairly loud; if we're on Vent using Push to Talk it's not a big deal. if we're using Skype, I can sort of hear what's going on in his background, but it's really not too bad. Usually I have my sound up pretty decently too so it doesn't matter, so long as we can hear one another :P the noise canceling really does remove a lot of the background/game noise. Stand mics, I've never found any good in those for gaming, and I can tell when people are using them when we're in a pick up group, they have terrible sound/pick up all sorts of noise.

Again, I don't know if it's a Windows 7 only thing, but I think it would help me to know your OS.

*edit really quick* Most headsets have on them a control for volume, and also a switch to mute the mic.

Eggplant Wizard

Interested in the recommendations here. I do most of my gaming at night after my son is asleep, but my game room shares a wall with his bedroom. It's tough to find a volume level that lets me hear all the detail without being too loud. I'm thinking of buying an Ear Force DSS for surround, but I've heard the headset they bundle is garbage, so I might want to go a la carte with the headset.

TetraNitroCubane

Sorry, should've mentioned that I'm running Win 7 Pro. I like the idea of piping different sounds to different outputs. Being able to hear chatter on the headphones, but keep sounds on the speakers would be really nice, particularly when using Skype. When you say noise-canceling headset, though, do you mean that the earphone components block out the external sound (not what I'd prefer), or that the microphone doesn't pick up sounds much beyond immediate voice (which would be awesome)?

I agree completely, though, that the standard mic I'm using now is terrible. I'm really starting to bother some folks with the pickup of other sounds.

Kuroi Ookami

Noise canceling would be in the mic part, so it picks up less background stuff. You don't want it in the ear parts, you won't hear your awesome game sounds/music. Basically you go into volume properties (with the headset plugged in) where it lists all the devices. You would set your speakers as the main device, and you can then set the headset as the main voice device or something to that effect. Then in Skype when you're connected to a call you would go into some settings to tell it to use the headset and not the speakers if it doesn't do this automatically (I know sometimes when my boyfriend would skype me I'd have the shock of his voice coming through my speakers unexpectedly. It would reset settings sometimes, but I just built a new computer, the old one was doing some really weird things). Same thing in vent.

If you need better details, I can provide them... I'd just need to go find my headset. This is just what I can remember off the top of my head when I set it up (when Rift first came out. so.... 7 months ago?), but if you need the extra hand of step by step directions let me know and I'll go find my headset and jot down the directions proper for you or anyone else who would like to know how to do this.

Honestly, gaming is so much better when you don't have voice+game sound/music coming through your headset. My gaming lately has been restricted to the 360 though, I have a back injury that makes it difficult to sit at the computer for too long or else I'd have my headset plugged in and ready to go.

*edit to add, this is the headset that I currently use. It's nothing fancy and I found it to be a fair price for what I was looking for. You can go for something as fancy as you want, just make sure you don't get noise blocking ear pieces. http://www.logitech.com/en-ca/webcam-communications/internet-headsets-phones/devices/8609

DekuStick

Nothing more annoying than hearing other peoples sounds when they talk. I can recommend Steel Series. They let you retract the mic in so you don't need to have it by your face all the time. They're reasonably priced and sound pretty good both in and out.