Gamers, What's Your Audio Set Up?

The bit depth can be set to 32-bit if available, it's just head-room after all, but Windows is set to 48KHz and the full range option is enabled:

EYWJd0t.png


It's unclear if these days this setting actually means anything but I always have it on because we are all running full range speakers, and headphones to DAC is still full range anyway.

48KHz because most things I view on PC are video content anyway and I also edit videos so working at 48KHz is the standard. When playing music through Spotify it's going to be 48 as a result since Spotify does not support bit-perfect yet (though is going to soon), when playing local music in MusicBee it's ASIO so sample rate changes direct on the DAC bypassing Windows audio.

This config has worked perfectly for many years doing it this way.
 
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mrk said:
It's unclear if these days this setting actually means anything but I always have it on because we are all running full range speakers, and headphones to DAC is still full range anyway.

48KHz because most things I view on PC are video content anyway and I also edit videos so working at 48KHz is the standard. When playing music through Spotify it's going to be 48 as a result since Spotify does not support bit-perfect yet (though is going to soon), when playing local music in MusicBee it's ASIO so sample rate changes direct on the DAC bypassing Windows audio.

This config has worked perfectly for many years doing it this way.
Click to expand...

Thank you. I've set the Fiio to 48kHz. I'll leave the Topping & Gremlin on 44.1kHz as that is pretty much exclusive for FLAC/Spotify. I don't use that combo for videos. What you're saying about it's unclear how much it means these days is probably why I left Windows on the default previously. I've read these debates before I think.

It's interesting that Fedora would automatically switch to 44.1kHz on Spotify. Maybe it was part of the Flatpak configuration.
 
The 32-bit option also has another merit in that Windows natively processes all audio at 32-bit float, so by setting it at 24-bit you're going through a few additional steps vs just leaving it at 32-bit anyway, not that we'd hear any difference but processing is still processing, may as well keep it all aligned.
 
32-bit can cause issues with some applications, though I've had less problems with that on Windows 11, likewise going above 96KHz (unless using exclusive mode) though rare it seems to cause some applications to have screechy sound - Spotify used to have an issue with it but I think that is fixed in more recent versions.
 
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The sampling rate can cause issues going above 0 96 yes but logically there is no reason at all to ever need to set it above 48KHz as any music listening with hi res will be done via WASAPI Exclusive or ASIO anyway in the music player so bypasses Windows entirely. All video content is 48KHz as standard, and games also run audio at 48KHz too unless you're playing realy old games I guess.

I've not seen any issues with using 32-bit on Windows 10 or 11, as said Windows natively processes all audio at 32-bit anyway.
 
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I thought most games were 16 or 24/48khz so hence another reason to leave at 24-bit. But I will change it to 32/48 on the Fiio & iFi.
 
Could well be but bit depth is just headroom so leaving it maxed on whatever is available like 32 should not make any difference really.
 
Timber said:
I thought most games were 16 or 24/48khz so hence another reason to leave at 24-bit. But I will change it to 32/48 on the Fiio & iFi.
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Most game engines use 16bit/44.1KHz internally (using compressed formats like Ogg Vorbis for disc storage) but may output at 16 or 24bit, 48KHz. Some games will use 24bit for music and pass that directly.
 
MusicBee is excellent, and the UI is fully customisable, for example mine looks like this:

ffK27yb.png


been through years of WinAmp, Foobar etc from the olden days.
 
mrk said:
MusicBee is excellent, and the UI is fully customisable, for example mine looks like this:

been through years of WinAmp, Foobar etc from the olden days.
Click to expand...

WinAmp...that's back to the millenium and Windows 98!

I've just been a Foobar user forever and really like it, even in it's stock configuration. Tried the Georgia Reborn theme and it might be too much for me.
 
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mrk said:
The bit depth can be set to 32-bit if available, it's just head-room after all, but Windows is set to 48KHz and the full range option is enabled:

EYWJd0t.png


It's unclear if these days this setting actually means anything but I always have it on because we are all running full range speakers, and headphones to DAC is still full range anyway.

48KHz because most things I view on PC are video content anyway and I also edit videos so working at 48KHz is the standard. When playing music through Spotify it's going to be 48 as a result since Spotify does not support bit-perfect yet (though is going to soon), when playing local music in MusicBee it's ASIO so sample rate changes direct on the DAC bypassing Windows audio.

This config has worked perfectly for many years doing it this way.
Click to expand...
Just aligned my PC and WiiM Amp Pro. Same as you, full range 24bit/48Khz. The WiiM for line input was 16bit/44.1Khz. I can hear in colour now! :D
 
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hornetstinger said:
How do people use gaming positional audio now?

Years ago creative labs eax worked in games
Click to expand...

Personally I use the Creative AE-5, without enhancements, just setup for 7.1 virtual surround through the Creative software, which uses portions of Creative's older surround audio approaches.

Stuff like CMSS-3D don't really exist any more, few if any games use stuff like EAX.
 
hornetstinger said:
How do people use gaming positional audio now?

Years ago creative labs eax worked in games
Click to expand...

On the PS5 I will use 3D audio for Sony's first party offerings - everything else over Optical (from the TV).
When I did have an Xbox I did use Dolby Atmos for Headphones/DTS:X Headphones on some games. Although I have access to the same licences on Windows 11 I don't really use Spatial Audio.
When I did have the Creative Sound Blaster ZxR, X7, G6, GC7 (no-longer have any of these but owned over the last decade+) I was a fan of their SBX VSS. Particularly with Dolby Digital on console games.

