Razer Surround

[lohjiahung]

Some of you might have heard of the Razer Surround software, which claims to be able to support 7.1 Surround Sound for any non-7.1 surround sound analogue headphones. There is even a demo on their website here. I am neither supporting it nor against it, for those who have used it before, can you guys give me some advice? Does it really work, pleez*? :unsure:

 

*No, my spelling is not horrible, it means "please".

[JAKEBAB]

you have 2 ears thats how many speakers u need.

[PassionFruit]

Dat triple post.

[Rorgash]

its digital surround, it creates the same surround effect as other surround headphones does

[Aphexx]

you have 2 ears thats how many speakers u need.

bonus points for using a canned linus statement and using it incorrectly. bravo.

 

 

out of all the sound virtualizers that I have used RaiZoRrr surround sounds the least worse. 

 

virtualizers, to me, make all the sounds seem echoey and an all over the place. my choice all the time is to use an open backed headphone and using the game's sound design in its pure form

[JAKEBAB]

bonus points for using a canned linus statement and using it incorrectly. bravo.

 

 

out of all the sound virtualizers that I have used RaiZoRrr surround sounds the least worse. 

 

virtualizers, to me, make all the sounds seem echoey and an all over the place. my choice all the time is to use an open backed headphone and using the game's sound design in its pure form

your an idiot hes asking about something that is the same as if u had all 7.1 in a headset without actually having it giving u the same effect which is terrible

[Aphexx]

your an idiot hes asking about something that is the same as if u had all 7.1 in a headset without actually having it giving u the same effect which is terrible

which is done via 2 drivers in a headphone

[lohjiahung]

Is it as good as actual 7.1 Surround headphones? I ask because I've tried my cousin's Razer Chimaera 5.1 with 7.1 Surround Sound for Battlefield 3 on his computer and it was pretty awesome IMHO*. Most proper 7.1 Surround Sound headphones cost a lot, or at least something, while Razer Surround is free.

 

*I didn't mean "in my humble opinion". I meant "in my horrible opinion".

[lohjiahung]

Dat triple post.

You really don't like me do you.

 

Edit: Don't worry, if you seriously don't like me, I won't take offence.

[Hawx]

bonus points for using a canned linus statement and using it incorrectly. bravo.

 

 

out of all the sound virtualizers that I have used RaiZoRrr surround sounds the least worse. 

 

virtualizers, to me, make all the sounds seem echoey and an all over the place. my choice all the time is to use an open backed headphone and using the game's sound design in its pure form

+1 I have a Razer Blade, and Surround works perfectly. I just use the default surround environment as no changes were needed. I have a pair of hammerheads and the specific setting for them works great and improves sound quality.

 

 

Is it as good as actual 7.1 Surround headphones?

Of course not. Nothing software simulated can ever be as good as a piece of hardware designed to do it.

[creatip123]

I've tried it, and you should too, even if just out of curiosity. It's free after all, and doesn't hurt your PC. You can turn it on/off, or uninstall it freely. 

 

Like others said, it's a virtual surround software, giving the impression of 3D positional audio. It's like dolby headphone, cmss, etc. Quite good, but adds a little latency for me (I have an old crappy PC), so I don't use it anymore.

[PassionFruit]

You really don't like me do you.

 

Edit: Don't worry, if you seriously don't like me, I won't take offence.

No need to offended, not trying to be a poopface. I'm just amazed how fast you typed all those topics.

[JAKEBAB]

which is done via 2 drivers in a headphone

yes turning 2 drivers to make them sound like there are 7 which is dumb.

[lohjiahung]

No need to offended, not trying to be a poopface. I'm just amazed how fast you typed all those topics.

Don't worry, no hard feelings

[SSL]

Is it as good as actual 7.1 Surround headphones? I ask because I've tried my cousin's Razer Chimaera 5.1 with 7.1 Surround Sound for Battlefield 3 on his computer and it was pretty awesome IMHO*. Most proper 7.1 Surround Sound headphones cost a lot, or at least something, while Razer Surround is free.

 

*I didn't mean "in my humble opinion". I meant "in my horrible opinion".

 

 

+1 I have a Razer Blade, and Surround works perfectly. I just use the default surround environment as no changes were needed. I have a pair of hammerheads and the specific setting for them works great and improves sound quality.

 

 

Of course not. Nothing software simulated can ever be as good as a piece of hardware designed to do it.

 

This is all that virtual surround is doing, albiet with more complex algorithms: http://www.audiocheck.net/audiotests_stereophonicsound.php. Whether it is done at the game level, OS level, or hardware level makes little difference.

[mr moose]

+1 I have a Razer Blade, and Surround works perfectly. I just use the default surround environment as no changes were needed. I have a pair of hammerheads and the specific setting for them works great and improves sound quality.

 

 

Of course not. Nothing software simulated can ever be as good as a piece of hardware designed to do it.

 

 

yes turning 2 drivers to make them sound like there are 7 which is dumb.

 

 

The auditory system doesn't work in a way that is conducive to having more than 1 driver in each side of your headphones.  5.1 and 7.1 only work as speakers physically placed around a room at precise positions.  For positional audio the brain needs to be able to calculate the the difference between the time a sound hits your right and then your left ear, it then needs to calculate the SPL difference in order to be able to construct a 3d position for that sound source. If you have a front driver in your headphones for your right ear, the sound from that driver will not reach your left ear, so there is no way your brain can calculate a positional sound source from that headphone unless it has been binaurally processed.  At which point all the extra drivers become moot.

 

So basically how well a headphone gives you surround sound is all signal processing and not the number of drivers.