How good are proper 7.1 headsets and which one?

Discussion in 'Soundcards, Speakers HiFI & File formats' started by HonoredShadow, Feb 26, 2015.

  1. HonoredShadow

    HonoredShadow Ancient Guru

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    I play games in stereo with my speakers and sound card in sig. Sometimes though I wish I could hear where people were running from or shooting from etc.

    1) Am I able with my soundcard to use proper 7.1?

    2) Do proper 7.1 headsets actually work?

    3) I would like a headset where I don't have to keep unplugging my speakers from the 3.5mm socket and then plugging in the headset all the time. That is a BIG NO NO. I am getting sick of doing this currently. So USB would be better?

    4) Which one would you suggest?

    I have been looking up HyperX Cloud II Gaming Headset but that looks to be virtual, Razer Tiamat 7.1 Elite, STRIX 7.1 etc...
     
    Last edited: Feb 26, 2015
  2. Noisiv

    Noisiv Ancient Guru

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    In my opinion in-game surround barely works, and is just 5/7 channel upmix of stereo source or at best rudimentary positional sound.

    Provided you get the best of best 7.1 headphones this would still be half-assed use of half-assed implementation.

    I have no idea why no one can be bothered with proper 2/3D physically modeled sound. There used to be Aureal's A3D but Creative killed it:

    Creative Labs sued Aureal for patent infringement in March 1998 [1], and Aureal countersued for patent infringement and deceptive trade practices. Aureal won the lawsuit brought by Creative in December 1999. However, the cost of the legal battle caused Aureal's investors to cease funding operations, forcing Aureal into bankruptcy. Creative then acquired Aureal's assets in September 2000 through the bankruptcy court with the specific provision that Creative Labs would be released from all claims of past infringement by Creative Labs upon Aureal's A3D technology. Creative Labs has not chosen to support the A3D API.
     
  3. Noisiv

    Noisiv Ancient Guru

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    yes

    I have no idea.
    My guess is - barely. Knowing that this is tough problem and the solution is coming from gaming crowd as opposed to professional
     
    Last edited: Feb 26, 2015
  4. HonoredShadow

    HonoredShadow Ancient Guru

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    Oh. Ok! So anyone have any suggestions to good sounding headphones? I have been looking around at reviews and I'm more confused not than before!

    Will keep looking though. They need to be very comfortable and I will only be using them for PC. My budget will be a maximum of £150 but would like to spend less but not sure.

    Also, I need some way of keeping the headphone AND the speakers plugged in as I'm fed up of routing round the back of the PC and moving it out every time.

    Any suggestions welcome!
     
    Last edited: Feb 26, 2015

  5. ESlik

    ESlik Guest

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    The Razer Tiamats are a great set of cans for gaming. They connect to your sound card and are a true analog surround. The audio control pod allows connecting desk top speakers to it, and has a simple button to push when you want to switch from headphones to desk top. The Strix 7.1s are still not available and the Strix have a USB sound card. I have the Tiamats and I can highly recommend them for pin pointing directional sounds in games. I think the Tiamats are the only 7.1 analog set available today. There are tons of 5.1 analog sets out there,but only one 7.1 that I'm aware of.
     
  6. HonoredShadow

    HonoredShadow Ancient Guru

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    Last edited: Feb 27, 2015
  7. Tacoboy

    Tacoboy Guest

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    The Xonar DX already comes with Dolby Headphone surround sound, but a Creative Labs Sound Blaster Z (with has SBX headphone surround sound) comes with a separate amplified headphone jack and a separate line-output for speakers, so add some headphone (HyperX Cloud) and your all set.
    So sell off the Xonar DX and buy the Sound Blaster Z, the retail boxed SB-Z comes with a microphone, so all you would need is normal headphones, the Takstar Pro 80 (also sold as the Gemini HSR-1000) are the same as the HyperX Cloud, but without the mic.

    If your willing to up your budget, get the AKG K612 Pro headphones.
     
    Last edited: Feb 27, 2015
  8. Darkest

    Darkest Guest

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    Wow..

    Not even going to comment. Good luck.
     
  9. eclap

    eclap Banned

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    I'm going to react. OP, do not go throwing your money down the bog. Think twice before spending. Do research into everything you're spending money on.

    Don't be a fool.
     
  10. Loster

    Loster Master Guru

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    I never owned a "real" surround headphones, and with real i mean where the headphone are truly having discrete drivers for each channel like the one you mentioned yourself the Razer Tiamat 7.1.

    I do own a normal stereo Headphones DT 880 and sometimes i do use the Razer Surround Virtual Software Driver to create a virtual surround which works with any kind of stereo headphones. I have to admit it works very well and adds a lot of positions feel into the games or movies. For Music i personally do prefer Stereo because surround in music is just meh :puke2: .

