Sennheiser PC 350 sound bad?

[taptempo]

Just received my Sennheiser PC 350 headset yesterday and I was really excited. I've been using Klipsch Image One's before I got my 350s. Well, I plugged them in and was really unthrilled with the sound quality. I'm no audiophile nut, but my Klipsch headphones easily blew these 350s away. The voices don't sound as pronounced in game, some things sound too far away when they shouldn't, bass is nearly completely absent. I know the bass thing is better for online gameplay, but still, it's weird to not hear it when I expect it. I'd like to at least have some bass. I don't know, but the sound overall was just unpleasing. Now, I know this is most likely because I don't have a dedicated sound card. I'm using onboard audio from my Asrock P67 Extreme 4 Gen 3 which has THX 7.1 surround.

My question is, would getting a dedicated sound card make this headset sound leaps better?? Or is it more of a subtle difference? Because if it's not a huge jump, I'll be selling these soon. Anyone using this headset? What sound card do you have and recommend?

 

[dreadful]

Unlike the pc 360's the pc 350 really need to be amped.

 

[taptempo]

Unlike the pc 360's the pc 350 really need to be amped.

Aw man. Any recommendations Dreadful? I really want to like these. They get nothing but acclaim, but they really let me down. I'd greatly appreciate it.

 

[dreadful]

I never bought them myself only read up on them because I was thinking of buying them. Besides returning the 350's (closed) and getting the 360's (open). I would recommend doing a search on head-fi forums they should have some good threads on them, and if not the people there are very helpful.

 

[taptempo]

I never bought them myself only read up on them because I was thinking of buying them. Besides returning the 350's (closed) and getting the 360's (open). I would recommend doing a search on head-fi forums they should have some good threads on them, and if not the people there are very helpful.

Hey thanks. Never heard of that site, but it looks very useful. Much appreciated!

 

[casualcolors]

The question isn't whether they sound bad, so much as do they sound like $180 headphones? The answer to that is sadly no.

 

[BlueberryCake]

I plug mine into my AV receiver and they sound very good.

There's a mod to add more bass on the forums too.

 

[taptempo]

Best answer selected by taptempo.

 

[HEXiT]

if your using them on a 7.1 output make sure you have them in the correct order. coz it sounds to me like you have the front and back reversed at the very least...
plug the mic in, and you should see a pop up and select it as the mic.
then each 1 after that dont just match them colour to coulour they may not be correct.
look in your manual and find the connection labeling instructions.
you should see a list of :
center front, front left/right, middle left/right, back left/right and back set them up as they pop up to the relivant outputs. then go into sound and turn off and on any advanced effects. testing each.
just know that because your using onboard you will force 15% or so on 1 thread constantly if you use advanced effects.