5.1 vs 7.1 Gaming Headset...

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I think you are in for a disappointment :( Not sure how good the sound stage is on those headphones. hehe sorry a funny analogy just crossed my mind there. I have just convinced a man of the advantages of mobile phones but he has only access to two cans on a piece of string :D

PLease try out a few games, try setting the sound to headphone out and then try setting to 5.1 and see which gives you the best result. Don't set the game to stereo, set it to headphones or 5.1.

But as I said, the headphones aren't the best. Your tritons will probably sound way better!!

Tried Bioshock a short while ago, love the sound on that. Set to stereo and not 5.1 though with windows also on stereo. Sounds good to me, not sure which I prefer out of them and the Tritons TBH, need to do a direct comparison.
Not sure why you would set to 5.1 when only the stereo jack is being used with stereo headphones, can you elaborate on this please?
 
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I use my HD 600's with my Denon setup (which does have optical)... But it's downstairs and my gaming PC is upstairs! Do you think the cheap Xonar DG will be a noticeable improvement over the onboard Realtek ALC892? It's seems a good price and like you said, it has both a headphone amp and front panel connector. It also supports 'Dolby Headphone' which does seem better than i initially thought... I'll just have to put up with a clip-on mic :).

Is there anyway to get a Dolby Headphone utility so that i can properly test it with my onboard audio? Or does it come as part of the Xonar driver package?

haha I can see the problem there right away :p Damn stairs!! For me there was quite a jump between the onboard and the ASus DG.

Not sure if there is any way to test it without getting the card, its part of software licensed by Xonar.
 
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Tried Bioshock a short while ago, love the sound on that. Set to stereo and not 5.1 though with windows also on stereo. Sounds good to me, not sure which I prefer out of them and the Tritons TBH, need to do a direct comparison.
Not sure why you would set to 5.1 when only the stereo jack is being used with stereo headphones, can you elaborate on this please?

Some people say the surround effects are better when you enable 5.1 in game while using headphones. It used to be a requirement for cmss3d.

Does your onboard audio have the capability to switch to headphone mode? IF it does, then you should set it to headphone, set windows to 5.1 and in game to 5.1 and test that to see if you like it.
 
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I would stay away from the Roccat Kave personally, while I think they sound great in games (had a pair myself and so did my partner) they have a fatal design flaw with the headband that will give you headaches over time (I believe the weight is the problem as they are pretty heavy), I even tried putting stuff around the headband to create more padding but that didn't help. Such a shame as I did love them and they were still great for music paired with a Xonar card. There's probably better 5.1 alternatives but I just put them in the cupboard and bought 2x Logitech g930's and had done with it - shame as the Xonar card is practicly new and unused.
 
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I would stay away from the Roccat Kave personally, while I think they sound great in games (had a pair myself and so did my partner) they have a fatal design flaw with the headband that will give you headaches over time (I believe the weight is the problem as they are pretty heavy), I even tried putting stuff around the headband to create more padding but that didn't help. Such a shame as I did love them and they were still great for music paired with a Xonar card. There's probably better 5.1 alternatives but I just put them in the cupboard and bought 2x Logitech g930's and had done with it - shame as the Xonar card is practicly new and unused.


I'm thinking maybe i should just use my Sennhesier HD 600's (and a some sort of clip-on mic) along with the Xonar dolby headphone virtual surround support. The Xonar DG fits the bill for me as it's got a heaphone amp, front panel audio connector, Dolby headphone support and auto jack sensing... I'm sure it will sound ok with my speakers too :).

Is virtual surround through a decent pair of headphones the way to go?
 
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I'm thinking maybe i should just use my Sennhesier HD 600's (and a some sort of clip-on mic) along with the Xonar dolby headphone virtual surround support. The Xonar DG fits the bill for me as it's got a heaphone amp, front panel audio connector, Dolby headphone support and auto jack sensing... I'm sure it will sound ok with my speakers too :).

Is virtual surround through a decent pair of headphones the way to go?

Having read through this thread it it is good to see you have seen the light. Use your 600's with a Xonar DG and a decent clip-on, like a Speedlink SPES.

I guarantee it will be better than any 5.1 / 7.1 headset built with crappy parts and will save you a lot of money.
 
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I'm thinking maybe i should just use my Sennhesier HD 600's (and a some sort of clip-on mic) along with the Xonar dolby headphone virtual surround support. The Xonar DG fits the bill for me as it's got a heaphone amp, front panel audio connector, Dolby headphone support and auto jack sensing... I'm sure it will sound ok with my speakers too :).

Is virtual surround through a decent pair of headphones the way to go?

I think that's a good choice. It would seem like a waste of money to me to purchase another pair of headphones when you already have a decent cans in the HD 600.

Some would say that in most games now you don't need virtual sound anymore if you have a good pair of headphones with a large soundstage. Now the HD 600's are an awesome pair of headphones, but they haven't the largest sound stage so the virtual surround should help. Try it both ways and see :cool:
 
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Some people say the surround effects are better when you enable 5.1 in game while using headphones. It used to be a requirement for cmss3d.

Does your onboard audio have the capability to switch to headphone mode? IF it does, then you should set it to headphone, set windows to 5.1 and in game to 5.1 and test that to see if you like it.

Not sure about that option re onboard, but will look into it. Tbh I've been wanting to invest in a dedicated sound card as from what I've read the clarity is much improved.
 
Soldato
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you might try a xonar DG or DGX, a great card for the price. And might give you a good insight into what you might expect from a more expensive card.
 
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you might try a xonar DG or DGX, a great card for the price. And might give you a good insight into what you might expect from a more expensive card.

Forgot about this thread :rolleyes:. I bought a Xonar DG in the end and it's a big improvement when using headphones :). It also sounds noticeably better with speakers too (there was too much bass with the Realtek and the highs weren't as clear).

Do Asus actually still support the DG? The drivers on their website are dated sometime last year whilst the DGX (same card with PCIe connector instead) has newer drivers dated sometime this year... The card is still being sold and seems quite popular, so why are the drivers so old? The ports on this thing are quite tight too! And i find it strange how it has front left/right, center/sub and side speaker ports, but no mention of rear speaker ports (unless they go in the side speaker port?).

EDIT: i've noticed the default sample rate on the Xonar DG is 96Khz... Isn't it best to use 44.1Khz or 48Khz for gaming?
 
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