I recently bought these from Amazon for around $99
Tritton TRIAX-720 AX 720 Dolby Digital Surround Sound
I really like them. I use them with my Iphone, Xbox 360, PC, etc. they come with an insanely long cable too.
Sound quality is really nice, and they do tend to replicate the surround sound well (rear sounds come from rear, et al)
If you, like me, wanted a decent headset but couldnt spend the $250 on the ones you wanted, you should not be dissapointed with these. They are also comfy.
Shit, while we're here I'll give a heads up to all my new Astro buddies.
If you're using it on Xbox, careful with that chat cable (controller to Mixamp/Receiver). I assume they're using the same thing with the new wireless Mixamp, and it's more fragile than it looks. It's probably the highest failure item of the whole kit.
Basically, that black block in the middle? That's not "solid." It's not like a simple DC choke or anything, it's actually got a PCB mounted in there with dual transformers soldered to it (for, I'm assuming, electrical isolation). Let it bang against the ol' table too many times, and they can break loose...then you'll either not be able to talk or not be able to hear. No fun. And, because it's a high failure rate item, they're often out of stock at Astro...it took me like four to five weeks to get one when mine failed (support gives them out free, but they were sold out at the store as well).
So, like, be careful with it.
See post #8 in this thread for a little more info and pics (they're clickable thumbnails).
Not a bad thing, I wouldn't even call it poor design, but without letting the customer know that it's...well, not quite "fragile" but not so solid...it leads to a lot of unnecessary failures. People will treat things better if they know they have to.
Huh. I'm not on Live a whole lot, so I don't see it being a huge issue for me. You know, after looking at my cable, it doesn't have the black block in the middle. It's just a straight up 2.5mm to 2.5mm cord.
For people without AV Receivers, I've kinda jury-rigged a little thing together so I only have to have one (long) TOSlink cable running from my PS3, TV, and 360.
If your 360 doesn't have optical out, you'll need the adapter. You can either pay $40 for the official HDMI cable from Microsoft, Monoprice has this (on back order, though)
Or you could get this from Amazon, which is an HDMI cable + adapter for 8 bucks. Not bad, all things considering, and it's eligible for Amazon Prime.
As for everything else, you just need this switch from Monoprice, and a sufficient number of cables! I spent about ~15 on cables and adapters and everything, which is a heck of a lot cheaper then a receiver.
Huh. I'm not on Live a whole lot, so I don't see it being a huge issue for me. You know, after looking at my cable, it doesn't have the black block in the middle. It's just a straight up 2.5mm to 2.5mm cord.
For people without AV Receivers, I've kinda jury-rigged a little thing together so I only have to have one (long) TOSlink cable running from my PS3, TV, and 360.
If your 360 doesn't have optical out, you'll need the adapter. You can either pay $40 for the official HDMI cable from Microsoft, Monoprice has this (on back order, though)
Or you could get this from Amazon, which is an HDMI cable + adapter for 8 bucks. Not bad, all things considering, and it's eligible for Amazon Prime.
As for everything else, you just need this switch from Monoprice, and a sufficient number of cables! I spent about ~15 on cables and adapters and everything, which is a heck of a lot cheaper then a receiver.
Maybe on the wireless version they moved the isolation circuitry into the receiver? They might have more space now. That's good, though, because man is that a pain in the ass on the wired. And on the wired mixamp, a simple 2.5<->2.5 cable won't work, you'll get all kinds of noise and shit (some people cobbled together some stuff using chokes on a standard cable, though).
Anyway yeah, I've already got a ncie optical setup...3 optical cables that are like 3', a 3 to 1 switch, and I already have a 25' optical. That way I can run all my devices using just the one output and the switch, and the long cable runs (relatively) discretely to my wired mixamp.
Excellent...definitely a good idea. Though hopefully they figured out either a different method to isolate or secured the transformers a little better inside the Mixamp, since now any problem would require sending the entire Mixamp back.
See, now this has me wanting to sell my A40 system and buy a new one, just so I have the current revisions. It's a trap, though, because they improve it a bit every year. I probably will actually do this anyway, but only because I want to get the green BXRs next time they become available (I went ahead and signed up to be notified).
Gonna pick up a set of the 720s on the way home from work and give 'em a whirl. My $20 Sony headphones I use for everything are starting to get painful.
I looked over the Astros but holy shit are they pricey.
Got the Astro A40's today. I haven't tried them on a game yet (since I'm at work), but listening to music is fantastic. They're a bit bulky, so I'm not walking around the office or anything with them on. Still, the sound quality is incredible, at least compared to what I've had before. They're extremely comfortable, and very good at blocking outside noise.
