Turtle beach HPA2's or the AK-R8's????

[saudaaii]

Turtle beach's HPA2's or the AK-R8's?

I greatly need your advice on this. I cant decide between the HPA2's abd the AK-R8's . I know that both of these model carry the same headset and the difference is the inline amp on one and the AASRM USB on the other. I dont own a pc, I only use my laptops for gaming, movies, and music. I also want to play these head phones loud and want them to sound clear. 1.Can you please tell me if the HPA2's with a Creative Audigy 2 zs pcmcia card would sound better than the AK-R8's? 2.Would the 5.1 Surround Sound be better with the HPA2/audigy 2 zs option? 3.Would the Sound Clarity be better, especially at high volumes with the HPA2/audigy 2 zs option?

4.Do the AK-R8's get enough power through the USB port to be as loud, if not louder than the HPA2's even though the HPA2's has its own power supply(which I dont mind in exchange for better sound)? 5. Also, will I be able to adjust the sound level for each channel(5.1) through the audigy 2 zs pcmcia card? 6.Does the audigy 2 zs have something similar to the 10 band equalizer for each channel like the AASRM of the AK-R8's or will I loose the Tweakability with Audigy/HPA2 option. These are the ONLY two headset that I am debating on. Please dont recomend me stereo headphones. I just need help in deciding between these two. Any info will be helpful. I read your review on the AK-R8's and Im sold on it, but then again, even with low settings Sound Blaster was a much better card compared to the AASRM. So Im just making sure that I wont be losing out on anything with HPA2/Audigy 2zs setup. Thanks.
Conceidedami@yahoo.com

 

[Rory Buszka]

To be perfectly honest, even though you're dead-set on them, '5.1 surround' headphones typically don't produce a very convincing surround effect. Instead, they tend to skimp on the quality of the drivers and housing in order to remain competitive with high-end 2-channel headphones. I'd suggest that you take one more look at good two-channel headphones from companies like Sennheiser, Ultrasone, and Sony.

That said, it sounds like you want to use these headphones with a laptop, so I'd recommend that you go with the HPA2 headphones because of their external power supply. USB ports are often in short supply on many laptops, so you'll be glad to free up a USB port, though the external power supply will make for more difficult setup and teardown if you want to take the rig with you to a LAN party. If you're the type who regularly hits LAN parties, you may want to go with the AK-R8 headphones.

I talked with Rob about this, and he said he had no specific complaints about the sound of either headphone.

 

[saudaaii]

Thanks Rory. Im guessing you dont have any info on the HPA2 paired with Creative Audigy 2zs. Either way, thanks for the info.

 

[Rory Buszka]

Actually, I owned an Audigy2 ES card for quite some time, and have worked with the Audigy4 and X-Fi series cards. But since you're using a PCMCIA card version of the Audigy 2 ZS, I assumed you were on a laptop, which is why I recommended the headphones with the external power supply. Either headphone is likely to work just as well as the other when paired with the Audigy2 ZS PCMCIA card. I'd imagine the quality of the HPA2's headphone amp is better, though, since it's engineered without the power limitations of a USB port.

 

[saudaaii]

With the audigy, can you adjust the level for each channel(5.1) and does the audgy have a equalizer for each channel(5.1). The AK-R8 has the volume control as well as a 10 band equalizer for each channel(its a software), which is making me lean towards the AK-R8s, but if the audigy cards offer the similar software controls then I would definately get the HPA2s plus the audgiy pcmcia card. To be able to tweak each channel to sound proper, is a mighty plus.

 

[Rory Buszka]

I don't believe the Audigy2 control panel has a separate equalizer for each channel, just a single equalizer for all channels. It's conceivable that the ability to adjust the equalization for the center and rear channels independently could be used to heighten the spatial effect. If that's desirable, go with the AK-R8 for its built-in USB audio codec.

 

[saudaaii]

Thanks a lot for you help Rory....but you can probably tell that I want to buy the Ak-R8's and I just need someone else to tell me "yeah man go for it", anyways...Ill be posting a review of these after I get em. Thanks for your help...