New Headset Opinions please ?

[Para]

Alright Tec Heads, i have been thinking of treating myself to a new headset for a while now as i aint bought myself anything nice in years, and now i have proper internet at home again its as good a time as any to bin the cheap £7 maplin phones !

the problem is the setup at home, i have a tiny house and due to its layout i have nowhere to put a Pc apart from in the living room sharing the big screen telly, i built myself a high spec (at the time) HTPC about 6yrs ago which means i have to sit on the sofa with a keyboard & mouse which i have stuck to a wooden board in order to game on, its not ideal but you get used to it !

the keyboard a Razer Tarantula uses the two front Usb ports & the front mic & audio ports on the Pc. the keyboard its self has two usb ports and a mic & headphone sockets built into it (like the front of the pc so the keyboard acts like a kind of extension) one of the usb ports i use to power the mouse to keep cables to a minimum.

so when it comes to a new headset i have three options to connect it, which would be best ?
1. 3.5mm audio jacks (on the keyboard)
2. Usb connection (using the spare port on the keyboard)
3. buy a wireless set !

i have narrowed it down to a few finalists all of which should be good, but i want your thought & experiances first on what you use ?

Razer Chimaera wireless http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/20482480/-/Product.html
the reason i like these is i can use them with everything in the house (Pc, Xbox & home theater) due to their superb versatile connection features of Standard 3.5mm jacks, Audio RCA jacks & Digital Toslink ! but they are stupidly expensive !!

Sennhiser pc360 http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/17279041/-/Product.html these can only be used with the pc 3.5mm jacks only but are superb phones

Sennhiser pc350 http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/5438670/-/Product.html again i can only use these with 3.5mm jacks

[Nemes1s]

Wireless is a none starter unless u only want 2 hours gaming followed by 4 hours waiting to recharge them

I quite like the creative fatality ones I had a pair really liked them had a detachable mic comfy to wear I had the USB with built in sound card for souround sound but u can get them with the standard 3.5 mm jack also

Think there around the £40 mark

http://uk.store.creative.com/headphones ... 16337.aspx

ok seem like they dont have the usb ones on play it the 3.5mm jack for
£25 on play exilant head set seems like the hav brought out a new model hence the cheap price
http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/3361136/-/Product.html


new ones http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/13705842/ ... fer=search

[CrAp]

Hey mate,

I use the Logitec G35, and its pretty good. Not the best in the field nor the cheapest. Not really a way to sell things BUT thats the only 2bad things i could find. It has good revieuws on the web and it gives me a better gamingexperience. Its solid, it fits good, and the sound is very good. I am very happy with it and if this one brakes i will not look any further for another type.

http://reviews.logitech.com/7061/5095/l ... eviews.htm

[Sayril]

I use the Playtronics GameCom 377 awesome sound and unbreakable, unless you accidently kick the the green audio plug and bend it..

http://www.plantronics.com/us/product/gamecom-377

gamecom377.gif (21.31 KiB) Viewed 11910 times

[MudShark]

Keep away from any usb solution too. Fekkin kack. OK to power them though. I have a pair of speed link medusas - suround sound and very comfy. They are getting on a bit now though.

[CrAp]

I have USB and i have no problems with it. Its plug and play.

[MudShark]

Crappy has no ears though.

[shutteh]

I have these one:

sennheiser 151
http://www.sennheiser.com/sennheiser/ho ... pro-gaming

I dont want too big ear cups and i love the low weight of it. the cable is 3m. thats enough to use it with 3.5mm if you are far away from the plugin. But I think you can use every Sennheiser Headset

[Slartibartfast]

I have these one:

sennheiser 151
http://www.sennheiser.com/sennheiser/ho ... pro-gaming

I dont want too big ear cups and i love the low weight of it. the cable is 3m. thats enough to use it with 3.5mm if you are far away from the plugin. But I think you can use every Sennheiser Headset

I have the same for the last 2 years , I'd recommend them.

[Gavac220]

Sayril Wrote:

I use the Playtronics GameCom 377 awesome sound and unbreakable, unless you accidently kick the the green audio plug and bend it..

http://www.plantronics.com/us/product/gamecom-377

Gotta agree with Sayril on the Plantronics set. Lasted me years, and the comfiest headset I have ever had! Quality is excellent sound wise and build! Mic can quickly be extended or tucked completely away within the set itself, so great if you are also using it with home theater. I personally gave my Mrs/Wife my old Creative Fatality headset after I got these! These are far better all round after practical experience. Oh and they are AMAZING value. Huge cable too!

Be aware that there are two versions on the market - The 367 closed ear set and the 377 open ear (Mine). Choose which would best fit your needs.



Closed ear:-
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Plantronics-Gam ... 924&sr=8-2

Open ear:-
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Plantronics-Ope ... B001E45XT4

[Para]

thanks lads keep em coming ! quite like the look of the open ear plantronics gav, i prefer a large set of ear cups that go over your ears, on my workshop computer i have a set of Razer HP-1's http://store.razerzone.com/store/razeru ... .169415500 as much as i love them, they just aint practical to use in the house due to the way they connect to the pc !

[Gavac220]

I genuinely love these Plantronics, and will replace them with another set (If they ever break, as the seem incredibly well made). I had the top Logitech set before the Fatality's and these blow them both away in terms of performance and you just can't argue with that price lol. Also tried a set of Sennheiser 161's (Similar to what the boys above have) and the sound quality was equally excellent, but I preferred the Plany's for comfort. As always, it comes down to personal tastes but you couldn't go wrong with either of those.

[Para]

Still tempted by the plantronics, but i have been reading up on these http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showprodu ... 58&subcat=

i have however discoverd an irratating problem with my system while gaming last night, i have a razer ac-1 soundcard in my rig and it feeds its signal by digital spdif (toslink) to an external home theater amp which powers the various spearkers, now when i plug in my cheapy £7 maplin headset which has a USB connection the soundcard automaticly feeds its signal to the headset instead of the amp which is great !

but as an experiment before i get a new headset with 3.5mm connections, i tried out a set of normal stereo headphones plugged into the 3.5mm jack on the fornt of the pc and the only way i could get them to work was by having to go into the soundcard setup and manually selecting the correct output to the headphones, and turning off all the other outputs which is actually a major hassle as i will have to do it every time i want a game !! Bugger,

so would it be worth just going for a USB connected headset as it would save a lot of re configuring every time i plug the fekkin thing in ? or going with a standard jack connection and spend ages re setting everything every time i use it ??????

[shutteh]

hmmm thats a config stuff.

I have a X-fi Soundcard and use it with my old stereo system if i want to hear musik. if i plugin the headset on the front of the pc it automaticly switch to the headset and sends all sound output to the headset.

is there a tool to setup your soundconfig? maybe you can set up an automatic detection if its plugged in or not. and in some games you can configurate that it always should use the headset output (front output)

[Para]

after a bid of digging the AC-1 dosen't support automatic detection on the front panel audio input/output, only on its rear analogue and digital input/outputs, bugger !

which basicly means if i want to use 3.5mm jack headphones which will be automaticly detected like USB ones i need to use the rear connections, which is a not really an option ! fek it !!!

not too impressed about having to keep on enabling/disabling inputs & outputs every time i plug in a headset !