Headphones/Headset for Gaming - Need Help - Confused.

[Dsweiss19]

I have been reading a number of posts and I am confused.  I hope you can help me.  I have a Soundblaster - Creative X-fi fatality edition sound card installed in my PC.  It is old.  I also had Hyper X Cloud headphones.  The headphones broke and I need a new pair.  I will be using them with my PC.

I do gaming (FPS - Americas Army) and as many others I would like to hear where people are (footsteps and such).  Other people playing seem to be able to expertly hear where everyone is in the game.  So, I asked around.  People recommend all types from the Asus Strix 7.1, Astro A4/A50 to SteelSeries Arctis, Logitech 933, Hyper X and so on. I haven't been able to get a clear sense as to which would be best.  

 

So the questions are:

 

1) Do I abandon my Creative X-fi fatality sound card in favor of a headset that has a USB sound card with 7.1 surround sound to hear footsteps more accurately?

2) Of the gaming headsets with a USB sound card, which is the best for positional sound (hearing precise location of footsteps?)

3) If it is better to use my Creative Soundcard, then which headphones are best with it?  need a microphone solution as well (doesn't have to be great)

4) Perhaps there is a better solution than a "gaming headset" that would produce better results?

 

 

As a side note I use my Grado SR80 headphones to listen to movies or music.  

 

My budget is up to around $300.

 

I really appreciate the help.  I don't seem to be getting a clear picture.

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

 

[theonlyratatoskr]

Don't buy 7.1 headphones unless you try them in a store first and totally love them.

 

Two (2.0) good quality speakers are better than eight (7.1).

I would suggest a good pair of stereo headphones instead of faux surround technology. There's less to go wrong with two speakers, you don't have to bother with driver crap to make the "surround" work.

I say "surround" because it's not real surround, it uses software to emulate surround. The only way to get precise surround is to physically have speakers in the 7.1 locations.

 

Since you already have a very decent pair of headphones, the Grado, why don't you simply buy a Microphone and continue using these?

 

Try them out for gaming. Their open back design should give you a very accurate stereo image so you should be able to locate things easily.

 

Finally, does that game have a 'footsteps' fader in the Audio settings? An alternative is to turn this up haha

[Dsweiss19]

Thanks for responding.  The Grado don't seem to do a good job at hearing the footsteps and spatially telling me where they are.  Maybe my sound card is just not good enough.

[rice guru]

1 hour ago, Dsweiss19 said:

Thanks for responding.  The Grado don't seem to do a good job at hearing the footsteps and spatially telling me where they are.  Maybe my sound card is just not good enough.

Check out the dt 990, or the hd58x. But since your budget is that high check out the AFK Khan's they took the dt990 and "fixed it" it's supposed to retain what was good with the 990 soundstage and imaging but have a better sound signature. And a removable cable

[Dsweiss19]

2 hours ago, rice guru said:

Check out the dt 990, or the hd58x. But since your budget is that high check out the AFK Khan's they took the dt990 and "fixed it" it's supposed to retain what was good with the 990 soundstage and imaging but have a better sound signature. And a removable cable

Thank you for those recommendations.  But will my old sound card work for those headphones?

[Dsweiss19]

19 hours ago, theonlyratatoskr said:

Don't buy 7.1 headphones unless you try them in a store first and totally love them.

 

Two (2.0) good quality speakers are better than eight (7.1).

I would suggest a good pair of stereo headphones instead of faux surround technology. There's less to go wrong with two speakers, you don't have to bother with driver crap to make the "surround" work.

I say "surround" because it's not real surround, it uses software to emulate surround. The only way to get precise surround is to physically have speakers in the 7.1 locations.

 

Since you already have a very decent pair of headphones, the Grado, why don't you simply buy a Microphone and continue using these?

 

Try them out for gaming. Their open back design should give you a very accurate stereo image so you should be able to locate things easily.

 

Finally, does that game have a 'footsteps' fader in the Audio settings? An alternative is to turn this up haha

How would you turn the footsteps up?  

[theonlyratatoskr]

Not sure - I don't have that game.

 

I've searched for the guide, have you read this? 

https://www.tweakguides.com/AASF_7.html

 

Do you have low sound detail enabled in settings? It allegedly reduces audio sample rate to benefit performance and will definitely have an impact on how well you hear localized sound.

 

Also, have you updated your audio drivers? This might help, too.

[rice guru]

5 hours ago, Dsweiss19 said:

Thank you for those recommendations.  But will my old sound card work for those headphones?

I don't know if can't seem to find how powerful your card is

[an actual squirrel]

On 8/20/2019 at 3:35 AM, theonlyratatoskr said:

I would suggest a good pair of stereo headphones instead of faux surround technology. There's less to go wrong with two speakers, you don't have to bother with driver crap to make the "surround" work.

 

Since you already have a very decent pair of headphones, the Grado, why don't you simply buy a Microphone and continue using these?

 

Try them out for gaming. Their open back design should give you a very accurate stereo image so you should be able to locate things easily.

 

The issue is for gaming, there is less directional information in a stereo mix because it is just left and right. This is happening digitally, so by the time it reaches the headphones, it is too late to recover the original information. When you have virtual 7.1, rather than converting to regular stereo, you are usually having the game output 7.1, and then that is post processed into binaural audio. In this way, you can avoid the loss of spatial information in the digital audio.

[theonlyratatoskr]

The directional information is the same, it's just condensed down into two channels. As for 7.1, depending on the processing it may just be upscaled to 7.1 from 2.0, meaning you're just hearing what's left and what's right and not making the most of your 8 speakers. Just because the number is bigger doesn't mean it's better, you need to know what goes on under the hood.

 

Yes, there's no doubt that physical speakers in the correct surround positions (5.1, 7.1, 16.4, 24.4, whatever...) are better for sound localization that stereo. Example: Stereo can't represent rear sounds, obviously.

 

Surround headphones on the other hand render channels out of phase with it's opposite side speaker to emulate a rear speaker - Headphones obviously only play with two sides, so they can't otherwise emulate a rear/front/etc. speaker. This only works for certain people at certain frequencies as everyone hears in a different manner. Also, 7.1 headphones? There is no sub in the headphones. The .1 refers to a sub, which a headphone cannot house, so surround headphones are a misnomer in my book.

 

Anyway, what were we talking about? haha

[an actual squirrel]

@theonlyratatoskr

The directional information is not the same because, for example, in stereo there is one left channel, but in 7.1, there is a front left, a side left, and a rear left. The goal of the virtual 7.1 processing is to help maintain the distinctness of those channels, and that extra information can help you out in certain gaming situations.  I agree that you have to make sure you are feeding the dsp a surround sound signal to have a benefit.

 

I also agree that an actual 7.1 speaker system is better since that works with your natural hearing, and the virtual 7.1 is artificially created. Also, yea, there is no sub, I think the 7.1 just refers to how it receives 7.1 input. An actual subwoofer would do the low frequency effects much better than headphones can.

 

And yes, the quality varies depending on how the person hears. But I do encourage people to use it and be tenacious and stick with it, since it should get better over time. And in the game Overwatch, for example, you have a dolby atmos for headphones option in the audio menu. So there is a case where you have virtual surround sound built into the game, making it very accessible.

[Dsweiss19]

1) So do I abandon my Creative X-fi fatality sound card in favor of a headset that has a USB sound card with 7.1 surround sound to hear footsteps more accurately or is my sound card good enough to use with something like AFK Khan or dt 990?