speakers for games

[supremor]

My vote goes to headphones as well, cant beat headphone quality for the money as long as you stay away from the gaming headsets.
Have you ever tried circumaural headphones? they are quite big and cover your entire ear. I personally use Sennheiser HD555 which are quite cheap and are open-air circumaural headphones that I can and do wear all day long with no comfort issues due to their size and the fact they don't squeeze your head.

If you can OP, try a pair of circumaural headphones at a store near you.
I'd recommend Sennheiser HD555 or Audio Technica ATH-AD700 (open air) / ATH-A700 (closed air) since they are very solid headphones for the price.
The HD595's are also excellent although they are slightly more expensive.

 

[pontifex]

My vote goes to headphones as well, cant beat headphone quality for the money as long as you stay away from the gaming headsets.
Have you ever tried circumaural headphones? they are quite big and cover your entire ear. I personally use Sennheiser HD555 which are quite cheap and are open-air circumaural headphones that I can and do wear all day long with no comfort issues due to their size and the fact they don't squeeze your head.

If you can OP, try a pair of circumaural headphones at a store near you.
I'd recommend Sennheiser HD555 or Audio Technica ATH-AD700 (open air) / ATH-A700 (closed air) since they are very solid headphones for the price.
The HD595's are also excellent although they are slightly more expensive.

I have a pair of HD 555s. My hears get hot and it starts to get uncomfortable after awhile.

 

[dpodblood]

How about a good pair of 2.0 speakers?

http://audioengineusa.com/Store/Audioengine-A2-Buy-Now#.UIrX2IbjR50

 

[XiandreX]

I recommend 7.1 G930 Logitech surround headphones phenomenal sound

 

[dpodblood]

I recommend 7.1 G930 Logitech surround headphones phenomenal sound

Surround headphones are the most gimmicky terrible invention of modern audio. You only have 2 ears. Why do you need 6 drivers pointing into your ears?

 

[Atomic Playboy]

I would recommend headphones (as others have already). I have a pair of Sennheiser HD595s that have been just excellent for the past few years. Don't need to worry about waking up the fiancee, don't need to worry about speaker echo coming through when I use the mic... Headphones are where it's at for PC gaming.

 

[dud]

do you guys use 2.0, 2.1, 5.1 or 7.1 speakers for your pc and gaming.

I have an old logitech 5.1 set but the front left speaker is dead. Was thinking about getting another 5.1 set but not sure I really need it. I loved these speakers, great sound quality imo.

Don't want to spend too much money. But I could just make this 5.1 set a 2.1 set instead, just take one of the rear speakers and use it for the front speaker?
or do they have different specs and that won't work?

OP, if it hasn't already been said IMHO the best set of gaming speakers is a good set of headphones. Games sound so much better and others living in the house aren't bothered by the noise.

 

[thespyder]

OP, if it hasn't already been said IMHO the best set of gaming speakers is a good set of headphones. Games sound so much better and others living in the house aren't bothered by the noise.

It's been said.

 

[moonbogg]

Logitech Z5500 digital or Logitech Z906. 5.1 speakers are better for PC gaming if using speakers. If using headphones, dolby headphone surround makes for a more full sound with accurate directional cues that you don't get with simple stereo. I use Logitech G35 headphones and they are excellent for gaming, but be warned, audiophiles will nail you to the cross and spit on your body for using anything but over $200 "real" headphones.

 

[XiandreX]

Surround headphones are the most gimmicky terrible invention of modern audio. You only have 2 ears. Why do you need 6 drivers pointing into your ears?

Take this as just my experience and not an attack on you but I have had my headphones for about a year and the sound difference is huge. I might have 2 ears but I can tell the difference between Stereo and surround.

The G930s use digital surround sound which in headphones is supposed to be more precise than actually having multiple drivers in them. Again these are my experiences.
I have had friends try them out and they are all amazed at the audio quality difference especially with tracking sounds in an Mmo or FPS.

 

[dpodblood]

Take this as just my experience and not an attack on you but I have had my headphones for about a year and the sound difference is huge. I might have 2 ears but I can tell the difference between Stereo and surround.

The G930s use digital surround sound which in headphones is supposed to be more precise than actually having multiple drivers in them. Again these are my experiences.
I have had friends try them out and they are all amazed at the audio quality difference especially with tracking sounds in an Mmo or FPS.

Maybe you just need to experience a really decent pair of stereo headphones. There are many reasons why "surround headphones" don't really work, but primarily it's because all the drivers have to be so close together it's really no different than using regular stereo headphones. Not to mention it's better to have one large quality driver for each ear than a bunch of smaller ones for surround. With correctly implemented directional audio stereo headphones should be just as (if not more) precise when compared to surround headphones.

