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General discussion

5.1 headphones using USB or onboard X-Fi sound card?

Nov 25, 2009 10:17AM PST

I'm looking for new surround headphones to replace my Turtle Beach X-51 and Zalmans 5.1?s. Let?s get past headphones vs. speaker systems for gaming. I usually play at night, and desktop equipment keeps everyone up. Considering Turtle Beach Ear Force HPA2 (uses on board computer sound card), AK-R8 (USB with interal sound card), Razor Baracuda HP-1 (USB...), Razor Megalodon 7.1 (USB...), and Medusa NX 5.1 (uses on board computer sound card). Sound is most important, including bass. Also, not having to reach the back of the computer when switching between desktop or headphones is important. Turtle Beach HPA2 has a quick disconnect cable which is nice if you want to use desktop speakers. Two of the connection pins broke on my X-51 which cause loss of sound. USB answers all the problems by using its own soundcard. Question: Can the tiny sound card/amplifier that comes with USB 5.1 headphones compete with my Sound Blaster X-Fi? I don't see how. The sound separation between the front and rear speakers of my Turtle Beach X-51 was hard to detect, and the bass, well there wasn't any. Question: Has anyone been able to compare this older model with the new HPA2 or AK-R8 models, and have they made improvements in sound quality? Question: Does anyone have any experience with the Razor or Medusa for gaming? Question: Anyone try the Psyko 5.1 PC Gaming Headset?

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