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[Aerendur]

So, I'm in the process of gathering information to get a new sound setup around my pc. Mainly because long sessions hurt my ears a bit. And I'm too closed off to my surroundings. Which ofc isn't always bad, but there is no choice.

So, I'm gonna 'design' the setup from scratch. First off, I'd like to hear (pun intended) what kind of setup you people are using. What are the cons of your system, what are the pro's?

Right now Im using my Siberia steelseries headset. For everything, being ingame sound, anything I happen to be running in the background, teamspeak and microphone. I'd like to be able to play sound from multiple sources and play without headset if needed. Not sure what kind of microphone setup would work for all this!

So let's hear from my fellow enthusiasts.

[Hanza]

well, well, in my early years of gaming i have been playing with an external microphone. and now that i come to think of it i believe its the best possible set up.

 I am currently using the (Mad Catz® FREQ™ 7 Surround Gaming Headset for PC) wich has amazing sound quality with a 7.1 surrounding effect that you can switch on  and off. but the main reason i m using this is not gaming but mostly cause i used to watch movies on my computer screen and i enjoy good sound quality while watching a movie.

probleme is that after long gaming session the headset start to get uncompfortable. before that i had another head set and before that another. no  matter the price and quality in the end it hurts :/ maybe my hears are wierd

on top i also have a basic logitech 3.1 sound system plugged on the computer for music etc... (had to switch to headset cause my neighbour was complaning about the bass :/)

 so i m always shared between the enjoyment of playing hear free and the fun moment on TS. so far i haven t really found the right compromise..... might go back to external mic to try it again. that s the most comfortable thing for me

[rhayn]

Been using a Sennheiser headset with just one earphone, kind of like the ones used by people working in call centers and such.

Sure I'm no audio connoisseur, but I like that I'm not in my own little bubble when using it. Can watch TV or talk to people while using it, you know generally be present in the room I'm in.

no  matter the price and quality in the end it hurts :/ maybe my hears are wierd

In that case, my ears are weird as well. I get the same thing. Another reason I like the single solution. When I need a little "oomph", I just connect the normal speakers and keep using the headset for the mic. It's comfortable enough that I hardly notice the earpad.

[Aerendur]

Cool, already some responses! 

I'm pretty sure that we all experience the headset 'pain'. Just wondering if there is an acceptable alternative, where you don't annoy the channel too much with an 'open mic'.

Sounds like a nice in between solution there Rhayn, with the 'one-ear' headset! Would like something like that, at least as one of my options. Pretty sure open mic stuff is much less handy in guild pvp raids! 

[Hanza]

alternative, where you don't annoy the channel too much with an 'open mic'.

 no matter how hard i tried i get scold all the time... push to talk is the only way

[Aerendur]

Yeah, that's for sure. But even with push-to-talk, you still get sounds from the room to go through the mic. Sorta pondering how I can use a non-headset microphone but reduce the amount of clutter and game sounds going through the mic!

[Joric]

Sennheiser PC31 for me. Lightweight, good (enough) sound quality and due to the open design I can still hear what's going on in RL. If I want to be alone, I close the door of the room I sit in while playing.

As for surrounding noise and mic quality... we talk about TS... so stay reasonable! You don't need a studio quality mic, but good noise cancelling. Keyboard and mouse is one source of distracting noise, but sneezing, caughing or clearing throat is another one. You can't get completely rid of it.

I'd aim for a lightweight, comfortable headset with good noise cancelling on a separate sound card. Whenever I used a separate sound card (not the audio controller on the mainboard) in the past, sound quality was much better.

[delay]

Wall of text warning!
I could've done my bachelor on this...

I have tried quite a few setups throughout the years (these just cover the output):

* Speakers for music/gaming; earbuds* for voice chat
* Speakers for music/gaming; bluetooth hands-free for voice chat
* Headset for music/gaming; earbuds* for voice chat
* Headset for music, gaming and voice chat
* Speakers for music, gaming and voice chat
* In-ear headset for music, gaming and voice chat

Of these, my best experience sound-wise was the dual headset solution. I used the old walkman-style earbuds with foam padding to allow other sound to pass around them, and a pair of Koss UR-20 on top. This gave me good control of voice chat versus game sound. Especially the earbuds were not comfy for long sessions.

Then there's input, and I've tried:

* Mic on a stand
* Clip-on mic
* Headset-mounted mic
* Bluetooth hands-free

The clip-on mic gave the best sound quality (closest to my mouth and furthest from other sound sources), but was tedious since I had to unclip it all the time (toilet etc), and the best placement audiowise was to clip it to my beard or nose (ouch).
Second best quality-wise has been the normal headset-mounted mic, but then you're stuck with whatever quality electret element you get (and they differ!).
Bluetooth hands-free was really just a curiousity as I grew tired of re-clipping the beard-mic and the hassle of cabling (plus listening to TS chatter while taking a leak -- luckily for the others on TS I am a push-to-talk proponent).
Mic on a stand works pretty good, as Hanza pointed out, except for getting in the way and possibly picking up keyboard more depending on its position and directionality.

I've tried a few headsets through my years, and I've never managed to find anything with better comfort than Koss UR-20. All other headsets I've tried make my ears (or top of my head) hurt from compression after some hours. The Koss UR-20s I can literally use all day. They are, however, out of production difficult to find in stores, so you'd have to go hunting on eBay or similar -- and they don't have a mic. But just to let you know that there is a difference between models and makers in comfort, and what works for some may not work for others, and what feels like might work in the store may not work for long sessions.

A tip, though not optimal, is to switch between audio to speakers and audio to headset with SoundSwitch, which allows you to bind a key to switch between output devices in Windows (instead of the tedious, manual procedure). It won't help if the game in question doesn't support on-the-fly rerouting of audio, however.

And as Joric points out, the sound card that you use is imperative. On-board sound cards are generally low-quality and prone to noise, whereas USB sound cards made for headsets can be much better because they're further from the electrically noisy PC environment and may use higher quality components.

My current setup is
* a pair of Corsair Raptor H5* for gaming with immersion, voice chat and/or when I need to shut out my brother or cats
* an average stereo for casual gaming and listening to music
* SoundSwitch to change game/music output device (voice chat is always on headset)

So all-in-all, I think the best general everyday solution is a headset with mic boom for gaming with voice chat and/or total immersion, whereas I generally prefer speakers for casual gaming and listening to music.

*) I had to change the mic on my H5, because the standard one was crap.