It was expensive, but it is so worth it. The build on these things makes it obvious that these will last a very very long time.
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
edited February 2011
On your recommendations I picked up the Sennheiser 151's. Holy.. Wow, these may be the best headphones I've ever worn, and they blow my 377's out of the water. Haven't tested the mic yet, but it's a really noticeable difference, even without tinkering with my audio card settings.
Got the Astro A40's today. I haven't tried them on a game yet (since I'm at work), but listening to music is fantastic. They're a bit bulky, so I'm not walking around the office or anything with them on. Still, the sound quality is incredible, at least compared to what I've had before. They're extremely comfortable, and very good at blocking outside noise.
It was expensive, but it is so worth it. The build on these things makes it obvious that these will last a very very long time.
I have a set of A30s (the PAX limited edition ones) for work. They are amazing as well, and at $100 (no tax, no shipping) they were quite a steal.
If Astro has the kind of presence next year that they had this year, and if PAX is your thing, look for them.
Gonna pick up a set of the 720s on the way home from work and give 'em a whirl. My $20 Sony headphones I use for everything are starting to get painful.
I looked over the Astros but holy shit are they pricey.
Honestly, once you've gone that far I'd at least chip in the little extra and get the Turtle Beach's (the x41s are nice, wireless, and do the same surround effect).
Got the Astro A40's today. I haven't tried them on a game yet (since I'm at work), but listening to music is fantastic. They're a bit bulky, so I'm not walking around the office or anything with them on. Still, the sound quality is incredible, at least compared to what I've had before. They're extremely comfortable, and very good at blocking outside noise.
It was expensive, but it is so worth it. The build on these things makes it obvious that these will last a very very long time.
I have a set of A30s (the PAX limited edition ones) for work. They are amazing as well, and at $100 (no tax, no shipping) they were quite a steal.
If Astro has the kind of presence next year that they had this year, and if PAX is your thing, look for them.
Gonna pick up a set of the 720s on the way home from work and give 'em a whirl. My $20 Sony headphones I use for everything are starting to get painful.
I looked over the Astros but holy shit are they pricey.
Honestly, once you've gone that far I'd at least chip in the little extra and get the Turtle Beach's (the x41s are nice, wireless, and do the same surround effect).
Well, I'm gonna give the 720s their fair shake, but if I decide to keep them I'll likely end up returning them and getting them from Amazon instead. I've got a $25 Gift Card and that plus their already cheaper price and no tax means it's like $50 cheaper than I ended up at Best Buy.
Welp, it's as I feared. The Optical out on my TV only works for Cable/Antenna, meaning that it doesn't output every audio source that's inputted into the TV, which means the AX 720's useless.
It sounds great plugged directly into the 360, but I'd kinda like to use these headphones for all my consoles.
Edit: I'm gonna play the 360 for about an hour or so and then back in the box they go for return tomorrow. Guess I'll stick to the MDR-V150s that I've always used.
Edit 2: What I seem to need are the AX 900s, which has this.
That'd be perfect. Optical out of my 360 into Ch1 there, and the Audio Out on my TV to Ch3. That way I'd get true 5.1 for the 360 and then standard Stereo for the Wii, Dreamcast, and N64. Alas, it seems that the AX 900s doesn't even exist.
Looks like the AX900 closed the gap in price, though, with the A40 system; still cheaper, but they were pushing $200...and $200 can get you an Astro Mixamp combined with any number of competent standalone headsets (such as the Razer Carcharias).
The reviews I saw looking around at the AX900s were all from like 2009, and nothing since...did those ever even see a "real" release? Or did they realize the pricepoint was no good and dump the stock they'd produced? Because damn, you're right...those things do not exist. Not even used, not on eBay, nothin'.
No wait... I think I do... I have a slot that is PCIex, so that's right, right? It just looks from that picture to have an extra little dongle that needs a slot.
Don't know what that "dongle" is, but yeah it's a standard PCIe card.
And it works just great with the Mixamp. Full real-time DD5.1 encoding, which the Mixamp then decodes, on any game that can put out a 5.1 analog signal. The way it works is that it "ties" your standard analog 5.1 output (that every soundcard basically has) into the SPDIF slot.
So on your games/OS, you choose the normal sound output (not the optical).
But then it AC3 encodes it, and pipes it over the optical.
