Is virtual surround worth it on stereo headphones?

[Stahlmann]

In my experience, both Dolby Atmos and Windows Sonic don't really do anything. Not in games and not in movies. For reference I'm using the Beyerdynamic Amiron Home, an open backed headphone.

 

What is an important spec to look for in headphones to get more out of virtual surround?

 

What has your experience been like?

[rippy4500]

I believe you need a true 5.1 or 7.1 speaker system for good surround, not just headphones. I always thought it sounded worse than just a standard unprocessed stereo signal regardless of the headphones used.

[191x7]

27 minutes ago, Stahlmann said:

In my experience, both Dolby Atmos and Windows Sonic don't really do anything. Not in games and not in movies. For reference I'm using the Beyerdynamic Amiron Home, an open backed headphone.

 

What is an important spec to look for in headphones to get more out of virtual surround?

 

What has your experience been like?

Some game engines support Dolby Atmos for headphones (I remember CoD Modern Warfare 2019 having the option) and it might be helpful if owning some borderline bad headphones.

[porina]

Headphone based surround has never worked for me either. At a first look, we have two ears, so two sound sources is sufficient? Yes, but - the effective frequency response of your ears varies depending on the direction of where the sound is coming from. Many implementations use a generic/average response which is why I think it doesn't work. If it doesn't closely enough match your personal ears, the illusion is broken. On the PS5 there is some minor adjustment but I didn't find it to really help. I tried the demo of Embody Immerse Gamepack, where you take a photo of your ear and they try to work out your personal characteristics from that. Again, didn't really work for me. Not didn't make a difference, but I found it didn't improve my experience over native stereo. I don't have any experience with headphones trying to use multiple drivers to give directionality. I'm a little sceptical given how close together they are in an enclosed space unless they are use to simulate a distant soundfield.

[GuiltySpark_]

On numerous occasions throughout the year I've tinkered with that "Sonic for Headphones" option in Windows 11 for certain games, but it always turns out to be a "this is neat for 15 minutes" then just going back to standard stereo. I also dislike having to turn things on and off to play games in general so just one more setting I have to adjust (as I don't want that setting on for music playback) is enough for me to forget about it entirely. 

 

It would have to be game changing for me to care, and in the times I've tried it it simply wasn't. 

 

Now, if the game itself supports it and I can just set the games settings to use it and not have to adjust anything in Windows, I may leave it on. 

 

This is with a set of Sennheiser HD650's.

[Stahlmann]

31 minutes ago, GuiltySpark_ said:

On numerous occasions throughout the year I've tinkered with that "Sonic for Headphones" option in Windows 11 for certain games, but it always turns out to be a "this is neat for 15 minutes" then just going back to standard stereo. I also dislike having to turn things on and off to play games in general so just one more setting I have to adjust (as I don't want that setting on for music playback) is enough for me to forget about it entirely. 

Weird. I don't notice any difference when using it in desktop applications, which is why I left it turned on for months. I'm beginning to think I find it underwhelming (putting it lightly) because maybe it isn't working at all.