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Hey.

My friend told me that using the audio jack > realtek driver is better(footsteps, directions etc.) the than using the USB.

I'm playing with Hyper x cloud 2 connected to the USB, I'm using the headphone's microphone as well so its a problem for me to use the audio jack because I lose my mic.

please vote what are you guys using.

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almost 2 years ago - /u/DanBennett - Direct link

Originally posted by slo1q

Scarlett is not really designed to be a good playback device, it's meant to be a recording interface.

Most PC DAC/AMP are just an external sound card, equipped with a better digital-to-analog signal converter, than what is in your PC.
All the sounds you hear are generated digitally, then something has to convert it to analog. The better the converter, the better sound you get. Your headphones have a DAC/AMP (the dongle with loudness wheel) but it's not a very good DAC (I know, I've had Could II). And you can't really connect them directly to analog output because they're designed only to work properly with that USB dongle.

You can't really get a better sound out of these because of the way they're designed.
Cloud II is a decent gaming headset and getting a major sound quality improvement would cost you quite a lot of money.

Scarlett is not really designed to be a good playback device, it's meant to be a recording interface.

Highly disagree here. The Scarlet2i2 is designed as a professional audio I/O interface. It has both high quality inputs, plus outputs. It's DAC is of high quality and is perfect for music production and powering audio monitors, where high quality audio and true-to-life reproduction is required. And is grounded very well.

This includes the headphone port, which runs off the same DAC and is used for headphone monitoring.

If u/Hashtwister has a Scarlet available to use, I would highly recommend just using that over anything else.

However, for OP, I would say: If you are using HyperX headphones, you likely won't really notice a difference. Gaming headsets aren't that great at proper audio representation.

For the Scarlet, I'd recommend looking at getting also some proper audio headphones (such as the Senheisser DT770) - though it will certainly take some time getting used to the flatter (more real) audio experience! :)

Sidenote: Even a GoXLR is a good option here, as the DAC is also of high quality. However, again, matching with proper headphones would be better instead of using gaming headsets.

The USB/Audio Jack debate is not a real debate. Some built in audio-jacks can be rubbish, some can be good. It very very well depends. But often always, an external higher quality DAC will be better.