# How to get best surround sound experience?



## Carsomyr (Apr 19, 2020)

Hi I'd like to know what would one do to get the very best surround sound experience for movies and gaming with headphones on a gaming pc? 

Nowadays there are so many options its confusing. Some say you don't need a soundcard because of how good on board audio on motherboards has become... 

Theres Dolby atmos for headphones, there's dts unbound... Etc. 

In the past I used to run a decent sound card with an astro mixamp with pc360 open ear Sennheiser headphones and I was quite satisfied with the result 

But I ended up selling that pc setup. Now I'm looking to get myself the good stuff for audio quality. What do you suggest?


----------



## funboy6942 (Apr 20, 2020)

If you want true analog surround, then I suggest the Razer 7.1, if you want to run software, then the Logitech 635 or 935


----------



## SoNic67 (Apr 28, 2020)

Gaming and movies are very different things. Gaming produces surround sound in real time (if they are setup so in their audio settings), so it will create 5.1 uncompressed PCM audio streams. To get those mapped correctly to a pair of headphones you need a software that can apply a HRTF function. Creative Audio for example has that in their software, processed by their on-board DSP (no CPU loading).
There are other software solutions, most of them associated with Realtek audio (because of wide availability of those cheap chips on motherboards). Usually is lower quality sound and adds processing to main CPU (drivers).
Movies are pre-encoded in studio with various versions of surround sound (Dolby/DTS), so the sound card will just have to decode them.

I strongly recommend looking at Creative Audio for surround gaming.

PS: Windows 10 offers a surround-to-headphones "Windows SoNic for Headphones" for free. It is actually sending Dolby Atmos to compatible devices. It is compatible with some games.








						How “Windows Sonic” Spatial Sound Works
					

Microsoft added “Windows Sonic” spatial sound to Windows 10 back in the Creators Update. Windows Sonic for Headphones is disabled by default, but you can enable it for virtual surround sound. This option is available on the Xbox One, too.




					www.howtogeek.com
				











						Spatial Sound for app developers for Windows, Xbox, and Hololens 2 - Win32 apps
					

Developer guidance for Microsoft Spatial Sound, Microsoft’s platform-level solution for spatial sound on Xbox, Windows and HoloLens 2, enabling both surround & elevation audio cues.



					docs.microsoft.com


----------



## Regeneration (Apr 28, 2020)

Get a real surround headphones (with 3 jacks), or 5.1/7.1 speaker set.

Virtual surround is just stereo output with 3D effect.


----------



## EarthDog (Apr 28, 2020)

Regeneration said:


> Get a real surround headphones (with 3 jacks), or 5.1/7.1 speaker set.
> 
> Virtual surround is just stereo output with 3D effect.


Is it 'real surround' if you have one jack but 5 drivers in each ear?


----------



## dirtyferret (Apr 28, 2020)

EarthDog said:


> Is it 'real surround' if you have one jack but 5 drivers in each ear?



Which itself brings up questions on the quality of the drivers (you are now sticking five drivers into an ear peace as opposed to one).  Are these dedicated drivers or a combination of of dynamic and balanced that work in unison to simulate dedicated drivers?  Can the end user even tell the "direction" of the noise coming from the ear peace?


----------



## EarthDog (Apr 28, 2020)

dirtyferret said:


> Which itself brings up questions on the quality of the drivers (you are now sticking five drivers into an ear peace as opposed to one).  Are these dedicated drivers or a combination of of dynamic and balanced that work in unison to simulate dedicated drivers?  Can the end user even tell the "direction" of the noise coming from the ear peace?


Dedicated drivers for each channel.








						SR910 - Specification - G.SKILL International Enterprise Co., Ltd.
					

Real 7.1 Surround 10 Discrete Drivers USB Powered




					www.gskill.com
				




My questions isnt about the efficacy of the soundstage in my cans, but more towards regeneration's comment about using three inputs for surround sound. My cans are usb so I assume I get true surround.


----------



## Regeneration (Apr 28, 2020)

EarthDog said:


> Is it 'real surround' if you have one jack but 5 drivers in each ear?



5 drivers of the same channel is useless.

A lot of vendors push stereo headsets with some 3D effect software and call it "virtual surround".

Real surround is 5 or 7 channels and at least 3 high quality drivers capable of low frequency range per ear.


