Allright so I need some recommendations for a great sound card and really good speakers- the purpose is for gaming like Crysis, Unreal 3, etc.(although I also use my computer heavily to listen to music).
I was going to go with Bose speakers at first- but after seeing the thread in general discussion on how bose is overpriced for the quality it has- I’d like to know what everyone else recommends. A good sound card to go with it would be good to know also.
In terms of what I’m looking to spend- I don’t really want to have to go over $300 after purchasing both speaker and sound card.
I think Logitech is a good brand for the quality and price. As far as the sound cards go, I have read plenty of positive feedback about Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer card.
I used to have a Logitech surround sound and it was pretty top notch. I never used it though so I had to sell it.
A Creative X-Fi or anything among those lines for the sound card itself. For actual speakers though, if you get a good sound card, you get hook up an actual sound stereo system to the card. So you could get a 7.1/5.1 system, so for that you can just look at home entertainment systems.
It depends if you consider yourself an audiophile or not… for general low-end/mid-range audio, Logitech or Creative speakers will do fine. However the best PC-specific setups are from Yamaha and Bose.
The best speaker option however is to buy yourself an amplifier and pair of quality desk-standing fronts with sub woofer, or floor-standing fronts. B&W is a brand I highly recommend for top-tier audio.
In my opinion though, the very best solution for PC gaming is a high quality headphone amp and high quality pair of headphones (Beyerdynamic or Audio Technica spring to mind immediately).
Good closed headphones deliver better isolation than speakers (less ambient noise in your space), while good open headphones deliver far better sound-staging (directional sound). I use headphones because I appreciate true accuracy and detail of what I’m listening to.
But ulovemikeroch is right; if you’re playing a 2D/3D fighter it probably matters very little. If you’re a music buff or play games that are surround-enabled, where you’re engaging multiple opponents, it becomes very important.
For FPS games especially headphones are a must, a good pair of Sennheisers or Audio Technica’s paired with a good sound card and you can really hear the difference.
Sennheiser make good high-end headphones, but they’re always over-priced when comparing them to competing brands.
Spending $500 on a pair of Sennheisers generally means that you could get a pair of Beyer or AT headphones for around $200-$300 that are just as good, if not better.
You can get Sennheiser HD555’s for about $100, 595’s for like $190. Then again you can pick up a pair of AT AD700’s (which are just as good as HD595’s) for about $110. I recently got some HD555’s, I would have preferred the AT’s but I had a hard time finding a place to get them to ship to Canada.
If you’re interested in any of these you can easily find them on Amazon and they’re always on sale for some reason, I’m not really sure if there’s some place cheaper.
Somehow I dislike the Sennheiser sound.
I do like Cabasse speakers somehow which is also an European brand.
For headphones I choose Audio-Technica.
For PC speakers Logitech seems to be pretty decent.
For PC speakers I used to go with Labtec because a lot of them have RCA connectors.
Which the audio card of my preference uses.
But I can not find Labtec PC speakers anymore.
I prefer headphones most of the time but there are times I want to move more freely.
Wireless headphones are still heavy.
With up to a $300 budget you can get very good stuff.
You might want to check out EAX options on the audio card which is more game related.
What are you getting Bowza?
