Technical explanation of how the GSX works:
"They take that sound and **** with it".
Sennheiser gsx 1000 thread?
- Thread starter shankly1985
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Technical explanation of how the GSX works:
"They take that sound and **** with it".
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are these still worth getting or have they been superseded by anything. I own a set of HD599 so am good to go with this device if its still valid. My needs may be different to others though as i also want something for movies as well as gaming.
AFAIK nothing currently beats them for 3D presentation of gaming audio but there are better solutions in terms of sound quality and features that can still do reasonable surround audio for gaming.
Don't watch movies, main use for me is gaming and I wouldn't change these for anything else on the market at this moment.
Give it a try buy from somewhere that does decent returns.
I purchased the GSX 1000 this week and I must say I'm very underwhelmed by it so far.
I use Audio Technica AD700 headphones and find the GSX's 7.1 mode to not be an improvement over stereo 2.0 via my motherboard for positional audio.
My headphones are generally considered one of the best for positional audio in games due to the large sound stage so perhaps worse headphones may benefit from it but personally I can't see any reason to use a GSX in my case, if anything it makes it a bit harder to tell the distance from an enemy.
I was testing in counter strike global offense on an audio testing map (you can turn on various noises like footsteps in a static location and freely walk around to test positional audio). I have the gsx set up in windows to use 7.1 and also enabled 5.1 in the cs settings.
I'll test it some more tomorrow with other newer games and update my post with my thoughts, perhaps cs only allowing you to use 5.1 isn't a fair test. I'll install Overwatch, I believe that allows 7.1. If anyone has any other suggestions please feel free to tell me to try something out!
Oh one thing I have to say is what the hell is up with that gaming mode on the GSX, it sounds so awful I had to laugh.
I think it sounds by far the best on the regular sound mode with none of the other extra options enabled personally.
I use Audio Technica AD700 headphones and find the GSX's 7.1 mode to not be an improvement over stereo 2.0 via my motherboard for positional audio.
My headphones are generally considered one of the best for positional audio in games due to the large sound stage so perhaps worse headphones may benefit from it but personally I can't see any reason to use a GSX in my case, if anything it makes it a bit harder to tell the distance from an enemy.
I was testing in counter strike global offense on an audio testing map (you can turn on various noises like footsteps in a static location and freely walk around to test positional audio). I have the gsx set up in windows to use 7.1 and also enabled 5.1 in the cs settings.
I'll test it some more tomorrow with other newer games and update my post with my thoughts, perhaps cs only allowing you to use 5.1 isn't a fair test. I'll install Overwatch, I believe that allows 7.1. If anyone has any other suggestions please feel free to tell me to try something out!
Oh one thing I have to say is what the hell is up with that gaming mode on the GSX, it sounds so awful I had to laugh.
I think it sounds by far the best on the regular sound mode with none of the other extra options enabled personally.Dunno about GO but the older Counter Strike has built in HRTF that could be conflicting with the GSX - though I think it is disabled in speaker mode.
I purchased the GSX 1000 this week and I must say I'm very underwhelmed by it so far.
I use Audio Technica AD700 headphones and find the GSX's 7.1 mode to not be an improvement over stereo 2.0 via my motherboard for positional audio.
My headphones are generally considered one of the best for positional audio in games due to the large sound stage so perhaps worse headphones may benefit from it but personally I can't see any reason to use a GSX in my case, if anything it makes it a bit harder to tell the distance from an enemy.
I was testing in counter strike global offense on an audio testing map (you can turn on various noises like footsteps in a static location and freely walk around to test positional audio). I have the gsx set up in windows to use 7.1 and also enabled 5.1 in the cs settings.
I'll test it some more tomorrow with other newer games and update my post with my thoughts, perhaps cs only allowing you to use 5.1 isn't a fair test. I'll install Overwatch, I believe that allows 7.1. If anyone has any other suggestions please feel free to tell me to try something out!
Oh one thing I have to say is what the hell is up with that gaming mode on the GSX, it sounds so awful I had to laugh.
