Anything better than CMSS3D?

[fs123]

I currently have an old Soundblaster X-Fi Titanium and use CMSS3D for gaming setup as 7.1 speaker config and headphones in the Creative console . Recently I tested out Dolby Access and DTSX:Unbound which are supposed to provide good spatial 3D audio. Unfortunately I still found CMSS3D provided the best positional sound even though I'm not sure if it still creates true spatial 3D like it did in the days of EAX.

Anyone know if there is anything better than CMSS3D available or something that can give similar results? Dolby and DTS seem to be too muddy/muffled to me.

 

[Rroff]

Aside from the discontinued Sennheiser (later sold under EPOS) GSX1000 series nothing has really improved on a proper CMSS-3D setup sadly, the only thing remotely comparable is the positional audio on the Creative AE series (and possibly on some updated products but I'm a bit out of the loop on that).

Sadly there hasn't been much interest in gaming audio in recent years and some attempts like AMD's TrueAudio and nVidia's ray traced audio haven't had any real adoption.

EDIT: Though IMO they don't provide as good a solution for gaming Dolby and DTS for gaming purposes are also highly dependant on having good synergy with the headphones used or otherwise the surround production just sounds muffled and flat.

 

[Gray2233]

There was actually a company tailoring surround solutions to certain headphones awhile back, I'm struggling to remember the name and finding the details via googles several pages of dodgy advertisements is a pain.

I believe that @EsaT mentioned them once in relation to a DT990 profile they had on offer, but I've no idea if he's still around.

I know that Audeze use Dolby Atmos for their lauded Maxwell series, but the cans are planar magnetic and might be tailored specifically to the software, whereas other headphones wont be.

What exactly are you using headphone wise? For good software surround you generally want an open back headphone with good soundstage, some solutions are going to be muddy either way but a Corsair/Razer/Turtle Beach or whatever else dodgy headset is generally not going to respond well to any sort of virtual surround for the price.

 

[fs123]

There was actually a company tailoring surround solutions to certain headphones awhile back, I'm struggling to remember the name and finding the details via googles several pages of dodgy advertisements is a pain.

I believe that @EsaT mentioned them once in relation to a DT990 profile they had on offer, but I've no idea if he's still around.

I know that Audeze use Dolby Atmos for their lauded Maxwell series, but the cans are planar magnetic and might be tailored specifically to the software, whereas other headphones wont be.

What exactly are you using headphone wise? For good software surround you generally want an open back headphone with good soundstage, some solutions are going to be muddy either way but a Corsair/Razer/Turtle Beach or whatever else dodgy headset is generally not going to respond well to any sort of virtual surround for the price.

I use Sennheiser PC360 open backed headphones. They are pretty good and I've had them for over 8 years now.