Slightly over budget, but I did my very best to keep it around this price while not overspending money but still get great quality components. I as well kept the blue theme.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor | $247.94 @ SuperBiiz
CPU Cooler | SilenX EFZ-92HA2 54.0 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler | $10.98 @ Newegg
Motherboard | MSI Z97-G55 SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard | $114.99 @ Amazon
Memory | A-Data XPG V1.0 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory | $78.59 @ Amazon
Storage | A-Data Premier SP610 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive | $67.28 @ NCIX US
Storage | Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $56.98 @ OutletPC
Video Card | EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB ACX Video Card | $329.99 @ Amazon
Case | NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case | $69.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply | EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply | $44.99 @ NCIX US
Operating System | Microsoft Windows 8.1 - 64-bit (OEM) (64-bit) | $90.26 @ OutletPC
Monitor | Acer H236HLbid 60Hz 23.0" Monitor | $129.99 @ Best Buy
Keyboard | Cooler Master Storm QuickFire Rapid Wired Gaming Keyboard | $71.98 @ SuperBiiz
Mouse | Logitech G400s Wired Optical Mouse | $47.93 @ Amazon
Headphones | Sennheiser HD 558 Headphones | $119.95 @ Amazon
Other| Blue Snowflake | $38.00 @ Amazon
| | Total
| Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available | $1519.84
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-22 09:32 EDT-0400 |

My short rationale for the chosen products:

---------

CPU: Intel quad-core, hyperthreaded CPU clocked at 3,4GHz with a boost up to 3,7GHz. This will do awesome in gaming and will help with streaming as well. It's locked so can't overclock it.
CPU Cooler: Because the budget was very tight, I had to use a budget CPU cooler. Now after looking for some reviews I found this one and it was good enough for me. Tempatures are not amazing, but the CPU will not get that hot to begin with, so I am not worried about it at all.
Motherboard: Z97 is the latest chipset from Intel designed for overclocking. Now wait a minute? Overclocking? Yes. I had to get the Z97 chip instead of the H97 (basicly the same chip, but not designed for overclocking) because H97 does not support SLI. Now this motherboard has solid on-board audio and all the features Z97 got. As well 8 USB ports on the back wich 6 of them being 3.0.
Memory: RAM is RAM. The only thing that really mathers is capacity. For gaming, streaming and recording 8GB is enough for now. So I went for a 1x8GB, 1600MHz, CL9 stick from A-Data. Don't worry about 1 stick vs 2 sticks. The performance loss is nothing in your use scenario.
Storage: 128GB SSD, 1TB HDD. The SP610 is an amazing SSD for the price. It can perform better in light workloads then the MX100 or EVO drives wich is amazing. But you will not really notice much difference between this SSD compared to other "faster" drives in your use. 1TB HDD for your data.
Video Card: Now before I say anything else. I would like to have a talk with your trusted friend about overclocking. Especially GPUs these days is so easy and it's very very hard to "kill" the card by overclocking it. So I highly suggest to overclock this card. If you want a nice step by step guide by me personally wich will let you get a nice overclock. I can provide this for you. Now this is an amazing card. I am blown away by Nvidia. Sadly all the GTX 970s are out of stock as of right now. So you have to keep your eyes open. I heard from somebody else that newegg would have them back on Tuesday (not sure if that is today). So I don't know! Here is a very well written review of the EVGA ACX. I highly suggest to have a look at the "overclocking" section.
Case: I went for an amazing looking, but still affordable case from NZXT. The Source 340. Here is the only solid video I could find about this case, but you can see that it's a pretty awesome for the price. Very clean; especially with the PSU cover meaning most of your cables will be hidden very well. I skipped the intro because she just went over another item that I did not include into the build.
Power Supply: 5 year warrenty, 80+ bronze, semi modular fully black sleeved cables, 750W PSU made by EVGA. Amazing PSU for the price. 5 year warrenty, wich is amazing. Means that they used very solid components and this shows in the testing of this PSU. Very stable power all around. It as well looks very clean. The only downside is the fan, wich can get slightly on the louder side. But because this PSU is fairly well covered away by the PSU cover it should help with that.
OS: Windows 8.1 as asked for.
Monitor: 1920x1080, 60hz, 5ms, IPS monitor from Acer. Now I will instantly tell you something about "ms". Almost all the numbers that are marketed are wrong. I have myself a korean 1440p monitor that is marketed at 8ms. But in reality is 13ms. Does this mean I lose an edge in high level competitive gaming? I don't think so. A higher MS on a monitor really only will cause motion blur, wich means that when you move quickly from left to right or up and down. The frames aren't yet correctly on the screen. Causing a "blurry" effect. Wich is somethig that is noticeable if you pay very close attention to it, but I personally have not even seen it yet on my monitor. Now, it's an IPS monitor instead of TN. Wich is just so beautiful. You will probably never want to go back to TN after you got an IPS panel. Here is a unboxing and first look from Linus. That ends weirdly! ^^
Keyboard: Since you wanted cherry MX blues I went for this keyboard instead. Very solidly build wich is in my opinion a very big factor tenkeyless keyboard from CoolerMaster. This will make you sit in a more natural position wich will help you in the long term.
Mouse: I had to go down with the price.. so I can suggest the G400s. I have it myself and I love it. It's based of the very popular MX518 wich was an amazing mouse back in the days.
Headphones: This is the beauty wich I did not want to cut down at all. It's an amazing value for what you get. Head-fi is a well regarded forum with fair and solid reviews on a lot of good or bad quality headphones. Here are reviews from just normal people who review it in short and tell you their experience. I can give you a in-depth review as well if you want. But I hopefully got you sold on this headphone by now.
Microphone: So budget was cutting it close, but this is as low as I wanted to go for a microphone. There are way cheaper options out there, but they all had mixed reviews, for some they worked amazing, for others they were crap. So I did not wanted to risk that and went for a solid but budget friendly microphone from Blue. Here is a very nice review - he did unbox it as well if you want to see it.

---------

###Hope you like it and If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Not a whole lot to change, but I have a few suggestions:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD - Ryzen 5 2600X 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor | $179.89 @ OutletPC
Motherboard | MSI - B450 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard | $109.89 @ OutletPC
Memory | Team - Vulcan 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory | $75.88 @ OutletPC
Storage | ADATA - XPG SX6000 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive | $109.99 @ Amazon
Video Card | MSI - GeForce RTX 2070 8 GB DUKE OCV1 Video Card | $449.99 @ Newegg
Case | Cougar - MX330 ATX Mid Tower Case | $49.85 @ Amazon
Power Supply | EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply | $59.99 @ B&H
Case Fan | Cooler Master - MasterFan Pro 120 Air Flow 84.5 CFM 120 mm Fan | $9.89 @ OutletPC
Keyboard | Redragon - K582 SURARA Wired Gaming Keyboard | $46.99 @ Amazon
Mouse | Logitech - G203 Prodigy Wired Optical Mouse | $26.60 @ Amazon
Headphones | Superlux - HD668B Headphones | $38.98 @ Amazon
Custom | Zalman Zm-Mic1 High Sensitivity Headphone Microphone | $9.96 @ Amazon
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $1247.90
| Mail-in rebates | -$80.00
| Total | $1167.90
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-05-23 13:16 EDT-0400 |

RAM: Same specs, but $15 cheaper. And they'll still look great with the rest of the build.

SSD: It won't do a whole lot for everyday applications, but it's an nVME and actually slightly faster than the MX500, at a lower price. Also it's an M.2 drive, and in my opinion it's just nice having to run two less cables in your case.

Graphics card: Very much a sidegrade here, but I personally really like the great big hulking cooler on the Duke, and I prefer MSi's quality control over Gigabyte who's been more miss than hit lately. Especially on the midrange models. If you feel like trying something else, you can get the best Vega 64, the Sapphire Nitro+ for just $400 right now, and it's a a fantastic card. It's really close to the 2070 in performance, and while it does use more power, it's very easy to undervolt which will have it running cooler and more often than not faster than stock. For $50 less, this is the better deal in my opinion and what I would personally do.

Case: I chose to spend a bit more here, but for $20 more, you can get a really nice case, with great airflow and a nice tempered glass side. This is actually the MX330-G (at least if you buy it on Amazon), which is glass instead of acryllic.

PSU: The G3 is not a bad PSU at all, but it's smaller than the G1 and G2 and have had issues with fan noise and coil whine compared to the older models. A 550 W unit is easily enough for this build, but if you want a bit more oompf an EVGA G1+ 850W or a Cooler Master MWE Gold 750 W can be had for just $70 (if you go for the Vega 64, I'd recommend getting at least a 650 W PSU).

Case fan: The Arctic's aren't bad at all, but I'd recommend going for a PWM fan, to give you more control of fan curves and noise levels. The MasterFan Pro's are great, and you get a whole lot of fan for just $10.

Keyboard: Slightly more expensive, but true mechanical keys and plenty of RGB backlight. Redragon makes some amazing things for really cheap. If you prefer blue-style switches, the K551 is a nice option for around the same price.

Headset: The G230 aren't bad per se, but they are a budget gamer headset, and they sound like that as well. For around $15 more, you can get a great set of headphones and a clip on mic. I guarantee that the headphones will sound better and be more comfortable than the G230's and the mic is probably going to be just as good. The best part is that you can easily upgrade either down the road. Something like a Antlion ModMic will turn a good set of headphones into a great headset. If you want to stick with a more traditional headset, I'd recommend the Kingston HyperX Stinger for around $50.

In total this is ever so slightly cheaper, but with small upgrades to SSD, case, fans, keyboard and headphones. I hope this helps or at least serves as inspiration :)

Here's what I myself would do if I were looking at a high performance rig for 2,000 USD:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor | $349.99 @ Newegg
CPU Cooler | Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler | $99.99 @ Newegg
Thermal Compound | Arctic Cooling MX-2 4g Thermal Paste | $7.99 @ Newegg
Motherboard | Asus MAXIMUS VI GENE Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard | $217.86 @ Newegg
Memory | G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory | $72.99 @ Newegg
Storage | Crucial M4 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk | $199.99 @ Newegg
Storage | Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $69.99 @ Newegg
Video Card | Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card | $354.99 @ Newegg
Wireless Network Adapter | Intel 62205ANHMWDTX1 802.11a/b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter | $33.99 @ Newegg
Case | Corsair 350D MicroATX Mid Tower Case | $59.99 @ Newegg
Power Supply | SeaSonic 650W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply | $127.98 @ Newegg
Optical Drive | Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer | $17.99 @ Newegg
Operating System | Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) | $99.99 @ Newegg
Monitor | Asus VG248QE 144Hz 24.0" Monitor | $277.58 @ Newegg
Keyboard | Cooler Master Storm QuickFire Rapid Wired Gaming Keyboard | $83.98 @ Newegg
Mouse | Logitech G500 Wired Laser Mouse | $59.99 @ Newegg
| | Total
| Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available. | $2125.28
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-14 14:13 EDT-0400 |

Here's my rationale:

First and foremost, we aren't going for flat out performance here. The budget just isn't there if you want a nice monitor, keyboard, and mouse on top of everything, so we're going to tone things down a bit.

What does that mean? Well, first off, SLI and bleeding-edge performance graphics are out the window. Which means a couple things:

With SLI gone, we can drop to a Micro ATX form factor. There's just no need for a full ATX board. You're unlikely to ever use more than just a slot or two. What does this mean? Smaller case with all the same performance. I moved to a Corsair Obsidian because I find their finishing touches a bit better than Fractal Designs, but that's just me. Pick a case that speaks to your aesthetic desires.
But the motherboard costs about the same! WHY? Well, that's because I kept a top of the line board. Sure, you could go with a ~100 dollar board, but the GENE gives a few nice touches. Specifically, it has way better sound on board -- rivaling that of dedicated cards -- as well as having significantly better cooling for the power delivery area than most other boards out there right now.
You won't need a 750W power supply, realistically. Sure, it might give you some headroom, but 650W should be more than enough, and what's more, this one is fully modular, which will be helpful in the smaller MicroATX case.
Let's do 2x4GB of RAM. More performance, similar cost, still gives you headroom for bumping to 16GB down the road.
256GB SSD. I have a 128GB SSD on my laptop and find that it's pretty much full with League, EVE, TF2, and 2 other games all said and done, and space is tight. Give yourself more headroom than that.
Let's drop that card down to a 670. Still good, but WAY cheaper. Still will play anything you throw at it.
Put a really nice monitor on that tab too.
A/C wifi? Why not. Intel is worth the price premium, as they make really good no-fuss stuff that usually works great with their motherboads and processors. You might even get WiDi support, but I didn't check. Remove it to save money if you're going to be wired networking only. Yes, a 1x PCI-E card will fit in the 4x slot on the motherboard.
You gotta go mechanical keyboard if you're getting a gaming rig and dropping 2 grand. Just do it. This one is a compact TenKeyless (No number pad) version. MX Browns are fantastic middle-of-the-road Cherry MX switches.
Eh, decent mouse in there too. Why not.
Don't forget good headphones -- or speakers, if that's your thing, but I strongly suggest the former. PC Part Picker won't let me list any. Damn. I prefer a desk microphone + headphone combo since you can get a way better mic and way better headphones than you can if you try and get both in a single headset. Also, if one breaks, you aren't paying to replace both. I really like the Logitech USB Desktop Microphone. Find good advice on headphones online. There's tons of stuff. Probably /r/headphones. They have a pretty good list of recommendations.

Considerations since this is your first build.

If you aren't overclocking, there's no real need for a K-Series processor. You could easily go to an i7-4770 or an i5-4670 processor. There won't be a significant impact on games.
* Closed loop liquid coolers, while pretty easy to install if you're handy, can be daunting for a first timer. If you wanted to step down off liquid cooling (which isn't really necessary unless you're overclocking.) You could look at a CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Evo and get away with it if you're keeping everything stock. Honestly, if you aren't overclocking, a dual 120mm closed loop cooler setup is going to be massive overkill anyways. If you want to have a bit of liquid cooling to make sure your processor stays very cool, you could probably get away with a Corsair H60 or Corsair H80i

So, what would a more reasonable build look like for someone who had never touched a build before? Something more like this:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Core i5-4430 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor | $189.99 @ Newegg
CPU Cooler | Corsair H80i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler | $86.99 @ Newegg
Thermal Compound | Arctic Cooling MX-2 4g Thermal Paste | $7.99 @ Newegg
Motherboard | Asus MAXIMUS VI GENE Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard | $217.86 @ Newegg
Memory | G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory | $72.99 @ Newegg
Storage | Crucial M4 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk | $199.99 @ Newegg
Storage | Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $69.99 @ Newegg
Video Card | Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card | $354.99 @ Newegg
Wireless Network Adapter | Intel 62205ANHMWDTX1 802.11a/b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter | $33.99 @ Newegg
Case | Corsair 350D MicroATX Mid Tower Case | $59.99 @ Newegg
Power Supply | SeaSonic 650W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply | $127.98 @ Newegg
Optical Drive | Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer | $17.99 @ Newegg
Operating System | Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) | $99.99 @ Newegg
Monitor | Asus VG248QE 144Hz 24.0" Monitor | $277.58 @ Newegg
Keyboard | Cooler Master Storm QuickFire Rapid Wired Gaming Keyboard | $83.98 @ Newegg
Mouse | Logitech G500 Wired Laser Mouse | $59.99 @ Newegg
| | Total
| Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available. | $1952.28
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-14 14:24 EDT-0400 |

The drop the the lowest i5 isn't really a big deal. You aren't going to miss the hyper threading or the 400 MHz. Sure, you go from 8MB cache on the i7 to 6 on the i5, but that isn't likely to make a noticeable change in day-to-day usage either. Save the money. Get a friend you trust who's built a PC before to help you out, honestly. Offer to buy them lunch and make an afternoon of it.

Here I have my current setup. The headphones are my Beyerdynamic Custom Studios, the DAC is an Audioengine D3, and the AMP is a Fiio A3 Portable Amp. The entire setup cost me $268, but as of now I believe the Custom Studios are discontinued, so you could replace the headphones with some alternatives in that price range (Audio Technica M40x/M50x or Philips SHP9500.) Anyways, here’s a review for everything.

Beyerdynamic Custom Studio (80 ohm)


Used to be $163, now they are [$250] (https://www.guitarcenter.com/Beyerdynamic/Custom-STUDIO-Headphones-1392652270585.gc)
I bought these headphones around July of 2017 as my first pair of “real” headphones. Initially, I was disappointed, but this was only because I was not used to the sound of these headphones at the time. After about a month of listening to them, I went back to compare them to some old Apple Earbuds and at first, I couldn’t believe the difference. Everything about these headphones was amazing. There’s a great amount of detail in them, the imaging is absolutely amazing, but soundstage is very narrow due to them being closed back headphones. As closed back headphones, they do a fantastic job of not allowing sound to leak about and making sure outside noise stays outside as long as the volume is higher. I use these at the library in my school when I write papers and never get complaints. I’ve tested them before by placing them on my friends’ heads and playing music at a loud volume, but nothing leaks out.


I found the comfort to be alright, but the fault was due to the velour. I really do not like velour as I find it to be very itchy, however, many other people praise the earpads, so it just comes down to preference. I instead replaced the pads with some [Brainwavs HM5 Sheepskin earpads] ( https://www.amazon.com/Brainwavz-Sheepskin-Leather-Memory-Earpad/dp/B01J53KM32) and fell in love with the comfort. The pads increased bass a little and made them incredibly comfortable. I use a [V-Moda Boom Pro] ( https://www.amazon.com/V-MODA-BoomPro-Microphone-Gaming-Communication/dp/B00BJ17WKK/ref=sr_1_1?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1524357476&sr=8-1&keywords=vmoda+boompro&dpID=41WfbQw%252Bp8L&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch) with it when I game and these never become uncomfortable, even after playing for hours on end. The clamp on these is very strong, but I like it that way as it prevents them from falling off my head.


The unique thing about these headphones is that it has bass sliders on each cup, which allows you to adjust the bass from (Low bass, neutral, vibrant bass, and max bass.) I tend to keep it on neutral and the bass there is more than enough for me (and I love bass.) I use these for just about everything, including gaming and I never have any issues. I wear glasses and these are fine for anyone who may wear glasses.


After trying out different headphones at CanJam this year, I now know where these headphones can improve, but these still manage to keep up with everything else above its price range. You can run these off a phone and get some good volume, but I like music loud, so I use them with an amp at all times. Overall, I’m glad these are my first pair and I plan on keeping them as my closed back pair of headphones after I move on to more expensive headphones.


Audioengine D3 DAC+AMP


[$45 Refurbrished] (https://audioengineusa.com/shop/factory-refurbished/d3-24-bit-dacheadphone-amp-2/)
I bought the Audioengine D3 as the last piece of the puzzle in terms of headphones, amps, and dacs. It is a USB DAC that comes with a ¼ inch adapter and a sleeve to carry it. This is actually what motivated me to listen to music on my laptop as I used to listen to music on my phone. I really have no complaints about it. When it released, it was priced at $200 and was one of the few USB DACs that could compete with the Dragonfly DACs, and from what I’ve read online, a lot of reviewers actually prefer the D3. I saw it on Massdrop a month back for $70ish and wanted it, but I wanted to read reviews about it first. That’s where I found that you can get it for $45 straight out of their website with free shipping included. There really is no reason to look for another DAC when this one is available for such a steal. There is no kind of sound when music is not playing and it is driverless, meaning you can just plug it in to your computer and it’s ready to go. One thing to note is that it gets really hot, but it isn’t a problem, so long as you keep your fingers off of it. I felt like I noticed an improvement in songs, but it could just be a placebo (A B test your gear and see if you can notice a difference.) However, I really like having it around and I don’t listen to anything on my laptop without it.


Fiio A3 AMP


[$59.99] (https://www.amazon.com/A3-Portable-Headphone-Amplifier-Black/dp/B00Z9BIODA)
I bought the Fiio A3 when I bought my headphones because I read that an amp was almost required for anything at 80 ohms and higher. Since then, I’ve loved this little beast of an amp. It has a low and high gain switch to control volume (I keep it on high gain when connected to my phone and low gain when connected to the D3.) It also has a bass boost switch which I really like when I feel like being basshead (The bass boost here + max bass setting on the Custom Studios = Madness.) It has a life of about 16 hours before needing to recharge and it has a blue led that blinks when it needs to charge. It makes headphones very loud very fast. It is also built like a tank. I tried carrying it around in my pocket when I walked on campus and it slipped out. It only took a cosmetic hit, but in terms of functionality, it is untouched.


The only reason I still use it is because I like being able to control audio through a knob as opposed to a digital slider. The only annoying thing about it is that it has a hissing noise when the knob is turned up without any music playing, but when music starts to play, the hiss disappears. Overall, I absolutely recommend this amp if you want something to start with as it will do nothing but impress you every time.


This is my setup and being a broke college kid, I could not be happier. In terms of the things that this sub shows off, I find this to be a very budget friendly setup. Even when I upgrade everything, I still plan on keeping it as I do not want to forget where I started in terms of this hobby. For anyone that may be wanting to jump into the world of audio, I absolutely recommend these products as places to start. I’ve provided straight links for anyone that may want to check out the products.

So I woke up and these are the links to the videos and some pointers and what not.

ALL LINKS IN THE BOTTOM

Here is the first video for 150 dollars https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dj5G0isn9Y

These are the 50 dollar headphones https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fD-M1F6L4g

These are the really high end for 200-1000 dollar sets. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgTnJ3JQQ0E

Open vs Closed

Closed

Closed which is what I use right now but am looking to get an open pair for 150 bucks. Now closed is where the sound outside your headphones do not come in, as much. Now some are completely noise cancelling then others and some you can still hear but not too well. It has a less of a sound stage so it is harder to know where somethings is by hearing it.

Open

Open is where the vibrator (forgot the name) is directly exposed with little noise cancelling materiel and sometimes none. The offer a much larger sound stage where you can tell where hostiles are, where the birds are, tanks, etc. They also are much better sounding. However, if you live in a loud place with a lot of things going on, get closed. Open also allows for people to hear what you listen to, from 2 or 3 feet away but not behind a closed door.

Microphones

One of the things that you need to be weary about is desktop mics. They are good sounding, great everything. However if you have a small desk get an attachable arm. If you have a mechanical keyboard or hit your table a lot get an arm. But arms can be expensive 20-40 dollars or even more. The solution is getting a Antlion Modmic 4.0 for 40 bucks, great sound, nice and clear and noise cancelling so it won't pickup outside noise. Desktop mics I'd get is a Blue Yeti, Snowball, Audio Technica 2020 is also great, Snowflake microphone, etc.

Ad-dons for audio

So if you want to get better audio, louder, etc. Get an AMP/DAC mix. They are a DAC/AMP connecting VIA USB plug to the PC and then the headphones connect to the DAC with a quarter inch with some 3.5mm connectors but not recommended. These offer a much better experience but at a cost for 80-200 dollars for good ones. Some pads too add bass or take away from treble, mids or bass or add to. But not that much but it is always great to get better pads then stock ones on some stuff for more comfortable wearing.

Headphones

Probably why you are here reading this. Now if you have 80-100 dollars here are my recommendations

Takstar HI 2050 open back headphones and a modmic 4.0 come in at just 100 dollars, they are great headphones. VERY comfy pads from Bererdynamic, honestly I don't know how they aren't losing money they sound like 200 dollar headphones.

Superlux 668B's they are good headphones, they sound high end, are very tough, etc. However they are semi-open and have a fairly large sound stage. My biggest 2 problems are, they are very treble heavy and uncomfortable for larger heads and ears. If I got these I'd need the velour ear pads Amazons sells for them because the stock are hard plastic. The other problem is they aren't very big either and I have a very large ear and head so they is a minus for me. Which is why I love the Takstar HI2050's.

Now if you want to drop more money then get these AKG Q701's which are VERY open. They offer the largest sound stage in the price bracket and more then almost all 500+ headphones. They are very comfy and big for big ears. Very good sound.

For some alternatives in that price bracket for open are DT 990's pros for 150 dollars, they are a bit treble heavy but still are very great. They are 150 on Amazon for the 250 OHM one which can be used in quarter inch and 3.5mm plugs by unscrewing the quarter inch adapter. They have very deep ear pads and very comfy ones too.

Now if you want closed for 30 bucks and still good audio get these Monoprice 108323. Now these earpads aren't very good IMO so I'd get Brainwavz replacement pads for 20 dollars. They are deep, comfy and overall nice. Sound I don't know too much about but they still beat gaming headsets.

For the last pair of closed backs I can think of are DT 770s, bass heavy, VERY big headphones from Beyerdynamic and overall good but not a good sound stage get these for 170 on Amazon.

Another honourable mention is Audio Technica M50x's, they are ok. Better then gaming headsets but don't offer much compared to 990's or 701's but still good. They are 160 I believe.

Now get a modmic or whatever mic you want with these, I'd get a desktop mic w/ arm personally but modmic is nice.

Links

• http://www.modmic.com/collections/modmic Modmic
  
  
• Blue yeti http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Microphones-Yeti-USB-Microphone/dp/B002VA464S I'd recommend a pop-filter too.
  
