Surround sound headsets

[sweener2001]

i've been thinking of putting a sound card into my desktop and getting a solid headset to use. space constraints don't let me get a 5.1 speaker set up going. and that's a whole other topic, since i seems that most manufacturers have settled with monitors and other 2.0/2.1 setups.

anyway, i was looking at the turtle beach ear force hpa2, and the tritton xpa pro or whatever the name of their latest set is. i've heard too mixed of an opinion on psykos to consider them.

reviews haven't really shown me a clear-cut winner, and it's tough to distinguish the actual bad experiences with PEBKAC.

so, i'm wondering if anyone has any insight into surround sound headsets (preferably the kind with multiple speakers, and not the onboard emulation. i want to actually make use of the sound card) that can help me out.

i'm not close to making this happen, yet, but i do want to know what i would get. the planned soundcard is the x-fi fatality pro, just the card. the titanium HD doesn't seem compatible with the headsets i've been looking at.

[funkyass]

I have a set of thermaltake's and they suck for anything outside of gaming, and unless you get a set with USB, a bunch of futzing around with cables.

Does the X-Fi support Dolby Headphone? that might be a saner way of going.

[kode54]

The X-Fi supports something different which does the same thing. It's called CMSS 3D. In headphone output mode, it simulates positioned speakers for all sound output, system-wide. (And in speaker configurations less than surround, it tries to simulate surround speakers.)

[sweener2001]

I have a set of thermaltake's and they suck for anything outside of gaming, and unless you get a set with USB, a bunch of futzing around with cables.

Does the X-Fi support Dolby Headphone? that might be a saner way of going.

headsets with just usb bypass your soundcard, and emulate the surround sound. i'm not interested in that.

[paulguy]

Any headphones that connect through spdif? Should provide a digital connection with the required bandwidth for surroud, without looking like you're having an EEG exam. Might require batteries or power over USB, though, and if it's to have a mic, would require USB. Would save you the need for an expensive sound card, too, since most onboard sound has at least coax spdif.

[funkyass]

There is no such beast.

SPDIF is stereo- to get surround you need an encoding scheme like from Dolby or DTS - so more hardware for the headset.

if getting the X-Fi I'd just use CMSS 3d.

[sweener2001]

is cmss really that good?

and what headset would you recommend? because if that's the route that i go, i would probably up the sound card to the titanium HD.

[kode54]

Yes, CMSS 3D is pretty good. It's also good for crossfeed, to reduce the fatigue or discomfort from stereo sources sounding too much like they're inside your head.