A/V Headset choice dilema

[ferret141]

I recently took a trip to America and thought it would be a good idea to buy some tech there including a headset. I was so busy enjoying myself that I forgot about buying stuff until the last minute (so last minute I had to get next day shipping and they only just arrived the afternoon before I left). One of the things I bought was the ASUS Vulcan based on bit-tech's shining review of it.

Detachable mic for using it outside of home, travel case and ANC (worked well on the plane and a boon for my train commute to uni) so in theory they were perfect. But when I got home and tried them on my PC the sound wasn't right. They sounded echoey or distant like those yoghurt pot/tin can phones you make as a kid with a bit of string.

I don't know if that's how they're meant to sound or if I'm too accustomed to the Mk1 Fatal1ty's I've had for 5~6 years. This is where I would like your help. Do I stick the Vulcan's on eBay and get something else or keep them? Headphones & mic is an acceptable alternative to me.

Thanks a lot guys!


Note:
I have a Creative X-Fi Fatal1ty Platinum soundcard and my uses for the headset/headphones would be FPS gaming (namely BF3) and watching TV shows with the occaisonal movie.

[hamza_tm]

About the distant, echoey sound, I'm pretty sure they shouldn't sound like that
I have experienced that myself when I had my Xonar sound card. It was when I had Dolby Headphones (virtual surround sound) turned on, but hadn't set up my speakers properly in windows control panel. Since you have an X-Fi card, it's worth a look to check your settings. Maybe try the different modes (game, entertainment) and toggle CMSS-3D, and tell windows in control panel that you have 7.1 surround speakers.

Otherwise have you tried them directly against the Fatal1ty's and they still sound echoey?

I'm pretty sure it's something simple, I would stick with the Vulcans unless: A. you have money to burn or B. have a need for actually ridiculous sound-whoring (of which I don't think BF3 would make much use of)

[GoodBytes]

While i don't have the headset that you have. I'll agree with hamze_tm. I am sure it's just a setting somewhere. My X-Fi doesn't sound echoey. And I know I get them if I have the Environmental setting turned on (on rare occasion it turns on by itself on my side), or virtual sound is enabled, or CMSS-3D level is enabled or set too high.

[MSHunter]

yeah seconded, I always have had best luck with head phone profile when using headphones exception being my "true" surround (three drivers per ear) Logitech headset. Which is the closest you can get to surround with some thing stuck on your head. Honestly prefer the sound on my AKGs (see sig) but probably becoming audiophile as I'm getting older. Also tend to turn sound way down when playing BF3. Happens to the best of us

[hamza_tm]

Originally Posted by MSHunter

yeah seconded, I always have had best luck with head phone profile when using headphones exception being my "true" surround (three drivers per ear) Logitech headset. Which is the closest you can get to surround with some thing stuck on your head. Honestly prefer the sound on my AKGs (see sig) but probably becoming audiophile as I'm getting older. Also tend to turn sound way down when playing BF3. Happens to the best of us

Just wanted to point out that better surround can be had from certain binaural headphones than from the "true" surround multiple drivers you speak of!

[ferret141]

Thanks for you responses guys. I always make sure CMSS-3D & Crystalizer is turned off but this time I switched it to Entertainment mode to make sure.

After playing some more variety of music and segments of Batman Begins I think the Fatal1ty Mk1's might have had too much bass and I've just gotten used to them. I guess I'll be opening my ears to some new stuff.
As for what I think sounds echoey my guess now under more thinking is that it's the closed cup design coupled with a lot of higher frequencies that I wasn't hearing with the Fatal1ty's. Case of getting used to it then.

Hamza, do you mind explaining more about the 7.1 setting in windows? Is that so that games and media get sent to the soundcard without any pre-mixing and let it do the channel mixing itself? I've always set Windows to 5.1 for my speakers and switched between Headphones & 5.1 in the Creative control panel.

[hamza_tm]

5.1 set in Windows is probably right (I couldn't remember for X-Fi cards whether you should set it to 5.1 or 7.1) so no need to change anything there.