  
• Snowflake http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Microphones-Snowflake-USB-Microphone/dp/B0012AUHXW
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Razer-Seiren-Elite-Digital-Microphone/dp/B00QXT5M3C This isn't much more then the Blue Yeti, in fact a bit worst and very expensive. I'd stay away but worth a mention.
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Microphones-Snowball-Condenser-Microphone/dp/B006DIA77E
  
  
• AT2020 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AS6OYC/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_3?pf_rd_p=1944687582&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B0006H92QK&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0ZVM8GGV5TDXFE02QPWP
  
  
• DT 990 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0011UB9CQ/ref=twister_B00WU2V08C?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
  
  
• DT 770 http://www.amazon.com/Beyerdynamic-770-PRO-250-ohms/dp/B0006NL5SM
  
  
• ATH M50x http://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technica-ATH-M50x-Professional-Monitor-Headphones/dp/B00HVLUR86/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1457973618&sr=1-1&keywords=m50x
  
  
• Takstar HI2050 http://www.amazon.com/Takstar-Monitor-Headphone-Gaming-Computer/dp/B009PIQUB6/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1457973640&sr=1-1&keywords=Takstar+hi+2050
  
  
• Superlux 668b http://www.amazon.com/Superlux-HD668B-Dynamic-Semi-Open-Headphones/dp/B003JOETX8/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1457973655&sr=1-1&keywords=668b
  
  
• Velour pads for 668B's http://www.amazon.com/Cosmos-Velvet-Replacement-Cushion-Headphones/dp/B00KLPRQMO/ref=pd_bxgy_23_img_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0Z33W5JHBVD65A9T5YGD
  
  
• Brainwavz pads http://www.amazon.com/Brainwavz-Replacement-Memory-Foam-Earpads/dp/B00MFDT894/ref=pd_sim_23_36?ie=UTF8&dpID=41vuwIZESZL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=14DP2XANDMR7AFMC1QMY Make sure these fit I am postive but check /r/headphones to know.
  
  
• Monoprice headphones http://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-108323-Headphone-Gold-Plated-Accessories/dp/B007SP2CO2/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1457973687&sr=1-1&keywords=monoprice+8323
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/AKG-Signature-Reference-Class-Premium-Headphones/dp/B004444OFK
  
  Make sure to look at reviews.
  
  Feel free to ask any questions too.

Not OP but I can help you out here. Let's break this down by component:

1. Speakers - There are two types: active and passive. Active = amplifier built into each speaker (i.e. most dedicated "computer" speakers from the likes of Logitech, Creative, etc.). Passive = 90% of speakers out there, must be connected to an amplifier to work. Typically passive speakers will get you a better speaker for a given price for an active but you have to figure in the cost of an amplifier. For a passive speaker set up, the cheapest system recommended over at /r/audiophile is a SMSL SA-60 amp and Micca MB42X Bookshelf Speakers. If your budget is higher, ask in the daily purchase advice sticky there (read the rules/suggestions thoroughly). I don't mess around with active speakers so I can't recommend any.
   
   
2. Microphone - For simplicity's sake, I will recommend you look into USB connecting condenser microphones as they are affordable and have good sensitivity. Something like the Audio-Technica AT-2020 or Blue Yeti are popular mics for under $100. I have the Yeti and can attest that it is a very good and sensitive multi pattern mic. They can be hooked directly up to your PC or if you want to get really fancy, check out an audio interface like the Focusrite Scarlett Solo or Scarlett 2i2. The nice thing about an interface is it allows you get a nice mic with an XLR connector (generally better than a USB connection) and it will work with your PC.
   
   
3. Headphones - Don't waste your money on "gaming" headphones. A nice 2 channel pair of cans with a standalone mic like I listed above will hands down outperform the likes of Turtle Beach and Razr headsets. /r/headphones has a really good wiki with more info than I can provide here and headphones broken down by price range and characteristics. Plus, then you can use them both for gaming and general music listening and have a good experience, something you don't get with dedicated "gaming" headsets. The amp I listed in the speakers section is fine for headphones but Schiit makes absolutely fantastic headphone amps and DAC (digital to analog converters, check out both /r/audiophile and /r/headphones for more info on them and why they are good for your set up) with very respectable price tags.
   
   Hope this helps. Higher quality audio equipment can be confusing and daunting, what with all the technical details, wide price ranges, parsing through all the marketing bullshit and the sometimes snobby attitudes of some "audiophiles". I wish you luck and feel free to ask me if you have any questions.

Somewhat upgrade-able:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor | $199.99 @ Microcenter
Motherboard | Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard | $154.99 @ NCIX US
Memory | Mushkin Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory | $71.99 @ Amazon
Storage | Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk | $122.99 @ NCIX US
Storage | Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $59.98 @ Outlet PC
Video Card | EVGA GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card | $409.99 @ NCIX US
Case | Corsair 650D ATX Mid Tower Case | $159.99 @ Microcenter
Power Supply | Corsair Enthusiast 650W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply | $79.99 @ Newegg
Optical Drive | LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer | $15.99 @ Microcenter
Operating System | Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) | $89.73 @ Outlet PC
Monitor | Dell S2340M 60Hz 23.0" Monitor | $159.99 @ Adorama
Keyboard | SteelSeries 6Gv2 Wired Standard Keyboard | $98.98 @ Outlet PC
Mouse | SteelSeries Sensei RAW Wired Laser Mouse | $44.99 @ NCIX US
| | Total
| Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available. | $1669.59
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-08-03 01:55 EDT-0400 |

More upgrade-able:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Core i7-3820 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor | $229.99 @ Microcenter
Motherboard | Asus P9X79 LE ATX LGA2011 Motherboard | $224.99 @ Amazon
Memory | Mushkin Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory | $71.99 @ Amazon
Storage | Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk | $122.99 @ NCIX US
Storage | Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $59.98 @ Outlet PC
Video Card | EVGA GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card | $409.99 @ NCIX US
Case | Corsair 650D ATX Mid Tower Case | $159.99 @ Microcenter
Power Supply | Corsair Enthusiast 650W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply | $79.99 @ Newegg
Optical Drive | LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer | $15.99 @ Microcenter
Operating System | Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) | $89.73 @ Outlet PC
Monitor | Dell S2340M 60Hz 23.0" Monitor | $159.99 @ Adorama
Keyboard | SteelSeries 6Gv2 Wired Standard Keyboard | $98.98 @ Outlet PC
Mouse | SteelSeries Sensei RAW Wired Laser Mouse | $44.99 @ NCIX US
| | Total
| Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available. | $1769.59
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-08-03 01:58 EDT-0400 |

This is all based on speculation, but I don't think that the LGA 1150 socket (the socket that the i5-4670k uses) is going to be around for a long time in comparison to the socket used in the more upgradeable build (LGA 2011).

The i7 used in the LGA 2011 build is going to help improve performance, but it isn't going to make a big difference in gaming. However, I would say that the LGA 2011 socket is going to have better longevity, if that's what your after.

Other than the CPU and motherboard, the primary components of both builds are pretty much the same. You have your motherboard. In the i5 build, the motherboard is good enough to support overclocking quite well, as long as you aren't too extreme with it. In the more upgradeable build, the motherboard is also good enough to support overclocking, but the CPU will not be overclockable due to it not being an Intel "K" variant.

The SSD I have included is pretty much the best SSD on the market right now, and you have 128GB of it. That's pretty nice for storing your OS and programs that you're going to frequently access. The Hard Drive is for big data and files like Music and Videos.

The GTX 770 is the second best single GPU card out today. It has the best price:performance ratio of any card and will ravage any game.

The Corsair 650D is one of the nicest mid-tower cases out there. It isn't massive, but it isn't small either. It has a nice window so you can see inside. If you want, get some Logisys cathodes to light up your case for a quick mod that makes things look cool.

The monitor is a decent budget IPS display. If you want to focus more on the monitor, I can shift some of the budget to it. It has a pretty nice bezel.

It's finished off with a nice set of steelseries gear. The 6gv2 is the nicest mechanical keyboard I've used, with the exception of possibly the das keyboard. It doesn't light up, have extra buttons, or have any other frills. It's just a really nice mechanical keyboard. The mouse is the sensei [raw], which is a slightly lesser version of the sensei, but it's all you need. It has an ambidextrous design, which some of the right-handed people don't like. Just thought you should know that.

The last part is the gaming headset, and this is the reason why there's a sizable chunk of money at the end of the i5 build. There wasn't enough money to put in a GTX 780, overclocking, AND headphones. I should let you know that I don't believe in gaming headsets. A high-end gaming headset approaching $100 is essentially a $20-30 headphone with a microphone attached to it, sold at a large markup. It's all hype, and most people buy into it. The best solution is a nice pair of cans with a clip-on mic. I'm partial to the V-moda Crossfade M80 with this zalman clip-on mic, but on-ear headphones may not be your thing. The M80 has nice bass that is perfect for video games. Let me know.

www.amazon.com/V-MODA-Crossfade-On-Ear-Noise-Isolating-Headphone/dp/B005HSDLCO/
www.amazon.com/Zalman-Zm-Mic1-Sensitivity-Headphone-Microphone/dp/B00029MTMQ/

That said, if you're dead set on a pair of gaming headphones you can't go THAT far wrong with a Logitech G35 or Steelseries Siberia V2. You just aren't getting what you pay for with the sound quality.

i5s tend to perform a bit better than equivalent Ryzen CPUs for gaming, and the motherboards are a bit cheaper. So I'd go with an i5 7500 and a B250 motherboard. If you have your own Skylake CPU to use to update the BIOS in the motherboards, go with a H110 or B150 motherboard to save ~$15-20 per computer, but otherwise, the B250 is the best choice. (You don't want to risk getting an older motherboard that isn't updated to boot with the newer CPUs)

I'd swap out the 2 x 4 GB of RAM for 1 8 GB stick so that you can add more in the future when games start needing more than 8 GB of RAM.

A SSD isn't really necessary at this budget, as they're low on storage and all they do over a cheaper HDD is reduce boot times by 30 seconds and load times by 15-60 seconds in some games. A 1 TB WD Caviar Blue is $50, so you save some money over the SSD and get over 4x the storage space.

I switched the RX 480 model to a very similar one because the one you picked doesn't have a price showing. Just get the cheapest 8 GB RX 480 from a reputable brand and site.

The EVGA PSU went up in price, so I changed it to a very similar model that's $20. You could switch the PSUs with 420W Seasonics if you want better durability and build quality.

For a Wi-Fi adapter, I added a $20 USB TP-Link ac adapter. You're probably better off with an ethernet network switch/splitter if your cousins have a wired connection in their house/apartment, though.

> Personalized cases (doesn't need to be extravagant, something like personalized LEDs for each computer?)

Maybe get these RGB LEDs? They're fairly cheap

This build, which uses my suggestions above, ends up saving you about $100 per PC excluding the RGB LEDs and Wi-Fi adapters which add $40 per PC. So you're at $4200 total for the 5 PCs with RGB and Wi-Fi.

> Mice (4)

This is up to personal preference. I use the Logitech G502 but it's a bit expensive at ~$70-80 USD each if you're buying 5 of them. I'd recommend looking at Logitech's gaming mice in the $40-50 range. The G602 is on sale for $40, and the G502 is on sale for $60, so I'd get one of those two. The G602 is wireless, and the difference doesn't seem to be too big, so I'd go with the G602.

> Mousepad (4)

I'd heard good things about the Steelseries Qck and Qck+, and the Glorious PC Gaming brand of mousepads, which are more affordable. I personally use a Logitech G240 mousepad, which I've had for a few years, though the rubber coating on the bottom had started to fall off, so I'm planning on replacing it with a Glorious PC Gaming Extended mousepad. The advantage of the Steelseries mousepads seems to be that they are from a more reputable brand, but the Glorious mousepads are stitched at the edges to prevent the rubber part from falling off (Which seems to be common with cloth mousepads after a lot of wear), and are a bit cheaper.

> Keyboard (4)

I personally use a Corsair STRAFE. If you want to get a mechanical keyboard, the Corsair Vengeance K65 keyboards seem to be a great budget choice at $60 each.

> Monitor (5)

I'd get 23/24" 1080p monitors with low response times (Preferably 5 ms or lower). At $85 each, this 23.6" Acer seems good.

> Microphone and Headphones/ Or Headset (4)

Headsets tend to be overpriced with poor sound quality. Something from the r/headphones wiki in the below $50 range for headphones should be excellent for the price.

Mic-wise, a cheap clip-on mic such as this one for just under $10 should be fine.

If you want to cut down costs more, you could use onthehub.com to get cheaper Windows keys if your cousins' schools are on there. It's a site partnered with Microsoft to give discounts to students and teachers. I personally used it for Windows 10 and I haven't had any problems with my OS (I've been using the key for about 6 months now.)

After peripherals, if you spend $40 per each pair of headphones, and $87.89 on Windows, you're at $1085 per PC or $5425 total. You save $270-320 or so total if you can get the Windows keys from onthehub for $10-20 each. Here's the parts list excluding the mics, headphones, keyboards, monitors, mice, and mousepads.

I'd go with /u/RatchetRussian's suggestion of using Jet.com. I'm Canadian, so I've never used the site, but it seems to be pretty reputable.

> Should I build the computers myself or ask a professional?

You can build it yourself easily with a good YouTube tutorial. I'd recommend this Newegg tutorial or this PCPer tutorial from the sub's sidebar.

> Should I gift them individually or all at once? Christmas or random summer day?

I'd just give them all at once when you finish all of the PCs so that everyone can start playing at the same time, but do whatever you think is best.

I'd also go with /u/Clintosity's suggestion of making sure that there's enough room for 5 PCs. If there's issues with space, you can switch the cases to mATX cases and build smaller PCs.

Hopefully this helps, and good luck with the PC building!

If you want, I can copy-paste the response I usually give to people asking about gaming headset. Hope it will help you.

Wall of text ahead. Please, read only if you are really interested...


What I usually recommend when someone ask for advice about gaming headsets is: Gaming headset are crap 99% of the time. They provide very poor sound quality, and any good headphone (literally, even 40$ ones) will sound far better than expensive 300$ headsets. The question is not if headphones are better than headset (the answer is “Hell, YEAH”). The question is, are they better for you?


What are you planning to use your headphones for? Just for gaming, or for gaming and music listening?


If the answer is “just for gaming”, then ask yourself if a Hifi headphone is what you need. Usually games don’t really need high quality headphones, since they provide low quality sound, and you will be more concentrated gaming than listening. In that scenario, everything will serve you, and gaming headsets have the advantage of the integrated microphone.


So, if you want something good for gaming, and just for gaming, with integrated microphone, then the only two headsets with good enough quality sound (aka don’t suck) are:


HyperX Cloud (70$)


Sennheiser G4me One (170$)


Both are good choices. Or go with any fancy RGB headset you find (Logitech, Razer, Corsair, Steelseries, etc), you will most probably don’t notice the difference while gaming.


BUT, if you plan to use them for music listening besides gaming, then keep reading.


About the microphone problem


Hifi headphones for gaming have the disadvantage of having to deal with the micro thing. None of them have microphone incorporated, and you must find a workaround to the problem. Options available are:


1- Use a desk microphone like this


2- Some headphones have detachable cable. If the connector is a 3.5mm jack, you can substitute the cable with this V-Moda micro. That way you can have a microphone attached and still use a single cable. Main problem is that you must use this cable, no matter what, and if you end buying an amplifier, you can no longer use this microphone, as amplifiers don’t have micro input. Also, not all headphones are compatible, as not all use 3.5mm jack connections (Audio-technica and Sennheiser headphones are NOT compatible with V-moda Boom micro, cause they use 2.5mm jack)


3- use a modmic like this one or if your budget is tight, something like this.


The first option requires desk space and it’s expensive. The second one is not compatible with every headphone, and forces you to use this cable. The third one are detachable micro, with an extra cable you’ll have to deal with. Any of them are a nuisance. Any solution is annoying. All of them are an extra expense that must be accounted. If micro is a must and you are not willing to bother with this solutions, please, go back to HyperX Cloud or G4me One.


Ok, so, you really want some damn good headphones, that also can be used for gaming! Keep reading, please (are you bored yet?).


You can choose Closed back headphones (the classic ones you have already used. Closed back models offer good isolation and do not leak sound. This is your choice when there are people around you, or you want isolation from noisy a environment.) or Open Back headphones (Open back models offer next to no isolation and will leak sound -and allow you to hear what happens around you-, but they are the best sounding models). Open headphones achieve the best sound, soundstage (feeling that sound is coming from around you) and imaging (ability to locate the source of one sound).


If you are here because you want to get a replacement for a gaming headset, I would recommend you Open back, but since they don’t isolate, you must choose. If isolation is required, get closed back, if that’s not a concern, go open.


Some closed back cans:


Audio-Technica ATH-M40x. 100$. Balanced headphones, very good feedback from lots of people. Typical entry level headphones to the rabbit hole.


Sennheiser HD 598Cs. 125$. Balanced, very very detailed, great instrumental separation. Comfortable as hell, very recommended.


Beyerdynamic DT770. 160$. V-shaped signature (lots of bass and lots of treble). Amazing soundstage (for a closed headphone). Great for explosions, movies, and rock. Treble can be harsh if you are sensible. Get the 32 ohm version, as the 80 (may) and 250 (do) need an amplifier to work properly.


Those are some examples of entry-mid level of closed cans. There are lots more, depending of your budget!


As for open cans:


Superlux HD668b. 40$. Those are THE CANS. The best quality for low budget you can get. Hands down. Great soundstage, Bass light. They are not too comfortable, but pads can be changed for a deluxe comfort (extra expense). You are not getting anything better at this price. For gaming in a budget, this are the headphones you were looking for.


Philips SHP9500. 80$. Mid-forward signature. Good soundstage, great comfort. Very detailed. Another amazing quality for the budget headphone. Due its popularity, they’re getting harder and harder to get.


Sennheiser HD 598 SR. 170$. Very similar to the HD 598Cs, but with open back. Wider soundstage, a little less bass. Very balanced headphones. Super-duper comfortable. Great for long gaming sessions.


Philips Fidelio X2. 250$. V-shaped signature. Those are in another league. Build quality is just.. OMG. Extreme soundstage and imaging. More comfortable than the HD 598. Bass is BOOOOOM!!!. A little pricey, and can be somewhat fatiguing to listen if you are treble sensible, due to high treble.


Well, that’s all. I have selected only headphones that don’t need an amplifier. Now is your turn to research, watch some Youtube videos, read some reviews, and give them a try.


All this headphones are GOOD. No trash here, and all them will make you open your eyes when listening your music if you are coming from standard headsets. You will notice sounds, instruments, that you never realized they were there, even if you had listened this song a thousand times before. Try them, and be amazed.


Welcome to the rabbit hole.

Yes it would be, I just asked because it would sense to invest in what you would use more, no sense pouring money into something you won't use all that much. And not necessarily, but some of the prices of my "go-to" gear has increased a little bit, which did make this just a little bit harder.

Okay so, this is what I came up with. Speakers are usually $40 but they are $50 right now for some reason, so that is why it's about $8 dollars over. also if you had any of these cables lying around it would definitely put you under $100.

Speakers - Dayton Audio B652 Amazon | Easily the best ~$50 book shelf speakers out there. Loud, with great sound quality, good imaging, and just all around outstanding for the price. They are kind of big though, so take into account desk space.

Amplifier - Lepai 2020A+ Amazon| You will need these to power the speakers, connected with speaker wire. It's a great little amp. It's buit out of metal, which is great given it's price tag, and the knobs feel great. Has tone controls that has a button that lets you toggle between using them or bypassing them. Provides ample power for speakers in this listening situation. It isn't really made for "party level" volume so just be careful, as you CAN blow speakers if you crank it too high on the AMP/computer. I personally use this and works great. Price is also a little higher than what I've seen them go for ($15).

Cables/Wires Amazon, cable Amazon, wire- A standard 3.5mm male to male cable that will connect the amp to the computer, and 50FT of 16 gauge speaker wire to connect the speakers to the amp. If you have a 3.5mm cable already you won't need to buy another.

Headphones - Sennheiser HD201 Amazon | Sennheiser makes great headphones, from their $1000 HD800 right down to the $20 HD201. Great headphones for music, and okay for gaming. They are closed back, which means the sound stage will not be as broad, but they will isolate outside noise. $10 dollars more will get you these Superlux HD681s which are open backed, which will result in a bigger sound stage, which is helpful for the directional aspect of audio while gaming. they sound pretty good too! Both headphones will perform well for music, and gaming when you use them. Not the best but they're better than most "gaming headsets".

Mic - Zalman Clip on Mic Amazon | A basic mic that clips on to your headphone's cable. what's great about this is you can use them for any pair of headphones, or when you're not even using them! the clip can also hold it to your shirt.

Total cost is about $108. If you are diligent/patient the speakers may drop back down to $40 sometime.

Overall this is great value for a little over $100, and will offer you much more all around than an $100 speaker set. The great thing about this is that everything is modular. If you want to upgrade your speakers you don't have to buy a new amp, and vice-versa. If you want to add a sub down the line, you don't have to ditch everything and get a new set; you just add it into the "chain". Headphones broke? No need to buy a new mic. Want nicer sounding headphones? No problem! Mic broken or lost? Don't need to buy a whole new headset. As you can see it is very flexible, and very easy to upgrade things as you go, which I feel is completely worth the $8 over your budget you gave me.

Sorry this took a while to get to you, lots of writing, linking, and searching! Hope this helps!

I actually don’t see the need for surround sound. That’s more of a marketing gimmick really, as the usb 7.1 dongles suck. If you really need surround sound, get Dobly Atmos on your computer.

But I don’t think you really need either. Most games have really good audio, and some games like rainbow six siege literally say don’t use surround sound because it’s broken. You need a headset with good soundstage.

What’s soundstage? Well it’s being not only able to tell the direction of your enemy, but also the distance. That’s why I recommend open back headsets for gaming, though they do leak sound and your mic may pick that sound up. Don’t worry about it though, because what I recommend is omni directional and will basically only pick up your voice.

I recommend the Philips SHP9500/SHP9500s. They are to same thing but the s has a little bit more bass. You also might have trouble getting the 9500 because it is discontinued and not many are left. I recommend these because:

Great soundstage

Very comfortable

Has a lot of treble which is good for hearing footsteps.

Has a detachable cable Incase the wire breaks and so you can use a mic

It is extremely well priced at 80USD. It’s probably the best for gaming under 150 USD. And most importantly it will definitely fit you.

For mic, I recommend the Vmoda BoomPro. You just unplug the cable from the headphones and replace it with the BoomPro which is just a 3.5 mm cable with a mic attached. This is a super good mic.

I also highly recommend an amp both for gaming and music. The one I recommend has a switch with T D and B. T is treble boost (for gaming), d is flat, meaning it won’t change anything, and B is bass boost. Which you want if you listen to music because the 9500 has little bass.
I recommend the Syba Sonic DAC/AMP. Link at the bottom. This will definitely help sound quality as it bypasses your pc soundcard.
IMPORTANT: DON’T use the included usb cord in it as it will cause a short in your computer. You’ll need a different mini usb cable as the provide a really bad one.

To use the amp: This is a usb amp, so plug the usb into your computer and the mini USB port into the DAC/amp. The will power it so it will drain laptop battery with a laptop. Then all you do is is plug your headphone jack into the big 3.5mm headphone jack. Don’t use the one for a split cable because your headset isn’t a split cable.

That’s it! The total is about 150 bucks and will surpass anything for the price.

Don’t get a gaming headset. They just use cheap divers and RGB and day gaming to trick you, as they are way overpriced.

Z Reviews on YT (total audiophile geek) recommends this as well. I invite you to spend more time researching on his channel and other places to understand the mic and amp better. He has a best gaming gaming headsets video from a year ago. This setup is at the very front and one of the first things he talks about. Also goes very in depth on the whole subject of sound for gaming at the beginning. Here are the links:

9500s-https://www.amazon.com/Philips-SHP9500S-Precision-Over-ear-Headphones/dp/B00ENMK1DW

Vmoda BoomPro Mic - https://www.amazon.com/V-MODA-BoomPro-Microphone-Gaming-Communication/dp/B00BJ17WKK

Syba Soni DAC/amp - https://www.amazon.com/Syba-Digital-Headphone-Amplifier-Coaxial/dp/B009WN7QT4

Remember you need a different mini usb cable. I’d throw the one it came with away because it’s garbage and possibly a fire hazard.

Please watch Z Reviews Gaming Headphone guise from a year ago. The first 25 minutes are all you really need to hear. They explain audio in-depth and talk about the headphones and this combo. Good luck!

Feel free to reach out to me as I can help with the setup or usage, but r/ZReviews is probably a better option. You’ll get help ASAP from a whole hutch of audiophiles who know their stuff.

Sonically, there's nothing about headsets marketed and advertised for gaming that makes them more suitable for gaming than regular headphones. The vast majority of them are widely perceived as bad or worse in the audio enthusiast community. After owning a HyperX Cloud II, Tritton Pro+, and Turtle Beach Ear Force XP Seven, I understand why. They have terrible price-performance ratio, build quality and comfort, except the Cloud; it has great build quality and good comfort.