Try newer titles, I found CSGO surround sound to not be all that good, to be honest, it really never has been. Like @Rroff said also try HRTF is disabled or that will conflict with the GSX.
Thanks.
I disabled HRTF in CS and tried newer titles including Overwatch which is supposed to have very good audio.
I used the GSX for a few days giving it a fair chance and I really wanted to love it but my conclusion is that for me at least the GSX is absolutely not worth it, I found there was zero benefit in positional audio and in fact I find it easier to pinpoint and judge distance of sounds using Stereo 2.0 with my Audio Technica AD700 headphones.
Not only is the positional audio no improvement, the sound in general is not something I enjoy when in 7.1 mode.
I'm not really sure what the appeal of this device is at a price point of £200, perhaps it's good for people with lower quality headphones and sub par onboard audio? In that case I'd personally rather spend the money on better headphones and a sound card.
For anyone reading this that already owns a pair of good headphones with a large sound stage and decent onboard audio/a good sound card and you're hoping it will improve your competitive gaming experience - make sure you buy from somewhere with an easy return process because you may also be disappointed with the results.
It's a shame really because the device itself looks beautiful and is very nice to use, it's an excellent design by Sennheiser. We all have different ears though, for some people perhaps they do find it's a benefit over stereo for positional audio - if it works better for you then great!
I disabled HRTF in CS and tried newer titles including Overwatch which is supposed to have very good audio.
I used the GSX for a few days giving it a fair chance and I really wanted to love it but my conclusion is that for me at least the GSX is absolutely not worth it, I found there was zero benefit in positional audio and in fact I find it easier to pinpoint and judge distance of sounds using Stereo 2.0 with my Audio Technica AD700 headphones.
Not only is the positional audio no improvement, the sound in general is not something I enjoy when in 7.1 mode.
I'm not really sure what the appeal of this device is at a price point of £200, perhaps it's good for people with lower quality headphones and sub par onboard audio? In that case I'd personally rather spend the money on better headphones and a sound card.
For anyone reading this that already owns a pair of good headphones with a large sound stage and decent onboard audio/a good sound card and you're hoping it will improve your competitive gaming experience - make sure you buy from somewhere with an easy return process because you may also be disappointed with the results.
It's a shame really because the device itself looks beautiful and is very nice to use, it's an excellent design by Sennheiser. We all have different ears though, for some people perhaps they do find it's a benefit over stereo for positional audio - if it works better for you then great!
Everyone does have different ears/perception when it comes to surround audio and what works for one person might not at all for others - but I've demo'd the unit and found the surround audio as good as anything out there and better than a lot so I wonder if there is some kind of configuration or compatibility issue with your setup (I know some people had poor results with certain USB3 controllers or something can't remember details now). The headphones you use can also have a big impact - I generally find Dolby Headphone really poor but there are the odd pair of headphones where it works a lot better for me.
For sure, yeah.
If anyone is wondering, my motherboard is the Asus Z170-K. I tried the GSX with both the USB 3.0 and 2.0 ports.
It would have been interesting to try it with a different pair of (worse) headphones but unfortunately I don't have any others available, I got rid of everything else after I got the AD700s since I love them so much for competitive gaming.
I found this comment on a reddit post that others might find interesting:
CS (including GO) has nowadays built in HRTF.
And Overwatch should have Dolby Atmos for Headphones.
Those need to be disabled and game set to 5.1/7.1 output, if using any other HRTF processing.
Or rest of signal chain needs to be in "stereo mode" without additional processing.
Purpose is gaming fashion and brand hype.
Just like all those huge profit margin gaming headsets.
Hard to call anything excellent when it has worser DAC than budget/entry level Audigy Fx/Xonar DGX and no proper headphone amplifier.
Used chip is meant for cheap phones/tablets such devices.
https://prom-electric.ru/media/CX20745_ds.pdf
I mean would any of you pay £200 for those sound cards?
That would be like paying price of Jaguar/Rolls-Royce and getting some Lada.