But yes you set Windows to 5.1 so that the hardware abstraction layer (or whatever) sends 6 channels of sound to your card, which does the processing itself. It just keeps Windows from doing any downmixing to the audio signal (which would be pretty useless ). And switching between headphones and 5.1 is fine.

If as you say the Fatal1ty Mk1's just have more bass and stuff, then it is up to you whether you can live with the Vulcan and adjust to it, or switch. It seems to me that the Vulcan does a lot of what you need it to (ANC for commuting, removable mic). I don't know of better headphones with a removable mic.

[ferret141]

What about headphones without a mic at all?

[AlphaAngel]

Just out of interest, I have a creative champion x- fi (the one with the front header). All was well on win XP but when I migrated to Win 7 I lost all the control panel gubbins. I tried to download it again but kept getting error messages so it wouldn't install.

I finally managed to find a version of Creative Console Launcher that would install. I had a lot of problems before I got this piece of software up and running again.

I'm just wondering if you have the creative console launcher because there is a setting in there that makes headphones sound distant and echoy.

[ferret141]

You have come to the right person to ask AlphaAngel.

I want to get your situation correct in my head.
You were on Windows XP.
You had the drivers and software installed that included the Mode Switcher/Volume Control in the task tray.
You migrated to Windows 7.
Had trouble finding drivers that worked in the first place (let alone additional software).
Finally got drivers working but lost the Mode Switcher/Volume Control in the task tray.
Do you want help getting working drivers with the Mode Switcher/Volume Control in the task tray?

I think I know the setting you're talking about, CMSS-3D and I have that turned off.

[hamza_tm]

Originally Posted by ferret141

What about headphones without a mic at all?

There are many that sound better than the Vulcan

I haven't studied the market for a while, but what price point are you looking at?

[ferret141]

£80 but I could go higher if you think they're worth it. I have a feeling I'll be nipping past £100 aren't I?

[hamza_tm]

not necessarily, I would urge you to try the second hand market though.

Awesome beasts like the Beyerdynamic DT770/880/990 can be had for £80 or close enough to it!

So if I understand it correctly, you would like bass, and closed back (no sound leakage out or in) and good for gaming? Sounds like the DT770s Pro 80ohms for you!

edit: this auction looks promising: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BEYERDYNAM...item1c29987126

edit2: although there is no details of the ohm version in that auction listing. The DT770 comes in 80, 250 and 600 ohms. You will want the 80 ohm version as otherwise you would probably need a good amp to run it. Ask the seller.

Of course no pressure to buy that set right now, let me know your thoughts!

[GoodBytes]

Creative never intended to have the X-Fi support Vista and later. They wanted you to buy a new X-Fi. After a hole fight with law suit claims here and there... Creative decided in stopping this (they knew they were going to lose, as the Sound card box says "Vista-ready"). Anyway, they made a half ass job.

Lucky for us, someone decided to finish, and make a way better job than Creative ever did.. including their XP drivers, and unlock some additonal features: PAX drivers.

Go here:
http://www.hardwareheaven.com/pax-drivers/
Pick the type of sound card you have.
Click on the first or second post, and the link to the drivers is the absolute last link of the FIRST post.

Enjoy.
(make sure to uninstall the current drivers first, before installing these.)

[AlphaAngel]

Originally Posted by ferret141

You have come to the right person to ask AlphaAngel.

I want to get your situation correct in my head.
You were on Windows XP.
You had the drivers and software installed that included the Mode Switcher/Volume Control in the task tray.
You migrated to Windows 7.
Had trouble finding drivers that worked in the first place (let alone additional software).
Finally got drivers working but lost the Mode Switcher/Volume Control in the task tray.
Do you want help getting working drivers with the Mode Switcher/Volume Control in the task tray?

I think I know the setting you're talking about, CMSS-3D and I have that turned off.

You have the situation correct. It seems to be a common and very well known problem for people moving from xp to win 7.

I have it all working now, it was just a complete pain in the ass. Took me about 2 weeks, deep meditation and advanced google-fu to do it.