There are three important sonic properties for gaming:

• soundstage: perceived space and environment of sound. It's width, depth and height. The best way I can describe the difference between a small and a large soundstage is that a small one feels closed/boxed in and congested. Loud and nearby sounds, it can be a tank or something small as a radio, typically sound very intimate, dominate and intense in either ear when you don't face them. A large soundstage creates more distance between you and the sound source, alleviating the unpleasant/fatiguing feeling of a sound being right inside your ear, and it makes the environment around you feel more open, spatial and expansive. I mean the type of soundstage that headphones produce. Games have their own soundstage, but headphones can greatly expand or shrink it.
  
  
• imaging: how accurately the directions of sounds/objects are reproduced. Soundstage and imaging are generally best achieved with open-back headphones/headsets, which means they have perforations/openings that let sound pass freely in and out. "Gaming" headsets are typically closed-back, which attenuate sound from passing through.
  
  
• separation: how you discern individual sounds from a range of overlapping sounds. You don't need to be concerned with this if you don't play competitively.
  
  Of regular headphones, I've used AKG K52, K1000, Q701; Audeze LCD-2 Classic, Mobius; Audio-Technica ATH-AD700X, AD2000X; Beyerdynamic DT990 Edition (600 ohms); Creative Aurvana Live!; Denon AH-D7200; Focal Clear; HiFiMan HE400i rev. 1, HE-500, HE-560 V2; Koss Porta Pro; Monoprice Modern Retro, Monolith M1060; Philips Fidelio X2, SHP9500; Sennheiser HD580, HD598, HD700, HD800; Sivga SV007; Sony MDR-HW700DS; Stax SR-L300; Superlux HD662 EVO, HD668B, HD669, HD672, HD681 EVO.
  
  I mainly use DT990 (600-ohm) and HD800, depending on whether I play competitively or casually. But even a cheap headphone like Superlux HD668B or HD669 get you, like, 80% of the same performance. Diminishing returns top out very early in games.
  
  As for microphones, you can attach an Antlion ModMic or a Massdrop Minimic to any headphone, which is very easy to do. These have much clearer, cleaner, crispier and more natural reproduction of voices than most "gaming" headsets and they have good/great build quality. When or if they break, you can replace the mic instead of the whole headset. If you get a new headphone, you can reuse the mic. The ModMic 5 and Minimic are modular, so they're very easy to temporarily remove. The cons with these mics are the additional cable and no in-line volume controls.
  
  Alternatively, you can use a V-MODA BoomPro mic, which is on par with the sound and build quality of the ModMic and Minimic. It plugs straight into the headphone, which replaces the original headphone cable, so there's only one cable running down from the headset. It has a volume control and doesn't require a Y-splitter. But the mic is only compatible with headphones that have a 3.5mm jack with a detachable cable and no proprietary mechanism or design that prevents the mic from inserting and staying in place.
  
  

  
  

  
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  My go-to recommendations is Sivga SV007 with V-MODA BoomPro.
  
  SV007 has a well-balanced sound profile. The mid-bass, which is where boom and punch come from, is a little bit boosted. The sub-bass, which is how deep the bass goes and is where rumble comes from, is a little bit subdued. The treble is close to neutral with a slight boost.
  
  The bass doesn't sound muddy or distorted and is clean. The treble is clean, smooth and sparkly. By clean, I mean it's not washy or hazy. By smooth, I mean it's not sharp, harsh or splashy, but if effects, soundtracks or voices are recorded or mastered that way, then SV007 isn't going to take the edge off. And, by sparkly, I mean the treble isn't dull. The midrange is clear, not tinny or muffled. It's a very clean and clear sounding headphone.
  
  It has a large (but not huge) soundstage, very good imaging and separation, and great detail retrieval. I can hear microdetails like the rustle of a foe's uniform when he merely changes his direction; the flick of a switch when a foe changes his gun to alternative fire; the arm movement and "uhh" sound when a foe throws a motion sensor, and the impact of the sensor hitting the ground, a wall or other objects. All extremely helpful sound cues when you're about to pass by a foe that is hiding, or about to move as a foe employs a motion sensor. But if you were to play competitive shooters, I'd recommend a headphone that accentuates details somewhat more and makes them louder in the midst of gunshots, explosions and other very loud sounds.
  
  SV007 is open-back and over-ear. The build is sturdy and lightweight with wooden cups and metal yokes, hinges and headband. It has no flimsy or squeaky parts. The cups tilt and swivel and can lie flat. The pads fit around my ears without pressing them against the inside of the cups. They are plush and have a relatively high-quality coating. The headband has great weight distribution and doesn't cause hotspots on top of my head. The clamping force isn't loose or too tight. I have an average sized head and average sized ears. The build quality is excellent for the price and very good in general with even stitching, no sharp or rough edges, and has a near immaculate finish all around.
  
  

Weird the link worked for me. I just copy and pasted the post below, hope it's useful!



This is a guide that recommends headphones with an added mic and does not recommend gaming headsets (I'll explain what that means). I'm posting this because I found lots of info on headphones for gaming but not a proper setup for a console like the PS4.

If you're looking for a great quality headset for gaming, you might run into some trouble like I did. I define quality as being made with solid materials and having awesome audio while having a decent mic to chat with other players.

Options within the quality gaming headset category are both limited and expensive. Take a stroll over to r/headphones to get their two cents on how and why gaming headsets are often overpriced and actually underperform their ticket price. This post in particular was very thorough and linked out to other really useful resources like Z Reviews

When my old headphones broke I started exploring options for a new pair of cans. I wanted to get something great and didn't mind spending a buck on it. As I researched I began to learn more about different types of headphones and what they offered in gaming. The problem I ran into is that the best pair of speakers you can put on your head are almost all headphones, not headsets (meaning headphones do not have a mic equipped). But I'm playing on a PS4 so that changes the game some, PC might have some different avenues. The PS4 dualshock controller (as of 2016, possibly earlier) has proprietary restrictions as to what headsets can plug-in and work with it so creating a DIY headset (independent headphones and mic) was tricky. I tried a workaround with getting an aux plug-in adapter that had "4 poles " to use with the DS4 controller but it didn't trick the controller nor did unplugging and re-plugging in headphones with a mic. Others have had success with it but not me.

I ended up getting a USB to headphone and mic input adapter. This way you can buy whatever headphones you want and whatever mic you want and pair them together by plugging them into your PS4 USB port. You are tethered by a wire but I have read that there is lag with basically any wireless setup so I wouldn't recommended them, especially if you're into online FPS.

My setup is:

---Open air headphones: Audio Technical 900x ($130)

There are other versions of these headphones like the 500x for around $75 as well as the 2000x for $600+
-I would also explore the Superlux HD668B Semi-Open Headphones ($40) as they are relatively inexpensive have replaceable ear pads and have glowing reviews.

---Attachable mic I haven't gotten comments on how I sound which can only be a good thing. I have asked how it sounds and "fine to me" is usually the answer I get.

---USB adapter w/ headphones + mic auxiliary inputs

-Also you might want to get a USB cable extender if the phones and/or mic you go with don't have long cables.

I would venture a guess that most any version of the above 3 components would work together. I am really enjoying my setup and have been using it for about 2 months now. The “soundstage" on open headphones is a really different experience, instead of being closed off by noise cancelling headphones it now feels like everything is happening around me. I had a pair of beats Studios (gen 2) that were pretty good but I would definitely recommend giving “open” style headphones a try. The beats seem puny in comparison, not just in physical size but also in output quality.

I hope this is of benefit to you. I spent a lot of time researching, reading and watching reviews, figuring out what would work on a PS4 and deliberating on what pieces to buy. I am by no means an audiophile so this is just the research of a lay person that wanted great sound and is enjoying what they found.

TL;DR Don't buy a gaming headset if you want awesome sound. You can get a great, probably better, setup on your own and likely save a bit of money in the process by DIY.

I might be able to help you here. I had the G933 Artemis Spectrum headphones. They were alright — I didn’t realize at the time that I had to have them hooked to a PC in order to take advantage of the virtual surround sound, so I never got to experience that with the PS4.

I decided I would invest some money into getting a really good pair of headphones after that, but I wanted to get a unicorn... something that was good for music, movies, and games. I settled on an open back pair that had incredible reviews for the price tier. And, I spent over $300 on it just over a year ago... but you can get the same model (it’s the Philips Fidelio X2/HR) for only $122 on sale on Amazon Prime right now. I think that’s a killer deal for these, and they’re HiRes also in case you like to listen to premium, high bit rate formate stuff.

They’re incredibly comfortable and have a ski goggle style design, so you could have a head the size of a watermelon and they’d cradle on it gently. Open back, big sound stage. Great quality cable, too. They’re wired though, but I really like that they’re the kind where the jack is on the headphones themselves so if the cable ever fails you can replace it and not have to replace the whole headset. So what I did is I bought a V-Moda Boom Pro Mic that plugs directly into the headset and has a flexible boom mic and a volume dial w/ mute switch on the cable, and then you plug that into the PS4 dualshock or computer. You don’t need to buy a headphone amp/DAC to power them either, which is nice.



I wasted money buying one of the Astro A40 MixAmp Pro TR boxes so I could get the virtual Dolby surround, but I wouldn’t bother. Instead, I prefer to just run a long cable from my home theater amp/receiver’s headphone out, since that’s basically one huge amp/DAC anyway, and you can drive these things up to some serious volume. You also get a much better quality sound with them and the mic combo, versus buying a gaming headset (where they jack up the price quite a bit).

If you’re looking for a wireless option, you could check out the Steel Series Arctic Pro — that link is for the one with the game DAC with DTS Headphone X and you can use it on the PC and PS4 (for $199), or the wireless version for $315. I’ve heard a lot of people say these are pretty good but I’ve not heard them myself. If you’re looking for something cheaper, maybe the HyperX Cloud for $100ish.

I recently picked up a pair of in ear buds also — the 1MORE E1010 Quad Driver for $170 that come with a little Fiio A1 headphone amp. They’re pretty nice so far, I’ve been playing “Death Stranding” with them.



I’d check out /r/headphones and you could also read the sidebar over at /r/headphoneadvice and make a post detailing the exact setup and price range and what you’re looking for and have people make recommendations. Also in the sidebar there are some popular model headphones, amps, and mics. I think most people will tell you that buying a good pair of headphones and adding the mic is better (either the VModa BoomPro or there’s another that sticks to the side of the cup like a magnet for the same-ish price). You’ll get better sound than a gaming headset, and more for the money. And you can use those savings to buy a headphone amp/DAC if you want also, which will boost the volume and bass and maybe even give you virtual surround if that’s something you feel like you really need.

I know this is long, but I figured since I was familiar with what you’d used previously (the G933s) and was on a similar hunt not so long ago, I’d share my findings with you. If you find a great set and you happen to remember, hit me up and let me know what you grabbed so I can maybe try to demo them somewhere for myself. And if you do buy the Phillips Fidelio X2/HRs from Amazon, you could always listen to them a bit and send them back if they’re not for you. But I think you’ll be pretty impressed. I definitely was, at twice the price they’re going for now. Good luck!

I'd say for me, if I were making my own home office and wanted to trick it out:

At minimum a dual monitor setup, but it would be nice to have 3 (I have dual monitors and also the laptop screen running them so it works out to 3.) A nice monitor arm that will hold both (or all 3) monitors to keep the desk clutter free. Something nice that makes both monitors adjustable for you (maybe even a 90 degree rotation so you can code on a vertical screen when you feel like it.)

A nice condenser mic with an arm for it as well. I figure if I were working from home I would probably be doing conference calls more regularly than if I were in the office, so a good condenser mic will make my life easier and make sure I can communicate well. Maybe a blue yeti or blue yeti snowball with a nice boom arm for it like so so I can use it when I want it and then push it away when I don't.

In the same vein, a decent webcam that can clip on to my monitor (or buy one of the above boom arms and attach the camera to it, probably smart for only $15 so you can move it around.)

Definitely a great office chair since you can justify the expense and you're going to be sitting all day.

This one is great regardless of working for home or working from the office, but a nice mouse. I just got a Logitech G502 the other day for gaming as well as work purposes and MAN. I never knew what I was missing out on. I have thumb buttons/extra buttons programmed to copy, paste, delete, winkey + e to open an explorer window, ctrl + t for new tab, and also a key combination to switch my active window to my other monitor so I can quickly move stuff between them without having to click and drag.

Since you're working from home and don't have to worry about bothering other people, I'd definitely buy a nice mechanical keyboard. They're a dream to type on. I used to have an office to myself so I bought one and I miss it dearly now that I'm in a cubicle. In my opinion, well worth the expense.

Again since you're not in an office you could get a nice speaker. Bluetooth to keep the cord clutter down but really anything works. You can go budget or big here.

If you're a whiteboard person, a whiteboard to hang on the wall.

Definitely yes to the dock. I have one here at my office and it's so flipping nice being able to plug in one thunderbolt cable and keep the clutter contained to the back of my desk behind my monitors with the dock.

I'd probably buy a nice standing or desk light that still uses filament bulbs to make it warm/easy on the eyes. Ample lighting. And probably a plant or two just to make it look nice and feel good being there.

That's all I can think of. Can you tell I'm living vicariously through you? I know you said must haves, so if I were going to buy the above in order, it would be monitors > dock > mouse > blue yeti snowball > mic stand > camera > camera stand

I may be of some help. I was in the same position as you a couple months ago.

First you have to decide, wired or wireless.

Wireless: A lot people suggest the ps gold headset ($100). As a gaming headset, they're decent but from what I've read, the sound quality is not great. If all you do is plan to play games with it and you don't care all that much about sound quality then this may be your best wireless option. A better wireless option would be the Astro A50. Reviews seem to say that the sound quality on the A50 is pretty good but this comes at a much higher price ($300 new, $200 refurbished). SteelSeries also makes a good wireless option at the same price point of the Astro.

Wired: If you go on head-fi, everyone will say the best option would be to buy a decent dedicated full-size headphones(price here depends on budget), a separate mic, and something like this to connect to your controller. This is true but I didn't like this option. Having two cables going my controller to my head seemed like a bit of a hassle and I wanted as few wires as possible. I wanted a quality wireless setup, but I couldn't justify spending $300 for a setup I'd only use to game.

I did find the V-Moda boom pro which would replace the cord on their headphone's with an in-line boom mic thus eliminating one more wire. Paired it up with the V-Moda M80(You should be able to use it with anything form the vmoda line, but don't hold me to that, you should be able to find out yourself easily), which to my surprise got great reviews on head-fi. I bought them for around 80 on an amazon lightning deal. They're pretty good, especially considering the whole setup cost ~$100. Build quality is very high, sound quality is good, a little bass heavy IMO but that is perfect for gaming. I also wouldn't mind taking these out with me on the colder months as they're not too bulky. They also come with a pretty cool carrying case.

I'm very happy with this setup now and I think the next step up from here would be to get a wireless setup.

Hope this helps.

Source: I do have quite an extensive headphone collection so I do appreciate a good set of cans.

This is quite a long post but you probably should read it all. I also searched for the best possible sound on the PS4 for the cheapest price and tried almost everything.

Astro Headsets are NOT top notch. They are just OK. They have extremely elevated bass that drowns out the footsteps and clarity.

Razer again are completely overpriced and sound worse than 30 dollar headsets.

Sony Gold Wireless is decent and wireless which is also nice. But they sound a little bit muddy compared to the HyperX Cloud II. But sound better than the Astro's.

I have every headset listed except the Razer Kraken 7.1 but I do have the Razer Megalodon which was absolutely horrible and I had so many issues with it and the firmware updates fixed nothing and the sound from the headphones transmitted over the mic even when isolated so it was a wiring issue. I just would shy away from Razer at this point. I hear too many bad things about them all the time with build quality issues. Although I do think they look really cool.

For PS4 in my experience all USB sound cards sound terrible. I have tried the Syba, the Sony Silver USB Adapter, and the Logitech G430 USB sound card.

If you don't want to think about anything, buy these.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Astro-A40-Gaming-MixAmp-Pro-With-All-Cables-for-Ps3-Ps4-Xbox-Window-and-Mac-/142172429854

https://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-GSP-Gaming-Headset-507079/dp/B01KV3BB0S/

This right here will probably be the best setup available for the cheapest price. The HyperX Cloud II could be substituted for the GSP 300 but HyperX Cloud II's do sound slightly less clear than Sennheiser. These GSP 300's look like a refresh of the PC 350 SE but with reduced ohms but I currently do not have the GSP 300 so can't tell you if it sounds different than the PC 350 SE but if it sounds like it, it will be great for gaming in every way.

Here are further explanations for why you should get those two.

The new MixAmp Pro TR has horrible metallic surround sound.

Example here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtNF1i2eSwg

It really does sound horrible so I returned it and got the MixAmp Pro 2013 edition from eBay and can tell you that it sounds absolutely fantastic. And much better than any of the USB stuff. Because of the Digital Optical connection. It is very important that if you go this route that you set up the MixAmp Pro 2013 correctly. You have to make sure that in the PS4 settings that the output to headphones setting is set to CHAT ONLY or you will not get the surround sound features through optical. You will get the standard stereo USB sound card of the MixAmp Pro 2013 instead of the optical which sounds much better than the other options.

The MixAmp also really is an amp. It pushes my PC 350 SE 150 ohms perfectly. The other USB adapters do NOT amp and I can not get my PC 350 SE's loud enough through controller or any USB adapter. So the MixAmp pro does definitely amp. But I should mention any headset above 150 ohms or lower sensitivity would probably not work with the MixAmp that well or it would be really low volume.

Also Sennheiser is extremely well respected for their sound and I own the PC 350 SE (And the G4ME One) and can tell you that it has the best sound of any gaming headset out there except maybe the ATH-ADG1X but those are 300 dollars.

Also, I can confirm that the USB adapter that comes with the HyperX Cloud II does not support surround sound on PS4. No USB devices support surround sound on PS4 unless you buy it straight from Sony. The Sony Golds and Sony Silver USB adapter are the only two devices that support USB surround sound that I know of. And it is not that great compared to what the MixAmp Pro 2013 offers.

Now for the part where I will tell you that if you want the audiophile solution, read further.

Most gaming headsets really do suck compared to a pair of audiophile headphones and an add on mic.

So in this area I will recommend this solution.

For audiophile experience you are going to want to get these SHP 9500's:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826138190
And this add on mic (Uni Directional with Mute):
https://www.amazon.com/Antlion-Audio-ModMic-Attachable-Microphone/dp/B00R98JVVU?th=1

I don't recommend that V-Moda BoomPro even though it works perfectly with the SHP 9500's. It picks up everything in the room and since PS4 does not offer a push to talk feature I would stay away from it. It would be perfect for PC gaming though with a Push-to-Talk button.

If you get this with the MixAmp you are going to have the absolute best sound quality with the best mic quality for that price. No doubts whatsoever.

If money is really not an issue. I recommend the Sennheiser HD 598's with the ModMic and the SoundBlaster X7 with the Bluetooth USB adapter for chat. It does not work with Xbox One for chat only optical.

And if money is not an issue AT ALL then I recommend the Sennheiser HD 600 with the ModMic and the SoundBlaster X7 and the MixAmp Pro 2013 so you can put that into the X7 and use the line in and it's audio mixing capabilities so you can switch between SBX and Dolby Headphone with the MixAmp and choose the one you like the best.

I hope this helps you make a decision. I own most of the stuff mentioned and this is all from personal experience. But you should also note that sound is highly subjective so you may just have to purchase this stuff from Amazon so you can test all of it and send it back if it doesn't meet your needs or expectations.

Except you are forgetting that a lot of what you are listing are already common buys when it comes to NA and I would wager Europe. If you are going to factor them in for consoles you need to factor them in for PC as well since things like TV, internet and having a cell phone are common things to own (maybe not a smartphone but a basic one with calling and texting capabilities).

For the following I'm going to assume DICE's report on recommend system requirements is accurate

So our PC in question needs to have:

• Quad core CPU with at least 3Ghz
  
  
• Windows 7 64 bit or higher
  
  
• 8 GB of RAM since it's 64 bit
  
  
• A modern DX 11 graphics card with 2 or more GB of video memory
  
  Now then we are also going to assume we are an average customer so we do not have the knowledge needed to put together a computer from individually purchased parts and since we work 5 days a week from 9-5 we don't really feel like figuring it out, we just want to buy something and have it work when we plug it in oh and it needs to be new for various reasons (warranty, not trusting of previous owner, etc). Our goal is to buy a PC that either matches or slightly exceeds DICE's recommended settings since we want our PC in question to be somewhat future proof for the next 5 years if we are going to be dropping a considerable amount of money on it. Now then our current PC is like 13 years old but has worked fine to meet our needs, we can get on the internet, do taxes on it, watch some videos and even play a few games on it.
  
  So lets head on over to amazon put in some of those specs and start searching. Well damn the most popular one on that page is the HP pavilion Elite for $819. That's a bit steep let's see if we can get something more in our price range and sort by low to high. Well the first one in the list we can rule out because it's graphics card doesn't even support DX10. That second one in the list, the ASUS, looks pretty good and the GeForce GT 640 sounds like the perfect card to match our needs and should be awesome for playing new release for the next few years so let's go with that for roughly $745 (before tax if applicable).
  
  So we order the ASUS and after a couple of days it arrives and we hook it up to our old monitor and sound system. About a week passes and we have just been having a blast playing BF4 but you know what hasn't been fun? Looking at that awful resolution on your monitor from 2000 and the way its speakers are just destroying the beautiful sound design done by the DICE team.
  
  Back to Amazon we go! We decide that since our new PC can output in HD we want HD with a nice screen res of 1920x1080. This Asus monitor is only $164 and is highly rated so we go with it. It arrives in the mail, we hook it up and that picture is just awesome now and we can truly understand why PC gaming rocks.
  
  To bad we forgot that it doesn't come with speakers built into the monitor. Well we could use this pair of earbuds that we got with our MP3 player we use at the gym but we feel we could really improve our value as a team member by getting a headset so we can communicate better with the rest of the team. You were talking with your PC gaming friend at the water cooler the next day about your dilemma and he tells you should just get a normal pair of headphones and a desk mic since it will probably be cheaper and of better quality and you decide that sounds pretty smart. So that night you order a pair of Sennheiser HD201 Lightweight Over-Ear Binaural Headphones and a logitech desk mic so our total for that comes out at around $36.
  
  So let's go back over what this PC upgrade cost us in the long run
  
  
• $745 for the ASUS tower
  
  
• $164 for the monitor
  
  
• $36 for the headphones and mic
  
  Total is roughly $945.
  
  Keep in mind this is all paid at once, while a smartphone plan is likely to cost you more in the long run you are paying it in increments. A tablet/laptop is going to run you around $300 for an average quality one. The PS4 is launching at the price point of $400.
  
  Yes you can probably recoup a lot of this in game sales from digital distribution platforms like Steam but if you are looking to buy on release it's still going to be on average the same price. Not to mention that consoles are now having similar sales on their digital stores and have things like Playstation Plus which actually get you sets of games for a reasonable monthly cost.
  
  I'm not trying to say one is better than the other but I will make the argument that one is more affordable than the other. To say there is no difference in paywall to get into PC gaming and console gaming is nothing but ignorance.
  
  Edit: I'm not saying you are wrong, I completely agree if people wanted to get into PC gaming they could stop spending money on things like new phones, TV's, tablets, etc every year and spend the money instead on a very nice gaming rig. But you need to stop thinking like a smart consumer more like an average one when making these kinds of arguments, because lets face it the average consumer is dumb or misinformed.

I'm not the guy you asked, but I ALSO have the G930s. They're nice, but I won't be buying them again. I find the wireless to be flaky when my wife uses HER wireless headset (another Logitec, but not G930s), and the battery is nearly worthless after 2 years of ownership (though I do a fair bit of gaming, so YMMV). Next headset I buy is gonna be a pair of these bad-boys, and I'm gonna slap some of these on 'em. If I need a mic, I'll grab something like this. Won't be wireless, but I've got a cheap bluetooth headset if I need to move around the house. Since my HMD is tethered ANYWAY, I don't mind the headphones being so as well. :)

Hope that was somewhat helpful! :)

EDIT: OK, so here I am, nearly a month later. My G930s finally gave up the ghost, and I went ahead and bought about what I describe above (haven't picked up a mic yet (doesn't make sense at this point, with the Vive so close), but I've got the Superlux cans and 3rd party earcovers), and I'm LOVING them. Nice sound, though quieter than expected - I've not dealt with anything but USB headsets for a while, so I'm pretty sure I need an amp, which I can't fault them for, I knew it was a possibility going in. In any event, though a bit quiet at this point, it's not to the point of unhearability or anything. I just can't make it annoyingly loud if I want to. I'm also irked at the tiny male jack hardwired into them - I'd rather have a flush female jack, but what 'cha gonna do?

Beyond those two TINY issues (the first is only an issue due to my not realizing they'd need a bit more juice, and the second is annoying, but not at all a dealbreaker), I'm LOVING them for the price. Reproduction sounds pretty good (good enough for mixing with, anyway), and comfort is GREAT (they feel VERY light). YMMV, but I'm a happy camper with my Superlux HD668B semi-open cans (just don't forget the (<$10!) 3rd party covers - they REALLY improve on the default comfort).

EDIT #2: I'm a jackass. I had them plugged into line-in. When I found a second line-in (this one actually labeled and recognized by the OS as a headphone jack), the softer sound issue went away.