 

[supremor]

I never bought into the whole Surround/gaming headphones thing. I was always under the impression its better and cheaper to get a decent set of phones without a mic. I am however in the minority being a soundcard user (X-Fi Ttianium PCI-E) which also happens to perform digital positional audio for me on my Stereo headphones and it works great, so good infact I cannot stand gaming without it.

@OP if you really can't stand headphones then I'd go for a decent set of 2.0/2.1 unless positional audio is THAT important to you since that's about the only thing a cheap 5.1 gaming setup will be good for.

 

[Raduque]

I currently use a piecemeal 2.1 setup - Onkyo surround receiver gets a full-range analog signal from my Chaintech AV710's Wolfson DAC, sends anything under 120hz to a 10" 8ohm Kenwood subwoofer in a sealed 1.1cft box powered by a Sansui 8080DB stereo reciever, the rest of the fequencies go to my 3-way Pioneer bookshelf speakers. I use this for gaming and music.

I used to have a 6-channel (4 front, 2 surround) surround setup using different speakers (two 4-way Akai towers with 15" woofers, and two small satellites all driven by the Sansui, and two 2-way mini satellites powered by a Sony surround receiver) but I don't have room for surround sound on my desk anymore.

 

[Sureshot324]

i'm not an audiophile either and i don't need or want anything elaborate (need to keep costs down).

i tried plugging the rear speakers into the front left port on the sub and got nothing. i plug my the front left speaker into the front center port and it works. i plug the front center speaker into the front left port and it doesn't work either. looks like it's not the speaker, but the port on the sub...

What if you plug the left front speaker in the left rear jack? In your sound card configuration you should be able to set it to stereo mode with the rear speakers playing the same thing as the front speakers. Then you'd have a working 2.1 setup.

If that fails, take the sub apart and see if you can figure out why that jack isn't working.

 

[mmntech]

I have a proper 5.1 system hooked up to my computer. Five powered book shelf speakers, sub, and a Pioneer A/V receiver. The drivers in most "PC" speaker sets are just too small. Even a basic AV/HT system (not that HT in a box crap) will sound better than most PC speaker sets.

If you can't afford that, invest in a good pair of headphones. They can make a world of difference. You can pick up a pair of audiophile grade Grado SR80s for around $100 and they sound phenomenal. You can grab a good quality amp off ebay and you're rocking.

 

[XiandreX]

Maybe you just need to experience a really decent pair of stereo headphones. There are many reasons why "surround headphones" don't really work, but primarily it's because all the drivers have to be so close together it's really no different than using regular stereo headphones. Not to mention it's better to have one large quality driver for each ear than a bunch of smaller ones for surround. With correctly implemented directional audio stereo headphones should be just as (if not more) precise when compared to surround headphones.

As far as I can tell the G930s... have stereo drivers and use virtual surround but I could be wrong.

 

[The_Golden_Man]

Using a set of Analog Creative Soundworks 5.1 setup from the year 2000. Originally it came with a Soundblaster 5.1 soundcard. I use sub and speakers connected to my ASUS P8P67 PRO soundcard now.

12 years old and still excellent.

 

[12andy]

This probably belongs in the Audio section (could be wrong), but anyway...

I'm personally all for a proper speaker/ subwoofer component set up. I'm truly amazing how people have great spec'd PCs, but half-ass their audio (which arguably, contributes to half - if not MORE - of the overall entertainment/ immersive experience). There's something to be said about that additional tactile impact that a decent subwoofer gives you that can't be replicated using headphones. Parts Express is the place to shop for these sort of things, for starters.

A component set up like this is not only great for longevity (sound quality will already be ahead - MILES, at times - of your typical "PC speaker" set up), but also offers an upgrade path as you go along, as you can swap components out at will.

Deals can be had everywhere for used equipment (Craigslist, Kijiji, Audiogon, Canuckaudiomart, etc.), as well as retailers (Best Buy has awesome sales at times, if you're American).

I'm currently using a Denon receiver (with MultiEQ capability), Dayton B652 bookshelves (cheapies), with an Alison AL10 sub (most probably a HSU STF2 clone), giving me a 4.1 setup. Games, and more importantly music, are a complete joy to listen to.

If you have even the slightest interest in higher quality audio, it pays dividends to buy proper equipment from the get go. I've owned a few "PC speaker" sets (Logitech Z-640, Edifier R501MKII, Edifier S550) and wish I made the jump to "real" speakers sooner. Oh well - learning experience!