Headsets for COD4 and other games....

The first question is do you have a sound card? USB headphones do NOT work with soundcards, as they operate on a seperate audio stack. So if you have a soundcard, USB headphones are out of the question.

Secondly, do you want some form of 5.1 output? Most USB headsets that "support" 5.1 do so via some knockoff of Dolby Virtual Headphones, which does a very good job virtualizing a 5.1 stream. Most analog headsets tend to sport 2 speakers per ear cup, but tends to jump a bit more moving from speaker to speaker.

Thridly, beware of large control units [especially on 5.1 headsets], as their weight tends to knock an internal wire loose over time [such was the fate of my excellent Tritton AX Pro's...]

i use the razer barracuda and a usb speakers to game works great....you can hear like EVERYTHING with the barracuda its a 5.1 headset thou if you're looking for bass response, it doesn't have a lot of it

Get Plantronics GameCom 367, you can play it for long hours without getting discomfort, unlike other cheaper headsets. The microphone also has an in-built noise canceller, which means background noise will be eliminated so you can communicate to team mates much clearer. It also gives great audio quality, so you can listen to your music with no problem. But also comes at an affordable price, so it'll be worth it. The Plantronics Gamecom 367s are also closed-ear meaning that it will cup around your ears and prevent you from hearing any noises that aren't from the computer, so you can focus on your game without hearing any distractions behind you back, and gives better bass.

Here's the site:
http://www.plantronics.com/north_america/en_US/products...

USB connected headsets wont deliver the same quality as a dedicated soundcard 3.5mm setup, speedlink medusas are good and these are my new pair - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/169580

I have a HP pavalon dv3 with 2.66proccesor, 4g ram and 320hardrive.


Plus more so I think it has a sound card but im not actually sure... If you know a way of finding out how to find out if I got one please reply and I will check to make it easier for you. So using the razer I need no sound card?? Sounds a bit odd doesn't it?? No sound?? Im tripping... But the computer has usb plugs on the sides and those rounded ones on the front for headphones.

Im not very knowledgeful on computers so thats why I sound a bit tripped out!!

Cheers,
Gaia

Let me rephrase:

All USB headsets ignore whatever sound device [external or dedicated] you have on your PC; they operate on the USB audio stack, which does not interact with other sound devices. So, if you have a $10 USB headset, and a $200 soundcard, guess what? The $200 soundcard is doing no audio processing whatsoever.

The easiest way to prove this is use an EAX enabled soundcard and try using a USB headset in an EAX game. The game won't recognize a EAX soundcard [as the headset lacks EAX functionallity] and you can't enable the effects.

Now, when I said "So if you have a soundcard, USB headphones are out of the question", I was referring to a dedicated [Not onboard] soundcard. If you have just a standard onboard chipset for sound, then it makes more sense to go with a USB solution.

I hope thats a bit more clear now.