Gaming headphones are a pretty weird market. None of them are actually that good for anything but games, and other headphones can usually do games better. Instead of buying a gaming headset, It's better to buy a less expensive pair of headphones that preform better and add a mic. Gaming headsets may have all sorts of cool features, but you'll find that you don't really need them once you don't have them. The most important thing for gaming headphones isn't preset EQs or bass response, it's all about having a positively massive soundstage. That's how you can get your system sounding something like a surround sound setup (although headphones just can't do the same things that speakers can at any price range). Depening on your price range, you could get the Sennheiser HD558, the Audio Techinca AD700X, the AKG Q701, or the Philips Fildelio X1. As for mics, you can get the Zalman ZM1 clip on mic, or the Antlion Modmic, if you're a fan of boom mics and quality. On top of being able to play games with them, you'll also be able to listen to your music collection rather comfortably, which is the main place where gaming headsets fall short, as they're equalized and tuned specifically for games.

I'm sorry to do a huge info dump on you, but getting a nice sounding pair of headphones doesn't just improve your games and music, it improves your life :) Eventually, you'll be more comfortable wearing them than not.

Whichever way you go, though, I hope you enjoy whatever you buy to the fullest, and most importantly, enjoy Destiny's phenominal sound design with your headphones! And if you need more suggestions, I'd be happy to help!

Reading about your grandfather made me think about my own. Yours sounds very much like the man that married my grandmother almost 30 years ago. He's actually not my blood grandfather but he's absolutely wonderful. Incredibly smart and witty, honest and interesting. One of the most fun people to talk to you could hope to meet. As your grandfather was, he's a lover of words. Just being around him everyone's vocabulary gets better! He's a know-it-all but in the way that you WANT him to tell you about things. History is a passion of his and he could tell you the most amazing stories about the past. I love him dearly.

Here's the link you asked for. One of those would be great. Thank you very much for holding the contest! You've actually inspired me to make sure I call my grandparents today and talk to them for a bit. I miss them a lot and I think they're back home from their vacation.

Alright, I can work with that.

To preface this, I recommend pairing one of the following headphones with a clip-on microphone - either a cheaper model like a [Zalman ZM-Mic1] (http://www.amazon.com/Zalman-Zm-Mic1-Sensitivity-Headphone-Microphone/dp/B00029MTMQ) or a more expensive model like [Antlion's Modmic] (http://www.modmic.com/collections/frontpage) - rather than getting a headset with an integrated mic. From a price/performance standpoint, headsets almost never stack up. The headsets made by the real headphone brands are exceedingly expensive, and with a very small body of exceptions the cheaper headsets sound terrible.

Now, onward to the headphones. When I hear "isolation", "comfort", and "neutral/warm sound signature", the first thing that comes to my mind is [NVX's] (http://www.head-fi.org/t/624729/review-nvx-xpt100-a-direct-brainwavz-hm5-competitor) [XPT100] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2G9qk7IOEA) ([$99 via Amazon] (http://www.amazon.com/NVX-Over-Ear-Headphones-ComfortMax-Cushions/dp/B0093PVTPS)). I actually own a pair of these myself for use as moderate isolation movie/podcast headphones for when my house is too loud for me to use my open headphones, and they're among the most comfortable headphones I've had. While they don't take the top spot - no headphones without an AKG-style suspension strap will ever do that - they're definitely in the top five or so. Their sound isn't the most detailed out there, but they're fairly neutral, solidly built, and very comfortable, particularly given their price.

A more expensive step up would be [Shure's] (http://www.head-fi.org/products/shure-srh840/reviews/5056) SRH[840] (http://www.head-fi.org/products/shure-srh840/reviews/3768) ([$199 via Amazon] (http://www.amazon.com/Shure-SRH840-Professional-Monitoring-Headphones/dp/B002DP8IEK/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1426324378&sr=1-1&keywords=shure+srh84)). While I sadly haven't had a chance to try these out myself, I've heard little but good things about them. Formerly on Innerfidelity's wall of fame, and with consistently good reviews for their sound, comfort, and overall quality, they're definitely a solid choice if you're looking for a neutralish sound with some bass.

A third option would be the [Focal Spirit One] (http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/focal-spirit-one-page-3) ([$175] (http://www.amazon.com/Focal-529102-SPOH-Spirit-One-Headphones/dp/B007AH7YFU) or [$179] (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008R9QRIU/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_2?pf_rd_p=1944687702&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B007AH7YFU&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0HS51KQ3XCE0J5B14R27) via Amazon for the black and white models, respectively). Focal has a quite a solid reputation in audio, but the Spirit One had some serious issues on its release due to manufacturing defects, and it suffered a rather bad reception as a result. These issues are said to have been since resolved, however, and the Spirit One is a very solid headphone at that price. The sound is a bit on the bassy side, but not extremely so, and is quite good for this price. Comfort may be an issue, however, as the One was quite clearly designed more for portability than comfort. While no review characterizes it as uncomfortable, it's a safe bet that it doesn't measure up to the other two in this regard.

Another rather unique option, albeit one with some inherent drawbacks, would be [Fostex's] (http://www.head-fi.org/t/570138/review-fostex-t50rp-my-intro-to-the-world-of-orthos) [T50RP] (http://www.head-fi.org/t/559233/review-fostex-t50rp-its-been-needing-a-review) ([$127 via Amazon] (http://www.head-fi.org/t/559233/review-fostex-t50rp-its-been-needing-a-review)). Now, the T50RP is, at stock, not the best-liked headphone. Though it is one of the (if not the) cheapest orthodynamic headphones in the world, its very poor comfort and [rolled-off sound] (http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/FostexT50RP2011B.pdf) have attracted a lot of criticism. Having a pair myself, I wholeheartedly agree with criticism of its comfort, but think its stock sound is better than people give it credit for. What the T50RP has going for it, however, is an [exceptionally dedicated modding community] (http://www.head-fi.org/t/618659/fostex-t50rp-incremental-mods-and-measurements), and some very high-profile modified variants. Modded T50RPs under the branding of MrSpeakers and ZMF can sell for $300, $600, or even $1,000, and experienced reviewers and audiophiles alike have claimed that they measure up to headphones in those price ranges. If you happen to feel a DIYish inclination, a T50RP can be quite a solid project to work on, and, in theory, it can get you $300-600 sound quality for a little sound of $200 accounting for the various materials it takes to mod them.

Now, there are, as said, quite a few drawbacks to the T50RP: the stock sound isn't for everyone, it requires more power to drive than the other mentioned headphones (not enough to cause issues at stock, in my opinion, but when modded it can be quite intensive to drive, almost assuredly moreso than your integrated audio can support), and it's absolutely terrible in comfort (if you do go for them, [a headband cover like this] (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00862522A/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1) and a pair of [Shure] (http://www.amazon.com/Shure-HPAEC840-Replacement-Cushions-Headphones/dp/B002Z9JWZS/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1426325351&sr=1-1&keywords=shure+pads) or [Brainwavz] (http://www.amazon.com/Brainwavz-Replacement-Memory-Foam-Earpads/dp/B00MFDT894/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1426325358&sr=1-1&keywords=brainwavz+pads) pads were what I used to take them from "terrible" to "pretty darn solid" comfort), and modding isn't for the faint of heart. After quite a while of tinkering, I've yet to get my own T50RP mod working properly. It's amazing value if you can make it work for you, but it's quite a significant amount of effort to achieve that.

Others have already asked some pretty useful questions, but if you're looking for more specifics here's what I know.

Recording & Editing Software

While I can't speak to resources for non-Apple tools. If you have a Mac you can start out with simply a good microphone and the GarageBand application.

Microphones and Pop Filters

If you're looking for a mic recommendation I've had a lot of success with the Yeti USB microphone. It's pretty versatile and the sound quality has been quite good. A cheaper reliable option is the Snowball. You can find mics for less than that but I can't vouch for the quality. No extra set up is really needed, just plug it in and record. Some people recommend a pop filter, they're pretty cheap and I've had a good experience with the Dragonpad ones. If you need an example of sound quality PM me, I'm happy to link you an episode I created using the Yeti mic.

Uploading and Hosting

Once you've recorded and edited your Podcast you'll need somewhere to host it so others can listen to what you've created. I usually upload the file to SoundCloud and then share the link or embed the player in my blog and website. There are a lot of other podcast-specific hosting sites out there but I've found SoundCloud to be free and easy.

Helpful Guide

When I first started out I came across a great blog article by Mike Cernovich that I followed to create my first episodes. You can read it here if you're interested (it's specific to using GarageBand though).

I hope this helps, a D&D podcast sounds great. Can't wait to hear what you create.

You have a couple of options, but the webcam and mic just... aren't going to cut it. You'll never get the sound mixed right. Best bet is going to be capture the audio and video separately, then re-combine. The problem is I've never met a camera that really captures good sound. You can get decent sound by using a video-capable DSLR with external mic connections... but you'll spend $3k - $5k to get that sort of a setup working right.

I'm assuming the primary focus here is the audio, so you can probably get away with the webcam for the video, or any digital camera that's video capable. The key to making it look good will be lighting, more than the camera. If you have a couple of halogen worklights around you can use those as cheap stage lighting. Failing that, position yourself in the sunlight from a window. Make sure the background behind you is free of distracting stuff like old clothes, random papers, etc. Even a cheap, crappy camera can usually take decent images and video if you give it enough light to work with.

Software: You'll need something like Audacity - which is free and pretty easy to use. Does everything you need.

On to hardware: Two options. I'll give you the expensive one first, then the hackier way.

If you're going for absolute audio quality, you'll need a large diaphragm condenser mic. You'll want a mic for each channel you want to capture - so one for the vocal, one for the instrument. Expect to spend ~$100 per mic give or take. Monoprice has a decent one a little cheaper. Craigslist is a good source. When you get into mics, it's as fidgety a question as "which guitar is the best" - but that's your starting place. You'll need to run the mics into a mixer board (and condenser mics usually use phantom power, so your mixer needs to support that). Again, Monoprice has some decent sub-$100 options, or you can chase Craigslist. Figure this will cost you $300 to $350 after mics, cables, stands, and mixer. You can easily spend $$$$$$ as you get better stuff, but that's the basic setup.

The cheaper way - something like a Zoom H2N. Since these will do stereo recording, I tend to hang one off a mic stand horizontally halfway between my guitar and face. That lets me catch (mostly) the voice on the right channel and (mostly) the guitar on the left. After that I can do corrections and relative volume on each at least mostly separately.

The third alternative would be a USB mic like the Blue Yeti on the desk, use the computer's webcam to record video and the audio from the mic at the same time. I have a friend who's an operatic tenor, and he records his video auditions this way. I don't have the details on the software he's using, though. The H2N I linked above can be used the same way - put it in USB mic mode, record audio and video at the same time.

Given what you're trying to accomplish, I'd recommend the H2N, and depending on just how lazy you want to be either record separately and recombine, or use it as a stereo USB mic. But you really do want a way to separate the vocals and the instrument at least a little to fix specific things on each side and match the volumes a bit.

I didn't do a stunning job with it, but about 30 minutes ago I did a quick demo of a song on the H2n. I love mine, anyway...

Edit

You can also get a better USB webcam. Many Point-n-Shoot digital cameras also can be used as a USB recording device.

Okay so I watched Episode 1 of Grandia.
My Thoughts:

• The fraps timer in the corner bothered me. I think it is quite easy to crop it out when editing and it would make the video look a bit more polished.
  
  
• The game's audio, especially in cutscenes, was at points kind of stuttery. It is probably just the emulators fault but if that can be fixed I guess it is worth a mention.
  
  
• You should try investing in a better mic. Logitech as a super cheap one with pretty good commentary, I use one so you can check out the beginning of one of my videos to get an idea for the quality. Having good audio quality generally just makes the video seem better.
  
  
• Your commentary was good. Some cutscenes are kind of boring you can go ahead an talk in between the dialogue to keep things going. You seem to know the game well which is great. When you did speak the commentary overall was kinda funny. You got a couple of chuckles from me throughout the video. :)
  
  
• Video quality was good. It is a PS1 game that is being emulated so I didn't expect much but the game was presented clearly so that is good.
  
  
  That is pretty much it the video was good, just get a better mic and it would improve the video ten fold.
  
  Here is the mic I use:
  http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-981-000246-USB-Desktop-Microphone/dp/B002RL84OY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342815820&sr=8-1&keywords=logitech+usb+desk+mic

I'm looking to purchase a good set of headphones and a USB DAC to augment my gaming desktop and ModMic. Basically my years old headset mic crapped out and everywhere I read I see the suggestion: get a ModMic and a good pair of headphones. So here I am, looking for what those, and the DAC, should be.

DAC: I'm leaning towards the Creative Sound BlasterX G5 after reviews and this sub's purchase assistant as the USB DAC, though I'm open to suggestions there as well. Honestly with that I'm just looking for: any reason not to? I should also state that I hope to run my speakers through it as well as sometimes I prefer to not wear headphones (sorry if that's blasphemy here!), so any other suggestions would also need to have a line out beyond the single headphone option.

Headphones: I would love good sound quality (obviously), surround sound ideally, but beyond that I would also really appreciate input on two major things: comfortability and size/durability. I will sometimes wear these for a long period of time, so I'd like them to be comfortable. Also, I have a large head, so I need something that can manage that through its size and durability.

Requested details:

Budget - Prefer to spend $300 (US) or less between the two, but will spend more if there's a good reason.

Source - Desktop computer, specifically the Asus Crosshair VI Hero ATX AM4.

Requirements for Isolation - Minimal. Used in my home and my PC is relatively quiet.

Will you be using these Headphones in Public? - I'm sure I'll use them elsewhere, yes. But primarily they are for gaming and movies in my home.

Preferred Type of Headphone - Full-sized

Preferred tonal balance - Don't know enough to answer so I'll say an overall balance is ideal.

Past headphones - Nothing special, this will be my first good pair.

Preferred Music - Very eclectic, from opera to hip hop.

What would you like to improve on from your set-up - Upgrading to a good pair of headphones for a more enjoyable sound and surround sound in games and movies. I'm currently limited to my onboard sound.

Thank you for your help!

Ps. I have tentatively ordered the Antlion Audio ModMic. If anyone has suggestions for a better one, I'm open to that, too.

KEYBOARD

I'm not really all that much of a keyboard guy. Having said that, you want a wired keyboard for gaming. I love my Saitek Eclipse II.

MOUSE

The Cobra is exactly that. I know that it's kind of suspicious at $5, but I've been using mine for the past 9 months, and it's exactly what you describe, a cheap mouse with adjustable DPI and no macros. Plus it looks kinda neat, fits the color scheme, and it isn't going to do anything stupid.

CPU

Here's an 8350 streaming on a much worse GPU than the one in your build.

CPU Cooler

You don't "need" it if you don't want to overclock, but it's a good bit quieter than the stock one. I only put it in because you said you wanted it quiet.

RAM

Most games right now only use about 4GB, so 8 is the sweet spot for the rare game (like Crysis) that uses more resources than a normal game. Plus, you can add more memory in this build (you'll want to in about 2-3 years or so), and it'll only take you about 2 minutes. Ram has been going up in price lately; I was able to get 16GB of 1866 memory 9 months ago. I wouldn't buy much more than I had to now.

Storage

I'm running this exact hard drive in my build, and it's not giving me any problems. The SSD, on the other hand, is one I've never used before. It has nice reviews and is SATA III, so it should run fine.

VIDEO CARD

Here's my argument. They are very similar, and the 7970 is $80 cheaper.

Motherboard

This is one of the best AMD motherboards out there. It's only running the 970 chipset, which means that it can only run one NVIDIA graphics card (no SLI), or 2 AMD cards (in Crossfire, but the second one is kind of slow). However, Crossfire is terrible (no driver support), and I'd rather have one really nice card than 2 OK ones. Also, this card has heatsinks on the VRMs and is one of the best boards for overclocking out there. The way I see it is, if it can withstand a huge overclock, it's going to be pretty stable. Read the reviews on it. It's nice.

CASE

It matters a bit. This case has nice cable management options and a spot for the SSD. It's pretty sturdy, has USB 3.0, and a lot of fans included. I have no idea what it's going to cost to get it shipped from MicroCenter. If it's too much, we can look for another case.

Power Supply

You need about 500 watts for this build, but I went with a 600 watt power supply because as the capacitors break down (3+ years from now), you're going to lose some of your wattage. Plus, if you ever decide to do some crazy stuff that consumes a lot of power, you'll be covered.

OPTICAL DRIVE

This is a DVD/CD drive. It burns them and plays them. If you want Blu-Ray, we can throw that in, but it'll be about $30 more.

Wireless Network Adapter

Got it. This one's pretty awesome.

OS

Windows 8 works better with the AMD FX chips out of the box, but if you really want to run Windows 7, you can download and install some fixes from Microsoft that will make it pretty similar. If the interface is your gripe with Windows 8, you can install a start menu for it from a 3rd party developer. I use Windows 8 and like it a lot, but a lot of people don't.

Overclocking

It'll hurt things if you're being stupid. Otherwise, you'll be fine. Still, this thing should last for a long time.

I have a very similar build, and it worked out of the box. After I installed drivers (which you have to do anyway), it ran even better.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor | $179.99 @ Microcenter
CPU Cooler | Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler | $19.99 @ Newegg
Motherboard | Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard | $89.99 @ Microcenter
Memory | Kingston Blu 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory | $58.99 @ Newegg
Storage | Sandisk Extreme 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk | $84.99 @ NCIX US
Storage | Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $63.99 @ Geeks.com
Video Card | PowerColor Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card | $309.99 @ NCIX US
Wireless Network Adapter | TP-Link TL-WN822N 802.11b/g/n USB 2.0 Wi-Fi Adapter | $19.98 @ Outlet PC
Case | Zalman Z11 Plus ATX Mid Tower Case | $44.99 @ Microcenter
Power Supply | Cooler Master Silent Pro M2 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply | $46.00 @ Newegg
Optical Drive | Asus DRW-24F1ST DVD/CD Writer | $16.00 @ Newegg
Operating System | Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) | $89.73 @ Outlet PC
Mouse | Cobra 9897005984104 Wired Optical Mouse | Purchased For $4.97
Other| XStar 1440p Monitor| $279.99
Other| Saitek Eclipse II Keyboard Warehouse Deal| $39.99
| | Total
| Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available. | $1345.57
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-08-02 18:11 EDT-0400 |

EDIT: These headphones and this mic will outperform $100+ headsets.

TL;DR I ended up using this lavalier microphone, with the TASCAM DR-05 recorder, putting my equipment total cost at $110.

I conducted some sociolinguistic fieldwork over the summer and I researched fairly extensively to find something within my budget but with the technical specifications I required. I took extensive notes on my thought process, so here's a summary.

So, getting a bit techy here, you're going to need a microphone and a recorder. Those are two separate pieces of equipment. The microphone is what captures the sound and turns it into an electronic current, and the recorder is what turns that current into something the computer understands. Some recorders have a built-in microphone, but you don't want to use that for phonetic studies, so you'll have to get separate pieces. Also, if you have any technical requirements (Hz requirements, for example), both the recorder and the microphone will need to be able to handle that. So you'll need a good one of each.

Even though I already have a decent microphone (the popular Blue Yeti), I felt like I needed something different for several reasons. The Yeti requires a power source: it's meant to be plugged into a computer. But I didn't like that setup. Not only would it be a bit intimidating (not to mention the microphone itself is intimidating), but it's bad acoustically since the noise from my computer would surely get captured. The Yeti ideally also should be about a foot from the speaker's mouth, which, again, makes people a bit nervous. If I move it further, I could turn the sensitivity up, but it would capture ambient noise (fans, AC, fridge, etc.). I considered a setup that didn't involve my computer, but that requires a different power source and special equipment, and that's a pain (and it's expensive).

I also considered just using my iPhone as a recorder, and buying a microphone specifically designed to work with it (they exist). The quality is decent enough for most people, but not for phoneticians. Also, they are not compatible with any other piece of equipment. Either they plug into the lightning connector or the headphone jack, but the 3.5mm headphone thingie has 3 stripes instead of 2, making it incompatible as a microphone with any other recorder (that's all I know on that topic).

I decided the TASCAM DR-05 was the best recorder for my purposes. They have bigger and better ones (like the DR-22WL or the DR-40), but they were too much for me: I didn't need to record multiple tracks simultaneously, or a huge memory, or a separate iPhone app, or a guitar tuner or anything. A very similar family of recorders is the Zoom family, and the Zoom H1 is comparable to the TASCAM DR-05 and is also a very popular. I ended up turning to youtube and found this video as well as this comparison chart. It's a bit long-winded and technical, but it did help me decide on the one I wanted.

The next task was to find a microphone. I decided a lavalier would be the most unobtrusive. There are tons of cheap microphones on Amazon, but you need to look carefully at the technical specs to make sure they aren't garbage. Tip: if they don't list the technical specs, it's probably not what you want. The best video I found for comparing the lavalier mics was this one.

I'm pretty satisfied with the recording quality. I found that the microphone caught the speech pretty well while blocking out background noise. I recorded a mono track at 48kHz and 20-bits instead of the standard 44.1kHz and 16-bit. Turned out to be about a gigabyte per hour of speech. As I'm going through these though, I realize they're a bit quiet, probably because I turned the sensitivity down in an attempt to filter out background noise. Also, I noticed people would fiddle with the wire while talking, though I haven't noticed this affecting the recorder yet. It did pick up noises if people scratched their shirt near the microphone or if they had a long beard.

I will say that I brought my Yeti as a backup, and ended up using it twice. Luckily it was a very quiet room we were in, and the quality was superior than my other setup. But, the speech was a bit stilted and people were a bit more formal with me as we sat at a table with a giant microphone sitting between us. So if you're interested in a conversational speaking style, a big set up wouldn't work.

My project mostly dealt with generally-lower-middle class white folks in the US, and I'm not particularly interested in super fine-tuned phonetic information. So the setup I had was sufficient for my project, though laboratory phonologists would probably want something better quality.

I would say to do some research on technical specifications of this equipment and decide on what you absolutely need. This will depend on your research question and the field site. If you're going to be in the middle of the jungle, you'll need something to really block out background noise. If you're sitting middle-class homes, you don't need that as much. If you want discourse and conversational data, you'll want a recorder that can handle multiple tracks simultaneously so you'll need either one fancy recorders or two separate ones. Then look at the equipment available on the market, set a budget, and find out what you can get. Just don't skimp on anything because you'll regret it later.

The end. Hope that helps.

generally the best sounding setup will not be a "gaming headset", but just a pair of good headphones with a separate mic.

what is your budget? that is a big factor as there is a huge variety of headphones out there all across the price spectrum.


i currently use Phillips Fidelio X2's with an Antlion ModMic running through a beyerdynamic usb dac/amp (soundcard basically, not even necessary but i had it already and its convenient) and love the setup. ive gone through several other headphones but found this setup to be the most comfortable with best sound. the X2's barely feel like youre wearing anything, have great soundstage and just sound really good in general. i previously used beyerdynamic mmx300's which are an actual headset (mic attached) but moved away from them as they just were not quite as comfy as i wanted for longer usage. also the mic didnt detach so it got annoying at times. other headphones i tried are my akg 553 pros, ath m50x, oppo pm3 and fostex th x00 but none quite had the "full package" of great sound and comfort of the x2's though. not the cheapest setup, but it works great and im happy with it so worth it to me.

https://www.amazon.com/Philips-X2-27-Fidelio-Headphones/dp/B00O2Y2MZG

https://www.amazon.com/Antlion-Audio-ModMic-Attachable-Microphone/dp/B00R98JVVU/ref=pd_lpo_vtph_23_lp_t_4

http://north-america.beyerdynamic.com/shop/usb-sound-card-for-headsets.html


in general the idea is to just get headphones from an actual headphone manufacturer, not a does it all like logitech. they make so many different things, headphones just arent a priority. others have mentioned the sennheiser game ones, which is at least a headset from an actual headphone company. the hyperx clouds are also supposed to be very good for the price despite not being from a headphone company, but that is probably because they are based off of the beyerdynamic mmx300, which is just the beyer dt990s with a mic. meaning the clouds are just a much more affordable clone basically.

at the minimum just try to avoid buzzwords like "7.1 surround". the headphones dont have 8 speakers in them (there are a few that tried doing such, but so few it doesnt matter), theyre not actually doing any surround sound so dont fall for it.

This is a rather unconventional post for here as you don't need computer parts so much as guidance.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
Power Supply | SeaSonic 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply | €146.84 @ Mindfactory
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | €146.84
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-02-16 23:00 CET+0100 |

Use that for the psu. Top quality and oodles of power. Next get a new hdd. You'll want to store a lot of your streams if you're serious about streaming heavily. Set up your streaming program to record the stream so that you can upload it elsewhere when the VOD gets taken down.

Monitor is really up to you. You have the gpu power to play at decent setting on 1440, but as you're streaming I'd keep it at 1080p if i were you. My advice there is get 2. Play on one, watch chat and manage stream with the other. Something like this should work:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
Monitor | Asus VC239H 23.0" 1920x1080 60Hz Monitor | €162.99 @ Amazon France
Monitor | Asus VC239H 23.0" 1920x1080 60Hz Monitor | €162.99 @ Amazon France
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | €325.98
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-02-16 23:06 CET+0100 |

Mic. Mics can cost anywhere from $10 to $10000. Something like the <Blue Yeti> is great quality sound yet simple enough to be used by a (excuse the use of the word) amateur. On the cheaper side there's the <Blue Snowball>. It's a plug and play design that delivers good quality sound without needing to fuss over settings.