And some control over binaural sound simulation processing besides fully on/off is definitely must.
In general have never liked "100%" surround setting in SB Z-serie's SBX Pro Studio.
(sub 30% can help lot with music in removing artificial inside ear sound)
Maybe it would sound decent with some crap headphones, but not going to waste money or time on finding that.
No sense to waste money on any other headphones with those.
Thanks. Yeah there was a setting in CSGO to disable advanced 3d audio processing which I did. I also saw the dolby atmos setting in Overwatch which I disabled. Both games I'm pretty sure I set up correctly for use with the GSX, I just wasn't impressed with the results.
I had wanted to try it for over a year so I was quite excited to use it...but hey at least I get so save myself a nice chunk of cash by not noticing any improvement in games!
Regarding your comment about my headphones I'm glad you said that because I don't have any plans to try any others, they are so unbelievably comfortable for me and nothing else I've ever used has come close to how good they are for accurately hearing footstep audio in games.
What's your personal setup for audio?
I use Philips fidelio x2 with my GSX1000 and still loving the quality of the surround sound.
Each to their own I guess when it comes to audio. It's always a topic open for debate.
Each to their own I guess when it comes to audio. It's always a topic open for debate.
I guess GSX still needs setting Windows playback channel configuration manually to 5.1/7.1, but that was likely in manual.
Might be simply that Sennheiser's HRTF algorithm uses head model differing one direction from some wider average.
Correct binaural cues vary depending on shape of listener's head and outer ears.
So HRTF better for one listener can be worser for second listener and vice versa.
Though have listened some GSX recordings with couple of my headphones and it was even game with Creative's algorithm in SB Z serie.
Creative should really bring their customizable HRTF from "Super X-Fi" to sound cards.
Now it's available only in that USB-dongle, lacking much of functionality of sound card.
Myself own AKG K702, K712, Beyerdynamic DT990 and retired tape keeping pieces of plastics falling Sennheiser HD595.
After fashion design HD595 started rotting in 2½ years bought DT990, whose mechanical design is from 30 years ago and made for functionality/durability instead of fashion.
For general gaming it has lot nicer bass punch, but that makes details notch harder to distinguish than in HD595 if wanting best competitiveness.
K712 is AKG's vision of fun bass and overall pretty similar to DT990, with little less bass immersion/similar amount better details
At same time noticed second hand K702 and decided to get it as neutral reference, so that HD595 can rot all it wants.
K701/K702 would be one of the few cans at absolute top level with ATH-AD700.
Though neutral bass is more stronger than in AD700, which is "Bass? Isn't that fish?" can.
https://www.innerfidelity.com/images/AKGK702.pdf
https://www.innerfidelity.com/images/AudioTechnicaATHAD700.pdf
(K702 needs "only" 16 times the electric power per dB)
Nice, I've heard good things about those headphones.
Yes that's right, I had to set the GSX to 7.1 in Windows, that was actually a bit of a pain since Windows kept setting it back to Stereo whenever I'd plug it back in.
You've got quite the collection of headphones huh!
I tried the AKG 712PRO but if I remember correctly my setup at the time wasn't really adequate and I didn't find them comfortable enough to bother getting something better to drive them.I've seen multiple people speak very highly of the K702 for competitive gaming, if I were to ever try another pair of headphones I'd probably give them a shot one day. They look extremely similar to the k712 pro though so perhaps I wouldn't enjoy the comfort. I'll only bother trying them if I find a friend has a pair that I can borrow, I don't think there's any sense in me buying a pair when I have the AD700 already.
As for the bass in the AD700, I've pretty much forgotten what bass is it's been that long
K712's physical design is exactly same as in K702.I've seen multiple people speak very highly of the K702 for competitive gaming, if I were to ever try another pair of headphones I'd probably give them a shot one day. They look extremely similar to the k712 pro though so perhaps I wouldn't enjoy the comfort.
As for the bass in the AD700, I've pretty much forgotten what bass is it's been that long
It's simply variant with different tuning with mainly couple dBs more bass and different colours...