But these days I've migrated to stereo mostly, outside of the PS5 scenario above.
 
hornetstinger said:
How do people use gaming positional audio now?

Years ago creative labs eax worked in games
Click to expand...

Back in the day when USB DACs didn't really exist, at least not good ones anyway, I had Soundblaster XFi for EAX etc and then migrated slowly into the more audiophile cards such as Xonar Essence STX and Turtle Beach Santa Cruz prior to that.

Now with USB DACs and amps of the type we are all talking about, games just do positional audio through normal means perfectly fine. Like you can put on a pair of wide staging headphones, connect up to a headphones amp/DAC devices even a dongle DAC and get sublime stereo imaging and positional audio in games without any issues. You will also rarely find gaming specific audio options in games nowadays anyway as they just favour normal means of doing positional audio correctly and have presets for hifi speakers, home theatre, TV speakers and headphones in the game audio settings. If you are on a DAC/HP amp then simply choose hifi speakers so the widest range is sent to the DAC and the DAC then does the processing to speakers/headphones effectively.

I've yet to play a game that I was not able to pin point the exact location of any enemy in a game etc, Silent Hill f being the most recent example, speakers or headphones via any of the DACs doesn't matter, placement of every noise is precision accurate and it's rather eerie as well as it enhances the gaming immersion. The game uses standard stereo audio output.

Proper hifi gear will always be better an experience than gaming marketed audio gear IMO.
 
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Bought some new Kanto YU6 speakers along with the Kanto Sub8. Absolutely incredible.

For headphones I have some steelseries overheads (cant remember exact model number)
 
mrk said:
Now with USB DACs and amps of the type we are all talking about, games just do positional audio through normal means perfectly fine. Like you can put on a pair of wide staging headphones, connect up to a headphones amp/DAC devices even a dongle DAC and get sublime stereo imaging and positional audio in games without any issues. You will also rarely find gaming specific audio options in games nowadays anyway as they just favour normal means of doing positional audio correctly and have presets for hifi speakers, home theatre, TV speakers and headphones in the game audio settings. If you are on a DAC/HP amp then simply choose hifi speakers so the widest range is sent to the DAC and the DAC then does the processing to speakers/headphones effectively.
Click to expand...

Unless a game has a decent HRTF implementation or similar (and most don't) the AE-5 (or similar) with SBX pro virtual surround sound takes a dump on the positional audio using a stereo DAC. The only reason I've kept my AE-5 as for music, etc. these days an external DAC is far superior.
 
The only thing I would add on the above, is that whilst stereo and good quality audio gear, speakers and headphones massively help, so much is dependent on the game's audio. I do think one actual evolution this generation has been 3D audio (along with superfast NVMe drives, auto-resume, portable PC's, Steam Proton). Where a title has built with a proper 3D audio it can be a game changer. I think a lot of Sony's PlayStation first-party studios efforts have managed this. I was reminded of this recently where I was playing the TLOU2: Part 2 and in one scene I was lying down in long grass, two human enemies walking towards me and a clicker in a building to the left, slightly behind and above me. I could hear everything and place the clicker in terms of verticality, including the sound of it being indoors. Normal Stereo can't do that I think. There's non-PS 3D audio that's been praised too; Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, or Overwatch 1/2.

But I think that's the beauty of 3D audio this generation, the console, or PC can do the work, it doesn't require any special hardware and you can be connected via USB DAC/AMP, controller or on-board audio.
 
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The AE-5 is old now and briefly looking at the soundblaster reddit threads, plenty of driver issues reported going back as far as 3 years. This is all reminiscent of my Soundblaster experience with Creative's drivers being the Achilles heel from back in the day, so it seems nothing too drastic has changed here years later. Meanwhile sound direction in games has massively improved over the years taking advantage of high quality inexpensive DACs and things people are using.

Like I said, I have not seen a modern game release employ specific gaming audio tech for positional audio requiring a gaming soundcard, it's all just done normally to a high standard with great sound direction being the main driving factor, as per above example, The Last of Us, that's the sort of experience I got playing both games on PC with the dynamic range setting in-game set to the widest, games like that are engineered for stereo output too, it's why it lets you select the exact placement angle of your speakers in the audio menu to get the best stereo positional audio experience as well.

Just like on newer releases like Cronos, Silent Hill f etc, though they don't have the advanced options, they layer and position everything over stereo as good as is needed to tell exactly the direction a sound is coming from, that's exactly what I am hearing in Silent Hill f right now as it's what I'm putting time into playing currently. Hellblade games are another example of holophonic/binaural audio being used to great effect in stereo.

Virtualised 3D audio has never sounded natural to my ears but this is a subjective preference, I've always found good quality stereo whether through speakers or headphones did not matter as long as both were wide staging and did stereo image layering authentically, just like with music, the same principle applied.

I think people forget how powerful just 2 channels are at providing a full 360 degree audio experience, it's all down to the audio production team to do their job well.

This is from 15 years ago, no need to use special hardware, just half decent headphones or even suitably wide staging speakers that have width and height for the wave guide:


The Hellblade games approach audio with that sort of principle to immerse you in full surround sound from just 2 channels.
 
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