Various companies have noticed that gamers are a good target group to sell products to, product groups include mice, keyboards, monitors and of course various computer components. Console gamers have not been forgotten and there are various options for them too, from controllers to various additional devices.

For several years, however, more attention has been paid to sound reproduction, the reason for this being partly the 3–5 year warranty of expensive products, which makes it difficult to start selling new products to replace old ones. Unfortunately, the companies have succeeded much less well in terms of sound reproduction than in other devices.

Where to start?

First of all, you should start mapping the situation with the features of your own device. Unfortunately, the sound card integrated on the computer's motherboard is usually the first bottleneck for good sound. Manufacturers are usually the last to talk about motherboard audio, but the trend is changing and audio has started to be talked about more. However, we noticed that the first thing mentioned on the audio side of the 1000 € motherboard is the LED illuminated audio ports, we read some other things as well and it could be an ok sound quality. In this situation, however, you have to take into account the €1,000 price of the motherboard, standard motherboards run in the €100–300 range.

We haven't tested the motherboard in question, but judging from the price level and specs, the sound level could be assumed to be reasonable. By reasonable we mean that it is somehow listenable even for a hi-fi enthusiast, no matter how good the components are, there is too much going on in the computer case to reset all the disturbances.

We can warmly recommend it as the very first deviceFiio K3device, in its price category the device is extremely good in terms of price/quality ratio. By connecting the device to the computer with a USB cable, all disturbances occurring in the case are bypassed and the sound processing is transferred to Topping's own case. The device is so amazing in its price range that it can be used with headphones, speakers and an active subwoofer. The device also comes with a remote control, which is usually an extra reserved for devices at a much more expensive price level. As a final bonus, the device can stream an audio source via Bluetooth to, for example, a portable speaker or headphones.

What to decide?

The idea of sound reproduction is, of course, to reproduce sound, and the last part of sound reproduction is, of course, headphones or speakers. There are so many options on the speaker side that we will stick to headphone solutions in this article.

In terms of headphones, we can recommend two different headphones, and they are slightly different in terms of both budget and purpose.Fiio EH3headphones are an affordable alternative for good sound quality, in addition to being noise canceling headphones they also support lossless codecs. Fiio headphones also support playback with USB-C and 3.5 mm connections. If you haven't owned hi-fi headphones before, these are a great first purchase.

We recommend it to those who want a step better sound reproductionHifiMAN Sundaraheadphones. More expensive sundaras are really durable and headphones that offer great sound quality. Sundara does not have Bluetooth support, this is due to the fact that wireless audio transmission is still a little behind wired transmission.

Headphones designed for gamers

Headphones designed for gamers have of course grown in popularity recently, unfortunately their price level does not match the quality. Headphones costing several hundred euros offer a tolerable sound world at best. A few headphone manufacturers offer their own DAC device with different features, although this is a nice addition, functionality is usually at the level of appearance.

Before investing several hundred euros in headphones, we strongly recommend buying hi-fi headphones or at least listening to the same source with hi-fi headphones before buying gaming headphones.