Surround Headset and SATA3 hard drive controller - Opinion seeking

[BoilerDown]

So I've recently graduated from college and held a decent job for a while.  Time to spend some money.

I was looking into getting surround sound headphones first of all.  Anyone have an opinion on these:

RAZER Tiamat 7.1 Surround Sound Analog Gaming Headset
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826153089

I'd like the ability to locate sounds better than what I'm getting now.  It didn't really matter for my WoW years but I think it could help me in FPS and flight sims.

One thing I know I don't want is something plugged into my computer's USB port.  I've had ones like that before, and I can't stand the buzzing.  The headset I linked gets power from USB, but I can get that from a powered USB hub isolated from my computer.


Secondly, I'd like opinions on a Sata 3 hardware raid controller for my hard drives.  The main objective is to increase performance (or decrease the loss of performance) while running FRAPS.  I don't really care a lot about actual raid features, but I imagine a hardware raid controller would have the best sustained hard drive write performance.  I've had a very hard time finding relevant performance reviews on these.  I already have a dedicated SSD on the way for initial storage of FRAPS files.  I'm not dead-set on getting a hardware raid controller, I'm just looking for more information for now.

My current hardware includes an Intel 2600K, Geforce GTX 680 (4GB), Asus P8P67 Evo Rev. 3, 12 GB RAM, 1 Plextor PX-256M2P (boot), 2x WD1001FALS (not raided, solo), Windows 7 - 64.


Thanks in advance!

[Reschke]

The best headset I have ever used is a PC360 from Sennheiser. You wil not be disappointed and it is a high quality piece of kit that will allow you to enjoy games and music equally well.

[BoilerDown]

The best headset I have ever used is a PC360 from Sennheiser. You wil not be disappointed and it is a high quality piece of kit that will allow you to enjoy games and music equally well.

I have a Sennheiser HD555 that I got in 2006 that I still haven't managed to break and still sound great.  And despite the name I just looked and the PC360 are stereo headphones.  I'm interested in opinions on surround headphones in general, and the ones I linked in particular.

Thanks though.

[guncrasher]

boiler there are two types of surround sound.  those with several speakers on each side and those with only 1 that simulate surround sound.  the headsets with several speakers are in the minority now and the quality has declined.  but to be fair the quality of all headsets regardless of number of speakers have declined from good to look great but will break easily.

most headsets that are more than 2 years old they dont make them anymore.  my suggestion would be to go to your local best buy or computer store then check those against the online reviews from places like newegg or amazon.


I have a set of triton surround sound with 3 speakers on each side.  sound is awesome but they broke about 3 months after i bought them.  they are now discontinued.  g35 was a simulated surround sound and they also sounded awesome but they only lasted about a year.

but based on the reviews that I now see in most headsets, they wont last you as long as your last pair.


midway

[ebfd11]

Boiler if you are looking for a good sounding headset here is a good start.

http://www.astrogaming.com/a40

I have a pair of the http://www.astrogaming.com/a40-audio-system-upper-playground-edition

and they are awesome. They are rugged and very comfortable to wear over long stretches and have a superior sound when mixed with my SB sound card.

They are a little pricy but when using this to play AH and BF3 the surround actually works great, also they are 3.5 mm gold plated jacks so you dont have the USB.

Check them out and see what you think..

CrazyLwn

[Bizman]

I've had a pair of Speedlink Medusa 5.1 for over half a decade without problems. I like how they cover the entire ear and how the plush padding doesn't make your head sweat. The overall feeling is very nice, I can wear them for hours without any funny feelings. The half open construction is also a plus for me, it lets me hear when someone of the family wants to talk to me. That's good for them, too, because if I get scared I shout. Loud! And that would scare the excrement out of them. 

Truth to say, I can't really hear the difference in AH with stereo and 5.1 because the elements are so close to each other. Through the Realtek sound panel I can hear a different sound from front and rear, and if I had more protruding earflaps the difference could be more distinctive.

[guncrasher]

With surround sound you can hear if the airplane is behind you or on the side.

It's pretty cool when a friendly flies by as you can hear him behind then above/below then in front.



midway

[BoilerDown]

Thanks for the replies on the headset.  Not really sure what I'm going to decide on yet.  Still interested in opinions on this and the hard drive controller too.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Thanks for the replies on the headset.  Not really sure what I'm going to decide on yet.  Still interested in opinions on this and the hard drive controller too.

I think few of us have experience with external sata controllers. I believe most of us just use the integrated controllers.

If you already stream directly to an SSD it's pretty hard to believe your performance is bottlenecked there. Most likely FRAPS is just giving you system overhead and that's lagging you down. If you want to experiment on the I/O then I would suggest buying a pci-e based sata raid controller that has its own control chip and set up a raid 0 of 2 or more SSD:s. 2 drives in raid 0 is going to almost double your i/o. Choose a card with its own controller so it can handle the drives without burdening the cpu. Here's one example that's reasonably priced: http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/4306/highpoint_rocketraid_2720sgl_sata_6g_raid_controller_review/index1.html

[zack1234]

I have a g35 which i have had for a couple years.

I am getting a new pc coming next saturday and thinking of getting 5.1 surround speaker set up

Do you get a better feel for position of planes with speakers which are set up correctly

[guncrasher]

zack yes.  just like in the movies you can hear the airplanes as they come from behind to in front of you.  of course they have to be close enough to shoot you first in which case it's always cool to hear the guns firing anyway .


midway

[Chalenge]

Surround sound is a gimmick in headphones. Instead, spend your money on a great sound card and buy some really good sounding stereo headphones. In Aces High you do not need surround headphones in order to have directivity from your sounds.

As to fighting frame drops when using FRAPS? Forget it. You can use a 120Hz monitor and get 60fps if you have a really, really good video card (probably not). Or you can record with Aces High flight recorder and then use FRAPS from the film viewer.

[Reschke]

Surround sound is a gimmick in headphones. Instead, spend your money on a great sound card and buy some really good sounding stereo headphones. In Aces High you do not need surround headphones in order to have directivity from your sounds.

+1 Which is why I gave you my opinion. I have a good, not great sound card in my rig and the PC360's are able to handle everything I play and listen to from the enhanced game sounds in the JSRS pack for ARMA 2 to classical music and Aces High. Besides for the money you are considering on those Razer headsets you can buy these and not have to worry about adding more software to the system than whatever you use with your sound card to make the sounds exactly like you want them to be.

[BoilerDown]

The "directivity" is definitely better with even cheap but actual surround over any, even expensive, stereo headphones.  Sounds worse, but "directivity" is better.  As I said I use the HD555, which means there's absolutely no reason for me to get the PC360s.

[Chalenge]

No, that would be true if headsets could actually achieve the separation required in order to create a surround environment. The reason headsets cannot is because there is not adequate room between the speakers. You have convinced yourself that it is working, but that's all. If you sit 36" from the monitor and wish to hear surround sound, then the left and right front speakers need to be that same distance (36") at about 30 degrees from your view angle. You might be able to go with as little as 22.5 degrees (23) but no less. Left and right surround need to be at least three-quarters of that 36" separation to the left and right of your seat. Left and right back speakers need to be offset the same as the front, but behind you. The subwoofer would be about half the angle as the left front speaker. That kind of separation for headphones would be painful on the neck at the very least.

Its a gimmick.

Neither the HD555 or the PC360 are surround headphones. Unless you have one of the high end Fatality sound cards(or something very similar), then you have not heard surround in Aces High.