Headset. Whatever you like. Your audiance isn't listening through them, you are. I personally use a <HyperX Cloud> headset that while it doesn't have pro level audio delivers a good sound for gaming and is the most comfortable set of cans I've ever used. This is 100% up to you though.

I have no experience with webcams. If someone else would like to chime in about webcams please do. I know nothing.

Video editing. Step 1 get a new hhd. The software you edit with doesn't matter so much. Some people can do great things with shitty programs. I personally use Adobe premier. Its not very good but its very simple and has everything I need. Some people get away with using windows movie maker even. My advice is take a look around video editing forums/subreddits and download a free trial of a few programs. See which one you like the most and stick with it. The reason I tell you to get a new hdd is because depending on the quality you'll fill space fast. A raw uncompressed 1080p recording fills 20gb in 5 minutes. That said uncompressed is a stupid amount and data. However compressing eats cpu power and will fill space anyway. When i record I usually save as 720p30hz and that usually fills a several gb an hour. So in a month of streaming/recording you may fill that hdd and either need to get another or you'll need to edit and upload everything to make space for more footage. The only other option here is to make a large storage system. If you want to keep ALL you're footage I suggest you look into getting a small/med storage server, though I assume for your purposes just editing and uploading should be enough.

Best of luck streaming and have fun.

I personally own a pair of V-MODA Crossfade M-100's with a BoomPro mic and the XL Ear cushions.

Put simply, they are absolutely amazing and would not go with anything else for gaming or music listening. Now, I'm not going to lie, it's very expensive for just a headset, but I'm an audiophile and want the very best out of my sound. If you want something that is amazing but won't kill your wallet, go for the Crossfade M-80's. Biggest bang for your buck.

As for audio quality, my old turtle beach headset couldn't even compare to these. Everything about them is just amazing. They are better than a pair of Beats and most "gaming" headsets. The 3D soundstage makes playing this game (or any game for that matter) an absolute joy with unparalleled audio quality. Wouldn't go for anything else for the price. I cannot stress how good these things are.

As for comfort level, they're pretty good, but you will definitely want the XL cushions. I can play up to 6 hours on end with only two adjustments on my head before my eyes are like "we're done here." Needless to say, they stay very comfortable for extended periods of time.

The BoomPro mic is nice, but not entirely necessary, because the in-line mic that comes with the cable works just fine.

TLDR: If you have the money, BUY THESE HEADPHONES!! And if you're broke go with the M-80's.

Edit: Spelling

Here you go.

____

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor | £185.99 @ Amazon UK
Motherboard | ASRock - AB350M Pro4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard | £75.90 @ Eclipse Computers
Memory | Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory | £130.44 @ Aria PC
Video Card | EVGA - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB Founder Edition Video Card | £582.50 @ Amazon UK
Case | CiT - VANQUISH RED ATX Mid Tower Case | £37.23 @ Amazon UK
Power Supply | Corsair - RMx 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply | £79.97 @ Amazon UK
Monitor | Acer - Predator XB271HUA 27.0" 2560x1440 165Hz Monitor | £529.99 @ Amazon UK
Mouse | Logitech - G300S Wired Optical Mouse | £80.07 @ Amazon UK
Microphone| ModMic| £44.99
Keyboard| Molong KB26-BK(Switch-MX-Brown)| £53.74
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | £1800.82
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-07-08 02:36 BST+0100 |

___

Ryzen 1600

- As you may notice, there is no additional cooler. This is because the 1600 comes with a quiet cooler that can hold up low to medium overclocking like a champ. Saves money, too.

Motherboard

- LEDs for fancy inner setup, able to support 4 sticks of fast DDR4 ram, and a BIOS that makes overclocking easy, this mobo will suit your gaming needs.


RAM

- The Vengeance 16GB will give you plenty of RAM in any current or future title. Clocked at 3200, the Ryzen CPU on board will be able to utilize your memory faster and more easily than lower speeds.

Case

- The VANQUISH from CiT is great looking, LED enabled, has built-in fans, and windowed sides. Good cable management too.

Video Card

- The 1080 Ti will take care of all of your needs. It can process the game you are playing while encoding for the stream without issue. This monster is the star of the build.

PSU

- Fully modular for ultimate cable management to get the most airflow and beauty out of your computer, and for ease of assembly. 550W is plenty to feed large overclocks, many HDDs and SSDs and anything you throw at it. The Gold standard indicates the quality of the PSU, and results in a more steady voltage and less heat generated (both great for overclocking), less noisy and easier on the electric bill as well.

Monitors

- This monitor is a beast. Plays in 4K, good color fidelity, tiny response time, G-Sync (WOW!) and 27" make this monitor a dreamboat.

Keyboard

- This keyboard is great. Fits the color scheme of the build, RGB lights, NKR, spill-resistant, and real Cherry MX Brown switches for gaming and typing pleasure.

NOTE: The keyboard comes in two different colors. The pictures are switched between the two. Make sure to order the one labeled Black, Cherry MX Brown

G300S

- Many pro CS:GO players swear their careers by and often win with this mouse.


Microphone

- Here's the oddball. This ModMic is a sound-cancelling, good-quality and small microphone that can attach to any pair of headphones. If you have a nice pair of headphones that you like to listen to music with, or find a pair that is more comfortable for long periods of time, attach this mic to it. Watch this or this as to why.

Hi! I'm by no means an expert on the subject but I did learn a few things while pursuing a quality audio experience and its kind of turned into a new hobby.

Simulating surround sound was something I wanted to achieve as well when shopping for headphones a while back. Something I learned is that the headphones themselves can't really do this. The right kind of headphones (and sometimes software) can help this effect but you can't magically turn 2 channels (I.E. right and left) into 4 or more to get multi-directional sound. In gamery types of headphones, the marketing makes all kinds of claims that its the total fault of the headphones but it's simply not true.

The only real way to get a simulated surround effect in your headphones is if the source had this in mind from the get go. And after that good quality headphones can help a bit further. This can be easily demonstrated with this video. Plug in ANY pair of headphones in your house and for added effect? Close your eyes. Seriously even 3 dollar earbuds from the dollar store will work. And what you'll notice is a full high-quality multi-directional, surround sound experience from just youtube and whatever headphones you happened to try. Neat! But how?

Games and movies ect need to have an audio engineer design the sound with this concept in mind known as binaural. In games, this is usually the "headphone" mode in options settings. Or it'll just be on by default. There are times where a game simply won't have it and no amount of software can change that going into your headphones. Software can't magically know that the bullet was supposed to be behind you instead of in front of you.

What does this mean? That you can get virtual/simulated surround sound from pretty much any pair of headphones? Yes! Learning this concept to me was the beginning of something new. I started looking at simple high-quality headphones that could help make the effect even more dramatic.

I learned about open vs closed back headphones. Closed back headphones make you feel like the sound is sort of coming from inside your own head. This is fine especially if you want to block out other sounds from your room or house ect. Open back headphones let sound in your headphones from the outside, allowing for a more natural 3D effect in most cases. I did a lot of research on open back headphones. I ended up getting the AD900x's. I know this might be expensive-ish but there's a good option for optimal sound on a budget.

I got this combo deal for my fiance. You'll get an open back experience to help further the 3d effect you're after and ontop of that these headphones sound fucking GREAT for the money. Seriously makes me mad that I was buying gaming headphones for all these years leading up to what I learned. Check it out.

• Headphones
  
• Replacement earpads. (optional) The stock ones made me and my fiance's ear sweat like crazy. Not comfortable.
  
• Microphone.
  
  Now, this is just a suggestion. Just use whatever you thought sounded better when it came to your logitech's or Beats after making sure headphone mode was on in the game you're playing. Hopefully, I've given you enough to do your own research on the subject. But. For the money? I found this combo to be amazing for gaming and surround sound. Just make sure you always turn on "headphone mode" in games and you'll get the 3D experience you're after. Learn more at https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/
  
  ----------------------
  
  TLDR; Some audio nerd info. I'd personally just use whatever you thought sounded better when it came to your logitech's or Beats after making sure headphone mode was on in the game you're playing. Seeing as the surround sound effect is mostly due to the source. If you ever want to try and make the 3D effect more dramatic I linked a suggestion on a budget.
  
  

Sorry for the long post but I hope it is helpful.

If your not opposed to an open back set of headphones then I'd suggest looking at the Philips SHP9500s along with a vmoda boompro microphone. I recently upgraded from those myself and I really loved them, I do have to admit that you lose a bit of audio quality using the vmoda boompro microphone compared to just using a straight audio cable to them. However I felt they were still far superior to conventional "gaming" headsets.

-

I just upgraded from the shp9500s to the Philips fidelio x2s myself which you can find used sometimes for around $150. They are really bass but definitely better sounding than the shp9500s.

-

The SHP9500s tend to go on sale quite often for around $45-50 which is a great price for what you get I think.

-
https://www.amazon.com/Philips-SHP9500S-drivers-Stereo-Headphones/dp/B01N3LM3J5/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1511900182&sr=8-3&keywords=philips+shp9500

-
https://www.amazon.com/V-MODA-BoomPro-Microphone-Gaming-Communication/dp/B00BJ17WKK/ref=pd_bxgy_23_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=CQDEX3BN148T7JZG5CV9

-

My thoughts on my current 3 headsets

-

Sennheiser GameOne Gaming Headsets: Smallest sound stage of the three. Midrange to me is clearer but when going back and forth between the shp9500s the Sennheisers sound "muddy" in a way. Also seem to have the least amount of bass. They aren't bad but I prefer a little more bass.

-

Philips shp9500s with vmoda boompro: Good sound stage with what seems like a very neutral sound. Bass is better than the Sennheisers.

-

Philips Fidelio x2s: Largest sound stage of the three. VERY BASSY. Overall audio quality (without vmoda boompro since this DRASTICALLY cripples the x2s) is superior to the shp9500s and the GameOnes in my mind.

-

Again this is all subjective in my mind as I prefer open back headsets as the sound stage is better and I feel like my ears dont get as hot. Some people don't like it though (my wife for example) because everyone around you can hear it also.

-

If it was me I would look for the shp9500s on sale for $45-50 on either amazon or newegg (pops up on the /r/buildapcsales) every now and then. If I had to do it again knowing what I know now I would have gone with a modmic over the vmoda boompro just because of the audio degradation that happens with the vmoda boompro. This was way longer than I wanted but again I hope you find it helpful, if you have Amazon Prime I'd pick up the shp9500s and try them out, if you don't like them then return them.

$2000 for everything?

I had fun with this one, enjoy your browsing :)

Part list permalink / Part price breakdown by merchant

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Core i7-2600K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor | $328.99 @ Newegg
CPU Cooler | Scythe SCMG-2100 74.2 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler | $42.98 @ Newegg
Motherboard | MSI P67A-G45 (B3) ATX LGA1155 Motherboard | $147.86 @ Newegg
Memory | G.Skill Sniper 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory | $99.99 @ Newegg
Hard Drive | Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $54.99 @ Newegg
Hard Drive | Western Digital RE4 250GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $66.99 @ Super Warehouse
Hard Drive | Western Digital RE4 250GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $66.99 @ Super Warehouse
Video Card | XFX Radeon HD 6970 2GB Video Card | $339.98 @ Newegg
Power Supply | Corsair 850W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply | $149.99 @ Newegg
|| Total
| (Prices include shipping and discounts when available.) | $1298.76
Additional Items | -- Items not available in System Builder -- | --
Case | Fractal Design Define R3 Black ATX Mid | $109.99 @ Newegg
Optical | Random Lite on DVD burner | $22.99 @ Newegg
Monitor | ASUS VW246H Glossy Black 24" 2ms | $218.98 @ Newegg
Mouse | Razer Lachesis 5600dpi | $68.61 @ Amazon
Keyboard | Razer BlackWidow Mechanical | $77.48 @ Amazon
Surface | RAZER Goliathus Fragged | $17.98 @ Newegg
Headset | Audio-Technica Import ATH-AD700 | $93.90 @ buy.com
Mic | Zalman Microphone Zm-Mic1 | $12.21 @ Amazon
|| Grand Total
| (Prices include shipping and discounts when available.) | $1920.90

brief:

Not all games make use of the hyper threading in the 2600K but some do and many more will follow. Your budget allows for it so do it. Additionally, it's still the faster CPU per core so all games will benefit and this is your most powerful option.

You have a budget that can allow for the luxury of silence. Fractal Case and Scythe heatsink will keep everything cool, quiet and classy.

Motherboard is Crossfire ready and so is the power supply. Why skimp on our upgrade powers when there's some flex space in the budget?

8gb of ram so you can stream or record your games so while your kicking ass with this new rig everyone else can know about it. I made sure they had low heat spreaders as well so they'd fit under the massive scythe heat-sink.

High quality, fast response, 24" monitor.

Dual RE4 250gb hard drives with 64mb cache for a 500gb RAID0 to boot from. The fastest and most stable platter drives you'll find. SSD if you want but this will let you store all your games and provide better stability. 1tb Spinpoint for other storage because it's cheap and fast. We're spending big but we don't need to waste on a storage drive.

The new Lachesis (not the one with problems) and a mechanical keyboard for the smoothest play you've ever had. Round it off with a Goliathus mouse surface for the ultimate experience.

Audio Technica AD-700 headphones: if you take everything out of my build you better keep these. These are, hands down, the best headphones for gaming I've ever used. Huge sound stage and great for games where you want to hear your enemies coming.

* Zalman ZM-Mic1: don't let the price fool you, this is a pretty awesome mic with exceptional clarity for a fair price.

Hey Hey! DJ turned sound guy here. Lots of good answers in this thread already but here's a list of options, especially if you're moving into more "high profile" stuff.

1. Speaker placement is your first line of defense here. Different for each room. Always put them on stands above head height. If you start moving into higher head counts look into getting some smaller speakers (Samson expedition series, RCF, alto) to place around the room so you don't need to pump your main speakers so hot. Remember, no one needs to sound like they're on a mic, they just need to be clearly heard by everyone in the room.
   
   2)On the mic end: This is going to seem a little counterintuitive. Keep your mic volume LOW. 98% of people don't know how to use a microphone. You don't want to have to explain to every groomsmen that holding the mic straight up against your stomach and speaking like your at a funeral isn't going to work. Figure out a decent volume off the bat that sounds good when the mic is ~4 inches away from the mouth. Don't rush to fix it if someone is holding it far away. They will (usually) pick up on the fact they are not loud enough and move it closer to their mouth. Obviously mix as needed but don't over accommodate for the guy using the mic as a prop.
   
   
2. If your console has an eq (if it doesn't, buy a graphic eq) ring out the room before hand. Download an RTA (Real Time Analyzer) on your phone (bunch of free ones out there, if you want to get fancy buy one of these https://www.amazon.com/Dayton-Audio-iMM-6-Calibrated-Measurement/dp/B00ADR2B84). Place the mic about where you think it's going to be. Pump up the gain until you hit feedback. Let it ring for a second so you can find the offending frequency on the RTA. Make a cut on the mic's EQ (don't do you mains, you're a DJ. Your music has no relation to the feedback unless you're underscoring speeches or the mic is on the entire time. That being said if you're using monitors for the speakers then you can EQ those as well, as they won't be playing music I'm assuming). Wash rinse repeat 3-4 times . This cuts out the frequencies that naturally resonate in the room. It won't kill the feedback but you can theoretically push the volume higher without having to worry as much.
   
   
3. Buy a feedback killer. You're a DJ. It doesn't mean you're not a great sound guy. It just means that your job is to put on a great event for the people that hired you. Technical stuff is the last thing you want to be worrying about. They come in the form of tabletop boxes or racks. DBX makes some awesome ones. They all work differently but essentially do what I described earlier automatically. Might work better, might work worse than doing it manually. Either way, as a DJ I'd give them a try.
   
   
4. If you don't know what mic pickup patters are, educate yourself. Im assuming you're using cardioids. Thats good. If by some stroke of lucifer you've inadvertently been using a subcardioid or you're using a hyper-super in front of a monitor, it might be something to look at.
   
   My advice would be this. Read through everything. If there's anything you can do without spending money, do that first. Look at the cost of everything else. Do the cheapest things in order after that until you're happy. This is all assuming you're using a mixing console. If you don't have one, get one. Mackie pro-fx is a great place to start, very affordable, all the features needed for DJ/AV. Stay away from low end behringer (xenyx preamps are GARBAGE on any level). Yamaha MG's are also a good starting place. They have built in compressors (last time I checked) which are nice for these sorts of applications. If you're looking at adding smaller speakers around the room, Alto has a great line of wireless transmitters for a cleaner setup and ease of use.
   
   I hope this helps! Good luck in the spring wedding season man!
   
   

Here's a few options. Depending on where you are in the world some might be more feasible than others. I'm talking from a UK perspective, YMMV.

• Sennheiser HD598 + Antlion ModMic. Can't speak for the quality of the modmic but I own the HD598's and adore them, they're almost unbeatable. The ModMic is essentially a headset mic with velcro pads included so that you can stick it onto pretty much any set of headphones that has space for it.
  
  
• Phillips Fidelio X2 + V-Moda Boompro mic. This is a good option because the Fidelio X2's have a standard 3.5mm port meaning you can plug any 3.5mm mic into it, including the V-Moda Boompro which is essentially a headset mic that can be unplugged (though of much better quality imo). Again, can personally attest to quality as I own both. The X2's are £130 on Amazon rn which is a goddamn goddamn steal in my opinion, but they're better for music than gaming (again, my opinion, it's slightly subjective). They'll still thrash any headset but they don't quite compare to the HD598's for competitive gaming.
  
  
• Speaking of Phillips and 3.5mm ports, a cheaper option than the X2's would be the Philips SHP9500/00. Same benefits as the X2's, but in this case they + the V-Moda Boompro will run you about as much as the X2's alone would. Can't speak for sound quality, haven't tried them, but I hear they're very good.
  
  
• Another option would be the Audio Technica AD700x; from what I have heard this is pretty much the end game for gaming cans. They're legendary, beating out the HD598's by a small margin; small enough that really it's personal preference as to whether you go for these or the Sennheisers. Both will do you proud. Again, an Antlion ModMic would be your best option here, you won't be able to fit a V-Moda Boompro as like with Sennheiser, the AD700x uses a proprietary port.
  
  
• Finally, if you got the cash, you could go for the Audio Technica ATH-ADG1X; essentially Audio Technica have cut out the need for a third party mic by adding their own; it's a headset. The downside to this is that it's expensive for what it is, and you probably leave yourself open to the kinds of issues you'd have with standard headsets (more likely to fail, harder/more expensive to fix if they do). Not really sure how much you'd have to worry about this since it's genuine quality; not the £15 of components stuffed into a £100 headset that passes for "gaming headsets" these days. TimTheTatMan uses one of these on Twitch if I'm not mistaken.
  
  So that's what I recommend. Any option you pick here will theoretically last you a great many years, if not a lifetime, and will outperform any gaming headset. This is because manufacturers of these headsets will spend a tiny amount of cash on the components and a large amount of cash on marketing them, meaning when you buy a gaming headset you're really paying for them to sell it to you. Stuff like I've listed above is all word of mouth; passes the savings onto the consumer who gets a quality product at a good price.
  They're all open backed, meaning they leak sound out and allow outside sound in; the benefit of this is that you get a wider soundstage, which in regard to gaming essentially means better 3D positioning. You can pick out things like footsteps and locate where they're coming from with a great degree of ease.
  
  HD598: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sennheiser-HD-598SR-Over-Ear-Headphone-Black/dp/B06WLGRYSF/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1521973971&sr=1-1&keywords=HD+598
  
  Fidelio X2: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Philips-X2-Headphones-Over-Ear-Cushions-Black/dp/B00MRUPSHQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1521974003&sr=8-1&keywords=Fidelio+x2
  
  Phillips SHP9500/00: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Philips-SHP9500-00-Headphone/dp/B00ENMK1DW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1521974021&sr=8-1&keywords=shp9500
  
  Audio Technica AD700X: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Audio-Technica-ATH-AD700X-backed-Hi-Fi-headphones/dp/B009S332TQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1521974053&sr=8-1&keywords=ad700x
  
  Audio Technica ADG1X: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Audio-Technica-ATH-ADG1X-High-Fidelity-Open-Air-Headset/dp/B01AYZZP5U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1521973470&sr=8-1&keywords=audio+technica+headset
  
  V-Moda Boompro: https://www.amazon.co.uk/V-MODA-BoomPro-Microphone-Gaming-Communication/dp/B00BJ17WKK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1521974126&sr=8-1&keywords=v-moda+boompro
  
  Antlion ModMic: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Antlion-Audio-ModMic-Attachable-Microphone-Uni-Directional-Muteless/dp/B00R98O6R4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1521974091&sr=8-2&keywords=antlion+modmic

these:

https://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technica-ATH-M40x-Professional-Monitor-Headphones/dp/B00HVLUR54

• this:
  
  https://www.amazon.com/Antlion-Audio-ModMic-Attachable-Microphone/dp/B00R98JVVU/ref=sr_1_1?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1491575296&sr=1-1-spons&keywords=modmic&psc=1
  
  and you will be considered the best Girlfriend ever.......there are a million choices out there on the market today, but, in my experiance there are a very few full on pre-made Gaming headsets that are truly super good, sure some sound ok but very few have the sound quality of a decent studio monitor headphone, and for me, that's important. Good luck, and, you're awesome for soliciting info like this, well done!!
  
  whoops, missed the wireless part, sorry!!!!
  
  logtiech artemis is a nice headset, I loved mine till I moved to the set up I have above, decent sound, lots of extras, good range, good mike:
  
  https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Artemis-Spectrum-Wireless-Surround/dp/B0148NPJ78/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1491575575&sr=1-3&keywords=logitech+artemis
  
  and, if he already has some logitech gear, it works in conjunction with the software he already has.

You're going to be doing your ears and the ears of the people you're talking a disservice to by getting a "Gaming Headset." I've owned a Steelseries Siberia v2 for a couple years now and I regret it every time I use them.

Average is the greatest compliment I can give them. Average soundstage, average bass, average highs and average mic quality. And if you're going to be spending ~$90 on a head set you want something that will be more than average.

This is what I wish I went with years ago and what I still wish I could justify buying while my Siberia is functioning:

• $95 Audio Technica ATH-AD700 - "Good for Gaming, Movies (very open soundstage). Good bass response but not bass presence (not thumpy). Comfortable and very very very large." -HeadFi
  
  
• $190 Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO, 80 ohms - "BASS!!! Great soundstage for a closed can. Very good movie and gaming can.+ -HeadFi
  
  
• $10 Zalman Zm-Mic1 High Sensitivity Headphone Microphone - Clip on mic that attaches to your headphone cable. Everything I've heard about this mic have been glowing reviews, amazing sound and fantastic sensitivity.
  
  By going with a pair of headphones that are high quality and feature an exceptional soundstage, which basically means how far around you you can hear (good for picking up footsteps and locating bullet shots), and top of the line sound reproduction you're setting yourself up to have the best of both worlds, gaming and music.
  
  This is all coming from someone who wishes they had more money to spend on audiophile gear. Make sure to check out /r/audiophile as well, they have a lot of good information there as well.
  
  [http://www.head-fi.org/a/buying-guide-headphones-by-price-range]

A huge thing to take care of ASAP: get rid of the echo! A better microphone (I got a $20 USB microphone not unlike this one with a stand that I already had, but something more like this would be a good idea) is a boon. In the room you're in, consider having items that don't bounce sound. There's wall tapestries that can really help cut down on that. And plenty of noise cancelling padding that you can stick on your walls too that are cheap.

Past that you clear your throat a lot and apologize. It gets a bit distracting. Drink water ahead of time and consider sipping as you go. It's nice you maintain regular commentary. Not much downtime. As far as specific commentary, you can probably spend more time talking about what you're immediately doing and putting more energy into the discussion. That's an issue I have too is I'm pretty flat when I do commentary and admittedly most people want more energy. Personally I hate the ADHD bouncing off the walls people, but then again if you have a better audio recording it'll likely come through better. I personally also don't like the vulgar language you use, but that's my personal taste.

One last thing, you're recording at 720. That's not bad itself, but later on you might want to consider sticking with 1080p. You're going to spend hours uploading a 10 minute video, but the video is dramatically more clear. Especially with a video that has text and smaller details, it really makes a difference.

Long story short, getting into putting serious effort and making solid quality early on is going to be a great boon in the long run. First off because you'll get a good reputation for quality content across all your videos and because you'll get into a habit that will make editing and production faster and streamlined. That said, don't batter yourself if what you offer early isn't up to par. You're going to get more comfortable and better with practice.

Depends on some things.
Do you want virtual 7.1 simulation/EAX support? If yes, a standard Xonar DS soundcard for around 30-40USD will suffice. That will help with some of the more expensive headphones too, which will need a bit of extra power to drive.

Pretty much every gaming headset uses rather cheap mics and so can we. All voip comm will get heavily compressed, be it with TS, skype or ingame voice, so you really don't need a high quality mic for gaming. Many gamers are using a Zalman mic for around 10USD, but any cheap, sturdy clip on mic will do.

