u guys sometimes have no brain.

A: no matter of in ear or on ear, the sound source of both is way to near to the ear as if u could have any REAL bass, so u just can have something like a bass feeling.

B: no matter how good the headphones etc are, if u already managed to crash ur ears in disco (which some people obviously did) the quality doesnt matter.

C: some 5.1 headphones just have 1 speaker in each side, as far as i know the not qualitive stuff has that.

D: micro, no matter how good it is makes headphones price x 2, its way cheaper and mostly better to buy an external microphone

E: even if there are more then 1 speaker in each side of a headphone, the distance is way to short to really locate enemys better.

F: since bass needs bigger speaker membran, its even better to NOT use a 5.1, since the speaker in normal headphones can be way bigger.

G: u might think about having closed headphones or open or half open, some pro gamers own helicopter phones for big lans where its very noisy and u cant hear a shit with an open one.

H: for hearing music i really suggest a headphone with a long cable, if i remember right, mine has around 3, 3.5 meter, i can walk through whole room without problems.

I: ofc good soundcard is needed, but in fact, no soundcard will make ur headphones sound better.

headphones should display whole sound, from lowest hz up to high hz, and just then a upgrade of soundcard can be recommended.

never forgett, most mp3, youtube etc is already so low quality that onboard mostly works out, however, onboard soundcards have a very weird adjustment, way to much bass. also there is barely 5.1 music around, most is still stereo.

J: after all, quake is also stereo, 5.1 will not help u a single bit. neither are the sounds high quality enough to have any difference between good and bad sound card, but sounds like the bfg humming are so low that u need good headphones to hear it.

i for myself am happy with my sennheiser hd 555, i even can hear the crack when the bfg sound is starting to be player (ergo reciving info of a player).

The medusa may look cool, but it's not comfortable and eventualy not worth the money, it's nice hearing some music with it since it has a preaty good quality sound and a bass like feeling, but still - not comfortable so it's not that nice for music either... The 5.1 can't help much ( in quake not at all ofc ) but in games like America's Army it makes a differense ( using the right mods in your soundcard - needs to be a good one too ), so it's not all right Skull .