Just purchased Sennheiser G4ME ZERO headphones. Sound quality isn't very good.

[Benj14]

I would assume that I am missing something very obvious because Sennheiser are usually very good in terms of audio quality, however these sound very tinny and there is no depth at all. Would I need a sound card to run these headphones?

I have an ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard, and I have tried plugging the headphones into the back of my computer and the front.

I am completely new to pretty much anything audio related and this is my first pair of expensive headphones. Yes, they are gaming headphones but I know they aren't supposed to sound this way.

What could be the problem? At the moment, my brothers £30 Skullcandy headphones are a hell of a lot better in terms of quality. That can't be right...

 

[melibond]

Look,i have a pair of those too.
Don't read anything those guys said,cause really,they've probably never owned one and are just talking like they know something.
My motherboard has supreme fx amplifier in it and still can't run even 40% of what these headsets can do,these headsets are 150ohm and no motherboard can give you exactly that or even near,even though they say they do.
So what i did was that i ordered this cheap amplifier wich is well known and the guy who makes it also has a really interesting story in the background.
Here is the link to the amplifier:http/www.jdslabs.com/products/35/objective2-headphone-amplifier/
You can buy one for only 129$
But here's the cool thing about it.
The maker used to say to big companies that their amplifiers suck and that they cost 1000$ while they're wort 50$.
Someone then told him "if you think they're so bad then why don't you make your own amplifier".and so he did but only did it for himself,but later ended up needing money for something and sold it,the guy who bought really loved it and could even compare it to professional amps.
Then he started making more and more and selling them for only a little bit more of what it originally costs to build.
So yeah,i bought a pair,and i was just stunned by it so hard,that i had to send some awesome feedback to the maker,and then he told me the story behind it.
So yeah basically this is the missing piece for your headset.
I have it myself,and the headset sound so amazing,that i just started laughing as hard as i could when i started listening to songs and playing games,so yeah,motherboards can't even put out 10% of what these headsets have in them
Also,this amplifier is the first amplifier to get all that little noise that you hear even when nothing is playing on the background off,you know that shhshshshshshshs noise,it will not be there anymore and that alone is worth buying the amplifier for me,and let's not talk about the bass,it becomes amazing,and you can turn the sound so loud that your ears will pop off.
So yeah,the answer is an amplifier,but not any amplifier.
This one:http/www.jdslabs.com/products/35/objective2-headphone-amplifier/
You can watch reviews on youtube if you don't believe me or wanna make sure that they're good quality.
Everybody loves them,so pick it while it's cheap,because of course,the more audience then the bigger price

 

[random stalker]

Well, well, well... Not quite - having a amp won't help much, since the source sucks.
Integrated audio is by far the worst way to 'enjoy' sound. Because, face it, there is no way in nine hells that a small chip /that costs several cents/ can be of same build quality as a dedicated sound card or an external dac /both worth about a 100 bucks/. Any component costs money and if you're building cheap crap, you will be skimping on everything extra. The result of that will kick in as distorted sound, no mids, flat bass, cut off highs, clarity drops /f.e. voices can be quite hard to follow, especially in old english movies, instruments are not punchy/...
As to have quote myself here: "as long as you use integrated audio, you won't hear a difference between decent and sub-par headphones."

But back to you, you have three options:
one - get an DAC+AMP - http/www.jdslabs.com/products/48/o2-odac-combo/
two - get a sound card that can power up your headphones - http/www.soundblaster.com/products/Sound-Blaster-X-Fi-Titanium-HD.aspx
three - use integrated on-board audio and 'enjoy' crappy sound.

 

[mistajamaican]

I had the same tinny sound issue and fortunately it was a very simple fix.
The 2.5 mm plug that plug that connects the audio cable to the head phones was not seated correctly.
I simply pushed this in all the way and the problem was fixed.

 

[Don Joe]

Well, well, well... Not quite - having a amp won't help much, since the source sucks.

You're talking pure nonsense. The DAC on a motherboard is good enough to get audible improvements in sound quality from good headphones costing up to 200-300 dollars, and from a good headphone amp, particularly when your headphones are obviously suffering from a lack of amplification (which the iPhone experiment in this case clearly showed was happening). There can be additional benefits from switching to a better DAC and further benefits still from switching to an external DAC, but to say that without that you will not benefit from a better amp powering these headphones that obviously need it is absolutely not true, since the largest hardware influence on the sound quality is from the headphones/speakers and if those aren't amplified as much as they need to be, the next thing that matters is the amplifier. The DAC quality is not the problem here and you don't need to worry about it until after everything else in the chain is taken care of.
http/en.goldenears.net/index.php?mid=KB_Columns&document_srl=1921

In this case what the OP needed was better amplification, either from a more powerful sound card or from an additional headphone amp connected in line before their headphones.

 

[Josh_4]

Pfffft.... Errrmmmm... Do the reviews comply with your views? If not, they could be faulty or you may need a somewhat decent sound card.

