Are "surround sound" gaming headsets bs?

[Adam P]

I've been using a pair of non "gaming" headphones for a while now, and it's fine. However, I have recently been wanting a "surround sound gaming headset". However, all the reviews on Youtube and in many places, all point to the "surround sound" on headphones to be complete crap on headsets such as the Hyperx Cloud II, but good on headsets like the Razer Blackshark V2. I am aware that Razer uses their own THX Spatial sound instead of normal 7.1. However, many conflicting accounts on the subject are making "scared"(couldn't think of a better word) of buying one. I really need actual evidence that they really do work as good surround sound solutions. Thanks.

[Hairless Monkey Boy]

How would you use them?

 

I have the Corsair Void Pro (I don't recommend it).

 

The surround can be a nice addition to a single-player open world game. It can be good or bad to add to a multiplayer competitive game, usually bad. For watching movies or shows I guess it's okay. Music is trash with it.

 

Mostly I could take it or leave it. You are probably much better off getting a high quality headset vs getting one with ULTRA MEGA SURROUND GAMMING MODE etc.

[Adam P]

Honestly, I want one for something like search and destroy, like R6S, because my spatial awareness is complete crap.

[Tigerleon]

5 minutes ago, Adam P said:

Honestly, I want one for something like search and destroy, like R6S, because my spatial awareness is complete crap.

Then you'd want a good pair of stereo headphones. Just normal plain stereo headphones. Let the game's engine take care of sound processing. I'd recommend the SHP 9500 with a vmoda boom pro. Great "headset" for the price. Really wide soundstage and the imaging is great. You don't want any USB "gaming" headset since they always sound crap or they break outside of the warranty. Take advantage of the onboard soundcard if you have a decent one instead. So 3.5mm analog headphones is the way to go.

[Quackers101]

you mostly have to go with open headphones, wired and with a decent sound system?

With like an DAC/AMP that boosts or clear some noise that could be produced?

Not quite sure how it all works, but think it's something like that.

 

you are likely not going to get the 7.1 with standard headphones? buy speakers instead.

[Adam P]

Is stereo just left/right?

[NumLock21]

Your game or the movie you want to watch, needs to support it, that means have to change the audio from stereo to 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound for it to work.

[Adam P]

3 minutes ago, NumLock21 said:

Your game or the movie you want to watch, needs to support it, that means have to change the audio from stereo to 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound for it to work.

What about THX Spatial on some Razer headsets? I considered going for the Kraken TE or the Blackshark V2, but I'm not sure.

[Quackers101]

1 minute ago, Adam P said:

What about THX Spatial on some Razer headsets? I considered going for the Kraken TE or the Blackshark V2, but I'm not sure.

really depends on what you are looking for.

Some might be a little improvement, some could be a lot.

Closed vs open, else if those headphones are what you are looking for, then try them out and if shops are opening up again else you might have found what you want. If one can go out and test them for yourself, while open headphones is maybe more audiophile focused. Or if you want it more closed, and only hear the game.

 

[Tigerleon]

27 minutes ago, Adam P said:

What about THX Spatial on some Razer headsets? I considered going for the Kraken TE or the Blackshark V2, but I'm not sure.

I thought about this as well. Read my post: 

 

[Tigerleon]

On 1/19/2021 at 12:31 AM, Adam P said:

What about THX Spatial on some Razer headsets? I considered going for the Kraken TE or the Blackshark V2, but I'm not sure.

What that basically does is making the left/right stereo image go crazy and puts on all kinds of different stuff such as EQ and just it guessing where the sound is coming from. Games nowadays have good engines with 3d recorded audio. Like CS:GO for example. Virtual surround is BS. As the title asked. You can't achieve "directional" audio from a virtual surround headset. Even the stupid Razer Tiamat or whatever that monstrosity is called, that has 5 drivers in each cup can't give you a better 3d sound since the drivers are too close to the ear to make difference compared to a real surround system. Also smaller drivers will produce a weaker sound compared to a big one. When will people understand that these bullshit marketed products from companies that make Chinese keyboards aren't good headphones. You will 99.9% of the time want to buy audio stuff from companies that actually specializes in it. A few exceptions here and there. Such as the HyperX cloud 2's. They are a reskin of studio headphones. Same with the better MH751 or MH752 that are an upgrade from the takstar pro 80's to the 82's. Now the MH752 according to many reviews and an audiophile I've watched, they are better than almost any other gaming headset on the market at that price or even higher.

 

I recommended the SHP 9500 with a vmoda boom pro (detachable mic cable hybrid), since they are open back, which gives a feeling of being "surrounded" by the sound rather than being in your head. It let's the air escape from the sides leaking sound and that people can hear in the same room. That is negative thing about open back. But the pros of open backs are soo good that you'd never want to go back.

