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Headphone help on XPS

post #1 of 10
10/20/04 at 10:31am
Thread Starter 
I just ordered and XPS yesterday with that wonderful coupon and I wanted to get a set of headphones to use with gaming, movies, and music while on the go. Now when I ordered I didn't add any soundcard options to my laptop. What is the stock sound setup on these guys? What kind of outputs come stock? And does anyone have any headphone suggestions? I was looking at the KINYO KY-100 5.1 Channel Headphones, but I didn't know if my laptop will have the outputs needed to hook these up. The other thing about those headphones is that taking the amp that goes w/ them on the road would be too bulky so I wondered how they sounded w/o the amp just hooked straight into a headphone jack. Thanks guys! Any help would be great!
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post #2 of 10
10/20/04 at 11:29am
the 9100/xps have a regular line out that can run speakers or headphones, no biggie.

There is also a digital out (coax) if you use the svhs dongle they give you.

As for external sound, Creative Labs just announced a PCMCIA version of their Audigy line, if you want better sound without carrying around one of those bulky Creative Audigy Plaitnum EX boxes, get the new pcmcia card.

headphones, $30 wal-mart specials work for me I got some Aiwa HP-X223's from best buy or comp usa or wal-mart or somewhere like that. My concern was, friggin things fit around my ears, not sit on them. I hate nothing more than headphones that are small and press against your ears the whoe day when you are at a lan party. OUCH you ears hurt all day. I like these because the foam surround rests on my skull and my ears are "inside" the headphone, not being mashed! haha

but no clue on "good" headphones if you mean high quality music fidelity stuff
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post #3 of 10
10/20/04 at 12:16pm
Thread Starter 
Cool thanks. I don't anything to expensive, $50 to $60 range, just some nice phones that sound good and that you can hear over the engine noise on a plane. I saw some recommendations for the HD497's on another forum. Those look like what I want I think.
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post #4 of 10
10/20/04 at 2:12pm
I have been looking into headphones for gaming, etc and here are a couple of reviews. The price is good ~50.00 and i think Best Buy carries them...

http://www.overclockersclub.com/revi...onesreview.php

http://reviews.pimprig.com/audio_har...nes.php?page=2

Cheers,

JC
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post #5 of 10
10/20/04 at 3:02pm
Thread Starter 
Sorry for my ignorance, but all these 5.1 headphones seem to want 3 speaker jack connections and not a digital coax connection. What do I need to connect my laptop's sound out to these headphones? Is there an adaptor that comes with the laptop or headphones that you use? Thanks for the info tho. I had heard about those Zalman's before, but I hadn't looked at them yet.
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post #6 of 10
10/21/04 at 11:35am
Oh yeah sorry about that, these were reviews off desktop mod sites. You might want to look into the new SB Audigy ZS Notebook card. You can use headphones, external 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound speakers with it...

http://www.soundblaster.com/products...ok/welcome.asp

JC
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post #7 of 10
10/22/04 at 6:46pm
Zalman makes a dolby 5.1 decoder and headphones. The decoder hooks up to a USB 2.0 port and the 3 connectors go into the decoder. I suspect the surround sound headphones you are looking at require some sort of decoder.
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post #8 of 10
12/7/04 at 12:31pm
I received an e-mail today from extremetech.net on 5.1 USB surround sound headphones. They sound like they would be the perfect thing for laptop users, like the XPS. You don't have to buy a special sound card to use them, the headphones take care of it for you. Here is a link to the review.

http://www.3dxtreme.net/index.php?id=ltbusb-m1

LTB USB True 5.1 Surround Sound Headphone Review
Author: Dean Nottis
Date: April 27, 2004
Supplied By: LTB
Price: $79 USD

Pros
Positional awareness thanks to 5.1 six channel surround.
Detachable microphone.
USB or standard audio connection.
Volume adjustment.

Cons
No mute feature for microphone.
Microphone doesn't swivel.



JC
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post #9 of 10
12/8/04 at 3:41am

I know you mentioned headphones but . . .

I have these:
http://www.koss.com/koss/kossweb.nsf...adForm&THEPLUG

and I love them I got them for like $18 bucks. They sound great are super light and come with different size foam for the ear pieces to fit different ears.

other than that if you wanted to spend about $90 get the sony mdr7506's, sound industry standard for years.

Jesse
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post #10 of 10
12/8/04 at 4:07am
You really get more 3D awareness with good stereo sound and headphones than you would expect. I really would recomend you consider simply looking at comfort and sound quality more than the 5.1 channels.
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