This left us with around ~150USD for a good headphone. There are plenty of alternatives in the <150USD range, I can give you a couple of often recommended options.

The favorite right now in hi-fi circles is the ATH-m50 at around 130USD.

A very comfortable pair are the AKG K271MKII at the same price level.

To complete the our maxing out the budget trio we have the Ultrasone HFI-780.

All three have superior drivers with very good sound characteristics, very decent isolation and are fun enough to listen to for gaming, music and movies.

But we don't really have to max out the budget to get superior sound quality. There are some very decent headphones under 100USD too, which can more than compete with any high budget gaming headset.

Some examples: Sony MDRZX700
Creative Aurvana Live, especially for Europeans where the price is better
similar famous like the ATH-M50 are the ATH-AD700. It's a open headphone though, so gone is any decent isolation in exchange for a better soundstage.

I could go on for a bit, but those mentioned above are pretty well known and tested with the hi-fi community. You should find plenty of reviews and user experience for them. While some of them are a bit more analytical than most users are used to, they are all pretty fun and warm and not so boring like traditional studio monitors.

Even if we look at the lower budget gaming headsets <100USD, many without any 7.1 simulation, we can find plenty of better sound headphones, especially if we don't need a soundcard.

First of all, hats off to trying to get in on the action early.

I guess it sorta depends on your definition of a gaming setup. I'd recommend building your own desktop to get the most bang for your buck. /r/buildapc is a great subreddit for getting opinions on builds and computer components.

As far as peripherals, you'll want a decent mouse and keyboard. I love my mechanical keyboard, and have not once looked back after getting my first one. There's also a pretty good community at /r/mechanicalkeyboards who rock at giving advice and suggestions. Brands are really important, and I've come to trust Corsair, Logitech, and Steel Series. People will preach about 4K monitors...if you're streaming I'd say skip out on it, especially at your age when you don't have hundreds of dollars to dish out on a monitor alone.

As far as streaming goes, you'll definitely want to pick up a microphone. Most streamers will spread the gospel on Blue Yeti, which is an amazing microphone, but you can easily get something much cheaper for starting out. Another thing you might want to consider is a capture card, which will help alleviate the stress that streaming puts on your computer. It will help improve the quality, and will help with your framerate while gaming.

Other than that, make sure you have persistence. You won't get popular right off, you need to keep at it even when it may seem like no one views your content. If you keep at it, you'll learn. When you learn, you'll get better. That's what will start bringing people in.

Good luck! Feel free to reach out to the community again. We all love helping out!

Awesome man, it's a lot of fun!

I'd say most important thing equipment-wise when starting out is getting a decent mic. Easiest mic setup (if it's just you or maybe two people) is a USB condenser mic, then you can skip a mixer and/or interface altogether.
Most people are keen on the Blue yeti, but in Australia they're not too widely available, so I got a MXL Tempo instead, which does a good enough job. We still need to build it a little foam booth to remove a lot of the echo and room noise.

For PC recordings, we just use Open Broadcasting Software, aka OBS. I've played around with DxTory, fraps, and raptr in the past; OBS trumps them all because of how much control is possible, plus the ability to record in a constant frame-rate, very important when it comes to editing. OBS is a little fiddly to set-up but has given the best results so far, and there's plenty of information out there on it. It is designed as a streaming software but also produces awesome local recordings.

We just bought an Elgato HD game capture for console recordings, which we chose over the Elgato HD60 because the ability to record older consoles was more desirable to us than 60fps recordings. The Elgatos are pretty much accepted online as the best all-rounder out there. No doubt there's better units out there, but hard to beat for the price and ease-of-use.

Finally, an Adobe creative cloud subscription gives you access to Premiere (for editing), Photoshop (for images/thumbnails), and Audition (for voice recording/compression etc), plus Flash, After effects etc. I'm a student so it was a half-price I think.

We haven't tried any streaming yet because of our woeful <1mbp upload haha. Go Australia!

• Budget: $250 max
  
• Source: Realtek ALC1150 on PC motherboard (says it can handle up to 600ohms)
  
• Requirements for isolation: Going to be used for gaming at home mostly, but if I'm buying a bangin' pair of headphones, I'd like to take them to work or on the road sometimes and some isolation would be nice
  
• Preferred type of headphone: Full sized preferably, possibly on-ear
  
• Preferred tonal balance: Overall balanced but I want to be able to hear footsteps and precise gun shot locations in game more than anything else
  
• Past headphones: Wal-mart headphones, Turtle Beach P11, Siberia V2's. Music sounded okay, they were comfortable, I could hear enemies and sounds well in FPS games
  
• Preferred music: I listen to just about everything music wise but I'm more interested in game sound quality
  
• Extra: I've been suggested the K550 and the Q701's from multiple people. I'm leaning partially towards the Q701's as I could use this in-line boom mic since the 701's have a detachable cord, as well many people are saying the soundstage is much larger and I'd be able to hear things much more precisely. Though they then would be lacking the isolation that I'd like to take them around with me. After researching and considering using a clip on zalman or modmic and sleeving the two wires, I want nothing to do with that, which seems to make the 701's even more of the logical choice. I guess I'm just hoping for someone elses opinion or to make sure I'm making the right decision.
  
  
  Also, if there is anything similar to the V-MODA BoomPro mic I listed, I'd be super interested in that as well.
  
  And lastly, just because my budget is $250 doesn't mean I need to spend that much. Pros use $100 headphones and they're the best in the world, I'm 100% looking for something that's nice and will help me in game, but getting the best bang for my buck. I've seen a few people mention the HyperX Cloud's as they're a rebranded headphone and say they're decent. How would those hold up against other options?

From experience, the AD700 is a pretty safe choice, and they're good for the price range in general. Some people may consider the lows/bass pretty weak (and I can see why), but it seems to make the lows play a much more background role. Overall, I'd call them pretty mid-centric.

I haven't heard the AKG K240, but I've been very curious about their sound overall. From what I can gather, they have more bass than the AD700, but some nice extras to consideer on the K240 are the velour AND pleather pads they come with and that their cable is detachable. Usually replacement pads are around $20 or even more, but to have velour pads as well? Using different material earpads actually makes the headphones sound different (not too drastically though).

So to be different, to satisfy curiosity, and for the nice little extras, I'd get the AKG K240. If you like a lot of bass, I'd stay away from the AD700, but if it doesn't matter that much, the AD700 is pretty safe.

Regarding mics, the Zalman mic linked below is sufficient in most cases at $9, but at times it can pick up background noise. One of my friends uses a very, very old Plantronics mono-speaker headset, and even though it's quite literally from either the 1990s or very early 2000s, it hardly picks up background noise (an attempt at mic spamming through an electric piano completely failed and was reduced to a whisper until he set it on the piano speakers) and is the clearest mic I've EVER heard by quite a bit (infinitely better than the Zalman mic). If you'd consider using it, perhaps you can modify it by twistie tying it to the headphone wire or even using Velcro to attach it to your headphone or your wire. To reduce weight, cut out the Plantronic mono headset's headband and/or sound parts and you'll do great. I have no idea what model it is however.

Zalman:

http://www.amazon.com/Zalman-Zm-Mic1-Sensitivity-Headphone-Microphone/dp/B00029MTMQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333784834&sr=8-1

Regarding the Plantronics headset, I tried my best searching for what it could be, but no actual luck. He said it looks much cheaper than the following link though. He found the mic just randomly in his garage. I can't guarantee that this mic is as good as the random garage Plantronics mic though, but it might be a safer risk.

http://www.amazon.com/Plantronics-Cordless-Phone-Headset-M210C/dp/B000ANJVKW/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1333785004&sr=8-11

Because the PS4 is your primary usage with the HD800S, I recommend trying the Creative Sound BlasterX G5. This is entry level as a DAC/AMP combo unit but should work very well in your use case. This device is designed for consoles and PC usage and can produce very good audio from your PS4 (and PC) over a USB connection and it has separate 3.5 mm connections for the headphones and a mic (HD800S does not have a mic, but if you play online games with friends you will want to get something like the Antlion Audio ModMic to turn the headphones into a headset when you want to. If you get the G5, do not use the virtual surround sound SB-Axx1 and Scout Mode options, they are likely not as good as the standard audio output. An alternative to the Creative G5 would be a Schiit Audio Modi 2 DAC (connect to PS4 over optical instead of USB) paired with a Schiit Audio Magni 3 AMP. This "Schiit stack" as it is often called is less gamer focussed (no mic input, etc) but would still be fantastic for gaming and listening to music and is highly recommended in the audio community. You would need both the Magni 3 AMP and the Modi 2 DAC linked together to get sound - whereas you could alternatively use the all in on Creative G5. These options are audiophile entry level, but should impress you since you are so happy with the headphones on the PS4 controller already. I would try and recommend something more expensive, but honestly don't think you need that and I would have difficulty recommending more expensive devices since I dont have proper experience with that level of DACs and AMPs. TLDR; Get the Creative Sound BlasterX G5 if you want to use a mic on your PS4 with the headphones, and get the Antlion Audio ModMic to turn the headphones into a headset when you want to talk in games with friends and online gamers. If you dont need to use a mic on your PS4 and price is no matter to you (G5 is cheaper), then get the Schiit Audio Modi 2 DAC and the Schiit Audio Magni 3 AMP. Also, regardless of which DAC and AMP you get, get some nice cables off Amazon for USB or optical for your setup to connect from the PS4 to your couch/coffee table where you probably game.

Well you have a choice of capture cards out there, here are links to internal capture cards (goes inside a desktop) and external cards my personal recomendation would be an ElGato Game Capture. It is a versitile card and served me well thus far, but please do you own research and find which one you think will suit you the best.

As for editing software there are many routes that you can take, if you have a mac there is imovie which is good for starters, if you have are a PC guy then there a few more options (that I know of). You can go one of two ways 1) Adobe (on sale right now) or 2) Sony. Either is a great choice, I would personally use the adobe choice because eventually it opens up the door to photoshop, premiere, and after affects which are excellent editing softwares.

For microphones I would recomend either the Blue Yeti or the At2020, again both are excellent it is a personal choice and I would say the Blue Yeti because it is more customizable.

All in all please read reviews of all of this stuff and make your own pro/con list for each choice because I cannot tell you a perfect cookie cutter thing to buy, because we all have different needs. I hope this helps, if you need any more help feel free to keep asking away!

EDIT:1: formatting was made nicer

Solution you can try for free if you are dirt broke: might sound a bit weird but if you have 0 budget you make a blanket fort and put your mic inside, making sure the blanket doesn't touch the mic, and stick your head in there to record vocals. Acoustics will improve as the blanket will absorb all the sound. It's a super guerilla-style recording booth. Won't be great, but it'll be an improvement for no money.

Still quite cheap solution: a lapel microphone - those clip-on jobbies you see on people's shirts during talk shows. As you likely know from watching TV, those mics do perfectly well with some mastering and they cost around 10 GBP on Amazon. You can plug them into your phone with some free apps, and use it like a mic pack. You can do really well for very little.

Low-end full-on computer mic: The Blue Snowball is a quite good mic for the price for vocals, though it certainly is more expensive than what you've probably got built-in to your laptop.

Standard recommendation if you've got money is the Blue Yeti. Not much to say here - it's a better desktop mic and you pay more for the quality.

You may also want to consider some homemade solutions like setting up a stand that is disconnected from your computer desk - say for instance drag a bedside-table over beside you and place the mic on it, or invest in a cheap mic arm stand to isolate ambient sound from the microphone.

You can also make your own pop-filter with a coat hanger (bent into a loop) and some pantyhose wrapped around it. If you can find a C-clamp you could just attach it straight to the boom stand.

Zombait! Hello fellow kiwi! I've just been in the same boat as you, I wanted to upgrade my microphone (had a $10 Dick Smiths one) and wanted something much better.

I know everything is super expensive here but I spent about 6 months watching stores in NZ and online to find a place that was affordable. I made my decision only 2 weeks ago, so here we go:

I realised I only wanted to invest in a great microphone once, so after looking for reviews of microphones (only wanted USB) my list contained:

• AT2020 ($$$)
  
• Blue Snowball ($$)
  
• Blue Yeti ($$$)
  
• Blue Yeti Pro ($$$$)
  
  $ = Price range
  
  In the end, I choose to go after the Blue Yeti because it's an superb product, plus many other LPers have them and rate them highly. All of them are great mics though.
  
  Places that listed the Blue Yeti in New Zealand include:
  
  
• Apple Store for $300 NZD
  
• Dodgy other shop (can't remember name) for $260 NZD
  
  After looking online for a couple of months, I kept coming back to Amazon as they are a very established brand, and I trust them.
  
  They stock multiple colours of the Blue products, but generally only one is available to be sent overseas (took a lot of trail and error). For the Blue Yeti, the Platinum Version here is only Yeti available with overseas shipping.
  
  Here is the breakdown of cost (product still has 33% discount).
  
  
  Item Subtotal: USD $149.99
  
  Item including Discount: USD $99.99
  
  -----
  
  Item(s) Subtotal: NZD $126.03
  
  Shipping & Handling: NZD $39.43
  
  -----
  
  Total before tax: NZD $165.46
  
  Sales Tax: NZD $0.00
  
  -----
  
  Total for This Shipment: NZD $165.46
  
  
  The shipping was $40 for the 7-10 working day delivery. There is a 2-4 working day delivery, but just go for 7-10 days as I purchased this one and received mine in 5 working days (1 week from purchase) which made me a happy chap.
  
  $165.46 NZD is MUCH cheaper than the $300 that Apple wanted, and I received it in a week, ready to go. So happy with this purchase.
  
  Hopefully that al helped, if you have any more questions, feel free to either reply to this or PM me.
  
  Cheers! Jack.
  
  EDIT: Formatting.

I wouldn't recommend any traditional gaming headsets, you would do better to get a good pair of headphones and a separate mic. Gaming headsets have good mics, but the speakers are almost always lacking compared to similarly priced headphones.

I've used many headsets from Logitech, Steelseries, Razer, Turtle Beach, and a few other companies, and anything from Sennheiser, Audio Technica, Beyerdynamic, Denon, AKG, or the multitude of quality audiophile manufacturers, will give you far better audio.


Sennheiser makes the only really good headsets in my opinion, the PC350 and PC360, but they are expensive at around $200, and don't sound as good as the HD598's for about the same price.

Steelseries makes okay headsets, but are over priced for the audio quality. The 5Hv2 and 7H are incredibly comfortable, and the Siberia v2 are quite comfy as well (not if you have a large head though, I have 7 7/8 hat size and was fatigued in an hour). Also their build quality is very good. They produce very accurate locational noise, but be warned as Steelseries headsets have no bass at all at the cost of having very clear footstep identification.

I wouldn't even consider Razer products as their build quality is sub-optimal.

Check out: reddit.com/r/audiophile and reddit.com/r/headphones for all the info you want on good headphones.

Also www.head-fi.org/a/headphone-buying-guide is a good place to start.

For gaming I use Audio Technica ATH-AD700 and Zalman Zm-Mic1. The AD700's don't have a large bass presence, so bass thumps don't interfere with footsteps and important locational noise (which they produce very accurately). These are by far the most comfortable headphones I have ever had on. The ModMic is also a very good mic option for any headphone.


Do a little research on the audio sub-reddits and you will find the perfect solution for your needs.

pc-kombo shared list

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Core i7-7700K | $323.59 @ superbiiz
Motherboard | ASRock Z270 Extreme4 | $139.99 @ newegg
Memory | Team Group T-Force Dark grey, DDR4-3000, CL16 - 16 GB Kit (16 GB) | $128.99 @ newegg
SSD | SanDisk Plus 960GB TLC (960 GB) | $259.99 @ Amazon.com
Video Card | Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Aorus 11G | $708.99 @ superbiiz
Case | PHANTEKS Enthoo Pro Midi-Tower - white Window | $109.99 @ Amazon.com
Power Supply | Seasonic X-Series (650 W) | $99.9 @ Amazon.com
CPU Cooler | be quiet! Dark Rock 3 | $64.99 @ superbiiz
Operating System | Windows 10 Home (32/64-bit, USB Flash Drive) | $102.99 @ superbiiz
| Total | $1939.42
| Generated by pc-kombo 04.08.2017 |

I normally don't do color schemes, but I made an exception here ;) Best gaming cpu with best gpu, you can play VR and everything else on this. 16 GB of fast ram (absolutely enough) and a 1TB SSD, a solid board and case as well as a high quality psu. The build is overclockable.

For the rest, there are many options, but I selected good ones:

Display: Dell S2716DG, https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824260333, 144Hz 1440p and Gsync.
Keyboard: Plugable mechanical, https://www.amazon.com/Plugable-Mechanical-Enthusiasts-Backlighting-Double-shot/dp/B01MA6O13L
Mouse: Razer Deathadder, https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA4RE4638718 - but there are so many alternatives you could get instead, browse a bit through the selection
Chair: I suggest a visit to Ikea, Markus is a great chair.
* Headset: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA7NT5JA1563 + https://www.amazon.com/Zalman-Zm-Mic1-Sensitivity-Headphone-Microphone/dp/B00029MTMQ/ - that's a very cheap solution, but it is also a very good one. Dedicated Headphones are way better than a gaming headset.

Overall people overthink these products. If you look at what pro gamers use, the answer is almost always whatever their sponsor provides. Ultimately peripherals aren't that different and you will get used to whatever have.

Mice are subjective. Some prefer a larger, palm-filling mouse like a deathadder or a g403, but plenty of people with large hands use smaller mice as well, like the logitech g-pro. Personally, I use a g303 with claw grip. As long as you have appropriate side buttons and an optical sensor you're fine. I suggest going to a store that has mice on display and seeing what feels right in your hand. You should be able to find something suitable for $30-40, perhaps less.

For mouse pad get a very large generic pad from Amazon for ~$10. I like the ~3 ft wide mouse mat style that goes all the way under the keyboard. I got the Corsair one at Best Buy on sale for $15.

On headset you should consider getting a decent set of headphones and using a separate mic. They make mics that clip on, like this. The mic just needs to be functional, unless you really care about other people's sound quality. Headphones are one area where you might want to get something a little nicer, since comfort and sound quality are noticeable. I have the Philips SHP9500s, at ~$50 street price, which sound great and are very comfortable.

Okay, get a better mic and pop filter. I would recommend the Blue Yeti (it's super well-priced for the quality), and you can really use any old pop filter. Look around a bit for tutorials on cleaning up and processing vocal tracks.

Now on the actual subject. Personally, I tend to prefer dense hiphop production, à la El-P, but I can definitely recognize when it's well put together. The mixing is pretty decent actually; levels are pretty good and nothing is glaringly out-of-place. I would try to increase the stereo width a bit, but that's just me. Otherwise, the song itself is pretty good and you obviously have the technical talent. Just keep writing making music. Here's a link to a really long, but really good mixing tutorial. I highly recommend it, if you're interested.

Starting a channel is pretty difficult, trust me I know what it’s like! My feedback would be to maybe instead of having the entire 40 minute video, you should break it up into smaller pieces pertaining to whatever topic you were on. That way people will less likely click away from a 40 minute video, especially if they don’t know you yet. After you cut up the video into smaller segments, then go ahead and release the full video Incase anyone wants to listen/watch the entire thing. Also, I know you’re just starting out, so somewhere down the road, you might want to consider upgrading your audio quality. One mic that I highly recommend that’s not terribly expensive is the Blue Yeti Microphone. It sounds amazing! I would recommend upgrading your camera quality too, but I know it’s your first one so I’m not too concerned on that. But eventually you will need to upgrade if you’re serious about it.

Another thing is to try to sound more excited. one thing that I like to do when I’m on camera, is to be an exaggerated version of yourself. Turn everything up a notch when you’re making a video, you don’t have to turn it all the way up to 11, but just try to make things sound more exciting when your on.

Last and the most important thing is to keep going! The more content you make, the better you will become at it! I’m no big youtuber, not even close, but I would say I’ve gotten better since I first started making videos. Since you’re brand new, don’t worry about viewers. Don’t be discouraged when you see not many or sometimes no one watches. Me personally, I Enjoy making videos for myself and if anyone watches cool, if not, so what I’m still doing something I enjoy.

These are a couple of things that I’ve learned along the way, I wish you the best of luck on your journey and whatever you do, make sure you enjoy it.

I'm really liking the video quality, although we'll have to see what your on-the-table shots look like. One thing I'd recommend that a lot of people sadly forget about is audio quality - It's almost as important as video quality! Yours seems to be alright - It's not noticeably bad by any means, just a slight echo that doesn't really get in the way of anything. What are you using as your camera setup?

Here's a few things I've learned from video editing for the past few years:

• Don't make it too long. Model making videos tend to run pretty long, and that's fine, but there's a few videos out there that run for hours. You can cut down the length on videos without losing out on any information. These can range from doing things like speeding up the video (Like Andy's Hobby Headquarters does) or by just showing part of the process and then cutting to the finished result (Like [Games Workshop does in their tutorials.](https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=vLsteSBHEcM)) - Either one works pretty well!
  
  
• Don't be afraid of your first few videos not looking amazing, being sloppily edited, the audio being terrible or something like that. It happens! You can fix all sorts of mistakes in post-production. Also, don't stop making videos. Learn by doing! The more content you make, the more you learn. The more you learn, the better your content becomes.
  
  
• Speaking of post production, have you decided how you're going to do your narration? There's some folks who do it as they work, which I generally think isn't the best method in the world but it involves less editing afterwards, and it can work well if done right. I'd personally go with doing all your audio in post production. So you do all the modeling and filming first, then you record audio over the edited version of the footage. This allows you to have two separate recording setups - Your garage, which might not be optimal for audio due to the echo that comes with being in a large empty space. There's a lot of great microphones out there, I'd personally recommend either the Blue Yeti or the Blue Snowball - Both are really well priced considering how good their audio quality is.
  
  
• Lighting is super important! A couple of desk lamps should help a whole lot.
  
  Sorry about the wall of text! If you have any questions, shoot! I might not have all the answers you want, but I have edited and shot my fair share of videos. It's a bit slow at first, but you become used to it when you learn to use the editing software, which is usually a lot simpler than it looks at first glance.
  
  Anyway, I'm really excited about your channel, and I hope my info helped!
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Budget - ~$150 USD
  
  
• Source - Desktop, Laptop, Phone, MP3 Player - Also, I'll be using a V-Moda BoomPro Mic on the computers, so the headphones need to be compatible. (It seems like any 3.5mm detachable cable will do.)
  
  
• Requirements for Isolation- Open.
  
  
• Will you be using these Headphones in Public? No.
  
  
• Preferred Type of Headphone Around-Ear.
  
  
• Preferred tonal balance - Warm bass to neutral. The treble spikes on the DT 990's scared me away though I've never actually tried them out in person.
  
  
• Past headphones - V-Moda Crossfade LP (had these for 5 years; still using them to this day, but I want to get some open cans to go along with them), AKG K240 (I ordered these on a whim, and had to return them because they weren't compatible with my mic. Nice sound signature though), Turtle Beach Earforce X12 headset (These sound and feel fine. The mic works well, but the build quality was terrible. The plastic extenders snapped on both sides within a year of use).
  
  
• Preferred Music - Hip Hop, Rock, Indie, Instrumental, Classical
  
  
• What would you like to improve on from your set-up -
  
  

1. Open headphones (since I already own a good pair of closed)
   
   
2. Felt/velvet/velour earpads for extended use
   
   
3. Compatible with a V-Moda BoomPro Mic
   
   
4. I really liked the AKG K240's style and feel when I was wearing them. They felt very lite weight, like they were almost floating over my head. And using only one cup at a time felt very natural and secure. The individual arms felt very flexible. I liked that a lot, but this isn't a make or break requirement as I've been using Crossfade LPs for years and still love them.
   
   From my own (limited) research, I've got my eye on Sennheiser's HD 598 and HD 558, but I would have to buy an aftermarket 2.5mm to 3.5mm adapter. I don't mind the price of an adapter, but I don't want it to be cumbersome. And are the HD598's better by $40? They seem to nearly be the same exact headphone.

I use a crappy Sharkk mouse I got for 15 dollars from EBay. It may feel flimsy and I may have to super glue the scroll wheel to the actually wheel every couple weeks but hey it works. I mainly bought this because A) It was on sale for 15 dollars B) It has two extra buttons and C) It got dem lights.

For my keyboard I'm using a flips keyboard over [KB-0325](http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTIwMFgxNjAw/z/fYcAAMXQhuVROMdI/$(KGrHqF,!jkFD1HN61hYBROMdIB!d!~~60_1.JPG) (Not my image). I actually really like this keyboard even if it is ancient. It gets the job done and while the 4 key on the number pad messes up occasionally and types multiple 4's, I'm not sure if I would enjoy anything better. I've had it since I built my computer and its always stuck by my side through thick and thin.

Headphone wise I'm using JVC HARX700's. I actually really like these headphones and I got them as a gift so I'm happy.

I don't know if it counts but I borrowed a Blue Yeti Mic from for almost four months before returning it last month. I mainly used the Blue to record. no not another crappy lets play video, but I'm currently working on some heavier vocal stuff.

