Well I've decided against the PC-350's, just not enough there to justify as a good replacement for what I want out of the headset overall, at least not justifiable to the price.
I've instead looked more into the JVC HA RX900 (or HA RX700) headphones, they perform like much more expensive headphones, have a solid soundstage for gaming, sound solid with music and movies and have a pretty attractive price (especially the 700's). Great well, now I have sound, but what about recording? Well I have a couple options...I could get the 900's + Zalman MC1 clip-on mic for around $75-80 shipped on Amazon...or I could utilize the mic off of my HPA2, it uses a standard 1/4" plug, and is straight wired thru the headset, it would cost about $18 shipped from Turtle Beach for that mic if she ever wanted a replacement tho...so intially it'd be free and she doesn't like to use online voice features...so odds are it'd stay that way. I could then mod the headphones with a 1/4" jack and route the wire along the primary wire. I do have a 1/4" 6ft cable somewhere I could use, solder and soldering iron.
I'm thinking of making my own headset from a better pair of headphones. It might not be as nice, and a project log may happen if I feel motivated enough and can keep the costs down...though one thing that will bug me is not in-line volume control...I usually set the X-Fi to 50%, music players to 100%, Games about 50%, etc. I prefer to have some sort of manual control...though I suppose I could adjust to using the buttons on my G15...not sure what I'll do there yet. I've grown accustomed to the amp unit of the HPA2 for so long I actually prefer it.
With that said, there are in-line volume controllers that I could purchase, most for fairly cheap, but I can't seem to find too much on them or which ones might be complete crap. So I'm working on that and seeing what's the best I can get in my budget. That or the possibility of some sort of inline amp/w volume control that doesn't just depend on battery power (i.e. can use usb power) would be cool, but odds are out of my price-range.
I have some options and I want to have something different this time around, make my own gaming headset...I'm really thinking of modding the 900's so they accept the HPA2 mic at the bottom of the LH can just like the HPA2's do, something I'm used to, the mic is good enough for me, the mid would be free, I have some cable I could use...or I could go "hardcore" and make a new cable setup for both the headphones and mic...probably not tho lol! Can't say why I want to go this way, just seems interesting and new, and possibly something I could truly enjoy. Plus it could be a very cool way of getting around being stuck with headsets...they're getitng better every year, but it seems true headphones are always better at the same price...for good reason, but some are just rediculous. My HPA2's are great, and to get better it seems the best answer is a better set of headphones, with the JVC 900's being around 45 bucks shipped...they're cheap and compare to headphones much more expensive, adding an integrated mic setup wouldn't be too hard hopefully...so it's probably a venture I will pursue. Thoughts?
