Consider the Headphone FAQ (sticky) at the top of the forum for suggestions on headphones.

As for sound card, Asus and HT|Omega are generally considered superior in terms of value to most Creative Sound Blaster options. Some of the other users will certainly have suggestions on particular models, though my understanding is that the value cards lie at the $40-$50 and $200 price points, with little in between.

Good luck,

Boz

Some quick questions before I provide my own recommendations:

• Are you aware that the G930's you were using were not true 7.1 Headphones? Have you read the "Surround Sound" section of the Headphone FAQ in these forums?
• Are you using these for console gaming as well as PC gaming?
• Do you need a microphone (i.e. headset rather than headphones)?

I have a few suggestions, but would like to get some clarity on these points, first.

Happy gaming,

Boz

PLEASE DO NOT BUMP THIS POST

This thread was bumped by low-level user phantomasko on Feb 22, but that message has since been deleted by a moderator. The original poster is long gone. If you want to discuss Surround Sound Headphones, create a new topic. :) /edit

Could anyone suggest some headphone amp capable of optical connection on both PC and PS3? I'll be looking for Senn or AKG headphones and zalman mic suggested above, just don't know whitch amp.

phantomasko

Also, welcome to Gamespot.

Happy gaming,

Boz

Another game pages and review pages bug we will file. Thank you. GameSpot

Look here, it looks like links are working, using HTML Source Editor to code to create hyperlinks is working fine now.

Edited to make sure...

Awesome!

Boz

In general you are going to want to leave the audio enhancement options off. You might have some luck with the Equalizer to adjust sound settings to your liking, but otherwise it's generally just going to add processing noise to the audio. Your mileage will vary, since we all have different preferences, but otherwise - unless you feel there is something lacking - you can leave them off without worrying that you're missing out on anything.

Happy gaming,

Boz

Ah, resistence; this is for many audio neophytes a confusing subject, and rightly so. "Ohm's law states that the current through a conductor between two points is directly proportional to the potential difference across the two points." In layman's terms, resistence affects the amount of current drawn. If you lower the resistence and change nothing else, you will draw more power.

The downside here is that you may overheat your amplifier if it is not rated for a particular resistence. This happens all the time in car audio, where complete idiots put four woofers down to a half-ohm load on an amplifier rated for four ohms bridged, and proceed to set it on fire, blow fuses, and otherwise cause expensive mayhem.

If you are finding that the volume is not high-enough when you are impedence matching, you can get around it by tricking the amp into thinking it is receiveing a lower impedence than it actually is - in this case 16 versus 32. This is unlikely to cause any issues given then very low wattage drawn by headphones, but be aware that running amplifiers at a lower impedence than intended can cause overheating or distortion (though in this case it seems highly unlikely).

I'd check and make sure you've got all the volume settings turned up before changing the impedence, meaning the OS volume, driver volume, application volume, and any in-line volume that might be present. Then I'd go for a workaround if absolutely necessary.

Good luck,

Boz

As said above, HD 555 are discontinued so should probably be removed from the thread. I can't get any in the UK, maybe it's different in USA but i think they should be replaced in this sticky. HD 558 that replaced them are more expensive though.

kraken2109

Make sure you have a correct seal. Push your headphones in, not too deep, but you should hear a HUGE difference DivergeUnify