Headphone / PC Audio Suggestions?

[theyellowlemon]

First of all, Hello!

I spend a lot of time, probably too much , on my computer and have decided it's time to upgrade to some "real" audio. I plan on upgrading my headphones, sound card, and microphone. My current hardware is as follows:

Headset: Plantronics GameCom 367 (headphones & mic) (paid $40)
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE (paid $35)

I'm looking for the best price vs performance headphones I can buy. I'm fairly new to the audiophile world, so I'm asking for some help in choosing my first "real" pair of headphones. They will have a variety of uses including games, voip (ventrilo + skype), music, and movies.

After a few hours of searching I stumbled upon Audio-Technica's ATH-A700. It is about $113 on Amazon.com and Buy.com, both offer free shipping. I haven't been able to find anything else to compete with it at that price. Like I said earlier, I'm new to the audiophile world so I've mostly been comparing the frequency response levels. If there is a more important factor, I would appreciate it if someone could share their knowledge.

My current headphones are also, sadly, the best sounding headphones I've used. With a 20 - 20,000 Hz frequency response... I would imagine that the ATH-A700's 5 - 35,000 Hz would be a huge difference.

Now for the microphone. My current mic is integrated with my headphones. It has a frequency response of 100 - 8,000 Hz. The one I'm looking at is also from Audio-Technica, the ATR4700. It's frequency response is 50 - 13,000 Hz. At $13 I can't find many other options that compete with this either.

Finally, the sound card. I've had my eyes on AuzenTech's X-Fi Forte 7.1 for quite some time. It is about $140. I can't say too much about this. It has much higher maximum sample rates and better SNR compared to my current sound card. It also supports EAX 5.0 vs my sound cards EAX 3.0.

That's about it, sorry for the slightly long post. I don't think I've searched long enough yet, but these are the best price vs performance pieces of hardware I could find. The cost for these three upgrades will be $266 assuming no taxes or shipping are included. I'm willing to spend a little more if I can find something that is much better for the price. I would greatly appreciate if anyone has any suggestions or recommendations on other options I could go for.

 

[Hi Ho]

I would imagine that the ATH-A700's 5 - 35,000 Hz would be a huge difference.

No, it wouldn't. 20,000Hz is the maximum frequency the human ear can hear and chances are that you can't hear 20,000Hz. Many cannot.

You cannot buy headphones based on frequency response specs alone. They are not reliable as there is no standard and companies can basically measure it however they want to make the results appear better.

I recently purchased a pair of Sennheiser PC350s and I love them. They use the same drivers as the HD-595s. They sound is superb. Bass response is excellent. They sound natural and work great for music and games. I spent a lot of time researching headsets and these are the ones that I fell in love with.

I also have a pair of AKG k240s that I use for serious editing because they are very flat and highly accurate. Flat isn't always best for casual music listening and gaming, however. It is personal preference.

That Auzentech card is really made for connecting to HDMI sources. It's a nice card but I have not used it. If you are mainly going to be using headphones I would take a look at the HT Omega Claro Halo. It has a built in headphone amp. You will certainly get the most out of any *real* heaphone by utilizing some kind of amp. Most sound cards cannot properly drive large high quality headphones. I use a small 6 channel mixer at my PC and it acts as a heaphone amp. Both my AKGs and Sennheisers absolutely require extra amplification. If I hook either pair up to my iPod the results are less than stellar (doesn't get very loud at all).

 

[Sangoma]

Headphones

Sony MDR-7506 are a execellent quality for the price.

 

[mudrummer99]

Sony MDR-7506 are a execellent quality for the price.

I will throw the Sennheiser HD280Pro's in that same bucket for the same price, different, but just as highly regarded, and I love mine.

 

[Sangoma]

Sennheiser are equally renowned, just not familiar with the pricing, the Sony's are about USD 150.00