Headset for teamspeak

[Turk]

I'm looking for a solution for teamspeak. Currently I have it running through my speakers but the problem is I can't hear it during races and I have no mic.

I was looking at surround sound headsets with mics but I'm wondering will I have the same problem, in that I either won't be able to hear teamspeak over the headset or find it distracting. I see there are other headsets that are like telesales headsets with only one earpiece and a mic. I'm assuming I could run just teamspeak on this headset and have the game sounds through my speakers.

I don't really need a gaming headset, but I'd guess a 7.1 surround headset would be much more immersive, I don't really have my 5.1 speakers set up properly and I move the front speakers to my monitor when playing sims and spread them back out for watching movies. It can be bothersome and it might just be more convenient to have a gaming headset rather than moving my speakers around all the time.

What do you guys do? Will a gaming headset solve my teamspeak problem? Is it just as hard to hear teamspeak over a headset as it would be over speakers? Do you have just teamspeak on a headset?

 

[Davy Vandevenne]

A headset doesn't solve your TS problem. What you have to do or what i did is open windows mixer and bring down the slider of the game to about 20%. You have to do this ones for every game. My game and TS sound goes over speakers and i use just a push to talk mic for TS. Easy and works great for me

 

[Andreas Lündin]

isnt there a setting in TS that lowers other volume when someone is saying something. I know there are in other similar programs...

 

[Turk]

So you wouldn't really run teamspeak over a separate audio device? The only problem I have with teamspeak is that it can be distracting during a race, maybe it's just something i have to become used to.

 

[Davy Vandevenne]

If you can balance the sound output like i said, no. If you are in a public channel (RD Club events) it can be very distracting yes, therefore i assign a button on my wheel to mute TS if necessary. Normally its very quit during a race Concentrate!

 

[Turk]

These are the two types of headset I was looking at.
A single earpiece would do the job cheaply.
But I'm also thinking I'll get a better overall experience with the likes of this gaming headset. I know this plantronics headset got bad reviews for build quality but good reviews for sound quality.

 

[Alvaro de la Orden]

I usually tone down the sim overall sound when playing online and using TS.
I use a cheap 15$ headset, it's fine by my current income standards
In the past I have used Plantronics, till, sadly confirming those bad reviews, the plastic broke right where the mic boom meets the chassis.

 

[Stefan Sparco]

I purchased the single earpiece type last week. I wanted the game sound to come from my main speakers and TS through the headset and it worked well. TS was nice and clear (made a few adjustments in TS capture options).

It cost £20:-
http://uk.camelcamelcamel.com/Sennheiser-PC-7-USB-Headset/product/B005HWEZ98

 

[Alvaro de la Orden]

I purchased the single earpiece type last week. I wanted the game sound to come from my main speakers and TS through the headset and it worked well. TS was nice and clear (made a few adjustments in TS capture options).

It cost £20:-
http://uk.camelcamelcamel.com/Sennheiser-PC-7-USB-Headset/product/B005HWEZ98

Good, as far as the speakers' sound doesn't activate your mic, you are safe
Enjoy online racing, Stephen!

 

[Tim Lundy]

I purchased the single earpiece type last week. I wanted the game sound to come from my main speakers and TS through the headset and it worked well. TS was nice and clear (made a few adjustments in TS capture options).

It cost £20:-
http://uk.camelcamelcamel.com/Sennheiser-PC-7-USB-Headset/product/B005HWEZ98

This interests me but I'm not computer savvy. How do you set it up so only TS comes through the headset? I play my Surround pretty loud, does it bleed over into the Mic?

 

[Stefan Sparco]

In TeamSpeak go to the Settings->Options menu:-
1) Change Playback Device to the headset.
2) Change Capture Device to the headset (untick auto voice gain control).
3) Under Hotkeys, set a button on your steering wheel to Push-To-Talk.

You can adjust levels in Windows playback devices for the headset. Think I got mine at about 33%. You can check what the mic picks up in the "begin test button" in the above Capture window.

 

[Kjell Eilertsen]

As much as people speaking on teamspeak disturbs while you are racing, the sound of people using a microphone with a sound system is much more disturbing to me. If there is one thing that really f**s up my driving then it is hearing some other engine as loud or louder than mine when I'm about to down or upshift, I feel like I completely loose control of the car lol, audio is very important to me when driving, I use the revmeter to learn at what sound I need to shift, after that I don't ever look at it again.
So my answer is, get a PROPER gaming headset, €50 and above at least, but don't just buy something expensive, do some research!
The main advantage of a proper gaming headset (besides not picking up your engine sound) is that a really good set of headphones @ €100 will sound so good that to get the same fidelity from a speaker set you need to spend at least €300 if not more.