[Adam P]

13 hours ago, Tigerleon said:

What that basically does is making the left/right stereo image go crazy and puts on all kinds of different stuff such as EQ and just it guessing where the sound is coming from. Games nowadays have good engines with 3d recorded audio. Like CS:GO for example. Virtual surround is BS. As the title asked. You can't achieve "directional" audio from a virtual surround headset. Even the stupid Razer Tiamat or whatever that monstrosity is called, that has 5 drivers in each cup can't give you a better 3d sound since the drivers are too close to the ear to make difference compared to a real surround system. Also smaller drivers will produce a weaker sound compared to a big one. When will people understand that these bullshit marketed products from companies that make Chinese keyboards are good headphones. This is simply not the case. You will 99.9% of the time want to buy audio stuff from companies that actually specializes in it. A few exceptions here and there. Such as the HyperX cloud 2's. They are a reskin of studio headphones. Same with the better MH751 or MH752 that are an upgrade from the takstar pro 80's to the 82's. Now the MH752 according to many reviews and an audiophile I've watched, they are better than almost any other gaming headset on the market at that price or even higher.

 

I recommended the SHP 9500 with a vmoda boom pro (detachable mic cable hybrid), since they are open back, which gives a feeling of being "surrounded" by the sound rather than being in your head. It let's the air escape from the sides leaking sound and that people can hear in the same room. That is negative thing about open back. But the pros of open backs are soo good that you'd never want to go back.

Thanks. I didn't really understand what the stuff was before.

[Seyrren]

Razer has really good spatial sound, be it games, or movies, and i don't know how to exactly describe it, but it does carry weight when impacts and explosions occur (i tried it on anime and transformers in this two regards i was amazed). But that's the only good thing i can say about them (well besides comfort on the razer nari as an example the comfort is also good), music quality is awful on any razer headset i ever had, and while action movies with 5.1 or above support can be interesting to watch due to the the spatial awareness and good bass for action scenes, drop that to 2 channels and it looses a lot of its flair... The software Synapse 3, which is needed for THX audio is horrible, THX audio in itself isn't very stable, for many having to reinstall them while browsing to clear the registry regularly because they start crackling and popping. The HyperX among gaming headsets are of decent quality, but they are only decent at stereo, i don't really feel they do well as a virtual 7.1 or 5.1 device. I would say its better to play it safe and just go for a dac+good quality headphones, spatial sound might not be the best but audio quality and detail makes up for it.

[Tigerleon]

On 1/20/2021 at 7:34 PM, Seyrren said:

Razer has really good spatial sound, be it games, or movies, and i don't know how to exactly describe it, but it does carry weight when impacts and explosions occur (i tried it on anime and transformers in this two regards i was amazed). But that's the only good thing i can say about them (well besides comfort on the razer nari as an example the comfort is also good), music quality is awful on any razer headset i ever had, and while action movies with 5.1 or above support can be interesting to watch due to the the spatial awareness and good bass for action scenes, drop that to 2 channels and it looses a lot of its flair... The software Synapse 3, which is needed for THX audio is horrible, THX audio in itself isn't very stable, for many having to reinstall them while browsing to clear the registry regularly because they start crackling and popping. The HyperX among gaming headsets are of decent quality, but they are only decent at stereo, i don't really feel they do well as a virtual 7.1 or 5.1 device. I would say its better to play it safe and just go for a dac+good quality headphones, spatial sound might not be the best but audio quality and detail makes up for it.

You can just get dolby or something similar, never had good experience with razer's software. Using my soundcard's solution. It doesn't sound half bad in movies and not destroying the sound quality.

[Ahoy Hoy]

Its basically crap these days.

With the increase with computer capability video game audio engines have sky rocketed in capability. They no longer do just 7.1 as the highest setting and actually the best surround sound is stereo.

These headphone software's like razer hyperx etc etc, take the 7.1 data from the game and virtualise it to stereo. Its like having two microphones spaced out at ear positions in a surround sound speaker room. The game audio is played through the speaker the speakers and the difference in audio volume and pitch from the sound speakers being in different positions is recorded by the microphones and the microphones is what the headphones play. But this is all done virtually.


Most modern big video games have audio engines which can virtualise audio down to the a single degree. And not only horizontally but vertically. 

 

The option between stereo virtualisation and 7.1 to stereo virtualisation is 7 speakers in a single horizontal plane surrounding you or thousands of speakers spaced out by a degree so your are surrounded by a perfect ball of speakers.

Full stereo virtualisations isn't a new thing its been around in video games for over a decade now. 
And if the game is old or low budget and only has 7.1 as the highest you can download the razer software for free and use it only any headphone. So there's no need to buy these surround sound headphones as its just marketing bull crap these days.
 

[Tigerleon]

6 hours ago, Ahoy Hoy said:

These headphone software's like razer hyperx etc etc, take the 7.1 data from the game and virtualise it to stereo. Its like having two microphones spaced out at ear positions in a surround sound speaker room. The game audio is played through the speaker the speakers and the difference in audio volume and pitch from the sound speakers being in different positions is recorded by the microphones and the microphones is what the headphones play. But this is all done virtually.

Exactly. And often fails miserably at pin pointing sounds most of the time.