Recommendations?

**~~Cecil900~~** · 10-02-08, 08:42 PM

You seem to have Realtek and Legacy sound hardware on your comp. Realtek is most likely onboard sound, Legacy might be a sound card. Im not sure.

**wildsrv** · 10-02-08, 10:15 PM

It looks to me like its an on-board sound card (realtec) which isn't BAD but it aint great. From my understanding even a 30$ sound card will out perform most on board cards. If you are really looking for performance I have a creative X-fi card and its great. In addition to that its full surround 5.1 or 7.1 (depends on the card) and it will also allow you to change your computer settings in game allowing for better gfx. If the CPU doesn't have to process the sound then it can do other things. When I loaded up my sound card my game loading time jumped from like 35sec to like 10 or 15. That's when I changed the settings up to make it look better. (i didn't want the game to start with out me. hehe) Hope this helps.

**jason_jinx** · 10-03-08, 12:22 AM

If it is onboard then there you will not be able to tell the difference.
You pay for a 3rd party soundcard then get a regular 3.5 jack.

**TehSpaz** · 10-03-08, 01:06 AM

I have the Razer Barracuda 5.1 headset...great for gaming, and the inline mic control...

well....I can turn it up all the way, set the headphones on the desk, and use them as speakers.

**Mcstrange** · 10-03-08, 11:30 AM

Originally Posted by Cecil900

You seem to have Realtek and Legacy sound hardware on your comp. Realtek is most likely onboard sound, Legacy might be a sound card. Im not sure.

The legacy stuff is basic windows shit, the sound card drivers is the realtek thing. Thats onboard sound.

Originally Posted by MaBell37

Ok, a coupla questions, McStrange.
Second question. If my USB is bypassing my soundcard, does that mean that I should dump my Logitech USB headset in favor of what I've always considered the old standard pins connector?

Theres the rub. The sound quality from the standard jack 3.5 connectors is almost guaranteed to be a better quality sound than what you get from USB while the quality level of a on-board sound card vs. USB probably isnt as large as if you have the latest and greatest 200 dollar sound card. And on top of that the difference is many ways is very subjective and what one person can pick out as having better highs, deeper lows and all that, may sound pretty much the same to someone else.

So now to the big BUT, and I mean this is a huge BUT - will you notice any difference?

Now - your volume issue - are you really sure its the headset?
If your sound is turned down in Windows, no matter what you turn your headset up to its going to remain quiet. The first thing I would do is open up the windows Volume control panel and see if cranking master volume, as well as 'Wave' and see if that helps your volume issue.

If you decide you need a new headset; My recommendation - First think if your willing to buy a new sound card. Getting enough sound card to be worth paying for over using the on-board will run you at least 50 dollars.
If your not willing to get a new soundcard then I say stick with the USB - you know it works (onboard might not be setup right away and youll need to mess with stuff) and the sound quality is probably good enough that unless you hang out in the speaker section of bestbuys comparing tweeters for hours and hours

**MaBell37** · 10-03-08, 08:02 PM

To be honest, McStrange, I don't know if it's the headset. What I DO know is, the headset only cost about $50-60, and when a song comes on that I want to hear cranked, I turn up the volume on the Windows Media Player (which controls the Windows overall sound) and all the other options for everything is already cranked. Then I turn up the volume on the headset itself. I've also noticed a slight distortion on some of the sounds (real high pitch and real low pitch) when everything is all cranked up. I understand that if the amp on a stereo can't handle the output of a song at full volume that it distorts it and, I think, the sound card would react the same way.

But, I just don't know for sure.

Besides, I've had this logitech for a coupla years now, and I think it's time to be replaced, especially since I think I can afford it now.

**Mcstrange** · 10-06-08, 09:10 AM

Well, with everything cranked your going to get distortion. a Sound Card will help some, but unless you spending really big money I wound not expect you to get into the 'damn that sounds nearly perfect' area when cranked up all the way.
And by that I am talking a high dollar Sound Card; an external Amp, and a very high quality set of studio phones. That is at least 500 dollars and is pretty crazy.

Its going to be hard to get quality at extreme volumes without spending a good bit of cash so your going to have to make the call, is what you ahve now really not good enough? Because just buying another 50-60 dollar USB headset isnt going to change the results that much. Even adding a Sound Card to that mix is still only going to be a marginal improvement and I would still expect that with everything cranked your going to be getting some distortion and may still not be happy with the volume.

Here read up over here:
www.head-fi.org/
http://www.avforums.com/
http://www.hardforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=33

**K0nTANK3Rous** · 10-06-08, 09:59 AM

If you're looking for the BEST audio quality, you can do what i do...

Digital SPDIF-OUT to a stereo receiver, in my case it's connected to a Parasound C1 pre-amp, cause my PC is also my media player (Home Theater). When gaming i plug my headset into the desk port (for headphones; i created this myself, runs in-wall to my rack system), and my mic runs of course to the mic input on the PC. This creates incredible sound that blows away my old PC setup of the Klipsch 5.1 ProMedia setup. But as far as headphones..i can hear EVERYTHING. My next step is to get a better headset similiar to the one linked here, my current Plantronics only has the full range speakers. Due to the sub-par audio performance of my headset though, i typically play through the 7.1 theater setup and rest my headset on my shoulders with my mic moved up to my mouth, until the wife yells at me that she doesn't want to feel like we live in the war anymore...