----------



## EarthDog (Apr 28, 2020)

Regeneration said:


> 5 drivers of the same channel is useless.
> 
> A lot of vendors push stereo headsets with some 3D effect software and call it "virtual surround".
> 
> Real surround is 5 or 7 channels and high quality drivers capable of low frequency range per ear.


Right... but I asked if my cans are true surround with discrete drivers for each channel going through USB (linked the cans above).

(sorry, not my thread, just asking).


----------



## Regeneration (Apr 28, 2020)

I was referring to analog headsets. Digital can use a single jack or USB. But some of the USB is also fake surround with just stereo output and lame 3D effect.

Your G.Skill SR910 looks good (on paper).


----------



## EarthDog (Apr 28, 2020)

Regeneration said:


> I was referring to analog headsets. Digital can use a single jack or USB. But some of the USB is also fake surround with just stereo output and lame 3D effect.


I asked about mine specifically. Forget it. Thank you... 

... sorry for the threadjack.


----------



## Vayra86 (Apr 28, 2020)

Any good, long lasting audio setup involves a dedicated receiver and passive speakers. The rest is just cables and choice of inputs. Anything else is BS piled on top for no reason, really. An active speaker setup works too, but generally doesn't last as long, and is more problematic unless you have one set of speakers for the whole thing (perfectly tuned to one another). Passive speakers work around that by processing it all in one place, the receiver. And far less prone to failure, as all the logic is also in one place, and usually of much higher quality than it is per speaker.

Headphones are by definition incapable of true surround. Yes, they can create the illusion of it. But so can a soundbar or your laptop speakers. Doesn't mean its worthwhile 

It becomes a different story when the focus is about 'positional audio' on its own, so without any 'quality' level demands, but just the fact you want to be able to hear where it comes from. Then, headphones may be more accurate, because the soundstage is always the same, if you move your head, the position of the speakers remains identical.


----------



## Papahyooie (Apr 28, 2020)

Don't listen to people talking about "true surround sound headphones" that have multiple drivers. Multiple drivers are good for enhanced frequency response, nothing more.

Think about it... you've only got two ears. Your brain processes directional sound by comparing the sound coming into each ear...

So if you've got a single earphone cup... around a single ear... with 3 speaker drivers in that one cup... and it only enters a single ear.... See where I'm going with this?

Your ear hears all 3 drivers as a single audio source. Having multiple drivers in each ear cup is completely useless for directional sound. It's still using the same HRTF software to create that directional hearing effect by presenting to your ears what you would hear if a sound was coming from a certain direction. EVERY single surround sound headphone is using the same stereo downmix with effects enhancements to fool your ears into thinking the sound is directional. It's ALL "virtual surround" in headphones.

There is no such thing as "true surround sound headphones." It doesn't work that way. Think about it for a second.

EDIT: I'm not being snarky at @EarthDog . That's a good question, which I am answering. I'm being snarky at those who would try to tell you that you need multiple channels/drivers for surround headphones. (Both the manufacturers of said headphones, and those in this forum.) Any stereo headset with two drivers is capable of virtual surround (the multiple drivers simply help with frequency response and separation, not directional hearing.) And no headset is capable of "true surround" no matter how many channels/drivers it has.


----------



## SoNic67 (Apr 28, 2020)

I game now with headphones in simulated surround. I used to game in a real surround setup.
The main difference was that in the real setup I can turn my head slightly, to better discern where the noise was coming from, and the sound was changing naturally.

With headphones, turning the head does nothing. Sure, I still get the usual surround cues (maybe not the same?), but I miss that part of speaker surround...

PS: Going back to that would require me to move back the gaming rig in the living room and that's not happening.


----------



## Papahyooie (Apr 28, 2020)

SoNic67 said:


> I game now with headphones in simulated surround. I used to game in a real surround setup.
> The main difference was that in the real setup I can turn my head slightly, to better discern where the noise was coming from, and the sound was changing naturally.
> 
> With headphones, turning the head does nothing. Sure, I still get the usual surround cues (maybe not the same?), but I miss that part of speaker surround...
> ...



Have you seen the new headsets with head tracking? May be something you'd be interested in, to get back that head turning effect. Audeze makes the Mobius, and HyperX has the Cloud Orbit S. Haven't tried them personally, but they're supposed to be able to emulate head position, and layer that on top of the virtual surround so that you can realistically move your head to position sound. 

Way overpriced tho.


----------