So as you see a big factor in my purchases is price. I'm not proud of my gear, but I am willing to go out on a limb and buy a cheaper rip off version and save a few bucks toward a car and the likes then spend 100 dollars on a mouse so I can feel cool. Not that expensive parts are bad, I just personally find I can get by with cheaper things and save money for other things be it cars, school, food, or my PC innards (GTX 660, 8gig Corsair RAM, 2+1tb Western Digital and Seagate HDD, AMD Phenom II x4, cheap Cooler Master Case, MSI Military Class mother board that I cant remember). I may be a penny pincher and I do know that cheap things don't last quite as long, but in my current situation cheap will get me buy.

Good luck to everyone else and thanks for the giveaway OP!

Yeah I could suggest a few.

[Blue Yeti] (http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Microphones-Yeti-USB-Microphone/dp/B002VA464S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418924712&sr=8-1&keywords=blue+yeti&pebp=1418924714123)
MXL 990 Condenser Mic
Audio Technica AT2035 I have owned all of these and they might be pricey for you, but any one of them are worth the investment. My favorite is the AT4040, but that is like $300. The AT2035 is a great alternative to that and it's what I use a secondary. Anyone of these are fine just read some reviews check out their manufacturer's webpage. It's important to get a good mic that is right for you. For example the Blue Yeti was nice, but I have a kinda high pitched voice and it was not picking up mid frequencies as well as I would have liked.

If you don't feel like spending that much a couple of good mics are:
Audio Technica ATR2500 $66 on Amazon.
and
MXL 770 $60 on Amazon

EDIT: Forgot to mention. We actually have pretty similar voices oddly enough as it is. Another thing I noticed was the amount of essing (the his sound while pronouncing s) and a little bit of pop on hard consonants. I would lean towards getting a mic with a good mid-range focus and a pop-filter.

idk what your price range is but ill name a list of headsets iive know are good.ive tried a couple and i personally own the astro a40 tr https://www.amazon.com/ASTRO-Gaming-A40-TR-PC-Headset/dp/B014LH5LH4/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1468999233&sr=1-2&keywords=astro+a40+tr

Razer man o war te edition Very comfortable and has a good bass response
http://gear.blizzard.com/overwatch-razer-manowar-headset

Logitech g633 amazing sound ive tried these i absoultely loved them but i was able to buy keep these at the time i had them
https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Artemis-Spectrum-Surround-Headset/dp/B013P0K8OE/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1468999270&sr=1-1&keywords=logitech+g633

Hyper x cloud ii/revolvers basically an audiophile headset called takstar something idk remember the numbers with a mic
https://www.amazon.com/HyperX-Cloud-Gaming-Headset-PS4/dp/B00SAYCXWG/ref=sr_1_2?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1468999356&sr=1-2&keywords=hyper+x+cloud

https://www.amazon.com/HyperX-Revolver-Headset-HX-HSCR-BK-NA/dp/B01CIEBU54/ref=sr_1_3?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1468999397&sr=1-3&keywords=hyper+x+cloud

If you want an audiophile grade open back headphones you can get the phillips shp9500 with a vmoda boom pro(replaces the 3.5mm cable from the phillips with a 3.5mm cable with a mic attached to it that actually works really good ive personally have used the vmoda boom pro, and these also dont have much bass since they are open back but will give you a good soundstage and a more flat overall sound which is great)
https://www.amazon.com/Philips-SHP9500-Precision-Over-ear-Headphones/dp/B00ENMK1DW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468999443&sr=8-1&keywords=phillips+shp9500

https://www.amazon.com/V-MODA-BoomPro-Gaming-Headset-Headphone/dp/B00BJ17WKK/ref=pd_bxgy_23_img_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=RMHT9CZPCNN63DNKGWBC

Turtle beach elite pro pretty new but looks amazing
https://www.amazon.com/Turtle-Beach-Tournament-ComforTec-TruSpeak-Technology/dp/B01EM9PLVC

Senheisser game one/zero one is a closed back and one is a open dont remember which one is which
https://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-GAME-ZERO-Gaming-Headphone/dp/B00KNPYAEY/ref=sr_1_sc_2?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1468999133&sr=1-2-spell&keywords=senheisseer+game+one

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GWU8FTK/ref=twister_B00OZP5HG8?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Plantronics rig 500/500hd/500e(just little variations in between still the exact same headset one is just stereo,one is surround sound, and one issurround and comes with different sets of earcups closed and open. ive also personally used these they are fantastic but i wouldnt recommend if you have big ears normal to small ears fit inside the cups well)
http://www.plantronics.com/us/product/rig-500hc

http://www.plantronics.com/us/product/rig-500hd

http://www.plantronics.com/us/product/rig-500e

If anything is out of your price range i can probably recommend some other ones but these are the ones i can think of on the top of my head feel free to ask any questions

So this is just my opinion; take what you want from it.


Main build parts look great. They will easily crush OW, RL, and RS:S. CS:GO is the only one that looks a bit concerning. From my personal experience and benchmarks I have looked at, there is a direct correlation between the cpu clock speed and the peformence (csgo is largely cpu based). If you're not planning to play a lot of AAA games (don't worry, you'll still be able too), I would wait a bit and get the RX 470 instead of the 480. This will let you run the CPU intensive games you seem to want at a higher framerate (think CS:GO at 300fps, which is what people aim around for very competitive play). More info on why you would want 300 and not 144 can be found here. Keep in mind that youtube video does have some extra stuff in it that is specific to CS:GO.

Ram seems to be good. I have the same ssd and hard drive as you put on that list, and I love them. Friend got the case you put down (talked to him and he said he loves it). He also said the same about that psu (he has the 650w version).

Now lets move on to the peripherals. Monitor is good. I have a slightly different monitor with the same panel inside that works flawlessly. The one gripe you may have with that monitor is you can't swivel and turn it with the included stand. Nothing hard to fix up with a stand from monoprice (costs $20 though :/). Zowie fk2 is great. I got a different zowie, but they are all absolutely wonderful. Qck+ (used to have but moved on) is good for a couple months (6 or so) and then gets a little worn out and worse for tracking. Damn they are a good price though. I do not know much about headphones, nor know someone who does, so I don't have much to comment on them. I feel like you could get better, but I have no clue.

The mic and the keyboard. Welp! the mic seems incredibly overpriced TBH. Unless your gonna be using it to stream on twitch regularly, I don't really feel it's worth the price. I got THIS one, and have been using it for a year with no issues at all. Absolutely wonderful for skype and in game chat. TEST AUDIO FROM MIC

Now the keyboard isn't that great. With a cheaper mic and gpu you can get a better one for a reasonable price. Also check out /r/mechanicalkeyboards (an absolute amazing sub).



BASED ON ALL OF THAT THIS IS WHAT I RECOMMEND
even though it's more expensive you can feel free to take bits and pieces of my recommendations and not others :)
now I'm going to bed

anybody feel free to critique me cause I'm not perfect

Don't buy any of that gamer gear. They are overpriced and quality is subpar. Go with these two these two; Sennheiser HD598 and Antlion Modmic.

Sennheiser HD598 are one of the best headphones for the price in the market right now. They are open-back, meaning that the ear cups are open, thus sound leaks towards your surrounding but external noise is also not isolated. If you plan to play at home it is a great choice. Moreover the soundstage is superb (since they are open back). The mic is probably the best you can get for $50. Great sound quality and it also attaches on the headphones.

If you want to make the headphones sound even better consider buying an amplifier and a DAC in the future. Maybe you'll want even a different, more advanced model in a couple of years.

Come by /r/headphones! The community is very friendly and you can dwell into more the audio world.

Hey SunQueenKing!

I know Newgrounds has a lot of musicians who you can contact to work with and they'll let you use their projects: http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/

Another thing you might consider is that a microphone now literally costs under $5 to start. http://www.amazon.com/Neewer-3-5mm-Hands-Computer-Microphone/dp/B005DJNRQM/ref=sr_1_1?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1416750152&sr=1-1&keywords=lav+mic It's obviously not going to be the GREATEST mic in the world, but it will get you started, and for less than the cost of a cheeseburger. Just something to consider!

I'd also highly recommend you give a go at some animation exercises, specifically ones dealing with the principals of animation. They aren't going to be quite as quick or exciting as animating characters, but you'll learn foundations that will allow you to take your character work SO much farther, and make it a ton better and more interesting to watch. Here's a list I made a few years back, if it's helpful: http://www.animatorisland.com/51-great-animation-exercises-to-master/

I do my best not to live with regrets, but one thing I do often wish I had done earlier was focus on these simple exercises before jumping into full character animation (limited as it was) with FredtheMonkey.com. It was fun to make those cartoons, but I'm so far behind now than where I'd like to be because I never did those foundational exercises. So it pays to start those first!

Have fun!

Ah ok, that's probably the reason. Most built in microphones will not be as good as the microphones you buy in stores/online. They pick up the sounds of your laptop fan and other noises. It's alright if you're a beginner just trying to start but it'll quickly need to be replaced as some people might not even consider following you if there's an annoying sound constantly playing.

Since I haven't heard your microphone then all I can say is that if it doesn't sound like your ears are about to bleed then feel free to use it for starters(test this with a friend or some viewers). But I suggest you get a dedicated microphone for streaming.

----

Microphones my friends and I have used

If you're able to buy a microphone then the ones that my friends and I have experience with are the following:

• Blue's Snowball Microphone
  
  
• Blue's Yeti Microphone
  
  Here's a video that show's off both microphones and an extra
  
  Other Microphones
  
  I've heard that these are also good, though I have no experience with them.
  
  
• Blue's NESSIE Microphone : Review
  
  
• Samson's Go Microphone : Review
  
  
• Samson's CO1U microphone : Review
  
  ----
  
  Some tips for your microphone
  
  I suggest you get a pop filter^[1] for your microphone if you decide to buy one. Then, if possible, you should also get a Shock Mount^[2] but that isn't as crucial as the pop filter.
  
  

1. Pop filters are designed to stop Plosives from being heard when recording. Plosives are puffs of air that emit when saying words that start with certain letters, such as P or B. They can ruin a recording for people that over-exaggerate the begging of some words. Pop filter Example
   
   
2. The best way I can describe a Shock-Mount is a if the mount is a cradle for your microphone. Any bumps or small movements to a Microphone NOT using a Shock-Mount will cause it to be heard in recording, meaning you'll hear all these small sounds in the background. It's easier to just show you what a shock mount does
   
   ----
   
   There's a bit more to recording your microphone, like sound proofing, but that's for another day. I just wanted to give you a list of microphones and some tips that could help you out if you're a new to streaming/recording.
   
   Good Luck! As I said before, if your laptop's microphone doesn't make your ears(or a friends' ears) bleed then go ahead and use it for how ever long it takes you to save up and buy a better microphone. But I suggest you not wait too long if you have the choice.
   
   Edit: Markup
   
   Edit2: Grammar
   
   Edit3: Reworded the first section's title.

Two picks that you can't go wrong with are:

Open backs: Fidelio X2 + VModa BoomPro

Closed backs: Audio-Technica MSR7 + VModa BoomPro

Spendy yes, but these are essentially the top of the heap for great sounding, well built, comfortable, and easy to use headsets. Compatible with pc and most consoles, either of these should last a lifetime save for maybe the cords or pads which are replaceable. Buying 'Used - Like New' is an option to save a bit.

If you decide using a desktop mic is an option, then the DT990's have already been suggested. The ModMic is an attachable mic option that works with everything, but it adds yet another cord so it's not an option I'm particularly fond of.

If you decide the options above are just more than you really want to spend, there are a few good budget picks as well.

From my Research (Edit: I should clarify, these are what I've found to be considered the "best" buy--that is not necessarily the best pure performance, but the best performance/quality per dollar. Many other people have covered upgraded options that perform better, but a steep cost):

• Best is a Good pair of Headphones + A Desktop Mic or ModMic.
  
  
• Best Single-Unit, Gaming Headset is a HyperX Cloud variant.
  
  
• Best Wireless is a Logitech G533/G933.
  
  Currently I personally use a ModMic + ATH-M50X's
  
  It works great but I'm going to go to Wireless next because my cat is in love with laying on my lap and chewing on cables :/
  
  

• Will he actually require a m.2 ssd? I'm not saying its not good but for the same price you can grab him a 1TB ssd rather than a 512. Just a suggestion. Not saying you should do this. :P
  
  
• You should test out mice with him. G502 is a good mouse but not for everyone. There are other mice like the Zowie FK1/2, EC1/2, Deathadder, etc. that fit people better. Finding the right mouse is everything for a gamer. Also, make sure to buy him a good mousepad to go with the mouse. There are a lot out there so a bit of research will be needed lol.
  
  
• Watercooling is nice and all but they go out sooner than later. Multiple builds in the family that have had water cooling go out within a year or two. Cheaper to replace fans than it is water cooling. Really good systems for air cooling that will keep temps down, even at high over-clocks.
  
  
• A gamer is never complete without a gaming headset. https://www.amazon.com/Philips-SHP9500-Precision-Over-ear-Headphones/dp/B00ENMK1DW goes on sale every other week for ~56$. Add https://www.amazon.com/V-MODA-BoomPro-Gaming-Headset-Headphone/dp/B00BJ17WKK/ref=pd_bxgy_23_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=FNMCF7A6N6YMCZBEK9RD to that and it's the best gaming headset you can buy for under 150$ (ask anyone here). You can go for the slightly better http://www.bestbuy.com/site/sennheiser-audiophile-over-the-ear-headphones-titan/1700513.p?skuId=1700513 but you will need to modify it slightly (easy to do): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_fd3PzoTeY

What kind of games do you play? For competitive FPS where positional queues and imaging are important, I'd go with a used HD700 or even HD800. Will be hard to find on a $400 budget, but maybe you'll find the 700.

For more single player or immersive games, you have a lot of different options. This will come down to more of what sort of sound signature you like (bass, mid, treble forward?). I would put the HD600 series here moreso than in the competitive gaming realm.

Honestly, once you get above where you're at now, the diminishing returns become pretty apparent. I don't notice enough difference when gaming between my ATH-AD700x and my HD800 that would make me want to spend the difference for gaming alone. Sure the soundstage on the 800s is wider and the imaging slightly better, but it doesn't translate to that much of an edge in game. The 700x (or 598 in your case) is already leaps and bounds ahead of whatever other fart cannons most other people are using. I'd honestly just stick with what you've got.

As stated in other replies, get a desktop mic, a boom mic, a modmic, or any sort of wired clipon. Most/all gaming headsets are not great, or just OK, and you will be sacrificing sound quality and soundstage going to one of those from your 598s. This mic is $10 and actually sounds pretty darn good. I clip it on to whatever pair of headphones I pick up (depending on the game).

What are you driving your 598s with? You may see some improvement investing in your source.

Save your money and don't buy super fancy cables expecting much difference. Good solid cables shouldn't cost more than $50. It might be an unpopular opinion, but I don't think they drastically change the sound signature, at least to my ears.

I'm currently using the AKG K7XXs and love them, but those are pretty pricy.

The Sennheiser HD518s are great. I've owned a couple of the HD5xx models, can't remember which exactly, but they were excellent headphones and EXTREMELY comfortable for hours on end. Very good sound. Absolutely a great line.

You could then throw on something like this and you're still close to your original budget...

Budget: $175

Source: My Laptop

Requirements for Isolation: None, I think. I'll be using them at home only and if necessary I can just shut my door

Preferred type: Full-sized, circumaural

Preferred tonal balance: Unsure but I guess balanced? Hopefully my music preference/use will allow for some input here

Past Headphones: Beats are the only notable pair I've had. I enjoyed they way they sounded but that could just be because they were the first non generic pair that I've used. Biggest gripe would be buying batteries.

Preferred music: Electronic, Video Game soundtracks (usually orchestral), hip hop, and power metal

I'd like to use them primarily for music (most importantly) and also as a headset for gaming, although I won't need them for CoD style gameplay where footsteps are important. I was thinking about buying non-gaming headphones and just buying a mic but I'm open to anything.

Regarding standalone mics, I went through Mad Lust Envy's guide and was looking at the V-moda BoomPro and was wondering if it was worth the price? Also I've heard great things about the Zalman and was wondering if I should just get that to save money.

Thanks!

Edit: This is a repost since I'd like a few more responses. u/andysaurus_rex suggested HE-300 but I've also heard that they are just okay for electronic music. I'd like a pair that's made moreso for electronic music/bassy but if u/andysaurus_rex's suggestion still fits best and I've just been misinformed then I'll do that.

Also, if anyone has any input on the mics, that would be much appreciated.

He has some good advice. But for the love of all that is holy. Please do not buy a "gaming" headset.

Invest in a good pair of headphones and attach something like a Antlion Mod-Mic to it. You'll end up with far better sound, a similar if not better mic, for around the same or cheaper price as those "high end gaming" headsets.

Something like this: Audio-Technica ATH-AD700 $99 + Antlion ModMic $32 or Zalman Zm-Mic1 Clip-On Mic $6.99

Gives you a set of incredibly good sounding headphones for both music and gaming, and a mic comparable to the one you are going to find on any headset out there (no matter how expensive, unless you want to go super high end).

If you don't like the look of the ATH-AD700s, then browse through this wonderful thread/font of knowledge on headphones at Head-Fi.org: Link.

As for mechanical keyboards, the Steelseries 6Gv2 Cherry MX Black is a good choice.

In terms of mice, I suggest you go to your local computer shop and try out mice there with your hand. You need to find one that fits the way you like to grip your mouse and one that is fit for you. I'd even recommend the same with the mechanical keyboards. A place like Frys is a great place to test them out as the regularly have the mechanical keyboards out on display to test.

I linked them in my post, but for ease:

Headphones: A good entry pair would be the Philips SHP9500S. Check out /r/headphones' headphone purchasing guide if you'd like to actually figure out what headphones would best suit you. Everyone's different.

Mic: If you want one that will resemble that of a gaming headset's mic, then the Antlion Modmic is great, and attach magnetically (I believe?). If you'd like an inexpensive mic that isn't attached to your headphones, the Samson Go is actually pretty awesome. It's shockingly-close to sounding like the Blue Yeti Pro. Here's a sound test involving the two microphones mentioned.

I come from the audiophile world, so a couple things I need to know before I offer any recommendations....
-Price, now I know you said "unlimited" but are you willing to include a DAC too?
-Listening preferences/uses, do you like music with a lot of bass or do you like a flat sound signature? Will you be doing competitive FPS where you might want more treble to hear footsteps easier?
-Environment, are you in a room by yourself or is your PC quiet enough where an open back headset is okay or do you want total isolation from any noise around you? (NOTE: open back provides better sound stage at the cost of you hearing stuff around you and other people if they're close hearing what's playing)

Last...AND FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS HOLY.....DON'T, I repeat DON'T buy a gaming headset if you want good sound quality unless you want to fork over more money than you have to.

Having said all that, one recommendation is the Phillips SHP9500 with Vmoda boom pro (open back) all for around $100 IIRC on Amazon.

Another recommendation is the Phillips Fidelio X2 with before mentioned boom pro.

IF you want "f*ck all outside noise" the Bose QC 35 will work (mic cord included)

However, probably the best idea out there is the Modmic (link: https://www.amazon.com/Antlion-Audio-ModMic-Attachable-Microphone/dp/B00R98JVVU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1503259595&sr=8-1&keywords=modmic) pick your favorite headphone and attach a mic to it)
Then you can completely go balls to the wall and get something like the ShureSRH1540.

Or just say fuck it and buy the Sennheiser Orpheus ;)

Almost anything with a built in mic is going to sacrifice audio or build quality. A cheap and popular solution is to get this Zalman clip on mic. Of course, it won't be the highest quality, but it's certainly good enough for chat. Look for something better if you're recording for lets plays or anything like that.

I love Sennheiser's open cans, but they're open and can get uncomfortable after long gaming sessions. The hifiman will need an amp, so that will go beyond your budget. If you can afford an extra ~$100 for an amp, the Hifiman HE-400 is really an incredible option. Super comfortable, though fairly heavy.

Also look at Beyerdynamics. At ~$160, it gives you room for an amp. Very comfortable too.

Try to test drive a pair if you can. Some websites have generous return policies so you can try them out.

> Is AMD as good as Intel nowadays or should I focus on Intel i5i7?

AMD's R5 series is extremely competitive to intel, I would personally purchase the R5 1600/1600x if I was building a new PC today. The Intel i7 7700k manages to beat Ryzens R7 1800x and 1700x due to its higher IPC and clock speeds. This is relevant at very high framerates such as 1080p 144FPS. At 60FPS in either 1080p, 1440p, or 4K the CPU's are pretty much the same (But with AMD having far more headroom for streaming, recording, or multi-tasking due to its superior core count). So it only really matters if you are going for extremely high refresh rates. Both are nearly equal at 90 or 120 in many titles with intel pulling away after that.


> I'd like to run dual displays do need special video cards for that nowadays? Or do most PCs have that as an option now?

Most GPU's and Mobos come with multiple display outs. So you can run both displays off your GPU. No special items needed.

> I capture gameplay using an Elgato and my Mac to capture for my PlayStation's should I get an internal card? Any recommendations?

Not really into streaming myself. Many people use programs such as OBS software as an "on the cheap" solution. Could you not also use your Elgato with your PC?


> If I didn't go Dell one other PC manufacturers are a good choice?

I am very partial to building your own PC. Today its even easier then when you were doing it! Your 1400$ could go a lot farther by building your own.

> I'd appreciate some Amazon links to any other recommendations for gear I plan on podcasting so I need some microphone stands/lighting/dual monitor stands (are mounting brackets universal now?) if you have any recommendations for this fire away

Yeti Blue - https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Yeti-USB-Microphone-Silver/dp/B002VA464S/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1500325780&sr=8-4&keywords=yeti+blue Is probably one of the most popular USB plug and play Mics for streaming. It has excellent sound quality, dead simple set up and has multiple pickup patterns depending on where you position it and how you set-it up.

If you want a bit cheaper the Yeti snowball again is very popular, If you want a bit more of a higher end mic then I would suggest the Audio Technica AT2020 XLR , which would require both a phantom power source for the cable and an interface (like the Focusrite Scarlett Solo.) Generally I wouldn't hop into these types of set-ups unless you are willing to do your research and are willing to put a section of your budget towards the audio. For 97.5% of streamers/podcasts the USB Yeti Blue / competitors at that price range will serve you well.

Most boom stands are standardised. Its just a matter if you want the table pincher or the full stand with the base. 99% of the 20-30$ ones work great.

| Introduction | Last-Gen Crusher | Next-Gen Crusher | Value (Recommended) | Enthusiast | Kiss of Gaben |

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Last Updated on October 13th, 2013

IMPORTANT! READ THIS!

The Radeon R9 series coming out. That means it may be a good idea to WAIT on buying any parts. Existing Radeons will get cheaper, and the new ones will offer better performance. Thank you.

Introduction

Here I will be explaining why I chose the parts I did in the various builds, a little information on how to assemble for those who need reference, and other important tidbits of information. Stay tuned. If you have any questions, just tail one onto this post and it will be added if it's helpful for others.

Why does no build include a display, mouse, or keyboard?

Glad you asked. Chances are, the builder already has some or all of these things. If not, you'll want to shop around for well-rated 1080p displays and well-rated mice and keyboards. Try to get a mechanical keyboard if you can, the difference really is night and day. There's also a large table below with a lot of good parts to choose from. Take a look!

Why do you only have AMD cards?

I'm working on adding both nVidia and AMD options where applicable. If you find an nVidia or AMD card that's faster and the same price as the one that's already offered, please do leave me a comment so I can add it. AMD and nVidia are pretty much the same now, so it mostly comes down to price and multi-GPU needs. It's worth noting that nVidia's SLi technology is better than AMD's Crossfire. I normally end up with AMD cards for single-GPU and nVidia for multi-GPU.

Why are you using AMD CPUs? They suck. You stupid fanboy, etc.

Reason #1: PCs are supposed to last a long time, and Intel's latest Ivy Bridge and Haswell chips have a measly 3-5 years of life expectancy before they dry out on the inside. Why do they dry out on the inside, you may ask? Because Intel decided to stray away from the industry standard "fluxless solder" they had under the CPU lid and use cheap thermal paste instead.

Reason #2: AMD FX chips are not nearly as bad as the big reviewers suspiciously made it look. It does indeed trade blows with Intel, but overall in a (real world, read: not 800x600 benchmarks) normal situation, it does better. Game streaming, straight-up gaming, and productivity all do well on the FX chips.

Reason #3: Next-Gen console ports (AKA, a chunk of all PC games for the next 8 years) are going to be built for AMD's x86 module-based architecture as well as their GCN GPU architecture. Sources: [1], [2]

Reason #4: Evolving software. When the 8-core chips were first announced in 2011, we could barely utilize 6 cores with our games and applications. It was so bad that AMD and Microsoft had to release a patch for Windows just for the things to work right. Times have changed. Developers are better at juggling cores and continue to get better as time goes on. In optimal situations with the cores being fully utilized, a $199 8350 can even land a punch on the newer $339 i7-4770k.

Reason #5: AMD's motherboards have better backwards and forwards compatibility. You can use anything as far back as an AM2 single-core Sempron up to a 2014 Steamroller. They're also generally a good bit cheaper than the Intel-based boards with comparable features.

Reason #6: Have you seen how cheap AMD's CPUs are? The FX-6300 and FX-8320 are absolute monsters. You would have to be crazy to ignore them.

Reason #7: If you really wanted an Intel chip, you could easily swap it out anyways. I just don't want to be recommending bad chips.

