Now spoiled by quality sound hardware :)

calranthe

A lot of us think nothing of laying down $200-300 on a graphics card, we get the best we can afford at the time but sound hardware seems to be a lesser priority.

I have been pc gaming for a long time to put it in perspective my first complaint about games and hardware was when commanche overkill came out and needed 4mb of memory, yes that is 4mb and I had just upgraded to a 386sx and filled its memory slots with 2mb .

Sound has come a long way but is often overlooked, like many the on board sound card was enough for a long time, then I got married and headphones became a requirement after all with both of us being gamers speakers were out of the question.

I have tried pretty much all the headsets available but just recently treated myself to one of the top tier sets, three days ago I bought myself the  Sennheiser PC 363D $236 and I quite literally was shocked into silence while playing games.

All day I have been trying different games and it like I am experiencing them for the first time.

Lets get past the obviouse omg situational sound and ability to know everything in the game that is going on around you it goes far beyond that.

I logged into defiance outside of iron demon ranch and heard nature, I could hear all the different subtle changes in sound scapes as I drove around, the wind whistling through the underpass and distant rolling thunder.

Guildwars 2 traveling through a forest with my eyes shut just experiencing it.

The secret world  just walking around london.

Skyrim oh my I sat outside whiterun for 10 minutes with my eyes closed as a rain storm came rolling in.

Fallout new vegas, Watchdogs and left 4 dead 2.

In all these games I was hearing sounds that cheaper systems could not process, I was hearing it as it was meant to be, when I walked around the normandy I heard thing that I had never heard before.

Every game I play feels more real now my only regret is over these years while I was so focused on the newest and best graphics drivers I missed out on this part.

If the 363D is beyond your scope Sennheiser and other makes do some really nice sets for less but you get what you pay for, the Roccat Kave XTD digital is also an amazing set.

 

syntax42

Any decent pair of headphones makes a big difference over using speakers.  The immersion is improved by eliminating noise from your environment, which allows you to hear the more subtle sounds of the game.

For a gamer, there is probably little to no audible difference between a $50 headset and a $350 headset.  The difference in games' audio qualities will produce a wider range than the difference between two headsets.

There are features you might get with a more expensive headset that you won't find with others.  For example, the Logitech headsets have decent 7-channel surround sound emulation.  Turtle Beach has a headset with bluetooth so you won't miss a phone call.

Sound hardware has pretty much been at the limit of what current technology can do for a while now.  The main limitation is the membrane and magnet design causes the speaker to be less responsive to certain frequencies.  If graphene speakers work as well as expected, that may be the next big thing in audio technology.

Hulluck

Sennhieser is suppose to be pretty good. I don't know that I would call those top tier. But likely up there? Not saying I know a lot but definitely have been reading forums and looking stuff up for awhile.  Top tiers go well over $1,000.  That said,  I actually thought about making a post awhile back asking if anyone had used a specific pair of Grado's that I've been eyeballing. I realized there was a better place for that and getting help with an amp / headset combo.  Likely to find more people with experience with a given headphone ect. No offense to anyone here. I think in the end instead of risking it I would just like to find a brick and mortar to try out a bunch of mid ranged models before I commit that kind of money.