The only downside, I think, is that you can't really use either output independently then (like, you can't just plug in headphones or speakers to your rear jack anymore). Not without going back into the settings, and disabling Dolby Digital Live.
Regardless of all that, though, it works perfectly.
As a heads-up, though, that one that's shipped through Circuit City took over two weeks to get to me. That was back near Christmastime, but still they were absurdly slow on shipping.
I bought one for $100 at Best Buy, and when the one came in from CC I just returned it to BB. I'm a bad person.
I've had some cheap-o Sennheiser headphones for about 6 years now. Sadly a few days ago the right speaker cut out and I found that the wire going to it cut out. If I twist it it'll work but really, I'll just settle for a new pair.
They were so comfortable too. Don't think they're surround sound though.
I've had some cheap-o Sennheiser headphones for about 6 years now. Sadly a few days ago the right speaker cut out and I found that the wire going to it cut out. If I twist it it'll work but really, I'll just settle for a new pair.
They were so comfortable too. Don't think they're surround sound though.
No, but they are nice. I just picked up a pair of Senn 515's, and man...it's kind of sad that they're nearly the equal of the A40s in sound and comfort (or actually the equal of them) for about $55. Though no microphone, obviously, and the mic on the A40 is pretty damn amazing.
So yeah, it comes back to headset versus headphones.
And there are very few actual "surround headphones," usually you're basically dealing with plain old headphones and a surround-sound processing amp (like the Mixamp, or the amp for the Trittons, etc). Occasionally these are built inline, but I think those are usually USB headsets and PC-only.
Well, and there are also those silly headsets that have a hundred mini cones stuffed into them to produce "real" surround sound. But, of course, it's "real" garbage-sounding surround sound. Dolby Headphone processing into two good drivers beats the shit out of "real" surround with six or eight or however many fucking speakers those things have in them. The very definition of gimmick, those are.
Posts
Tritton TRIAX-720 AX 720 Dolby Digital Surround Sound
I really like them. I use them with my Iphone, Xbox 360, PC, etc. they come with an insanely long cable too.
Sound quality is really nice, and they do tend to replicate the surround sound well (rear sounds come from rear, et al)
If you, like me, wanted a decent headset but couldnt spend the $250 on the ones you wanted, you should not be dissapointed with these. They are also comfy.
If you're using it on Xbox, careful with that chat cable (controller to Mixamp/Receiver). I assume they're using the same thing with the new wireless Mixamp, and it's more fragile than it looks. It's probably the highest failure item of the whole kit.
Basically, that black block in the middle? That's not "solid." It's not like a simple DC choke or anything, it's actually got a PCB mounted in there with dual transformers soldered to it (for, I'm assuming, electrical isolation). Let it bang against the ol' table too many times, and they can break loose...then you'll either not be able to talk or not be able to hear. No fun. And, because it's a high failure rate item, they're often out of stock at Astro...it took me like four to five weeks to get one when mine failed (support gives them out free, but they were sold out at the store as well).
So, like, be careful with it.
See post #8 in this thread for a little more info and pics (they're clickable thumbnails).
Not a bad thing, I wouldn't even call it poor design, but without letting the customer know that it's...well, not quite "fragile" but not so solid...it leads to a lot of unnecessary failures. People will treat things better if they know they have to.
For people without AV Receivers, I've kinda jury-rigged a little thing together so I only have to have one (long) TOSlink cable running from my PS3, TV, and 360.
If your 360 doesn't have optical out, you'll need the adapter. You can either pay $40 for the official HDMI cable from Microsoft, Monoprice has this (on back order, though)
Or you could get this from Amazon, which is an HDMI cable + adapter for 8 bucks. Not bad, all things considering, and it's eligible for Amazon Prime.
As for everything else, you just need this switch from Monoprice, and a sufficient number of cables! I spent about ~15 on cables and adapters and everything, which is a heck of a lot cheaper then a receiver.
Maybe on the wireless version they moved the isolation circuitry into the receiver? They might have more space now. That's good, though, because man is that a pain in the ass on the wired. And on the wired mixamp, a simple 2.5<->2.5 cable won't work, you'll get all kinds of noise and shit (some people cobbled together some stuff using chokes on a standard cable, though).
Anyway yeah, I've already got a ncie optical setup...3 optical cables that are like 3', a 3 to 1 switch, and I already have a 25' optical. That way I can run all my devices using just the one output and the switch, and the long cable runs (relatively) discretely to my wired mixamp.
So...it didn't come with one of these?
Nope! I checked all my cables. It just has a normal 2.5mm <-> 2.5mm cable, without the brick in the middle of it.
