Only have left and right sound, rather than surround. How to fix?

[Whitizo]

I used a USB headset for a long time for gaming and got angry and broke it. I dont have much money so i just bought a plantronics 388 headset which is stereo. I guess the sound card on my old mobo from a prebuilt just into good enough. When i use stereo headsets i dont hear surround sound at all. Like for instance, if I'm playing Counter Strike and there is a guy behind me and somewhat below me, on a USB headset I will know that. On the stereo headset all i hear is the noise from what side the enemy is closest, so if hes downward left all i hear is left and it's beginning to make me a worse player because of it.

I don't want to go out and buy a new headset, but would a soundcard like this, which is 20 euro cheaper than what i would be looking for in a headset, make the audio more 3D?
http/www.amazon.co.uk/Express-Normalizer-Virtual-Speaker-Shifter/dp/B007RMMYFI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1453205900&sr=8-1&keywords=pcie+sound+card
There is space on my motherboard for one btw.

Or would one of these work? http/www.amazon.co.uk/Creative-Sound-Blaster-Play-Card/dp/B00JFRHLOM/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1453206563&sr=8-7&keywords=usb+sound+card
If one of those works rather than the pcie one, would i have to plug the microphone into the motherboard or can i get a two way thing to plug them both into it?

 

[Mr Lama]

Well the obvious and also kind of troll answer would be – Because you have a stereo headset 😛

But to answer your question. Those two sound cards are not really that good, if you want a cheap one look for the Titanium HD. if you are willing to pay a bit more then check the SoundBlaster Z/Zx series or jump right into the big fish territory and go directly for SoundBlaster ZxR or Asus Xonar STX, but these two gents are really expensive.

However, there might be an easier (and cheaper) way to fix your problem. Go to your sound settings, target your preferred device and go to "Configure Speakers" there you can choose if you want them to be stereo or surround (probably 5.1)

Hope this will help you and work on your temper mate, really ruining your headphones because you got mad? Shame on you!

I used a USB headset for a long time for gaming and got angry and broke it. I dont have much money so i just bought a plantronics 388 headset which is stereo. I guess the sound card on my old mobo from a prebuilt just into good enough. When i use stereo headsets i dont hear surround sound at all. Like for instance, if I'm playing Counter Strike and there is a guy behind me and somewhat below me, on a USB headset I will know that. On the stereo headset all i hear is the noise from what side the enemy is closest, so if hes downward left all i hear is left and it's beginning to make me a worse player because of it.

I don't want to go out and buy a new headset, but would a soundcard like this, which is 20 euro cheaper than what i would be looking for in a headset, make the audio more 3D?
http/www.amazon.co.uk/Express-Normalizer-Virtual-Speaker-Shifter/dp/B007RMMYFI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1453205900&sr=8-1&keywords=pcie+sound+card
There is space on my motherboard for one btw.

Or would one of these work? http/www.amazon.co.uk/Creative-Sound-Blaster-Play-Card/dp/B00JFRHLOM/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1453206563&sr=8-7&keywords=usb+sound+card
If one of those works rather than the pcie one, would i have to plug the microphone into the motherboard or can i get a two way thing to plug them both into it?

 

[Whitizo]

Well the obvious and also kind of troll answer would be – Because you have a stereo headset 😛

But to answer your question. Those two sound cards are not really worth the money, if you want a cheap one look for the Titanium HD series or some Audigies, if you are willing to pay a bit more then check the SoundBlaster Z/Zx series or jump right into the big fish territory and go directly for SoundBlaster ZxR or Asus Xonar, but these two gents are really expensive.

However, there might be an easier (and cheaper) way to fix your problem. Go to your sound settings, target your preferred device and go to "Configure Speakers" there you can choose if you want them to be stereo or surround (probably 5.1)

Hope this will help you and work on your temper mate, really ruining your headphones because you got mad? Shame on you!

I used a USB headset for a long time for gaming and got angry and broke it. I dont have much money so i just bought a plantronics 388 headset which is stereo. I guess the sound card on my old mobo from a prebuilt just into good enough. When i use stereo headsets i dont hear surround sound at all. Like for instance, if I'm playing Counter Strike and there is a guy behind me and somewhat below me, on a USB headset I will know that. On the stereo headset all i hear is the noise from what side the enemy is closest, so if hes downward left all i hear is left and it's beginning to make me a worse player because of it.

I don't want to go out and buy a new headset, but would a soundcard like this, which is 20 euro cheaper than what i would be looking for in a headset, make the audio more 3D?
http/www.amazon.co.uk/Express-Normalizer-Virtual-Speaker-Shifter/dp/B007RMMYFI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1453205900&sr=8-1&keywords=pcie+sound+card
There is space on my motherboard for one btw.

Or would one of these work? http/www.amazon.co.uk/Creative-Sound-Blaster-Play-Card/dp/B00JFRHLOM/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1453206563&sr=8-7&keywords=usb+sound+card
If one of those works rather than the pcie one, would i have to plug the microphone into the motherboard or can i get a two way thing to plug them both into it?

Yeah I know they are a stereo headset and I tried to switch it to surround sound through the settings, but there is no option. It only allows stereo audio. I don't really care about the quality. I just want to know if those cheap sound cards would give me surround sound rather than stereo sound where i only hear left and right. Because if I spend anymore on them at that point I'm better off just buying a better headset

 

[Mr Lama]

The Asus that you posted should give you a 5.1 sound while giving you a pretty decent sound quality. But if i were you i'd check again in settings if the surround option is avaiable. Maybe your built in soundcard is not 5.1? Can you post the mobo model?

Yeah I know they are a stereo headset and I tried to switch it to surround sound through the settings, but there is no option. It only allows stereo audio. I don't really care about the quality. I just want to know if those cheap sound cards would give me surround sound rather than stereo sound where i only hear left and right. Because if I spend anymore on them at that point I'm better off just buying a better headset

 

[Whitizo]

The Asus that you posted should give you a 5.1 sound while giving you a pretty decent sound quality. But if i were you i'd check again in settings if the surround option is avaiable. Maybe your built in soundcard is not 5.1? Can you post the mobo model?

Yeah if you read the post, It's an old motherboard from a prebuilt. So it probably doesnt support surround sound