Help solve audio confusion...

[looper]

Son and I are PC gamers. We would like to improve our in-game sound quality. Here are the sound components we have...

M-Audio AV 40 speakers(pair)
NuForce Icon 2 DAC(for music)
inexpensive Logitech headset for chat in TeamSpeak(VOIP) with clan mates in game(USB)
Creative Labs X-Fi internal sound card (no longer installed)
Grado SR 80 headphones for music, connected to front of DAC

Questions:

*We want to get a very good headset for gaming, but it cannot be connected to the DAC,
as the headphone connector there is only output. So, should I re-install the Creative
X-Fi card and purchase a very good headset, such as the Seenheiser 360, which will then connect to that?
*Or, just get a high-end headset that is USB?

I want the best sound that we can set up...

Thanks for any input, and please forgive my nobbishness...

 

[cmdrdredd]

I do not like USB, although the convenience is there I don't like the added CPU cycles being used plus I've heard some bad quality models.

 

[vbuggy]

Sub the POS Nuforce for something like an Asus Xonar U3 (which will, yes really, be better), which will improve your non-headset audio (or even headsets, since it supports Dolby Headphone).

I'm partial to the Logitech G35 as a gaming headset. Not everyone likes the comfort or that fact that it's closed. Personally I find the comfort perfectly tolerable after cushion adjustments, and I like that fact that it's closed. Sound is comparable with closed phones in similar discounted price range, and you get more control - as well as Dolby headphone and a 'sharp'-sounding (which is a good thing in games, not so much in Skype) but decent-pickup mic.

If you want the best within reason, there's the Beyerdynamic MMX 300. It's typically $300, and since it's based on that particular headphone many say "well why do I pay $100 extra over a DT 770 Premium for a mic" and it's not that simple: You get a pretty decent USB adapter with onboard controls, a mic that blows away any other consumer headset mic I've heard (let alone the POS Zalman clip-ons), a $20 bag and a 5-year warranty.