What headset/sound card do you use?

[solofowaffles]

Re: What headset/sound card do you use?

i use some genereic headset

[LaGrenouille]

Re: What headset/sound card do you use?

SB Audigy 2ZS with homemade speakers or sometimes a Sennheiser PX200 headset (they look cheap but sound really good!)

[Jade Falcon]

Re: What headset/sound card do you use?

Another Medusa user here, and I'm very pleased with them.

My sound card is an old SB Audigy Value.

[penetrator27]

Re: What headset/sound card do you use?

I am just about to upgrade, (my sounds) just wondered if its worth getting an Audigy over an SB live? is the quality difference worth the extra?

also Logitech premium headset or plantronics audio 40 headset?

[SERIALBUTCHER]

Re: What headset/sound card do you use?

Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS Platinum / Turtle Beach EARFORCE HPA 5.1

peace:)

[AlphaNut]

Re: What headset/sound card do you use?

Do not bother buying an audigy or even worse a SB live...
I definately recommend getting the X-Fi Xtreme Music which doesn't cost much more but you definately get a massive increase in sound quality.
Trust me I know... I was lucky to "test" (buy) some of the previous soundblaster cards, and they were all not worth a whole lot - this includes the 2ZS which I used for quiet a while.

So unless you really are on a very tight budged - which you wouldn't be if you considered buying an audigy 2ZS I definately recommend going for the X-Fi option.

[SERIALBUTCHER]

Re: What headset/sound card do you use?

Do not bother buying an audigy or even worse a SB live...
I definately recommend getting the X-Fi Xtreme Music which doesn't cost much more but you definately get a massive increase in sound quality.
Trust me I know... I was lucky to "test" (buy) some of the previous soundblaster cards, and they were all not worth a whole lot - this includes the 2ZS which I used for quiet a while.

So unless you really are on a very tight budged - which you wouldn't be if you considered buying an audigy 2ZS I definately recommend going for the X-Fi option.

Hmmmm.....This is the first time I have ever heard a negative statement directed toward a top Creative labs Sound Card

Where in your opinoin was it lacking?

peace:)

[AlphaNut]

Re: What headset/sound card do you use?

The Audigy 2ZS?
It had issues with sound positioning in BF2 for example. Sounds came from all directions except from their original source direction. Often weapons would not make a sound at all, and kill you silently while you were jumping around looking for the direction where the shots were coming from. Crackling during games, and stutter in mp3 playback issues, non-or very slow responsive GUI that was a massive memory hog, patching was a pain and often required complete reinstallment of the soundcard. Those things could be fixed most of the time but required a lot of research on web forums to do so.
I work as an IT professional (not in the music industry though) so I do have some Idea of what I am talking about.
I am not stating that the Audigy 2ZS it is a bad card, but it is completely outdated. Also the 2ZS had many competitive products on the market that were a lot cheaper, and provided better sound quality, more intuitive user interface, and used software that would not hog memory, and abuse the CPU.
If you want to spend your money wisely on a decent, and up to date piece of hardware invest in an X-Fi. The budget version XtremeMusic doesn't cost that much money and is imo one of the best end-user soundcards available on the market at the moment.

PS: Not sure if you're familiar with Creative's top of the line products, and yes the Audigy 2 used to be their figurehead. But now it is the X-Fi series which range from ca. 80$-300$ afaik.
One more thing, if this is the first time you have ever heard a negative statement directed towards Creative's top of the line soundcards, you have not heard a lot. Browse the web a bit more for user feedback directed to creative products, and you might change your opinion a bit

cheers

[SERIALBUTCHER]

Re: What headset/sound card do you use?

The Audigy 2ZS?
It had issues with sound positioning in BF2 for example. Sounds came from all directions except from their original source direction. Often weapons would not make a sound at all, and kill you silently while you were jumping around looking for the direction where the shots were coming from. Crackling during games, and stutter in mp3 playback issues, non-or very slow responsive GUI that was a massive memory hog, patching was a pain and often required complete reinstallment of the soundcard. Those things could be fixed most of the time but required a lot of research on web forums to do so.
I work as an IT professional (not in the music industry though) so I do have some Idea of what I am talking about.
I am not stating that the Audigy 2ZS it is a bad card, but it is completely outdated. Also the 2ZS had many competitive products on the market that were a lot cheaper, and provided better sound quality, more intuitive user interface, and used software that would not hog memory, and abuse the CPU.
If you want to spend your money wisely on a decent, and up to date piece of hardware invest in an X-Fi. The budget version XtremeMusic doesn't cost that much money and is imo one of the best end-user soundcards available on the market at the moment.

PS: Not sure if you're familiar with Creative's top of the line products, and yes the Audigy 2 used to be their figurehead. But now it is the X-Fi series which range from ca. 80$-300$ afaik.
One more thing, if this is the first time you have ever heard a negative statement directed towards Creative's top of the line soundcards, you have not heard a lot. Browse the web a bit more for user feedback directed to creative products, and you might change your opinion a bit

cheers

I am not trying to play "1 upsmanship" but.....

I am an Automotive Engineer @ General Motors Engineering World Headquarters in Warren, Mich.

I build custom gaming rigs on the side

I am on my 5th Creative Labs sound card, & my 2nd Audigy Platinum personally (I used to own the original Audigy Platinum)

I have never had a problem w/ them myself, & have never had a complaint from any of my customers

But I am sorry you had probs bro'

however, if you search the web you can find complaints about every product ever made, & a lot of quality products w/ high sales volumes tend to get a lot of complaints

tip: most sound quality probs can be traced to interference from other household appliances, & inadequate power supplies, or noise filtering

peace:)

[AlphaNut]

Re: What headset/sound card do you use?

