On board sound card or USB sound card?

I am mainly looking for a solution that is going to give me 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound though my current stereo headphones. I realize I could just purchase a USB "Gaming Headset" but I would be taking a step back in terms of overall sound quality compared to the headphones I have. I didn't spend $1500 on headphones to not use them. I really don't feel like buying headphones just for gaming.

I have the MSI Barebones 1761 from Gentech. I'm pretty sure it uses the same on board sound that the GT780 uses.

My first question is: Would the on board sound card be able to produce artificial surround sound with the right software?

Second question: If the on board sound card is unable to do so, which USB sound card would you guys recommend? I am looking for something that will not only produce artificial surround but also improve the sound quality in 2 channel stereo.

I really wish this computer was equipped with a PCI Express Slot. I've heard that the PCI cards offer better sound quality than the USB ones.

 

The only ones I know of are the Creative ones. Not sure how good they are though, but I'm sure better than what's on the laptop.

I have creative cards on all my computers. Never going with out a sound card again.

 

Let me see if I understand this properly: You have a set of $1500 [I'm guessing audiophile grade] stereo headphones. You have a laptop with [at least] 5.1 dedicated outputs, but you'd like to bypass all that and attempt to emulate surround sound via software emulation instead. . possibly via an external USB sound card if possible.

As a computer enthusiast:

I've never tried it, though I'm sure it can be implemented through creative hardware at the very least [you can mess around with the realtek audio in control panel as well]. I BELIEVE many of today's games attempt to emulate this already, but as I leave the majority of sound position critical gaming [IE, FPS, etc] to the younger generations in my family, I'm not 100% on that. TBH, if positional audio is that critical, there are all manner of multi speaker surround sound gaming headsets on the market.

Which leads us to the other side of this:

You have $1500 headphones. I am guessing they are audiophile grade premium "for music listening" headphones. That does not mean they will be the end all be all for position critical surround, emulated or not. It's your choice, of course. . . but I'd liken this to using a laptop to put a nail into a wall. Sure, it'll probably work, but it's most definitely NOT the right tool for the job. Odds are they probably WOULD work, at least to an extent, but i'd recommend at least trying out a pair of multi speaker surround headphones after the fact just to see how they compare. In the end it's all personal preference.

And as far as the USB sound card goes, Creative has a couple of nice boxes that'll improve the overall sound quality across the board. i'm assuming since you have such an expensive set of headphones that you hold sound quality in EXTREMELY high regard. No matter what else you do, I'd highly recommend picking one up regardless for that very reason. [that, and getting any workload off the motherboard is always a good thing ^^ ]

Good luck, w/e you decide.

 

I have read multiple reviews regarding "Gaming Headsets" and most if not all reviews stated they heard no difference between headsets with multiple drivers or headsets with single drivers using software to emulate a surround sound environment. Here is a nice review of 8 well known gaming headsets, some of which use multiple drivers while others rely on software to get the job done.

Yes, I would consider my self a Audiophile. I've been hooked on sound for about 15 years now whether it be music or movies. I have more money into my home theater than I just spent on my brand new Acura. My headphones are the Sennheiser HD 800's. It took me a long time to find a pair that I could wear for hours without getting sound fatigue. It seems like every headphone made now a-days sound like a pair of horn loaded Klipsch blasting off in your ear.

At the end of the day. I'm just looking for a simple solution to give me more of a surround type feeling while playing games. I don't want to use external speakers to achieve this.

I'm really surprised that the built in sound card doesn't have some sort of surround emulation while wearing headphones. I have seen the surround option under THX True Studio but that does nothing at all. I've heard the Creative USB X-Fi Go will give me what I'm looking for.