And different pads whose replacements are priced at level which makes GSX overpricing look just half overpricing.
If you found K712's comfort "challenging", K702 wouldn't be different.
Lack of bass would be good thing for Dolby Headphone with its bass bloat.
K702 level neutral bass is just barely tolerable.
DT990 and K712 would be again more like balancce for Creative's old bass killing CMSS-3D.
Here's testing of CMSS-3D, newer SBX Pro Surround and Dolby Headphone:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1_20T8x_OI
When configuring the GSX in Windows for 7.1 surround, what are the settings supposed to be for "full range speakers", there's an option there for "Front left and right" & "surround speakers".
I noticed when setting up my Creative AE-5 those options are both turned off by default so I wondered if that should be the case for the GSX also. I believe when I tested the GSX I had those options both enabled.
Edit: I've been testing a lot more.
I found better ways to test the surround sound in game, one test in particular I found to be very useful.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=697998669&searchtext=sound+training
This map is great for testing positional audio cues. You swing your knife and a sound plays, you then have to swing your knife again where you think the sound came from. Upon the second swing, it will show you where the sound actually did come from.
Using this test it made it clear to me that distinguishing front from rear audio is a lot easier when using the GSX 1000 or the Creative AE-5 with their surround sound enabled. My results were clear as day, my accuracy was far greater when not using stereo. I went into that test expecting (wanting!) to perform the same or better with Stereo so I was surprised.
My gripe with the GSX is the 7.1 sounds awful to me in some games, one game I couldn't stand using it in was Fortnite, I was like a lost puppy trying to locate where people were for some reason, switching to Stereo in that game was far easier for me. I did not have this issue with the AE-5, surround sound in Fortnite sounded good.
Using the Creative AE-5 has given me the same benefits that the GSX does (easier to determine front/rear audio cues) but I prefer the overall sound of it, it sounds less "fish bowl"ish to me if that makes sense. Probably because the AE-5 lets me control a dial for the surround sound from 1-100 so I'm able to find a sweet spot that sounds good and still gives me the benefits.
I'm going to continue switching between the two so I can form a solid opinion on which I prefer overall. At the moment I am strongly leaning towards the AE-5.
TLDR: Starting to change my opinion on virtual surround, I can see the benefits and respect why people choose to use it
I noticed when setting up my Creative AE-5 those options are both turned off by default so I wondered if that should be the case for the GSX also. I believe when I tested the GSX I had those options both enabled.
Edit: I've been testing a lot more.
I found better ways to test the surround sound in game, one test in particular I found to be very useful.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=697998669&searchtext=sound+training
This map is great for testing positional audio cues. You swing your knife and a sound plays, you then have to swing your knife again where you think the sound came from. Upon the second swing, it will show you where the sound actually did come from.
Using this test it made it clear to me that distinguishing front from rear audio is a lot easier when using the GSX 1000 or the Creative AE-5 with their surround sound enabled. My results were clear as day, my accuracy was far greater when not using stereo. I went into that test expecting (wanting!) to perform the same or better with Stereo so I was surprised.
My gripe with the GSX is the 7.1 sounds awful to me in some games, one game I couldn't stand using it in was Fortnite, I was like a lost puppy trying to locate where people were for some reason, switching to Stereo in that game was far easier for me. I did not have this issue with the AE-5, surround sound in Fortnite sounded good.
Using the Creative AE-5 has given me the same benefits that the GSX does (easier to determine front/rear audio cues) but I prefer the overall sound of it, it sounds less "fish bowl"ish to me if that makes sense. Probably because the AE-5 lets me control a dial for the surround sound from 1-100 so I'm able to find a sweet spot that sounds good and still gives me the benefits.
I'm going to continue switching between the two so I can form a solid opinion on which I prefer overall. At the moment I am strongly leaning towards the AE-5.
TLDR: Starting to change my opinion on virtual surround, I can see the benefits and respect why people choose to use it
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