Stereo Headphone audio question

[b3rry.]

I would really appreciate any help on my question,

So I am looking into buying a new pair of headphones and decided to go with the stereo route.

since I have only used headphones with digital 7.1 for the past 7 years I dont really know what stereo is supposed to sound like.

So when I set my headphones to 2.0 stereo I noticed that when I'm playing for example Overwatch or ingame audio on yt that when a sound comes from the direct left I hear nothing on the right,

and the other way around. 

 

Is it normal for stereo to sound that way? 

When the audio comes from in front  of me I hear it more balanced in both ears but the sharp left and rights sound kinda odd to me.

 

Any help or info on how to fix this would be really appreciated  

 

thx in advance.

[That_Nerd_Eric]

Stereo Audio is composed of a Left and Right channel. If there is only audio playing in the left channel then you will hear nothing in the right channel. This can occur in videogames however the effect is usually suppressed by background noises.

You could check your headphone volume in settings to make sure each channel is near the same volume. 

[b3rry.]

17 minutes ago, That_Nerd_Eric said:

Stereo Audio is composed of a Left and Right channel. If there is only audio playing in the left channel then you will hear nothing in the right channel. This can occur in videogames however the effect is usually suppressed by background noises.

You could check your headphone volume in settings to make sure each channel is near the same volume. 

I did check the channel volume and it was the same. something i did notice was that in overwatch they had a audio setting where i could choose between dolby and system.

When I selected dolby it did sound a lot better because the left kinda blended into the right and the other way around. 

 

But thanks for the help  

[_Omega_]

Which headset where you using? 

Digital 7.1 is in most cases just a stereo headset with a program simulation surround sound... Especially because 7.1 makes no sense for headphones, where is that one subwoofer? In the right ear or in the left?

With unprocessed audio it depends on the game some are very directional (if something is on the right you hear noting on the left) and other ones just simulate surround sound by them self...

[b3rry.]

32 minutes ago, _Omega_ said:

Which headset where you using? 

Digital 7.1 is in most cases just a stereo headset with a program simulation surround sound... Especially because 7.1 makes no sense for headphones, where is that one subwoofer? In the right ear or in the left?

With unprocessed audio it depends on the game some are very directional (if something is on the right you hear noting on the left) and other ones just simulate surround sound by them self...

Im using digital 7.1 audio.

I didn't know it might vary from game to game il try stereo out in some more games. It must be a me thing that I think stereo sounds kinda odd cuz I know there are a LOT of people that enjoy and use stereo.

 

thx for the help 

 

 

[_Omega_]

13 minutes ago, b3rry. said:

Im using digital 7.1 audio.

I didn't know it might vary from game to game il try stereo out in some more games. It must be a me thing that I think stereo sounds kinda odd cuz I know there are a LOT of people that enjoy and use stereo.

 

thx for the help 

 

 

It can even vary from sound chip to sound chip and if you have other audio enhancements activated

[Omon_Ra]

On 3/31/2023 at 9:36 AM, b3rry. said:

Im using digital 7.1 audio.

I didn't know it might vary from game to game il try stereo out in some more games. It must be a me thing that I think stereo sounds kinda odd cuz I know there are a LOT of people that enjoy and use stereo.

 

thx for the help

'7.1' refers to 7 channel surround sound, typically front left, front right, center, surround left, surround right, back left, back right, the .1 is the subwoofer. In a normal home theatre setup, there would be 7 speakers (8 including the subwoofer) around the room in those positions. For a set of headphones that claim '7.1' it's typically just two drivers, with software positioning sounds in the correct soundstage relative to your noggin. In headphones, there isn't enough room for all of those speakers, as @_Omega_said. With headphones it's not hard to simulate placement of sounds around your head without actually needing drivers all around your head. Standard stereo headphones will still give you the positional audio in games like Overwatch. You'll be able to hear a Widowmaker clompin around a roof above and behind you just fine. The extreme imbalance is odd though, as it shouldn't be all or nothing in one side or the other, it's usually well balanced and sounds should come from their relative position to your character.

[HenrySalayne]

22 hours ago, Omon_Ra said:

7.1' refers to 7 channel surround sound, typically front left, front right, center, surround left, surround right, back left, back right, the .1 is the subwoofer. In a normal home theatre setup, there would be 7 speakers (8 including the subwoofer) around the room in those positions. For a set of headphones that claim '7.1' it's typically just two drivers, with software positioning sounds in the correct soundstage relative to your noggin. In headphones, there isn't enough room for all of those speakers, as @_Omega_said.

Size is not the problem. But a surround setup only works if the speakers are far enough away (and it's a homogeneous sound field) and if you can perceive the sound with both ears. You need both ears to locate a sound source in space.

Adding additional speakers to your headphone on each side simply doesn't work because only one ear can hear them. There is no localization or directionality.

 

On 3/31/2023 at 2:04 PM, b3rry. said:

So when I set my headphones to 2.0 stereo I noticed that when I'm playing for example Overwatch or ingame audio on yt that when a sound comes from the direct left I hear nothing on the right,

and the other way around. 

 

Is it normal for stereo to sound that way? 

When the audio comes from in front  of me I hear it more balanced in both ears but the sharp left and rights sound kinda odd to me.

Since you only have two ear-holes, this is not a problem. The sound reaching your two ears can be shaped to match a sound field reaching both ears. You should make sure your in-game setting are set to headphones. However, not all content sounds great on headphones. That's just how it is.

But if it's optimized for headphones, it can sound amazing. You can look for "binaural" content on the internet to get an impression.