The reviews would suggest that these headphones are great. I have only ever heard good things about sennheiser and I have some £20 Sennheiser earbuds that sound better than these at the moment!.
[/quotems]

You need a sound card. I have the GAME ZEROs and they are the best gaming headset out there.

 

[Jetpil0t]

Pfffft.... Errrmmmm... Do the reviews comply with your views? If not, they could be faulty or you may need a somewhat decent sound card.

The reviews would suggest that these headphones are great. I have only ever heard good things about sennheiser and I have some £20 Sennheiser earbuds that sound better than these at the moment!.
[/quotems]

You need a sound card. I have the GAME ZEROs and they are the best gaming headset out there.

I have the GAME ZEROs as well and they will sound pretty poor and tinny on a bad or even average sound card as they are 150Ohm headphones. I have used them on both a Creative G5 and Asus Supreme FX 2015 integrated sound card and they are fantastic, so they don't need a Mayflower or something to get the quality out of them, just something with good power and clean signal (anything 600Ohms).

Which is I think is a reasonable expectation as they are not some cheapo headset intended to be used on a cheapo sound card. Equally I wouldn't think plugging them into a $500 amplifier would be a good idea either as these headphones have a weird sound signature that unless you are playing games you aren't going to like for music.

They are certainly worth about the $200 bucks they go for, just get a $100 sound card or have a high end, new motherboard, otherwise you would get better audio from a Hyper X Cloud on a really cheap sound card, as they are 32Ohm.

 

[rodolphocunha]

I've tried out my new Game Zero right now, and I've felt all that was said in previous posts with a detail that is the fact that the headset is plugged into a MOBO H110M that certainly does not have enough onboard sound to push Game Zero.

I'm hoping to get my new MOBO which is an ASUS STRIX Z270E with SupremeFX onboard which on the ASUS website speaks that ranges from 32ohms - 600ohms automatically.

Do you think my new MOBO will make the Game Zero deliver everything that can or will I need to buy an amplifier?

Funny thing is that I also bought a Hyperx Revolver for my son and the headset delivered what I hoped for without needing an amplifier being much, much better than Game Zero.

Do you think in the new MOBO it will get better than HyperX Revolver?


From ASUS:
Https/www.asus.com/us/ROG-Republic-Of-Gamers/ROG-STRIX-Z270E-GAMING/#audio


1. Dual Op Amplifiers

With two op-amps onboard you're able to pump exceptional audio to your favorite cans, with 32-600Ω-headphone impedance for great flexibility.

2. Exceptional RMAA performance
Asus Exclusive S1220A - 113db
Standard ALC1220 - 108db

Pfffft.... Errrmmmm... Do the reviews comply with your views? If not, they could be faulty or you may need a somewhat decent sound card.

The reviews would suggest that these headphones are great. I have only ever heard good things about sennheiser and I have some £20 Sennheiser earbuds that sound better than these at the moment!.
[/quotems]

You need a sound card. I have the GAME ZEROs and they are the best gaming headset out there.

I have the GAME ZEROs as well and they will sound pretty poor and tinny on a bad or even average sound card as they are 150Ohm headphones. I have used them on both a Creative G5 and Asus Supreme FX 2015 integrated sound card and they are fantastic, so they don't need a Mayflower or something to get the quality out of them, just something with good power and clean signal (anything 600Ohms).

Which is I think is a reasonable expectation as they are not some cheapo headset intended to be used on a cheapo sound card. Equally I wouldn't think plugging them into a $500 amplifier would be a good idea either as these headphones have a weird sound signature that unless you are playing games you aren't going to like for music.

They are certainly worth about the $200 bucks they go for, just get a $100 sound card or have a high end, new motherboard, otherwise you would get better audio from a Hyper X Cloud on a really cheap sound card, as they are 32Ohm.

 

[sLaDeXS]

Well, well, well... Not quite - having a amp won't help much, since the source sucks.
Integrated audio is by far the worst way to 'enjoy' sound. Because, face it, there is no way in nine hells that a small chip /that costs several cents/ can be of same build quality as a dedicated sound card or an external dac /both worth about a 100 bucks/. Any component costs money and if you're building cheap crap, you will be skimping on everything extra. The result of that will kick in as distorted sound, no mids, flat bass, cut off highs, clarity drops /f.e. voices can be quite hard to follow, especially in old english movies, instruments are not punchy/...
As to have quote myself here: "as long as you use integrated audio, you won't hear a difference between decent and sub-par headphones."

But back to you, you have three options:
one - get an DAC+AMP - http/www.jdslabs.com/products/48/o2-odac-combo/
two - get a sound card that can power up your headphones - http/www.soundblaster.com/products/Sound-Blaster-X-Fi-Titanium-HD.aspx
three - use integrated on-board audio and 'enjoy' crappy sound.

i feel that onboard sound these days on premium boards are on par with the mid-high range stand alone solutions, be it pci-e or otherwise.