Is audiophile PC gaming possible?

Global_Inferno · 2 Feb 2011 at 20:30

Uriel said:
In this case I'm talking about the Xonar D2 encoding Dolby Headphone - then outputting it as stereo PCM at up to 192khz 24 bit.

Uriel, I'm really quite intrigued by this option as it seems to give the best of both worlds, so I'm wondering a few things...

Is it only cards such as the D2 / D2X / etc. that support Dolby Headphone over PCM? Is there a cheap card that will do it? ie. a DG? As it does seem that I can enable the S/PDIF output when set to heaphone and Dolby Headphone, although at the moment I have no way of telling if the optical output has the DH applied to it or not...

Uriel · 2 Feb 2011 at 21:27

I don't see why it wouldn't work on the DG but can only confirm it works on the D2 in Vista, as that's the only time I've tried it.

DG will be restricted to 96khz 24 bit thought won't it? Where as the other Xonars will do 192khz 24 bit.

Global_Inferno · 2 Feb 2011 at 22:16

Ah true... Well I seem to have it working. *evil grin* This opens up a whole new world of options, mwah ha ha haaaaa!

PhoenixSP · 2 Feb 2011 at 23:27

I look forward to your findings Global ,should be nice to see how the e9 performs. I wonder how the amp will drive the goldrings

Boozebeard · 4 Feb 2011 at 01:19

Any idea when the next part will be up? I'm itching to spend some money

Global_Inferno · 4 Feb 2011 at 09:37

I'll be trying to get a part on soundcards this weekend, if I have some time.. I'm quite busy at the moment; went climbing yesterday, hiking tomorrow and have football on Sunday! So I've got to fit some time in somewhere!

sn0w8 · 4 Feb 2011 at 10:49

great thread! this thread has convinced me to take the plunge and so i picked up a set of ds1000's off play.com

i currently use the logitech g35's and think they are superb. my biggest gripe with them is that they get very uncomfortable for me head after about an hour of use...

I have a farely High end home cinema/hifi setup in my games room, so am really looking fwd to seeing how these go.

what kind of soundcard would you suggest i pair up with?

my pc currently has this

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SC-052-CL&groupid=701&catid=11&subcat=

will this be good enough for the headset?

if i need to upgrade, what would guys reccomend?

james.miller · 4 Feb 2011 at 11:49

Uriel said:
I don't see why it wouldn't work on the DG but can only confirm it works on the D2 in Vista, as that's the only time I've tried it.

DG will be restricted to 96khz 24 bit thought won't it? Where as the other Xonars will do 192khz 24 bit.

i cant see that making any difference unless you're listing to 192khz material.

What's the sq like with dolby headphone @ 192khz? there are conflicting reports on the internet, but im sure ive read before that dolby headphone only works at 44.1 or 48khz. if that's the case then i bet there's some resampling going on there. {audio input} > ((posible resample)) > {Dolby headphone} > {resample to 192khz} > ouput.

hmmm...

Uriel · 4 Feb 2011 at 11:56

It's a long time since I used it and I generally used to bit match the source material. However, I did try it with some CDs at 192khz and honestly couldn't tell the difference between it and 44.1.

CDs at 48khz or 96khz definitely resulted in a noticeable alteration in SQ though.

Dolby Headphone did work with the card set to 192khz but I wasn't listening to 192khz material at the time.

Global_Inferno · 4 Feb 2011 at 13:39

Dolby Headphone does work with all the DG's settings, 44.1KHz, 48KHz and 96KHz, however I doubt many games have source audio above 44.1KHz to be honest, kinda rendering it a moot point.

As for the sound card snow, the Xtreme Audio isn't considered a particularly good X-Fi by most people; you might be better off getting a Xonar DG (with an in-built headphone amp!), or a higher end X-Fi if you really want to up the SQ (Sound Quality).

Uriel · 4 Feb 2011 at 13:42

I think most game audio is 48khz these days.

Rroff · 4 Feb 2011 at 13:53

I'd love to see someone who really knows their stuff review a good mix of headphones - especially interested to find someone else who've used the PC163Ds as well

Having been through the whole creative, plantronics, logitech, razer, etc. headphones stage and thinking they were quite adequate even decent, it was quite uh ear opening to then try the PC163Ds and DT770s, you really really are missing a lot of detail and immersion in the soundstage with average gaming headphones, and dolby headphone especially sounds so much better with more vibrant/lighter sounding drivers/enclosure (most gaming headphones have good midrange but suck at the high end and bass tends to be "boomy" rather than deep and vibrant).

Sunbed · 4 Feb 2011 at 14:11

So really my Grado SR60's should do me alright eh?

I like them for music, should be OK for gaming too?

Global_Inferno · 6 Feb 2011 at 11:01

Part 3.5 is up, although it isn't exactly part of the series "true and proper" as you'll see.

Marsman · 6 Feb 2011 at 15:44

Sundance said:
So really my Grado SR60's should do me alright eh?

I like them for music, should be OK for gaming too?

Depends if you are going to use them with Dolby Headphone or CMSS 3D. If yes, then I'd say no. I've used on ear headphones with CMSS 3D and DH, and the result was pretty useless. If you are going to use them plain stereo, with no surround sound virtualisation effect, then why not. Give them a try.

Tikkabhuna · 6 Feb 2011 at 17:29

Little question. I have a D2X and sometime this year I'm going to get a Receiver (Yamaha 667 or similar) and I was wondering what was the best way to connect it. I'll be using it for everything, gaming, Blurays, music. My ATI card's HDMI, the analog connections on the card, or the digital out on the card?

Very helpful stuff.

Marsman · 6 Feb 2011 at 17:40

If using analogue from the D2X, you will get better sound quality than you would if you used SPDIF.

Global_Inferno · 6 Feb 2011 at 19:23

Tikkabhuna said:
Little question. I have a D2X and sometime this year I'm going to get a Receiver (Yamaha 667 or similar) and I was wondering what was the best way to connect it. I'll be using it for everything, gaming, Blurays, music. My ATI card's HDMI, the analog connections on the card, or the digital out on the card?

Well, it all depends on how good the receiver is, and more importantly how good the DACs are.

If it's good you could use an optical connection to it, however for gaming you'd only be able to send it a PCM 2-channel signal, so probably less than ideal.

I'd probably stick with analogue out of the D2X and cable between the two; perhaps invest in some high-grade cables to run between the PC and the receiver as it's particularly vulnerable to noise.

Tikkabhuna · 6 Feb 2011 at 19:38

Global_Inferno said:
Well, it all depends on how good the receiver is, and more importantly how good the DACs are.

If it's good you could use an optical connection to it, however for gaming you'd only be able to send it a PCM 2-channel signal, so probably less than ideal.

I'd probably stick with analogue out of the D2X and cable between the two; perhaps invest in some high-grade cables to run between the PC and the receiver as it's particularly vulnerable to noise.

I heard about the 2 channel PCM thing in games too. I guess the best idea would be to use analogue for gaming and switch it over when watching blurays.

Thanks for the help.

Global_Inferno · 6 Feb 2011 at 21:00

Make sure that your sound card supports the encrypted format that bluray's put their sound in.. (I've forgotten what it is exactly, I don't have a bluray player.. sorry!)