True, almost every product has received it's share of negative feedback but creative earned itself a big slice of the pie.
For example, have you or one of your customers ever lost the installation CD for their creative soundcard? Ever tried to reinstall that GUI without the CD or a backup image? Creative's support page does not provide this softare...
In my opinion one of the disappointing aspects of this product. The same thing applies to the X-Fi series btw.
I build custom gaming PCs myself as a part time job on weekends, and I have many happy customers which I equipped with the X-Fi. However, I cannot state the same from the PCs that I previously built with an Audigy 2. From the feedback I got those cards were causing issues very frequently. Turtle Beach and other brand cards got rid of most those problems, and saved the customers some hard cash. Many issues could also be solved by using 3rd party open source software, and alternative drivers but that's just not the way it should be.
I have a hard time believing that you never encountered any of those issues I mentioned previously - no pun intended. It's just that I have spent my share of time troubleshooting creative soundcards, and they have caused some new grey hairs on my head for sure...
I work as a system engineer for a large pharma corporation, and building water cooled high-end PCs is a hobby I started a while ago, and enjoy very much.
Most my customers have much better PCs then I have now lol...

[Solodon]

Re: What headset/sound card do you use?

Plantronics DSP headset and Creative XFI Music soundcard.

Amazing differnce going from Onboard sound to the XFI music. Unfortunately not very good mp3 categorizing software, just use realplayer instead. Good special effects on the card.

[AlphaNut]

Re: What headset/sound card do you use?

OR you could use winamp instead of real? Isn't real bundled with a bunch of ad-ware and spyware?

[SERIALBUTCHER]

Re: What headset/sound card do you use?

True, almost every product has received it's share of negative feedback but creative earned itself a big slice of the pie.
For example, have you or one of your customers ever lost the installation CD for their creative soundcard? Ever tried to reinstall that GUI without the CD or a backup image? Creative's support page does not provide this softare...
In my opinion one of the disappointing aspects of this product. The same thing applies to the X-Fi series btw.
I build custom gaming PCs myself as a part time job on weekends, and I have many happy customers which I equipped with the X-Fi. However, I cannot state the same from the PCs that I previously built with an Audigy 2. From the feedback I got those cards were causing issues very frequently. Turtle Beach and other brand cards got rid of most those problems, and saved the customers some hard cash. Many issues could also be solved by using 3rd party open source software, and alternative drivers but that's just not the way it should be.
I have a hard time believing that you never encountered any of those issues I mentioned previously - no pun intended. It's just that I have spent my share of time troubleshooting creative soundcards, and they have caused some new grey hairs on my head for sure...
I work as a system engineer for a large pharma corporation, and building water cooled high-end PCs is a hobby I started a while ago, and enjoy very much.
Most my customers have much better PCs then I have now lol...

I dunno, maybe I am "lucky", but I haven't had many complaints of any kind from my customers

peace:)

OR you could use winamp instead of real? Isn't real bundled with a bunch of ad-ware and spyware?

I will sort-of agree w/ you on 1 point, If you install all the software that Creative LAbs provide (which is substantial), it is a load on any PC's system

I recommend only installing the applications that you are actually gonna' use

peace:)

[disfigured]

Re: What headset/sound card do you use?

I have a usb Plantronics DSP 300, and it does a great job in many games, and I've had it for a few years, though it isnt made anymore. The Logitech USB headsets are good, as well as Plantronics

You do realize that when using the Plantronics DSP headset your not using your soundcard or onboard sound. Which is fine if you have neither or have an an inferior onboard chip set.

Me?

Xi-Fi Platinum/Plantronics. (actually bought the DSP, but it had removeable DSP section)

I recommend a sound card to anyone who is using onboard. I had my SBLive for 10+ years, it's the one expansion card that came in and out of every machine I built. Vcards, mobos, CPU's, RAM, all came and went, but my trusty SBlive always remained. With each new board that had onboard I checked to see if there was a difference. There was differenence alright, the SBLive was superior in everyway to any onboard sound I had. That was in MOBOs from a PenIII 500 through an AMD2400 , Gigabytes, Soyos, Albatron, and an Asus. I even skipped right over the Audigy series not seeing the benefits with the games I was playing. Not the case for everyone though, the Audigy series was an improvement over the SB series, just not in the games I was playing.

The Xi-Fi amongst my freinds who do use the Audigy series has been the biggest one step leap in audio from Creative, or so they say. But they are not flawless and there have been some issues with this series. If you expereince crackling sounds with your X-Fi you might want to check out this thread at Creative.

Follow-up: X-Fi Crackling/Popping Noises Thread

I still recommend one or an Audigy over onboard if you can afford it. Or any decent sound card for that matter. Soundcard series only come out every 5 or so years, so it's not like you'll be chasing the next benchmark or FrameRate with a new card every year. It's a good computer purchase for gamers, one of the only ones you can count on giving you benefits for years to come. Definately worth the money.

[AlphaNut]

Re: What headset/sound card do you use?

Of course if you install al that NUOVO, and other BS your PC is chosen to die a slow and painful death.
I don't get any complaints from my customers either except the ones about the Audigys, maybe that's why I am a bit biased.
What about the software - at least the minimal installation with the EAX console etc. should be downloadable.
I don't know if you ever tried the X-Fi, but it's like day to night compared to the Audigy. Give it a shot if you haven't. It's definately a huge overall improvement from the old soundblaster cards. That's all I wanted to point out.

cheers