Why so many watts?

The extra wattage in these builds leaves room for you to grab a stronger CPU and graphics card if needed.

Why no optical DVD drive?

The DVD drive has been intentionally left out, just borrow one when you install your OS.

Why no OS?

The OS has been left out because most builders already have a disc laying around. If they don't they'll have a preference on which version and which edition of Windows or Linux they plan on using. Even if it's already been used you can still get it activated.

Why do the stronger builds include an SSD along with the hard drive?

It's worth it, trust me. I would have included them in the lower builds, but $100 extra would have really put a damper on their appeal.

I want to see some more quality parts!

The builds don't include coolers, monitors, mice, or keyboards. Here are a couple of each if you're having trouble picking them yourself.

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU Cooler | Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler | $29.98 @ Outlet PC |
| Monitor | Asus VS238H-P 23.0" Monitor | $147.58 @ Newegg |
Keyboard | Cooler Master Storm QuickFire Rapid Wired Gaming Keyboard | $74.98 @ SuperBiiz
| Microphone | Pyle Home PDMIKC5 Professional Table Top Condenser Microphone | $25.84 @ Amazon |
| Microphone | Blue Microphones Yeti USB Microphone - Silver Edition | $106.02 @ Amazon |
Mouse | Logitech G500 Wired Laser Mouse | $55.98 @ Outlet PC
Mouse | Logitech G9x Wired Laser Mouse | $72.98 @ SuperBiiz
Speakers | Corsair Gaming Audio Series SP2500 232W 2.1ch Speakers | $219.99 @ Amazon
Speakers | Logitech Z313 25W 2.1ch Speakers | $34.99 @ Amazon
Headphones | Audio-Technica ATH-M35 Headphones | $69.00 @ Amazon
Headphones | Sennheiser HD 380 Pro Headphones | $140.99 @ Amazon |



***

Also, feel free to link to / paste source anywhere on Reddit. I take full responsibility for any negative vote brigading my posts may be bombarded with.




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The Sennheiser PC line, like the PC350, PC360, PC330... Blah blah, but I personally still think the AD700's out perform the PC line, maybe on par with the PC360's.. But the PC line is overpriced, but very very good. What I recommend is getting a clip on mic, the Zalman ZM-MIC1 and AD700 combo is quite popular. If you have the money, the AKG701/702's with a nice amp are probably the best known for gaming. Best thing about the AKG's, you can game, music and watch movies with amazing beautiful sound quality, the AD700's are quite bad for movies and music, depending on what you're already used to, they still sound phenomenal for some.. If you really don't want a clip on mic, look into th Blue Yeti usb microphone. It's amazing.

On the case of your wants for a wide soundstage, the AD900x is in fact a great choice, but has bass quality over quantity and are very focused and have extreme treble and upper mid clarity. They are in fact good for games like CS:GO, but if you want to play battlefield with them, you'll want something like X2s which stretch your budget a bit, but are compatible with the VModa BoomPro which is great for the price but doesn't work with everything.

Your PC360s are Sennheiser HD595s with an attached mic basically, and the 595s don't have the widest soundstage at the price of either the 595s or the PC360s.

You may need an amp/dac combo for your 900x, so you can get something like this, which will power it just fine, but if you're on a desktop with a good motherboard, you should be fine.

Also if you can buy the AD900x from USA amazon, they are like $176CAD which is extremely cheap.

I don't know if this will help a ton, but here is my experience working with microphones for more than 2 people (our team is 3).

When you're recording, you only want to pick up the voices of those recording, without a ton of ambient noise. With one person it's easy. With 2 people, depending on the mic, it's not too bad. Anything more than that, and you're almost always going to get a lot of room noise.

We tried using 1 mic for our first recording session. It was a good mic (the Yeti Blue USB mic) and no matter what we did, we couldn't get good quality sound. If we used the uni-directional function on the mic, the person right in front of the mic would be super loud, while everyone else was quiet. If we used the omni-directional function, we picked up the TV a lot, and got a lot of room noise.

So, while what you're looking for isn't impossible, it will be tricky. Here is my suggestion.

Look for a mic with a bi-directional setting. That way it will only pick up audio directly in front and directly behind the mic. Make sure you're in a small room, and sound proof as much as possible. Sit your players 2 in front, and 2 behind the mic (relatively - if you turn the mic sideways, you'd have 2 on the left and 2 on the right). Try and set it up so that none of you are closer than the other to the mic.

That would be the optimal setup with one mic, I believe.

I don't have any recommendations for a type of mic, unfortunately, but I'd just look through Amazon for USB microphones with a good rating and the ability to have bi-directional recording, and you should be good to go.

I hope this helps!

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Edit: I didn't include my recommendation above because I didn't think the Blue Yeti was within your price range, but it looks like it's around $100 on Amazon.

Blue Yeti USB Microphone on Amazon

This mic has a bi-directional setting (either front/back or left/right) and sounds awesome.

I'd look into getting plain over-ear headphones -- something like these are nice for the price -- and putting this on it as a microphone. Works wonderfully and saves quite a bit of money over the horrifically overpriced gaming headsets. Total cost is about $30, but you can certainly find some better headphones for cheaper if you spend more than 5 minutes on Amazon like I did. I picked the Sennheisers because the reviews were good and by many people, and it's a good brand.

Edit: If your boyfriend is ever in the market for a really nice pair of headphones, I can't reccomend the Sony MDR-7506 enough. It's pretty much industry standard for musicians, mixers, sound engineers, recording artists, etc. They've been around and improving since the early 90's They're the best $85 one can spend on audio.

You are making a good start!

One tip I might have for you is quality over quantity. You may not have all the time in the world to produce your videos.

(about the linked video) You might want to look into adjusting the audio levels (your voice needs to be louder than the game audio). When you get the chance buy a better microphone, (It will help tremendously in production quality).

I would recommend (http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002VA464S). I have this mic and would definitely recommend - It's got good value for audio quality.

I hope I haven't come off as too preachy but I do like to help out people who I see trying to do their best in what they enjoy.

I wish you good luck in such a saturated market.

D

Already discussed at a few places in the thread, but I always suggest the headphone+mic combo. You'll have better headphones and a better mic for around the same cost.

These Superlux HD688B Headphones are probably the best set you can get for the money. If that's a bit too expensive, you can get the HD 681 headphones instead.

Pair that up with any cheap mic and it will sound better than any mic on pretty much any headset. This Clip-On Zalman Mic is often suggested because it is easily attached to your headphone wire and sounds good. If you can spend a bit more, then this Sony Lav Mic will sound a bit better but not be as easy to use. Even one of these desk microphones will sound really great at the expensive of needing to be on your desk and pick up desk noise.

I would split your budget to get two headphones for dedicated use.

1. a. Gaming Headphone => Since you mainly listed FPS titles that require you to pin point footsteps and shots, I would recommend the Audio Technica ATH AD 700x (AD700x Amazon Link) for $92. These headphones are well respected and loved for FPS titles with the same requirements as yours. They don't need an amp and can be driven from your motherboard with ease.
   b. Gaming microphone => Get the ModMic 4.0 (ModMic 4.0 Amazon Link) for $50. These are great and can be driven using your motherboard. However I would suggest pairing them with something like this (USB Sound Card Amazon Link) for best results - add another $15 for this.
   
   
2. Music and movies headphone => Get something like the HD 599 (HD 599 Amazon Link) from Sennheiser if you want good balanced sound without breaking the bank. They are easy to drive using your mobo and if you get an amp down the line they will increase the volume of these headphones. These cans are like $149 now.
   
   ​
   
   So you will be spending $157 for the gaming headphone and mic and $148 for the music/movies headphone. I know this has a huge drawback of switching headphones when you want to do either, but you can also use the HD 599 for gaming as it has good imaging. The sound stage is not as wide as the AD700x but it is still good enough for positioning shots. However this will give you the (relatively) best of both worlds for your budget. :)

I agree with what NovaKitFox said with audio being important, but if your budget is 100 and if you had to choose between one or the other, I'd always choose a decent mic so your viewers can hear you better.

Instead of going with the fancy wireless modmic that was previously posted, there's a cheaper wired version by the same company that I used before but still have and would recommend:

Antlion ModMic - 49.95 US

Literally find any okay headphone and stick this mic on it and you're set. Generally you don't want to use the "gamer" headset mics for recording, they come out sounding cheap. With this, you can always upgrade to better headphone down the line since it's detachable and everything. If you pick up a more studio microphone like the audio-technica AT2005USB, its nice but then you'd have to think about a mic arm and audio interface which can easily add up to another 100+ dollars.

When you DO get more money to upgrade your headphone, I would suggest looking at something like the beyerdynamic DT 990 PRO (142 US) which is what I'm using and its been my favorite thus far.

As a general rule of thumb, stay away from anything marketed "gamer" headphones or headsets. They're usually overpriced and made cheap in my opinion. Not to say they're ALL bad but I find it annoying to have to sift through it all. Just do some of your own due diligent and see what works for you.

Hope this all helps. Cheers and good luck!

There's tons of good options sub $100, HyperX Clouds are really popular on this sub, I haven't tried them myself but my friends like it and the reviews look good.


If you want a split headphone/mic system, audiotechina and sennhieser are pretty good that have headphones in sale somewhat often. Just be sure to get a decent mic like the snowball although this mic might push you over your budget with the headphonws i listed. Theres good headphones by phillips and monoprice that are ~$50 o keep you under $100. Or a cheap clip on like this zalman one I use this mic and the only issue I have is that theres no mute button but most chat programs have one so its not too bad.


As for the mic issue have you tried playing with the windows setting and your chat program? You could boost your mic and adjust the threshold to not pick up your breathing noises

I don't know much about mics, but I just wanted to let you know my experience(s) with the mic I just bought. I picked up a Samson C01U because it's a lot cheaper than the more popular AT2020 and and Blue Yeti condenser mics.

If you're on Windows 8+ like I am, the default USB Audio Device drivers, the one that will be installed when you plug in an USB mic, isn't as good as it was on Windows 7.

My same mic performs better on Windows 7 because of the gain settings. By default the mic is set to around 50% sensitivity level(gain). If you tried speaking into it on Windows 8, you'd have to pretty much put the mic into your mouth before you can hear anything. One Windows 7, it's still pretty soft, but at least you can see something moving on your recording software.

I have mine currently set to around 96% and my voice sounds good, but it also picks up everything else.. On Win7, to have it sound similar, I can leave the levels at around 80%.

What I do to combat that issue--I've tried searching everywhere for driver help, no such luck--I just use the Noise Gate feature on OBS, or any other software that uses that mic.

Anyways, to get back to your question get a condenser mic. The Rode Podcaster is a dynamic mic, which will most likely pick up more sound than a condenser mic. What the condenser mic does is pickup sound from a 'condensed' area, usually right in-front of the mic, not above/behind/next-to it. Keep in mind, if you do decide to go with a Dynamic mic, it isn't as sensitive as a condenser mic, so it might help with the background noise assuming it isn't too loud. Although, you'd probably have to speak louder than usual for it to be clear.

Also, if your computer can handle it, you can use Adobe Audition to de-noise/de-hiss your audio and output it to your stream/chat software. I've yet to try this method, might try it tonight.

Headphones I've used the past 10 years.

• ATH-AD700 - Discontinued now, but cheap used, open back, under $50, one of the biggest soundstage, but lacks bass
  
• ATH-AD700X - updated revision of the ad700, under $100 on sale, tiny bit better bass. The stock pad made my ears sore since it touches the driver. I replaced it with memoryfoam BrainWavz pad, and they feel much better. Puts less pressure on my eyeglasses too.
  
• ATH-M50X - My go-to music headphone, but I use it for travel gaming too since they fold up nicely and closeback for noise isolation.
  
• ATH-AD900X - Better version of AD700X
  
• Philips Fidelio X2 - About $200 on sale, a little bit less soundstage than AD700X, but much better bass. If you can splurge, I highly recommend this. They are balanced type headphones. Basically replaced the the M50X for music listening and AD700X/AD900X for gaming. It feels really nice, pad fits much better than the AD700X. I forget I am actually wearing headphones. If this is too expensive, SHP9500, is a cheaper alternative at 1/3 the cost.
  
• All of the headphones listed above are low impedance meaning you don't need an amp to get good sound output.
  
• Most gaming specific headphones aren't that good for the price. You're paying mostly for the marketing. Get any decent audiophile headphone and it will be much better.
  
   
  
  Virtual surround sound I've used
  
  
• Xonar U3 - Got this to replace my broken mobo sound, but found out it does virtual surround sound. Basically simulates 5.1/7.1 sound on a 2 channel headphone. Used it for many years gaming. Sounds awesome with good headphone that has big soundstage. Nice to hear directional audio to know here footsteps are at in games. Also acts like an amp with boost mode for high impedance headphones.
  
• Razer Surround Sound - free, but the worst virtual surround sound I've heard. Things sound muffled.
  
• Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi - Upgraded to this, it has better virtual surround sound technology.
  
   
  
  Hate wired headphone?
  
  
• How to convert wired phones into wireless gaming one
  
   
  
  Microphone
  
  
• ModMic - Used this for many many years, but got tired of wires dangling around
  
• Blue Yeti - Audio quality is so much better than the modmic, but it is big. Use a mic stand or arm.

Don't buy any gaming headset, buy the philips shp9500 and a mod mic for the same exact price, and get something that isn't trash. Not to discount any gaming headset, but they are very gimmicky for what they are. A good set of real headphones starts around ~60-70 and the shp9500 is a great option within that range, then you simply pic up some sort of mod mic off of amazon and you got yourself a really solid experience for the same price, that won't fall apart within a year, and don't have gimmicky features like "7.1" when in reality they are more likely to give you false information in the first place. I have used many gaming headsets over the years, the kraken, which is not comfortable, has very poor audio for the price, and has frankly, pretty shitty build quality for the price is not one I'd recommend. The cloud II's are OK, fairly comfortable, pretty ok sound, but you can do better for ~$100. I got my brother what I'm recommending you, and it is by far one of the best options for the money as long as you can deal with open back headphones (which are better for music too!). Here is an example/review

I don't know if many people will agree with me here, but most headsets do not have very good drivers and the 5.1/7.1 surround sound headsets are pretty much BS. The best way to get good sound and having a good mic is to buy them seperate. A very good pair of headphones is the Audio Technica ATH-AD700, which has a great soundstage and good vocalization which helps in gaming a lot and you can get a microphone that clips onto the cable like the Zalman Zm-Mic1.

> Joe, please explain to me what this poem means to you.

For me, when I read over the words, I see a couple working together to build a better life. The two eventually becoming so close, that they are effectively one being rather than two.

Sure, the poem talks about them building and fixing a house, but it's really their lives and relationship that they are working on.

I quite liked the imagery it evoked in my mind, these two people growing old (and eventually dying) together.

> Also, did you change mics?

I did.

When I originally started making audio recordings back in September of last year, I promised myself that if I was still doing it (and enjoying it) by New Year, then I would splash out on some new equipment.

I ended up replacing my old gaming headset during the first two weeks of January, with a Blue Yeti mic. I couldn't be happier with the results, there's a night and day difference between the two microphones imo.

> Well done.

Thank you.

Also, thank you for both listening and commenting, I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed the audio :)

Steelseries headsets are pretty good in a pinch. I had the Siberta v2's with the little 7.1 sound card, and they served me really well for 2 years. I found the soundstage was a bit too open for me (the game audio sounded really far away.. if that makes sense), so I've since moved on to some Audio-Technica's and a Yeti microphone.

I couldn't be happier with my new setup, but it's not for everyone. /r/imuya is right by suggesting you get some really good cans that have the 'sound' that you like, then snagging a standalone mic. If you have access to music stores/audiophile stores in your area, they should have a selection of headphones out of the box, so go audition a few sets. You'll be surprised how different each pair behaves, and you can figure out which ones fit the best and sound the best for your ears. Pick the same song/piece of music every time you listen to a new pair.. I use the intro of this Pentatonix song so I can check out vocal clarity, and then when the low notes kick in it gives a sense of the kind of bass power I can expect.

Good luck!

I've been working from home for around 5 years now, both salaried and freelancing.

I have a wife, a son and two dogs, so it's important to reenforce that separate between personal and professional time not just in myself but in my family as well.

I have the benefit of owning a large home with a separate office. My son and wife both know that when the doors are closed I am not to be bugged unless it's something important.

I also use a pair of great headphones and playing music to prevent being bothered by sounds outside my little bubble.

If you're still open to working from home and your main complaint is the lack of separation, try cordoning off a piece of your home as your professional office space and train yourself to do nothing but work from that spot. No gaming, no playing, just work and profit generation.

If that doesn't work for you, and you're in a small town with no true hacking spaces, local coffee shops are usually ok with remote workers as long as you continuously keep refilling your coffee cup with them.

I'd recommend purchasing some really good headphones with either integrated microphone, or a detachable cable that you can use a microphone with. Don't use the cables with the inline mics that don't extend away from the cable - I highly recommend the V-MODA Boom Mic. My headphones of choice at the moment are the beyerdynamic Custom One Pro Plus because of the size (I have large ears, these rest around my ears and not on them which is important) and comfort level. Also, they sound amazing with a small $30 amp.

Having the mic be directional so that you can put it directly in front of your mouth and circumaural headphones are both important for filtering out background noises.

With this you can now ignore your phone and use Google Voice, Hangouts, Skype, Slack for voice calls.

Anyway, good luck. We're counting on you.

You can save almost a hundred bucks and get your monitor on ebay unless its something that you already own. I have that monitor and bought it from Green-Sum and am happy with it. Then if you wanted to you could use the money you save and buy a clc cpu cooler (i use the corsair h110 for my i5).

Also, i cant speak for the headset, but it seems that a lot of people generally prefer to get good quality headphones + a mic over a headset. I have a Logitech G930 that i bought like 4 years ago and i decided to give new AudioTechnica m50x a shot and paired it with the standard zalman mic. My setup is no longer wireless, and i do miss having a mute button, but overall i am happy with it.

One thing that i would suggest is that if you have the money/wiggle room, to go for a 250g SSD. The 120 will "work", but now i can comfortably install games on it and it just makes the loading so much nicer.

Your PSU is pretty good and will let you pick up a second 780ti in the future and work with no problems so thats good.

Overall its pretty solid. I guess one last thing that i would mention would be to think what you are using your PC for and decide whether the i7 is necessary. I personally dont think that it is worth it for gaming (as in, performance per dollar over compared to the i5), but if youre wanting to stream or do 3d modeling or whatever people get i7's for, then stick with it. Just a thought.

Be sure to post pictures of your BattleStation once its built! And good luck with the cable management.

What style are you interested in? IEM, over ear, or on ear? I'm going to guess over ear, and recommend you check out AKG k240, since they are generally pretty comfortable and sound good during games, since they have a pretty good soundstage. If you're willing to spend a little more, ATH M-50 is a very popular headphone, and has the bass you're interested in, as well as good performance in games.

For a mic, I use this Zalman mic, and it's pretty good. Wow, it was a lot less expensive when I bought it.

You should be able schedule the initial interview as soon as 12-24 hours after signing up. I think from my sign up date to hire date I completed the entire process in 4-5 days! Which was awesome because I desperately needed work at the time! You choose when to do the interview based on the available time slots. However, there are trying something new where you can do a completely self-recorded initial interview, which has some advantages I'm sure. You will have more control over exactly what you are sending them and hopefully show something professional enough to get above $18/hour and closer to $20 or $22!

I would not invest a lot into props unless you are hired by VIPKID. In every stage of this hiring process, you will have access to the power point of what class you will be pretending to teach, so you can find those props ahead of time around your house, or make a few simple drawings. So while in practice you will need a variety of versatile props, the interview is all about getting a very specific case correct. All I purchased was a large white poster board to hang behind me, some post-it note letters to create an alphabet on the sheet, and use markers to draw some colorful shapes/animals/people/etc. on it as well. I would recommend, however, buying a small handheld dry erase board! They are so versatile and it is a small investment cost to apply for this job and look way more professional. I also purchased a nice attachable microphone which I will link below. Don't get too obsessed with finding tons of awesome props, though. Many applicants often focus too much on props and not enough on their communication skills!

If you are hired, I also have a whole list of what props and setups to get then. I'm all about keeping it simple and not having my supplies take up a whole room in my house! :D

This microphone is awesome if you want to turn your good headphones into an amazing headSET!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00R98JVVU?ref=emc_b_5_t

Just get an attachment like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-External-Adapter-Windows-AU-MMSA/dp/B00IRVQ0F8/ref=pd_bxgy_23_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00IRVQ0F8&pd_rd_r=DEJHY7WRFT67AY404A9J&pd_rd_w=5fpY3&pd_rd_wg=jPQH8&psc=1&refRID=DEJHY7WRFT67AY404A9J

or

https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-headsets-separate-headphone-microphone/dp/B004SP0WAQ/ref=pd_bxgy_23_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B004SP0WAQ&pd_rd_r=FBN4YFJYQDXP8FHBXX06&pd_rd_w=VZKVa&pd_rd_wg=y9wMc&psc=1&refRID=FBN4YFJYQDXP8FHBXX06

I bought everything in B&H so that I didn't even have to wait for shipping!

What I would recommend is a good stereo headphones, "spacious sound", like sennheiser hd 555, or ad-700.
Aside from being higher quality, the spacious sound is generally preferred for gaming, and not only that, but works best with virtual surround sound.
Which brings me to the 2nd part I would recommend.
A asus xonar dg.
They are relatively cheap, I believe about 20 dollars when I lasted checked.
The soundcard will provide better sound than the integrated sound, and will offer virtual surround sound.
While many games have this built in, like Serious Sam, many do not, and this will allow you to experience this with all games.
As someone who once owned a tritton surround headset, and now own a hd 555 and a xonar dg, I can saw that not only is it much better sounding, but it also offers better surround sound than my trittons did.
5.1 headsets simply have the drivers too close together to allow them to provide any meaningful surround effect.
Lastly, as for a mic, I would recommend a clip on like this zalman

I have the PX51 which are pretty much the same as the PX4 just with a different transmitter. Excellent headset, but mine is also starting to show its age. I also have the XO Seven, which is a technically an Xbox One headset. But works great on PS4 plugged into the controller. XO Seven has a really good mic and great sound quality. I use that XO Seven when playing with friends and the PX51 for playing solo or watching movies. The XO Sevens are a little bit tight fitting though. I have always had good luck with the quality of Turtle Beach though. I tried the Astro A50 but did not like them as much as the PX51.

I have been eyeing the V-Moda BoomPro though. Thinking of pairing it with the Philips SHP9500. Non gaming headset. Comes out to about $107 from Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ENMK1DW/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A2D6O8U4XOTC9L

https://www.amazon.com/V-MODA-BoomPro-Gaming-Headset-Headphone/dp/B00BJ17WKK/ref=pd_bxgy_23_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00BJ17WKK&pd_rd_r=XSPAP357EPA01E7FWX0F&pd_rd_w=rt6dX&pd_rd_wg=wdN6e&psc=1&refRID=XSPAP357EPA01E7FWX0F

CALs are solid choices, but from personal experience, the Zalman clip-on is only useable if you're in a silent room 24/7, and even then (I used them in my dorm as well), friends on the other side never liked my mic quality. Once-upon-a-time, I would have recommended (good pair of headphones)+an Antlion ModMic, but since the ModMic 4.0 is a bit pricier than it's predecessors, I don't blame people for going the clip-on mic route. If you check out the link for those interested in gaming gear in the OP, you'll find a link to MadLustEnvy's guide, and there he links another clip-on that he (and I) have had much better success with. Again, this is personal experience, so YMMV. Also, definitely look into desktop mics as another alternative.

And if you are interested in going the ModMic route, and want to remain under $100, check out the Superlux HD681 EVOs or JVC's HARX700, both a budget headphones for under $40.

Few final notes, if you're looking for surround sound, Razer has a nice, free software called Razer Surround, and even has a pro-version if you need more features. Pair that with the EVOs/JVCs/CALs, and you'll have superior sound to either of the Logitech stuff, and the "surround sound" feature without having to pay extra.

Budget - My budget is about $290 dollars

Source - A Samsung Galaxy S5, an Asus ROG laptop, and an Xbox One controller

Requirements for Isolation - I don't need a ton of isolation, although obviously some would be nice.

Will you be using these Headphones in Public? Probably not, maybe rarely

Preferred Type of Headphone - Full sized

Preferred tonal balance - I like the sound to be overall balanced with not too strong treble and a bass that is pronounced but not muddy or overbearing

Past headphones - I currently have a pair of Bose QC15, which are nice for the noise cancelling, but aren't exactly the most incredible sounding headphones in the world. I also have a pair of cheapo JVC earbuds which sound suprisingly nice given they were only $7

Preferred Music - I listen to lots of different kinds of music, but if I had to narrow it down it would be classic rock/rock/metal/etc

What would you like to improve on from your set-up - I want a pair of headphones that sound great (duh) and potentially be used with the mic I have. Right now I think I've narrowed it down between the V-MODA Crossfade M-100s along with the XL Memory Cushions
or the Blue Mo-fi headphones, which are on sale on this website for $270 dollars. The Crossfades seem like a better choice at the moment because I already own the mic, and I don't think the mic would work with the Blue headphones, but the built in headphone amplifier seems pretty nice too.