Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: hubsonfire on March 15, 2006, 04:28:19 PM

Title: Anyone used or using USB headphones?
Post by: hubsonfire on March 15, 2006, 04:28:19 PM

Need to replace yet another pair of headphones, and maybe my sound card as well (old enough that it's no longer a supported model). I was looking at the Plantronics Gamecom headsets- instead of connecting to a soundcard, they connect via USB and supposedly free up the CPU and improve audio over lowend/onboard sound cards.

Has anyone used this type of headset in the past? If so, would you recommend them, or avoid them?

Title: Anyone used or using USB headphones?
Post by: Skuzzy on March 15, 2006, 05:04:41 PM

Good marketing.  USB based sound headsets will always use more CPU cycles than a decent sound card.  Always.

The USB bus is very CPU dependent.

Title: Anyone used or using USB headphones?
Post by: buzkill on March 15, 2006, 05:09:17 PM

GOOD MARKETING OR BOLD LIE........IT'S AMERICA, SO GOOD MARKETING. IF YOU HAVE A CPU THAT HANDLES A LITTLE EXTRA LOAD, USB PHONES ARE FINE

Title: Anyone used or using USB headphones?
Post by: SNO on March 15, 2006, 07:08:13 PM

I have the USB Plantronics DSP 500 and like them alot. I went from onboard sound to these and there was no noticeable difference. The quality of the sound is excellent.

Title: Anyone used or using USB headphones?
Post by: LePaul on March 15, 2006, 08:31:38 PM

Ive got both a independent sound card and Logitech USB headsets...some nights I prefer the headset, some nights I skip the headset (and vox) and let the subwoofer on the surround system have at.

I havent had any performance losses uses that, *ahem*, cpu grabbing USB headset.  

If your worried about a USB headset robbing you of power to play the game...you've got bigger issues  ;)

Title: Anyone used or using USB headphones?
Post by: Estes on March 15, 2006, 09:54:03 PM

Quote

Originally posted by Skuzzy
Good marketing.  USB based sound headsets will always use more CPU cycles than a decent sound card.  Always.

The USB bus is very CPU dependent.

I've never used a USB headset, but on a related note I have a USB bluetooth adapter thing for my cell phone. And everytime I plug the thing in, my cpu usage goes up to 100% and stays about 50-75% until I unplug it.

And since, I don't have or have ever used a USB headset I'm not sure if the results are similar or not. But, I imagine it would jump up considerably.

Title: Anyone used or using USB headphones?
Post by: SNO on March 16, 2006, 04:39:57 PM

My task manager shows 1-2% cpu usage back and forth which is perfectly normal, while using Plantronics DSP 500 usb headset

Title: Anyone used or using USB headphones?
Post by: Skuzzy on March 16, 2006, 04:51:40 PM

0 to 1% is actually normal.

Folks are going to say they work fine and they do not hurt performance, but the hardware uses more CPU cycles than a good sound card will.  It is a fact, not speculation.  It cannot help but use more CPU cycles due to the USB bus being very CPU dependent.

Title: Anyone used or using USB headphones?
Post by: SNO on March 16, 2006, 07:18:10 PM

It uses 1% more than perfectly normal which has no detremental affects on my gameplay and is an improvement from my onboard sound that I was using previously. Thats why I like this bulletin board, you can always learn something. Thanks Skuzzy

Title: Anyone used or using USB headphones?
Post by: Hajo on March 17, 2006, 10:30:50 AM

Using LTB USB Dolby 5.1 surround headset.  It is reasonablie to...around 70 to 80 dollars and comfortable.  I have no problems and have been using them for a year at least.

Of course I'm using an Athlon64 3400 CPU also.