Dolby Headphone supposed to sound like this?

AeoNGriM · 16 Mar 2011 at 13:24

I've been using a Xonar D2X PCI-e for about year and a half. I recently bought a new set of headphones, Sennheiser PC360's to replace a set of Speedlink Medusa NX 5.1's. I'm very happy with the sound quality on the 360's, however I'm having an awful time setting up the Xonar CP to work with Dolby Headphone. When set the Xonar CP to Dolby Headphone, everything sounds tinny and echoey, music, movies and games all have this effect. This happens no matter how many channels I select, or how many settings I fiddle with. I'm on 2 Channel Headphones, with 192Khz selected. I'm getting the same tinny, echoey effect when I use the DS3D GX Hi-Fi, Music and Games presets and none of the Equaliser Presets seem to work either ie Jazz, Rock. I end up having to knock Dolby Headphone off and am then stuck with basic 2 channel audio in gaming, which sounds rather poor, directionally speaking

What the hell am I doing wrong? Can someone run me through the exact settings I should be using to setup my Xonar to use Dolby Headphone properly, or to at least get the most out of my gear.

(I was getting the same echoey, tinny effect on the Medusa's with Dolby Headphone enabled so I'm sure the issue is with the Xonar and not with anything else. Tried re-installing the drivers after running DriverSweeper, tried reinstalling the OS to no avail. Maybe the card is borked, but this is really driving me nuts!!)

joeyjojo · 16 Mar 2011 at 15:27

(This post of mine will be no surprise to SC regulars

)

Dolby Headphone sounds tinny and crap to me too. I leave my DX on "2 Speakers" (-> cmoybb -> hd595).

If mixing channels is your thing, the Bauer binaural DSP for foobar2k is quite nice. It is subtle though.

Marsman · 16 Mar 2011 at 15:49

DH is not for everyone. It's a preference thing really.

TBH, I think the PC360's need an amp to get the best out of them. A few members rate them as highly as the HD595's, when used with an amp. I have seen some comments from people who thought they were not as good as the HD555's. That was using them un-amplified.

Having said that, the echo effect is down to DH, and would still be there amp or not. If you have tried all DH modes, DH1, DH2, DH3, and still find the sound has an echo effect, then it's more than likely you just don't like it, same as Joey and Auraomega.

Shame really. I do like DH. Not for music mind, but for game and film. I find DH3 does have an echo sound effect, so that's the only one I don't like.

AeoNGriM · 16 Mar 2011 at 16:31

Thanks for the replies regarding my problems. I'm seriously ****ed off. I went from a 30 quid pair of USB Microsoft Lifechat LX3000's, which I had no sound issues with whatsoever, and spent over 250 on top of the range sound equipment and the result is a choice between tinny and echoey sounds, or basic 2 channel stereo. What's worse is the PC360's are open backed, so the sound goes right through my mic and onto Teamspeak, driving everyone nuts. Don't know why I bothered.

titaniumx3 · 16 Mar 2011 at 16:51

... because you're getting higher quality stereo sound?

If you want a proper surround sound experience, get a proper surround sound system; anything else is mostly an imitation and while it may improve the sound positioning, it will always affect the underlying sound quality one way or another.

Global_Inferno · 16 Mar 2011 at 16:55

I'm not a big fan of DH-2 or DH-3, but DH-1 I love... Even then only for games / movies. Listening to music with it on is not good imo.

Auraomega · 16 Mar 2011 at 17:11

Marsman said:
Having said that, the echo effect is down to DH, and would still be there amp or not. If you have tried all DH modes, DH1, DH2, DH3, and still find the sound has an echo effect, then it's more than likely you just don't like it, same as Joey and Auraomega.

Do I really post here so often that you remembered that?

I find DH awful for music and stereo movies and TV; there are some games I prefer with DH on than off but it's rare and I have to be in the mood to enable it, movies I have to use my 5.1 systems. I don't know about your Senns but some headphones don't work well with DH anyway and the larger sound stage you create the more echo-y sound you'll get.

Angel_Rex · 17 Mar 2011 at 10:33

I had this with the xonar D1. I fixed it by turning the WAV sound bar slider down to 75%- 80% as opposed to 100%.

Marsman · 17 Mar 2011 at 14:11

Auraomega said:
Do I really post here so often that you remembered that?

Lol, I remember lots of things that are really quite pointless, at the end of the day. Important things, I forget.

Marsman · 17 Mar 2011 at 14:23

TBH, the 5xx series are not the best choice to go with DH. I was somewhat baffled why Asus teamed up with Sennheiser to create the Xense bundle, given that the PC350/360's are very similar to the 555/595's. DH works best with drivers that are not set at an angle, which the 555/595's are. I very much doubt Sennheiser re-designed the PC350's, given what the bundle costs, and what it would cost Sennheiser to actually re-design them. Initially I was rather dubious that is was worth buying, but the price is very reasonable, when you consider what each would cost alone. Plus, a regular Head-Fi'er, gave the Xense bundle the thumbs up when he reviewed it for Guru3D.

Asus, I doubt were not bothered at all, that angled driver headsets were not the best match with DH. The bundle with the Sennheiser name, makes it more appealing, and thus will sell. The fact they didn't and still don't bother to fix half baked drivers, shows the initial sale is far more important than caring what the customer thinks.