As far as surround sound in headsets go, there are a couple of headsets that has more than 1 driver per ear, and those are HUGE, expensive and not necessarily any good. Surround sound on headsets is accomplished using software, so any pair of headphones or headset can have equally good surround sound effects, because it's 100% down to the software (ofc a headset that sounds **** in stereo will sound **** in surround too).
For a demonstration of how well a stereo headset can be used for surround sound, check out this video, but put on your best pair of headset/headphone!

Edit; Oh, personally I am VERY happy with my Sennheiser PC360 G4ME, they do leak a fair bit of sound so it might disturb people around you, but if you have been running with a speaker set I don't think you've got that problem
Seems those are out of production now, replaced by the PC363 instead, now with virtual surround lol
Here's a review;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bCJfp-GV8c

 

[Turk]

I got the plantronics in the end. Pretty happy with them, not incredible but do cut off the outside world which I'm liking.

 

[Tim Lundy]

As much as people speaking on teamspeak disturbs while you are racing, the sound of people using a microphone with a sound system is much more disturbing to me. If there is one thing that really f**s up my driving then it is hearing some other engine as loud or louder than mine when I'm about to down or upshift, I feel like I completely loose control of the car lol, audio is very important to me when driving, I use the revmeter to learn at what sound I need to shift, after that I don't ever look at it again.
So my answer is, get a PROPER gaming headset, €50 and above at least, but don't just buy something expensive, do some research!
The main advantage of a proper gaming headset (besides not picking up your engine sound) is that a really good set of headphones @ €100 will sound so good that to get the same fidelity from a speaker set you need to spend at least €300 if not more.

I don't want to be "that guy" who is speaking on his mic with his surround blasting in the background but I do want to run with the surround when racing. It looks like a dedicated headphones + mic is probably a must then if I want to avoid the sound bleeding into the mic, so I'll probably just use the headphones + mic in warmup and qualifying and take it off for the actual race and of course while running solo.

 

[Kjell Eilertsen]

I don't want to be "that guy" who is speaking on his mic with his surround blasting in the background but I do want to run with the surround when racing. It looks like a dedicated headphones + mic is probably a must then if I want to avoid the sound bleeding into the mic, so I'll probably just use the headphones + mic in warmup and qualifying and take it off for the actual race and of course while running solo.

If your mic has good noise cancellation, which the PC363 does, then it might not even bleed through at all.

 

[Tim Lundy]

If your mic has good noise cancellation, which the PC363 does, then it might not even bleed through at all.

No, I meant using just a single speaker/mic combination like you'd use for a phone, just for the teamspeak and pumping the full sound through my 5.1 system really loud...and not having it bleed through. Sounds like that's impossible, so a full headset like the PC363 would work for me in practice/warmup/qualifying or when other people in the house are nearby, then deactivate it and switch to the full surround for the race, running solo offline etc.

 

[Kjell Eilertsen]

No, I meant using just a single speaker/mic combination like you'd use for a phone, just for the teamspeak and pumping the full sound through my 5.1 system really loud...and not having it bleed through. Sounds like that's impossible, so a full headset like the PC363 would work for me in practice/warmup/qualifying or when other people in the house are nearby, then deactivate it and switch to the full surround for the race, running solo offline etc.

I guess, I don't understand why you would though, unless you have a €600+ surround sound system

 

[Tim Lundy]

I guess, I don't understand why you would though, unless you have a €600+ surround sound system

My front left and right alone are more than €600. I didn't put the system together for sim racing but it does a bang up job of recreating every sound that any game has to offer and is as close being at the track as I'm going to get in my living room. It far exceeds any headphones I've ever tried. I do have some headphones already that I use when I have people here but they don't have a mic because up until now I only raced on GT and on the rare occasions I needed a mic I used the bluetooth earpiece. Now that I'm a "serious" sim racer, I have to get the right gear but I just can't give up using the full surround system for headpones, it's too alluring

 

[Kjell Eilertsen]

Well then it makes sense!
But great headphones sounds great too
I actually prefer headphones to speakers when gaming, for listening to music however I do enjoy a proper sound system.

 

[Turk]

My front left and right alone are more than €600. I didn't put the system together for sim racing but it does a bang up job of recreating every sound that any game has to offer and is as close being at the track as I'm going to get in my living room. It far exceeds any headphones I've ever tried.

The big difference I'm noticing between speakers and headphones is that even with surround sound headphones the sound still sounds like it's inside your head, where as with speakers the sound is around you. The more I use the headphones though the more my brain adjusts to them. The oculus rift should fix that problem though. The head tracking will fix virtual sounds in a fixed position so they won't follow your head around.