Static Noise / Sound Card

[Sy]

i've gotten a new headset (Sennheiser U 320) today and notice some static noise when i don't have any other sounds. the noise doesn't seem to change at all when i change the volume of the headset's speakers or microphone, and even when i 'disable' the speakers/microphone under windows sound settings. it's always present as long as the headset is plugged in (usb) and the pc has power, even immediately after hitting the power button on startup, and before the power is turned off on shut down.

after looking around the interwebz for ways to get rid of it and trying a few different things without any noticeable improvements, one suggestion that keeps coming up is simply to get a dedicated sound card (as i'm currently using onboard sound). so i have two questions now:

1) is it even possible that the problem is caused by the onboard sound, if changing sound settings does not appear to make any difference?

2) if yes, could you recommend a (preferably cheap^^) sound card that works with this build and is used almost exclusively for gaming?

[Arbiter]

USB headsets don't typically take advantage of PC sound cards whether it's integrated or dedicated. Drivers are provided through the PC as it's USB and not AUX or some other audio input.

I think your problem is buying a headset that was universal with consoles. It's not often that I hear people having great experiences with those types.

Would you be open minded to a different headset or do you actually need it to be a universal headset?

[Sy]

i only use it for pc, so if that seems to be a common problem then i could just get another one.

i read through quite a lot of the amazon reviews, and no one there mentioned a similar problem, but of course i can't know how many of those were written by pc users. i also let my mother try it just now and she can't hear the static either, so it might just be too quiet for most people to notice (though i can hear it rather clearly :/ ).

[Arbiter]

i only use it for pc, so if that seems to be a common problem then i could just get another one.

i read through quite a lot of the amazon reviews, and no one there mentioned a similar problem, but of course i can't know how many of those were written by pc users. i also let my mother try it just now and she can't hear the static either, so it might just be too quiet for most people to notice (though i can hear it rather clearly :/ ).

PC Users rarely buy headsets made for consoles unless they need it for consoles. It's possibly a frequency that you're hearing and it could be from the terrible quality whether it be the connection or the drivers that is there from it being universal. As you get older some frequencies can't be heard. iThe universal turtle beaches often have problems as well from what I hear. I recommend just posting a budget and the things you need in a headset.

Remilia has a peripheral guide that may come in handy although it doesn't cover every option at every price range. Just a general recommendation for common areas.
http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...t=best+headset

[Sy]

thanks for the help, i guess i will just get another one then. i'd appreciate some recommendations :]

my budget is ~100€. i guess i can go up to 130 or so if need be, but would prefer to go below 100 rather than above.
aside from gaming i only use it for stuff like movies and music.

i'd like something with good sound and recording quality, but neither is really a requirement (so long as the mic works well enough to be easily understood over skype and the like :D). the most important things for me are wearing comfort (lightweight and preferably over-the-ear headphones) and durability (simply because i use it a lot).

oh, and it needs to be available in / shipped to austria, but that's usually the case for german amazon and some other dealers.

aside from the one i bought, i've looked at the Plantronics GameCom 780 and HyperX Cloud. the Plantronics seems to have poor durability though, according to the amazon reviews. the only other one from Remi's list that would fit the budget (Sennheiser PC 350) only seems to be available as "special edition" for 200€ :/

[Arbiter]

thanks for the help, i guess i will just get another one then. i'd appreciate some recommendations :]

my budget is ~100€. i guess i can go up to 130 or so if need be, but would prefer to go below 100 rather than above.
aside from gaming i only use it for stuff like movies and music.

i'd like something with good sound and recording quality, but neither is really a requirement (so long as the mic works well enough to be easily understood over skype and the like :D). the most important things for me are wearing comfort (lightweight and preferably over-the-ear headphones) and durability (simply because i use it a lot).

oh, and it needs to be available in / shipped to austria, but that's usually the case for german amazon and some other dealers.

aside from the one i bought, i've looked at the Plantronics GameCom 780 and HyperX Cloud. the Plantronics seems to have poor durability though, according to the amazon reviews. the only other one from Remi's list that would fit the budget (Sennheiser PC 350) only seems to be available as "special edition" for 200€ :/

My advice...don't rely on retailer reviews to determine a product. There are tons of reviews that are going to be much more reliable coming from someone who is actually reviewing a product based off price and quality versus similar prices equipment.