    Fortunately sound engines in newer games do have similar techniques implemented so there is no need for an extra virtual surround software.

    I keep the Razer Surround Software installed though because it is just two clicks to swap between Soundcard and Razer drivers.

    I did own a 7.1 surround system once with 7 Speakers positioned around me and one sub-woofer. All connected to a 7.1 Audigy2 ZS creative soundcard. It worked superb with EAX back then and it was the best surround experience i've had, realy made me turn my head back sometimes cause i thought someone is standing behind me. But i guess this is just the big difference between the "real thing" with discrete speakers over the virtual thing.
     

  11. HonoredShadow

    HonoredShadow Ancient Guru

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    It's ok dude. I think I know what you mean...

    Something like this? lol. It's ok. I won't waste my money on this 'gaming' headsets then. No problem to say. Glad of honesty.

    Will keep looking at something better then. Any suggestions? I do like listening to music.
     
  12. yasamoka

    yasamoka Ancient Guru

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    Headphones --> Stereo.

    Speakers --> Stereo, 5.1, 7.1.

    Done.

    You only have two ears. And headphones give you two cups over those two ears.
     
  13. GenClaymore

    GenClaymore Ancient Guru

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    What type of music and do you know what type of sound signature that you want.
     
  14. HonoredShadow

    HonoredShadow Ancient Guru

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    I listen to everything to be fair. 60's through to now. :)
     
  15. elkosith

    elkosith Maha Guru

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    Try Razer surround, as mentioned above. I've tried it and I can say it works quite well in simulating 7.1 channels. I don't use it anymore since now I'm using unlocked realtek driver that enables Dolby Headphones. Dolby Headphones sounds better than Razer Surround, at least on my ears.

    C-Media cards use xear 3D, which I think doesn't come near to Razer Surround and Dolby headphones.

    Try software emulated 7.1 first, because they are free. Then, if possible, listen to a real 7.1 headphones before purchasing.
     

  16. HonoredShadow

    HonoredShadow Ancient Guru

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    Thanks for that. I have sort of gone off the idea now though with the above posts. Still looking for a decent pair of headsets that just do stereo and still need to have a way of not having to plug and un-plug the speakers to use headset.

    Any ideas chaps? I'm so new to this sort of thing it's unreal lol.
     
  17. automaticman

    automaticman Master Guru

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    I've tried both discrete 5.1 headphones as well as stereo headphones with virtualied surround (via both creative's CMSS3d and Dolby Headphone).

    I thought that the 5.1 headphones worked decently for surround, but were not spectacular. Center channel sounds did not have a very good "out in front" feeling, but rear channels did really sound like they came from behind.

    The big issue was that they sounded terrible. Yes there was a bass driver for the sub channel, but there was hardly any midrange/midbass out of the other tiny drivers. In games it was not quite as noticeable, but any other media like music was just a lost cause.

    With stereo headphones and virtualized (HRTF) surround, the sound quality is far better. In terms of positional sound, I've really been very impressed with both CMSS3D and Dolby Headphone. No, neither solution will compare to a true 5.1 room setup, but I can absolutely identify where sounds are coming from in games like Battlefield. There is no way I am going back to a discrete style headset.

    As for not having to unplug your speakers and headphones, Tacoboy mentioned the Sound Blaster Z series. I have the ZxR, and the headphones having their own dedicated output and amplifier (on all Z series cards) is one of the things I like best about the card.

    If you don't want a new card, one of the things I've done in the past was to use a 3.5 splitter cable to connect both my headphones and the amp for my speakers at the same time. I just turned down the volume on the headphones when they were not in use. This would not work if you are using passive desktop speakers, but almost all sets these days are amplified.
     
  18. Duke Nil

    Duke Nil Maha Guru

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    So I've recently gotten interested in this as well - I bought a pair of hyperx cloud II headphones and they're super comfortable and really pretty good in games specifically, but I'm sorta disappointed in the general sound quality. I realize they aren't intended for music or movies, but I've had a pair of ath-m50s for a few years and I guess I've gotten spoiled.

    I rma'd them yesterday and bought razer tiamat instead because I have some disposable income and I'm really sold on this positional audio thing. I'll let you know what I think once they arrive. From everything I've heard they're great, there's just not that much support for 7.1 audio in video games currently.
     
  19. HonoredShadow

    HonoredShadow Ancient Guru

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    Thanks that would be great. I really want a solution to my problem of not wanting to plug/unplug speakers from soundcard all the time to get headphones in same socket. I don't want to do that all the time!

    I do have a headset socket at the front of the PC but it does nothing. Might be something to do with onboard sound being turned off on mobo or maybe the cable that comes from it with a rectangle connector is plugged in wrong into my sound card. I don't know.

    With multiple sound cards and multiple mobo's/cases I have never got the headphones working out of the front. But I always plug in the connector to soundcard and turn off onboard.
     

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