Best sound peripheral pc gaming?

Hardware Hub Other Hardware
1

I've switched from gaming on my 120 hz 65'' Samsung to a new asus 1440p ips monitor at 144 hz with G-Sync. So excited for the new visual juices.

Anyway, I've moved from my living room to a nice comfy desk and chair in my spare room; I can't utilize my a/v receiver and surround sound system in my living room anymore.

So what is the best sound solution to my new location in the house? I've heard some headphones and headsets have amazing sound quality. Should I invest in a sound card? Speakers? Let me know your thoughts please, I'm brand new to the non-surround-sound-pc-gaming arena.

2

Well the best bang for your buck will be in headphones because they can outclass most speakers sometimes double there price point. Sound cards are a wast of you money at this point because most motherboards have pretty good integrated audio and if you wanted better audio it would be best to go with a usb dac and amp rather than a sound card. If you play alot of games where you need to talk to people through team speak and the like going with a headphone mic would be best, here is my recommendation for a good headphones and mic combo

http://www.modmic.com/collections/modmic/products/modmic-4-0-omni-directional

Now I personally like to have speakers when it comes to listing to music and I know teksyndicate has done about 3 videos on good speakers which I would suggest you watch.




But they didn't list a fan favourite on there high end selection that if you are in the market for high end speaerks would be a pair I would suggest as well.

Hope this helps
3

What mobo do you have? Unless it has a duck as sound processor (like mine has) you will need a soundcard.

I would go with nice comfy headphones.
I like my Sennheiser HD558s and my HD 600s equally for music, for games however, I prefer my Roccat Kave 5.1.

4

If you care about audio you'll probably just want like an ODAC with your headphones. probably just the combo unit for ease of use.

5

Why bother getting a sound card? That's a sound processing unit located inside the computer (you know, where all the electrical interference resides).

6

I've got the entry level Z170 motherboard, the Asus Z170-A. I think it's got a realtek alc 892 audio chipset. And as far as music, I don't listen to it a whole lot so I think I will go with headphones. In general, I play a lot of single player games. Witcher 3, Skyrim, Far Cry 4, tons and tons and TONS of total war campaigns (with a little one on one multiplayer battles here and there). But in general I think i'll stick to headphones for my pick.

Would I need a dac to take advantage of higher end headphones? Or can I forego the purchase of a dac and still get great sound out of the headphones?

7

You could always buy a dac down the road just start out with a good pair of headphones.

8

You'll probably need an amp in order to drive the higher ohm headphones. Don't think you'll need a dac (not even sure what it does... someone learn me pls).

9
1 Like
10

I have this soudncard:

https://www.asus.com/de/Sound-Cards/Xonar_DX/

In combination with this headphone:

http://www.beyerdynamic.de/shop/dt-770-pro-80-ohm.html

11

In regards to an affordable option, and they often go on sale for $59 to $79, I recommend this newer version of what I got ..

Great bass and just an enjoyable experience for me whether I am gaming, listening to music (even 24 feet away in the kitchen), watching movies or whatever and again all done at an affordable price.