That been said, if you really want a good quality mic while having even better sound quality than any "gaming" headset at that price, I'd suggest a good quality pair of headphones (Sennheiser HD 558 are well known to be amazing for the price if you like open ear headphones) with something like Zalman clip on mic (and you could even get something even better like a ModMic to attach to the headset or a Blue Snowball to sit on the desk when you get the extra money).

I personally would go with a similar set up if my headset preference wasn't based on them being wireless. I use the Logitech G930s and I love them for what they do, but if I was going to prefer quality over the wireless I would choose a similar set up as mentioned but unfortunately I take advantage of the wireless way too much to give it up. I'll probably grab a pair of those headphones eventually for the quality when I don't need wireless.

Many users on these forums take those types of set ups instead of "gaming" headphones and actually purchase amps to further the quality of the headphones. Those types of set ups are mentioned in the link I posted.

My G930s are actually pretty good for being Wireless if it's something you'd be interested in but I'm not a fan of the software. On the plus side you can use the equalizer in the software to make them sound even better and the range is pretty decent on them. Only £83 now which is MUCH cheaper than they used to be. If you don't care for the wireless I definitely do recommend a set up like above though any day. If you don't mind one wire then 2 surely wouldn't hurt.

[Sy]

sorry for the late reply.

do you know of any good review sites where i could look up headsets (or pc equipment in general)? i was thinking about searching for some, but since i don't know which of them are generally trustworthy, i might as well just go with user 'reviews'/comments, since there at least i can easily look at a large number of them (so if a specific flaw keeps popping up in many of them, chances are it will be a common problem).

i saw on the guide you linked that headsets are generally a poor purchase regarding quality-to-prize ratio, which makes sense, but for me the convenience of having the mic included simply trumps superior sound/recording quality. plus, i imagine the cheaper standalone mics (especially something like the clip on) would pick up a lot more unwanted side noise than one that's close to (and usually pointed at) my mouth, even if the actual recording quality is better.

as for wireless, do you know roughly how much it changes in prize and weight? i certainly don't need one, but might also consider it simply for convenience.

[Remilia]

Remilia has a peripheral guide that may come in handy although it doesn't cover every option at every price range. Just a general recommendation for common areas.
http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...t=best+headset

That's not me.
Only time I would would be monitors.

[Arbiter]

sorry for the late reply.

do you know of any good review sites where i could look up headsets (or pc equipment in general)? i was thinking about searching for some, but since i don't know which of them are generally trustworthy, i might as well just go with user 'reviews'/comments, since there at least i can easily look at a large number of them (so if a specific flaw keeps popping up in many of them, chances are it will be a common problem).

i saw on the guide you linked that headsets are generally a poor purchase regarding quality-to-prize ratio, which makes sense, but for me the convenience of having the mic included simply trumps superior sound/recording quality. plus, i imagine the cheaper standalone mics (especially something like the clip on) would pick up a lot more unwanted side noise than one that's close to (and usually pointed at) my mouth, even if the actual recording quality is better.

as for wireless, do you know roughly how much it changes in prize and weight? i certainly don't need one, but might also consider it simply for convenience.

A general place for headsets, no...but there are tech reviews on youtube. Just find someone with a reputable name that doesn't seem biased. They tend to name out the pros and cons and you decide if the pros outweigh the cons.

