Thursday, June 21st 2012
More People Use Desktop Speakers than Headsets for Gaming: TechPowerUp Poll Trend
Last week, we came up with our latest front-page poll question, asking our readers which is their preferred audio output when gaming (playing their favorite PC games). Choices included desktop speakers, headsets, and external home audio solutions (such as HT amps, HiFi systems, etc.) Over the course of the week that followed, we accumulated over 1,800 votes to build our sample, which consists of our readers (both registered members of our Forums, and unregistered readers). The interim results come as a bit of a surprise to us.
According to numbers recorded at the time of writing this article, from 1,820 respondents, 808 (44.18%) prefer desktop speakers, a close 719 (39.31%) prefer headsets, with external home audio system being a distant yet significant third option, with 302 (16.51%) of the respondents preferring it.
Desktop speakers' performance in this poll is a bit of a revelation, as is the take-away that headset isn't the most preferred audio solution for gaming, which should come as a wake-up call to the countless gaming peripherals designers who are literally mushrooming in the industry. Keyboards, mice, and headsets seem to be some of their first product lines, however they aren't addressing a sizable chunk of the market without desktop speakers in their lineups. Mature players in the desktop speakers scene include Logitech, Creative, Altec-Lansing, and Edifier.
According to numbers recorded at the time of writing this article, from 1,820 respondents, 808 (44.18%) prefer desktop speakers, a close 719 (39.31%) prefer headsets, with external home audio system being a distant yet significant third option, with 302 (16.51%) of the respondents preferring it.
46 Comments on More People Use Desktop Speakers than Headsets for Gaming: TechPowerUp Poll Trend
Well I voted for "External" but only because I don't really have an option - I have desktop speakers on the desktop as my "Front" Channel" and my rear feed goes to an external system.
I know many people who do similar things, so technically - this is really more of a Speakers vs Headphones poll, and when you look at it that way, speakers are in the win 61/39 :)
Also
Bargain basement speakers but I love them <3
Headsets only for MMORPGs during raids, Racing, pretty much for teamplay.
@pantherx12 SRSLY?!
Give some good speakers a chance, like Dynaudio DM 2/7. Take care of vibration absorbing on your desk, the position to the walls, etc.. The differences are huge.
And I would do if I had money to burn but these speakers for the cost are great.
A lot better than any of the PC speaker sets I've used ( Creative/logitech etc etc)
At some point down the line I'll just change the drivers to some higher quality ones.
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0077V88V8/
www.amazon.com/Yamaha-YHT-397-5-1-Channel-Theater-System/dp/B007PU2X76/
www.amazon.com/Denon-DHT-1513BA-Channel-Theater-Acoustics/dp/B007R8U5RG/
Many sound cards you can select in the software exactly what each jack does - and I find straight stereo sounds the best over the widest range of applications such as music / movies / games - as all of the speakers work together and yes it sounds awesome.
A rear only speaker may be a fun gimmick in a movie that HAS a rear soundtrack - but the other 99% of your life the speaker sits dead and I just don't care enough about "SURROUND" sound to cater to it specifically - I only have 2 ears, ONE left and ONE right - and straight stereo audio is good enough for me.
If your card will automatically process straight stereo signals and "create" a center track to keep your center speaker busy all the time however, by all means, use it :) - In my experience, not all do.
I play a lot of FPShooters - and somehow your brain STILL knows if a sound is in front or behind you, just like in real life - with nothing more than 2 audio channels (your ears) to rely on.
Also Don't knock bargain basement speakers - they very often sound FAR better than the cheap plastic crap you get at a computer store for many many dollars.
Tho I really should get a better set. I run a rather old set of Creatives. But I have a nicely tuned EQ on my Fatality and they are set up image perfect so I can't complain.
I only use headphones when gaming online just for the mic.the rest of the time a self assembled sound system... I mean my neighbors HAVE to know when I'm blasting heads off with my .50 Cal in BF3