I think that was the option. TBH I don't want to touch the control panel again, every time I do something else goes wrong.

[ferret141]

Originally Posted by hamza_tm

not necessarily, I would urge you to try the second hand market though.

Awesome beasts like the Beyerdynamic DT770/880/990 can be had for £80 or close enough to it!

So if I understand it correctly, you would like bass, and closed back (no sound leakage out or in) and good for gaming? Sounds like the DT770s Pro 80ohms for you!

edit: this auction looks promising: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BEYERDYNAM...item1c29987126

edit2: although there is no details of the ohm version in that auction listing. The DT770 comes in 80, 250 and 600 ohms. You will want the 80 ohm version as otherwise you would probably need a good amp to run it. Ask the seller.

Of course no pressure to buy that set right now, let me know your thoughts!

I'm happy to try things out. Any idea of somewhere I can test/hear/see them in London?
Also, someone mentioned to me the Audo-Technica ATH-A700. Any thoughts?

Originally Posted by GoodBytes

Creative never intended to have the X-Fi support Vista and later. They wanted you to buy a new X-Fi. After a hole fight with law suit claims here and there... Creative decided in stopping this (they knew they were going to lose, as the Sound card box says "Vista-ready"). Anyway, they made a half ass job.

Lucky for us, someone decided to finish, and make a way better job than Creative ever did.. including their XP drivers, and unlock some additonal features: PAX drivers.

Go here:
http://www.hardwareheaven.com/pax-drivers/
Pick the type of sound card you have.
Click on the first or second post, and the link to the drivers is the absolute last link of the FIRST post.

Enjoy.
(make sure to uninstall the current drivers first, before installing these.)

I remember that lawsuit. I'll also give these PAX drivers a try when my new SSD comes next week.

Originally Posted by AlphaAngel

You have the situation correct. It seems to be a common and very well known problem for people moving from xp to win 7.

I have it all working now, it was just a complete pain in the ass. Took me about 2 weeks, deep meditation and advanced google-fu to do it.

I think that was the option. TBH I don't want to touch the control panel again, every time I do something else goes wrong.

At some point they dropped the volume control panel. I think it might have been around the time of the Vista fiasco. The way I got around it was to install an older driver that had the volume control panel and then update the driver to the latest. Not sure if I did this when I moved to Vista too or just on XP. But I do remember at one point it took a lot of searching on google because Creative had removed the older driver from their site that contained the Volume Control Panel (tired of typing it so VCP). Which I think is how you got around it too.
I think the only reason I used the VCP was to get to the surround test, sub crossover & bass control. But eventually I stopped needing those and didn't bother finding the older driver when I moved to Win7 and just used the boring Creative Audio Control Panel.

I think if you ever have problems with your X-Fi card or want a feature explantion you can ask here and get a good answer.

[hamza_tm]

something like HMV would have headphones on display where you can listen to them. Any high street store tbh

The A700s are the closed version of the AD700. The AD700 is well known to have just about the biggest sound stage ever, you can hear stuff with a great sense of depth and distance, like sounds are being projected onto a very large area around you. This makes it perfect for directional audio in FPS games. However it had very low bass which was a problem.

The A700 you mention are similar, but because they are closed they have a smaller soundstage, but then a bit more bass. It depends what price you can find these. I suppose they are a little easier to drive than the DT770, but I would recommend the DT770 more as it is a better headphone if you can find it within your price range.

But I suggest you do some research before following my views

Google for "mad lust envy headphones guide" it should have some interesting information for you on gaming (and otherwise) headphones.

[ferret141]

I didn't think HMV could afford to stock the Beyerdynamics.

Also there's a limited/anniversary edition of the DT770's with only 30 ohms of impeadence

[hamza_tm]

Ahh yes indeed it's 32ohms I believe? knew there was something I'd forgotten

And well I did see pretty expensive headphones at the HMV in Manchester lol, some £300 models were there can't remember the exact ones

[Mrmelon98]

there's a problem that frequently occurs with Vulcan's when the user does not push the mic/headphone plug in enough. apparently you have to give it quite a shove. i hope that helps