As for the standalone mics, something like that zalman is equal if not higher quality than most of the mics on the headsets. A lot of the times they are just terrible. As for the clip on, it clips on right below your mouth so no it's not going to pick up any extra noise that a headset wouldn't. Even mics like the Blue Snowball that sit on your desk are pretty good with isolated unwanted noise. That thread I linked did offer some decent headsets though and I'm pretty sure for your price range. Sennheiser is a great headset manufacturer, it's just the option you picked wasn't an optimal choice for PC (just compatible).

As for how much performance of wireless headsets, at least for my G930s the sound is comparable to headsets that I've tried at similar prices but I haven't tried a whole lot. Friend of mine went from Siberia V2 to a G930 because the Siberia's hurt his ears and he was happy with the sound over the Siberia. Mic sounds pretty good compared to some headsets. It's not a bad purchase for the current price. I often Skype with 5 people that have the headset and they all love it. It's just good to note that it's not comparable to something like the separate headphone/mic option. Like the headset you bought, G930s won't benefit from any sound cards as it's USB driven.

- - - Updated - - -

That's not me.
Only time I would would be monitors.

Derp. I don't know why I thought your name was on the thread. My bad! Yea it's M0cha's thread :P. I was probably in a hurry when I typed that as it was during work hours. Was multitasking mmo champ, work, and trying to save a co workers laptop that spilled a cup of coffee all over it :P.

[Sy]

That's not me.

the complete lack of any cute yuri pics whatsoever in the entire guide did make me kinda suspicious..

As for the standalone mics, something like that zalman is equal if not higher quality than most of the mics on the headsets. A lot of the times they are just terrible. As for the clip on, it clips on right below your mouth so no it's not going to pick up any extra noise that a headset wouldn't.

there is no cable to clip it onto "right below my mouth" though. just right below my ear, or in front of my chest :P
or is it supposed to be clipped to the shirt collar or something?

regardless, the convenience of having headphones and mic as one is simply more important to me than recording quality, so i'd like to stick to headsets.

the thread you linked unfortunately only mentiones two that fit into my budget: the Plantronics Gamecom 780 which seems to suffer from poor durability (which is a dealbreaker to me, no pun intended) and the Sennheiser PC350 that apparently isn't available (anymore?) outside of a "special edition" that costs 200€.

i'll just see if i can find a good site/channel for reviews :]

[Arbiter]

the complete lack of any cute yuri pics whatsoever in the entire guide did make me kinda suspicious..


there is no cable to clip it onto "right below my mouth" though. just right below my ear, or in front of my chest :P
or is it supposed to be clipped to the shirt collar or something?

regardless, the convenience of having headphones and mic as one is simply more important to me than recording quality, so i'd like to stick to headsets.

the thread you linked unfortunately only mentiones two that fit into my budget: the Plantronics Gamecom 780 which seems to suffer from poor durability (which is a dealbreaker to me, no pun intended) and the Sennheiser PC350 that apparently isn't available (anymore?) outside of a "special edition" that costs 200€.

i'll just see if i can find a good site/channel for reviews :]

Well the cable for your headset is right below your ear which is less than few inches from your mouth. It's really no worse than the average headset mic.

Honestly I'm really in no position to recommend any headset around that budget as the ones I've previously owned I was not exactly pleased and the ones friends have owned are on the same boat. Whether the argument being broke too easy, uncomfortable, or just plain terrible quality. The only one I've bought at that budget and liked was the G930, but I do hate the software. It's one of those...it can be a pain in the ass to get working properly at the start but it's not too bad after you have it working. After so many Windows installs I've just gotten annoyed at it by now. Siberia V2's seem to be extremely popular for gaming headsets on the cheaper side but like I said a friend of mine said they were uncomfortable after long use. Could be just his ears being too big or not having it adjusted properly though.

Here is a video I found of some comparisons of a few mics:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M78z6l_GFao

The Zalman and G930 mics are included in this video. Zalman sounded pretty decent to me compared to half the mics I hear in Skype, Mumble, and Vent these days.