I took the advice of the headphone buying guide lovingly prepared by lifelongcaboose and purchased a pair of Hyper X Cloud Orbit S for my fiancee as she wanted a gaming headset and her highest priority was sound quality. I now have them in hand and want to get the most out of them to wow her. What steps are reccomended to get the most out of them? Neither of us are trained or educated in the finer details of sound quality so many things will likely be missed, but I still want to hear what planar magnetic drivers can do and I want her to have the best experience. What I'm most curious about is things like software for EQ, the best option for source material and amplifiers.
The headset has both 3.5mm and USB options, and I have access to a Scarlett 2i4. She has only the onboard soundcard for her desktop so I am imagining 3.5mm to the Scarlett being fed from the computer would best, but that's only with my basic knowledge, I'm hoping for some input from you wonderful people.
Please let me know if there is more information needed and I can update.
Thank you all in advance and thank you for providing this wonderful community.
Most people use APO/Peace (need them both) for EQing their headphones. The software is free and pretty easy to use. You can run a search for Hyper X Cloud Orbit S EQ profile and see if someone has already created something useful as a baseline or just start tinkering to see what sounds best to you.
Definitely plug them directly into your soundcard from the back of the PC using the 3.5mm connector. I don't know much about this headset but I doubt that you would need an amplifier unless you are trying to add a large bass shelf via EQ. If so, you probably wouldn't need much more than a Schiit Fulla or Schiit Hel+ which are both DAC/Amp combos (DAC = external soundcard). You would then just run a USB from the mobo to the Fulla/Hel+ and then connect the headphones to the Fulla/Hel+. You would also need a 3.5mm to 1/4 adapter because the headphone jacks on both of these DAC/Amps is 1/4.