Edit: Figured I'd go to the source, so I asked on the forums, and they've revised the mixamp and the cable so that I don't need the brick-y cable.
Source.
See, now this has me wanting to sell my A40 system and buy a new one, just so I have the current revisions. It's a trap, though, because they improve it a bit every year. I probably will actually do this anyway, but only because I want to get the green BXRs next time they become available (I went ahead and signed up to be notified).
I don't think it is a full upgrade, but it might be close enough?
I looked over the Astros but holy shit are they pricey.
Switch: 6200-8149-0919 / Wii U: maximumzero / 3DS: 0860-3352-3335 / eBay Shop
It was expensive, but it is so worth it. The build on these things makes it obvious that these will last a very very long time.
Thank you sound gurus!
I have a set of A30s (the PAX limited edition ones) for work. They are amazing as well, and at $100 (no tax, no shipping) they were quite a steal.
If Astro has the kind of presence next year that they had this year, and if PAX is your thing, look for them.
Honestly, once you've gone that far I'd at least chip in the little extra and get the Turtle Beach's (the x41s are nice, wireless, and do the same surround effect).
Well, I'm gonna give the 720s their fair shake, but if I decide to keep them I'll likely end up returning them and getting them from Amazon instead. I've got a $25 Gift Card and that plus their already cheaper price and no tax means it's like $50 cheaper than I ended up at Best Buy.
Switch: 6200-8149-0919 / Wii U: maximumzero / 3DS: 0860-3352-3335 / eBay Shop
It sounds great plugged directly into the 360, but I'd kinda like to use these headphones for all my consoles.
Edit: I'm gonna play the 360 for about an hour or so and then back in the box they go for return tomorrow. Guess I'll stick to the MDR-V150s that I've always used.
Edit 2: What I seem to need are the AX 900s, which has this.
That'd be perfect. Optical out of my 360 into Ch1 there, and the Audio Out on my TV to Ch3. That way I'd get true 5.1 for the 360 and then standard Stereo for the Wii, Dreamcast, and N64. Alas, it seems that the AX 900s doesn't even exist.
Switch: 6200-8149-0919 / Wii U: maximumzero / 3DS: 0860-3352-3335 / eBay Shop
The reviews I saw looking around at the AX900s were all from like 2009, and nothing since...did those ever even see a "real" release? Or did they realize the pricepoint was no good and dump the stock they'd produced? Because damn, you're right...those things do not exist. Not even used, not on eBay, nothin'.
The Mixamp will upconvert the audio. Just set it to 5.1 in your PS3 audio options, and the Mixamp does the rest.
In any case, holy Merlin's pants, the A40's sound incrediblamazing. Wow.
Actually, I don't think I have the right connector... Bummer, that's such a good deal
And it works just great with the Mixamp. Full real-time DD5.1 encoding, which the Mixamp then decodes, on any game that can put out a 5.1 analog signal. The way it works is that it "ties" your standard analog 5.1 output (that every soundcard basically has) into the SPDIF slot.
So on your games/OS, you choose the normal sound output (not the optical).
But then it AC3 encodes it, and pipes it over the optical.
The only downside, I think, is that you can't really use either output independently then (like, you can't just plug in headphones or speakers to your rear jack anymore). Not without going back into the settings, and disabling Dolby Digital Live.
Regardless of all that, though, it works perfectly.
As a heads-up, though, that one that's shipped through Circuit City took over two weeks to get to me. That was back near Christmastime, but still they were absurdly slow on shipping.
It is, that's a great price on it.
And the spoiler'd bit is always an option...you know, if you're a bad person too.
They were so comfortable too. Don't think they're surround sound though.
No, but they are nice. I just picked up a pair of Senn 515's, and man...it's kind of sad that they're nearly the equal of the A40s in sound and comfort (or actually the equal of them) for about $55. Though no microphone, obviously, and the mic on the A40 is pretty damn amazing.
So yeah, it comes back to headset versus headphones.
And there are very few actual "surround headphones," usually you're basically dealing with plain old headphones and a surround-sound processing amp (like the Mixamp, or the amp for the Trittons, etc). Occasionally these are built inline, but I think those are usually USB headsets and PC-only.
Well, and there are also those silly headsets that have a hundred mini cones stuffed into them to produce "real" surround sound. But, of course, it's "real" garbage-sounding surround sound. Dolby Headphone processing into two good drivers beats the shit out of "real" surround with six or eight or however many fucking speakers those things have in them. The very definition of gimmick, those are.