Wow, I had no idea how intense gaming is with headphones

Arkitech

Diamond Member
Apr 13, 2000
8,356
4
76
Just got done playing a fps (Crossfire) with headphones on, oddly enough this is my first ever using them playing any video game. It's incredible, I'm hearing details that I never knew were there. Explosions in the distance, footsteps running ahead of me, bullet cases clinking on a metal floor.

I think it might be time to look into surround sound headphones next
 

yhelothar

Lifer
Dec 11, 2002
18,409
39
91
Check out some good quality live music with it too, you'll swear you were just sonically teleported to the front stage. :)

But if you want to check out the holy grail of headphone 3D immersion, check out binaural recordings. It's recorded with two mics in each ear of a dummy head, so you hear exactly what the dummy heard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...feature=video_response

BTW, don't bother with the surround sound headphones, what you want is a high quality set that has good soundstage.
 

Tiamat

Lifer
Nov 25, 2003
14,068
5
71
wait til you play an FPS with a multi channel hifi system on a projector screen in a quite room. You hear everything and have almost perfect directionality.

Headphones are a good 3rd choice because the sound is very close to your ears and bipasses much of the background noise in your room.

2nd choice is a good hifi stereo system. You still can get quite a good wraparound directionality for FPS games.
 

coldmeat

Diamond Member
Jul 10, 2007
9,234
142
106
Yup I love using my headphones for gaming, especially multiplayer. Playing COD4 online, I can hear footsteps from a mile away, which gives a huge advantage when playing with a low # of players.
 

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
64,795
84
91
Originally posted by: arcenite
No, it's time to look into better speakers

even with 5.1 its probably not going to match headphones, the cues are subtle and can be lost, in home theater setups you don't tend to notice surrounds until it gets quite loud. maybe later when 7.1 with the height speakers becomes a standard...course theres always the room/accoustics and all that. most computer rooms are hardly optimally setup for surround.
 

Fayd

Diamond Member
Jun 28, 2001
7,970
2
76
www.manwhoring.com
for computer FPS's i use headphones.

when i play things like bad company on my xbox, i turn on the sound system.

gotta love a subwoofer. 5.1 setup with 10" subwoofer.
 

videogames101

Diamond Member
Aug 24, 2005
6,783
27
91
God no, please don't by surround headphones. A good pair of stereo headphones will always have better quality than the gimmicky 5.1 headphones you see.

Otherwise, headphones + gaming = win


Also, to people who say get speakers, you can always get better sound quality from headphones compared to a speaker system of the same price.


What you need next is a headphone amp with a pair of HD595s.
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
60,668
11,027
126
I prefer 5.1 speakers. I get better directional sound, and I find headphones uncomfortable.
 

SparkyJJO

Lifer
May 16, 2002
13,357
7
81
Originally posted by: videogames101
God no, please don't by surround headphones. A good pair of stereo headphones will always have better quality than the gimmicky 5.1 headphones you see.

I dunno, my old zalman 5.1 headphones seem to work pretty well. As long as the game is set to use surround and not stereo, that is (oops).
 

yhelothar

Lifer
Dec 11, 2002
18,409
39
91
Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
Originally posted by: arcenite
No, it's time to look into better speakers

even with 5.1 its probably not going to match headphones, the cues are subtle and can be lost, in home theater setups you don't tend to notice surrounds until it gets quite loud. maybe later when 7.1 with the height speakers becomes a standard...course theres always the room/accoustics and all that. most computer rooms are hardly optimally setup for surround.

This. In order for a good surround speaker system to even come close to headphones in terms of directionality, you'd need a really optimal speaker placement and good room acoustics.
That, and your speakers need to be well tweaked so that the volume and the sound delay to compensate for distance is balanced.
 

Udgnim

Diamond Member
Apr 16, 2008
3,682
124
106
Originally posted by: astroidea
Check out some good quality live music with it too, you'll swear you were just sonically teleported to the front stage. :)

But if you want to check out the holy grail of headphone 3D immersion, check out binaural recordings. It's recorded with two mics in each ear of a dummy head, so you hear exactly what the dummy heard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...feature=video_response

BTW, don't bother with the surround sound headphones, what you want is a high quality set that has good soundstage.

thanks for link

pretty cool what they were able to do
 

Baked

Lifer
Dec 28, 2004
36,052
17
81
Originally posted by: lxskllr
I prefer 5.1 speakers. I get better directional sound, and I find headphones uncomfortable.

You need better headphones. Price/value ratio of headphones is unmatchable by speakers.
 

TridenT

Lifer
Sep 4, 2006
16,800
45
91
I use HD555s, but I want speakers because I freaking hate having to take on, take off, those things all the time. It would be nice to watch a movie without having to wear headphones... :( I need speakers, but I is 2 pour.
 

uhohs

Diamond Member
Oct 29, 2005
7,660
44
91
surround sound headphones suck.

a headphone that's recommended often on head-fi for gaming is the audio technica ad700. it's light on the bass, but the positioning/soundstage and detail are suppose to be great for the <$100 price.