1. Splitting voice and game audio
One way to be able to do that is to have 2 sound cards, you set the card connected to the speakers as the default Windows sound device (for the game) and manually assign the headphone card to vent/TS. (In Vent, simply go in the setup menu and change the input/output devices from
default to whatever you want.)
2. USB vs Minijack
I have 2 sets 5.1 headphones : LTB-USB-M, their older USB model (they just released a new one that I didn't personally test) and the Tritton AX360 5.1 headphones (minijack)
2.1 LTB
The LTB headphones are really light and feel a bit cheap but are surprisingly solid (my cat threw them on the ground a few times and they are still working) but I recently started to experience some problems with the cables (a connector became loose so moving the cable creates noise).
The sound is good and the channels are well seperated, the bass is good too. But the major problem comes from the USB...
Like Halcyon said, the USB IS the soundcard, it bypasses any other sound card. If you play a lot, you will experience the same problem than I did unless you have a really powerful computer : the USB sound uses too much resources (apparently much more than standard onboard sound cards because I didn't experience those problems using my onboard sound card before) so what usually happens is cracking and hissing noises while you play because the cpu is too busy.
Over a long period of time, the headphones can also become uncomfortable due the material used around the ears.
2.2 Tritton AX360
The Tritton headphones are very comfortable, a bit heavier and are bigger than the LTB. I've read that they are pretty fragile so I didn't try throwing them on the ground
.
The Tritton AX360 are mostly made for digital sources and unfortunally most sound cards aren't... The blue box that connects to the headphones have 2 inputs : optical and coax. You can connect with minijacks but you need to use an adapter (included) but it bypasses the blue box.
I tried connecting various sources to the headphones : a ps2 using an optical connection, my sat tv receiver with both coax and optical cables and finally my computer.
With the digital connections, there's no problem at all the sound is great and depending on the source, the positionning works well too.
I have an onboard Audigy SE and a seperate X-FI ExtremeMusic card. Both of them have the same problem : the digital output is 2.1 only so I have to use the adapter. The blue box happens to be the amplifier so using the adapter means you only get a very weak sound with no bass at all.
I built a custom 6 channels amplifier to fix that and it works well. I get a great sound now and I can use my X-fi to offload the cpu and tweak the sound a bit (crystalizer, etc.). This results in a performance boost when compared to the USB headphones.
I'm Canadian so the following info is in Canadian dollars.
I originally bought the LTB-USB-M around 100$ but that was 1 year ago, they are now around 80$ over here. My new Tritton AX360 (bought a month ago) were around 130$ but to be able to use them with a PC, you need to build a 6 channel amp (could be between 30 and 160 depending on the parts you choose, mine didn't cost me anything because I had all sorts of spare parts from various projects).
Final notes
The LTB-USB-M are useful if you plan on using them on multiple computers (some of which may not have a 5.1 sound card) but the resources used by the headphones could be used elsewhere.
The Tritton AX-360 are nice if you play consoles too and don't want to disturb the people around you but you will need to build/get a 6 channel amp to get the true sound on a pc or a sound card that actually has 5.1 digital output. In the end, they are much more expensive than the LTBs but you get an overall better gaming experience due to the lighter load on the system's resources. Oh and they also vibrate with the low frequency waves.
Good luck with your search and I hope you get what pleases you.
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