7.1 virtual, 5.1 true or just a good stereo for gaming

[Clyde]

Which one is better?

[werto165]

Stereo, you have two ears . (for headphones) 

[Clyde]

Stereo, you have two ears .

Thats what i thought

[Archangel1994]

A good set of open-back stereo headphone like the HD519, ATH-AD500x or similar

[DeViLzzz]

Sorry but I love 5.1 true surround or 7.1 virtual and would never just go for stereo.  Just my two cents.  I have heard just stereo and it is not the same.  For pc gaming I will never go back to that if I don't have to.

[ShadowCaptain]

Sorry but I love 5.1 true surround or 7.1 virtual and would never just go for stereo.  Just my two cents.  I have heard just stereo and it is not the same.  For pc gaming I will never go back to that if I don't have to.

 

that is why all the $5000 audiophile headphones are stero

 

the thing  you have to understand is....7.1 works in a room, but not in headphones, in a room you can have speakers in front, to the side and behind you, you have 360 audio and your will perceive the audio from the speakers differently

 

in a headset, there is so little distance between the multiple spekaers in each ear cup that you really only have 2 points of sound.. left and right

 

Not to mention that 7.1 headsets generally have WORSE quality audio, because they have to use smaller drivers and some drivers will distort due to vibrations for neighbouring drivers 

 

if you want in game surround, use software surruond

 

here is a diagram I just made

[Steinway]

Generally, open backed stereo headphones will have a great soundstage which eliminates the need for 5.1 or 7.1 in a headset, that's not to say that closed back can't have a good soundstage though. To me 5.1/7.1 is only good for environments where the listeners won't be using headphones and it's done in an environment where it can be setup well like a movie theatre.

[Geekazoid]

Once you grow 3-5 more ears you'll want to go with 5.1 or 7.1 SRS. JK

[SSL]

If your game does not have a good stereo virtual surround, try Razer Surround or (as a last resort) get a dedicated soundcard that provides Dolby surround or something similar.

 

"Surround" headsets do nothing different while generally sounding worse overall.

[frozeefrank]

there are ways to emulate a "virtual surround" with several processing technics(panning anhd phasing) but it will never be te real thing. "Virtual surround" is software base, any pair of headphone that claims to be "surround" is a rip-off unless they come with a software that emulates it like some razor HP I beleive. And I have never seen or heard about headphones having more than 2 drivers(L/R)

[SSL]

there are ways to emulate a "virtual surround" with several processing technics(panning anhd phasing) but it will never be te real thing. "Virtual surround" is software base, any pair of headphone that claims to be "surround" is a rip-off unless they come with a software that emulates it like some razor HP I beleive. And I have never seen or heard about headphones having more than 2 drivers(L/R)

 

There are plenty of headphones that have "real" virtual surround with multiple drivers. What they don't tell you is that you need two ears for directional cues, so having more than one speaker per ear is useless.

 

I believe they still work because 7.1 and 5.1 already inherently have surround DSP applied, but I'm not positive of that.

[creatip123]

there are ways to emulate a "virtual surround" with several processing technics(panning anhd phasing) but it will never be te real thing. "Virtual surround" is software base, any pair of headphone that claims to be "surround" is a rip-off unless they come with a software that emulates it like some razor HP I beleive. And I have never seen or heard about headphones having more than 2 drivers(L/R)

 

True. What most people don't know/realize is that they're basically buying/paying the price for the surround DSP circuit. The headphone itself is plain stereo. It's the DSP, whether it's those USB thingy, or built in. 

 

There are some 'true' surround headsets, namely Razer Tiamat 7.1, with a total of 10 drivers. The idea is, instead of emulating HRTF in 2 channels, it accepts 8 channels input. So the sound setting in onboard/sound card is set to 8 channels, and all the jacks are used. Logically, having 5 drivers in 1 cup, placed just a few mm from each other and your ears, it will sounds like taping 5 satellites speakers to your ears.