5.1 gaming (speakers) - worth it?

[Gimpymoo]

Is it worth the effort?

Had my Z5500 for years and only ran in 3.1, is 5.1 gaming worth the effort of running the cables etc?

Any worthy 5.1 gaming experiences specifically?

 

[Radox-0]

I enjoy it. Main rig and living room stuff are all 5.1 at least. Pretty much most game I have played recently does 5.1.

would imagine you can easily check for yourself if it adds enough immersion. Just temporarily have the cables trailing I suppose and place speakers in location you would place them anyways and see how it it.

 

[sgavan]

I have had my z5500 since 2009, great piece of kit , and running in 5.1 but I struggle to really notice 5.1, I have the speakers mounted on the walls, and using a AE5 card and setup correctly but no matter what, I struggle to notice the rear speakers, tried lowering and increasing the different levels but only notice when I do the speaker tests. I think I would go 2.1 when they finally break.

 

[Poneros]

Thing is, it's sadly very variable. For every Titanfall 2 'Trial by Fire' masterpiece there's 100 other games with poor mixing in general or that barely use the surrounds.

If there's something you want to demo for 5.1 I'd say start with Titanfall 2. Anthem & Shadow of the Tomb Raider have great mixing as well, Eidos in particular seems to pay it more attention than normal. Doom 2016 is good as well. The Witcher 3, Kingdom Come Deliverance, and Red Dead Redemption 2 are very good as well. Actually, KCD is absolutely great with sound in general. Gears of War 4 & 5, as well as other Microsoft studios have put a good emphasis on their sound design also, and in those cases they even do some proper Dolby Atmos support (if you can ever find a showroom post-Covid to demo in).

If I were to recommend something though (for an upgrade) it's that I'd say go for 2.1 first, with the emphasis on a good subwoofer, as that's going to make the biggest difference and it's easy enough to add other speakers later.

Oh actually, how could I forget? Xcom 2 is absolutely phenomenal as well for surround, in fact, can easily vie for the spot as the best.

 

[Gimpymoo]

I have had my z5500 since 2009, great piece of kit , and running in 5.1 but I struggle to really notice 5.1

Thing is, it's sadly very variable. For every Titanfall 2 'Trial by Fire' masterpiece there's 100 other games with poor mixing in general or that barely use the surrounds.

That was my concern.

I do think the days of 3D hardware driven sound was the pinnacle, never really recovered when MS screwed up the DX sound api.

I was thinking that with gaming being more accepted in the mainstream as something in the "living room" more effort would be made regarding surround sound, especially thinking of console releases which are played in the living room but people seem to be less interested in audio nowadays, slap in a budget soundbar and be done with it which totally suck.

I do find when supported, 3.1 is a good compromise, works VERY well on a PC setup to separate dialogue but a lot of times, devs do not even get that right and they mix it with the L/R channels for some reason.

Everyone talks about graphics enhancements but sound seems to get more and more neglected in games. The movie industry gets it right but games seem well behind.

Then again, on a seperate topic, current generations seem less interested in audio fidelity and just want convenience.

 

[LoadsaMoney]

I think its worth it, had a set of Logi x530s, and now got some z906s, love hearing sound from behind me, great when bullets whizz by, and you hear them going into walls etc... behind you too, i find it more immersive

 

[EsaT]

I do think the days of 3D hardware driven sound was the pinnacle

And listener head shape customized HRTF from that would beat even surround speaker sets.

Well, maybe Sony's PS5 would finalyl kick sound development at least to Y2K level.
They've been talking about hoping to have customized HRTF at some point.

The movie industry gets it right but games seem well behind.

Though movie industry is still in WW1 in framerates...

 

[d_brennen]

The new consoles will bring better audio with them. Sony seem very keen

 

[Junk]

I think its worth it, had a set of Logi x530s, and now got some z906s, love hearing sound from behind me, great when bullets whizz by, and you hear them going into walls etc... behind you too, i find it more immersive

dude - i can't count the number of times i've had Z906s in my shopping basket and pulled out due to reviews. Are you able to tame yours to a sensible level that would suit a small room? MOst reviews seem to think this is impossible and you just cannot use them quietly when needed.

 

[LoadsaMoney]

dude - i can't count the number of times i've had Z906s in my shopping basket and pulled out due to reviews. Are you able to tame yours to a sensible level that would suit a small room? MOst reviews seem to think this is impossible and you just cannot use them quietly when needed.

Ive never tried using them quietly, i have the volume dial on them perm set to level 5, and on Windows, 26.

EDIT:

Ive tried turning them down, they're either too quiet, or (could possibly be for you) too loud.

 

[pastymuncher]

I think it's worth it. I have Logitech X540's (sadly running in 2.1 now as I no longer have the space) and 5.1 was excellent for driving/racing simulators and FPS games. It works better in some more than in others though. If I was able to set my rears up again I would jump at the chance.

 

[Dave Burton]

I've had my Z-5500's for over 15 years, so old in fact that when I contacted Logitech for replacement the serial number pre-dated their records!!! I recently had to repair them due to suffering a low frequency (AC) hum, replacing all the caps sorted it, I'd loathe to have to replaec them as the sound quality, for me, is absolute immense, the Z-906 reviews are all "inferior" to the Z-5500 set, so holding off on replacing until I absolutely have to, will then likely go for either an Edifier or Wharfedale setup instead