I'm somewhat of an audiophile myself as I love to listen to music with as much volume/clarity as possible. The soundcard you chose is probably one of, if not, the best you can get on the market as it's built for not only great sound but gaming latency as well. We're talking though in realms of mainstream parts as I'm sure there's better studio quality hardware... but we wont go into that as those bits range in the thousands and aren't really feasible for home use.

The headset I use when I want to game/chat is the Medusa with external amp. The sound quality is quite decent and it's also in 5.1 surround with a detachable mic. Here's a link to a similar product by the parent company:

http://www.medusa-usa.com/medusa-nx-51- … 4f2fa86a4e

That link isn't quite what I have, but it's one I used to have. Their other version has the detachable mic and also an external amp. I think I paid close to $200 for the kit. Here's a pic of a similar version to what I actually have,(without the detachable mic) but I'm not sure if it's still availale as I haven't looked around:

http://techgage.com/viewimg/?img=/revie … =Speedlink

For plain listening to music I have another headset which cost me close to $400. It's a Sennheiser set and they're simply amazing. I've tried a lot of different brands, headsets, earphones, buds, whatever... and Sennheiser have probably the best quality I've ever heard. I can't remember the series I have as I made this purchase years ago and I have no documents left for it. But I can certainly say that if they ever break I'd get another pair of Sennheisers. The sound is like having a stereo sitting on your ears, you wouldn't believe the treble and bass that comes out of them. Even when cranked extremely high the sound doesn't crack and to be honest, they can handle sound louder than you'd want that close to your ear so volume wouldn't be a problem. They are also extremely comfortable to boot.

As for speakers, the set I have is the Logitech Z5500. I did a lot of research back when I was in the market and this set had great reviews everywhere. I spent around $500 for these and they were worth every penny. I've never been able to make them crack because the volumes they reach prior to such occurrence is too loud. I've downloaded bass tests and tracks for speaker tests and these things will hurt your ears before they hurt themselves. If you want loud, full, clear sound, these will not let you down.

Hope this info helps push you in the right direction.

I use the razer chimaera 5.1 headset. Insane piece of hardware, highly recomended.

Only low point of the headset: No 5.1 while using the microphone. It's a dual mode thing and 5.1 is only available when not in chat mode.

I have the G930 wireless model, the sound quality isn't as good as the G35, but for gaming its more than adequate plus you're not tied down to the desk.