7.1 surround vs 5.1 surround for gaming and headset/headphones

[ShearMe]

Funny enough, I can tell where enemies are coming from better with 2.1 compared to 7.1

 

I just tried out razer surround a few minutes ago - if I don't concentrate on the sound, it sounds more directional than 2.0, but if I do concentrate on the sound, it sounds less directional. Whuddya gonnae do.

[megustarad114]

They label these effects to make you think one is better than the other but in reality IT DOESN'T MATTER. Sure, one might sound better or worse to a particular person, but I can guarantee you there's another person out there that thinks otherwise because their ears are shaped differently or whatever, and that's not even getting into how different pairs of headphones react to these effects.

 

If you want to use virtual surround, knock your socks off, there's plenty of people who prefer it; It's just about picking what works with your ears and your headphones the best for your brain. However, no matter the signal you're sending to your headphones, you're better off picking a good pair of headphones than a headset with more virtual (or worse, physical) speakers crammed inside. Multiple drivers per ear can work in theory, but not in practice so far.

the ad500 are good headphones but i need surround sound cand decide between getting a 7.1 or a 5.1 surround  

[Aphexx]

time to break out the socratic method again since we spent so much time trying to explain things

 

 

 

please describe to us in as great as detail as you can what you believe surround sound gaming will do and what you believe 7.1 and 5.1 are in headsets. please dont just respond in just one sentence make a paragraph of 2 of your dogmatic thoughts on this subject

[megustarad114]

time to break out the socratic method again since we spent so much time trying to explain things

 

 

 

please describe to us in as great as detail as you can what you believe surround sound gaming will do and what you believe 7.1 and 5.1 are in headsets. please dont just respond in just one sentence make a paragraph of 2 of your dogmatic thoughts on this subject

i believe that surround sound works because i am currently using cheap headphones and razer surround 7.1 and in game i can hear where people are but not exactly its off by like 30-40 degrees and i am thinking about getting new good headphones which is the audio technica ath-a700 or the ath-a500   and a sound card but which sound card should i get the one with 5.1 surround or the one with 7.1 and i heard the difference between 7.1 razer surround  and 2.1 stereo . now i dont know if 5.1 is same as 7.1, my question is there a huge or small  difference between 7.1 and 5.1 . ps i dont want to use razer surround because it will charge 20 us dollars after december -_- 

question 1.. is 5.1 and 7.1 same 

question 2 .. is there a huge or small  difference between 7.1 and 5.1

[Aphexx]

question 1.. is 5.1 and 7.1 same 

 

5.1 consists of a center right on the monitor a front left and a front right speaker just off to the side of the monitor and 2 rear left and right behind the viewer with a .1 denoting a sub

7.1 consists of a center on the monitor a front left and a front right speaker off to the side of the monitor and 2 side speakers left and right beside the viewer and 2 rears behind left and right of the viewer with a .1 denoting a subwoofer

 

question 2 .. is there a huge or small  difference between 7.1 and 5.1

in terms of surround speaker systems with speakers laid around the room and with decent separation between them yes directionality from speakers is tangible however room physics comes into play with accoustical interference and sciency junk that muddies what you hear. in a good room with good speakers there is a good difference between 7.1 and 5.1

 

 

however we aren't talking about real 7.1 here. were talking about virtual 7.1

virtual 7.1 is just a made up name that implies that the software a certain company is making can reproduce sound in a 3d environment 

 

so with virtual barber you got sounds infront behind to the side and on top of you. I could just as easily name that an 11.1 sound or 22.1 sound because I could just say the software sounded like it emulated sound from 22 virtual speakers aligned around you and on top and below you. why did the marketing department label things as 7.1 and 5.1? its because you can relate to them as you have possibly heard them or own them. 

 

so what am I saying. disregard the made up naming scheme of virtual 5.1 and virtual 7.1 and adress them by the software name dolby headphone, EAX, DTS and others. evaluate them software to software rather than made up names by some coked up suit wearing marketing manager. 

[Aphexx]

what do I believe in?

 

I'd rather listen to my game with raw sound from the sound engineers at the game studio. they already spent time and money putting that sound in there and building a proper soundscape to live in. I've tried dts, dolby and EAX and to me it feels cheesy like that pimp my ride show with xzibit

yo dawg I heard you liek 3d sound so I put 3d sound in your 3d sound so you can 3d sound while you 3d sound

 

to me it feels echoey vague and kind of muddy. if you are playing a triple a title with a decent budget sunk into it you should just trust the sound engineers of the game to bring you sound and not put un necessary window dressing on top of your audio. 

 

edit: so save your coins and invest that into good open back headphones optimized for proper soundstage and ignore the made up lingo by fake people trying to confuse you and take your money. 

 

edit2: and if you must purchase something because well. because, just because. then I'd maybe look at the solutions by creative labs, although creative is hated by most on this forum they have been praised for their sound reproduction in the past. 

[smjpl]

 cheesy like that pimp my ride show with xzibit

 

yo dawg I heard you liek 3d sound so I put 3d sound in your 3d sound so you can 3d sound while you 3d sound

 

Mad Mike man, ya know he be hittin it with dat plexiglass man. Hooooooow weeeeeee! Dats hott!!!!!!!!!!

[Aphexx]

looking back I may sound overly harsh against sound virtualizers while this is true for the current crop of what we have out on the market I am cautiously optimistic for what is on the horizon with DTS Headphone X

 

http://twit.tv/show/home-theater-geeks/167

[ShearMe]

edit2: and if you must purchase something because well. because, just because. then I'd maybe look at the solutions by creative labs, although creative is hated by most on this forum they have been praised for their sound reproduction in the past. 

 

Blasphemy!

[megustarad114]

5.1 consists of a center right on the monitor a front left and a front right speaker just off to the side of the monitor and 2 rear left and right behind the viewer with a .1 denoting a sub

7.1 consists of a center on the monitor a front left and a front right speaker off to the side of the monitor and 2 side speakers left and right beside the viewer and 2 rears behind left and right of the viewer with a .1 denoting a subwoofer

 

in terms of surround speaker systems with speakers laid around the room and with decent separation between them yes directionality from speakers is tangible however room physics comes into play with accoustical interference and sciency junk that muddies what you hear. in a good room with good speakers there is a good difference between 7.1 and 5.1

 

 

however we aren't talking about real 7.1 here. were talking about virtual 7.1

virtual 7.1 is just a made up name that implies that the software a certain company is making can reproduce sound in a 3d environment 

 

so with virtual barber you got sounds infront behind to the side and on top of you. I could just as easily name that an 11.1 sound or 22.1 sound because I could just say the software sounded like it emulated sound from 22 virtual speakers aligned around you and on top and below you. why did the marketing department label things as 7.1 and 5.1? its because you can relate to them as you have possibly heard them or own them. 

 

so what am I saying. disregard the made up naming scheme of virtual 5.1 and virtual 7.1 and adress them by the software name dolby headphone, EAX, DTS and others. evaluate them software to software rather than made up names by some coked up suit wearing marketing manager. 

i know about the virtual barrier but in game they don't work like the video with 2.1 surround it would work with 5.1 and 7.1 can u give me a clear answere which s better 7.1 or 5.1 dawg

[I'm Batman]

i have astro a 40's and i use them on 5.1 just because it gets so confusing in 7.1 ^-^

[TheBLOODYTOXIC]

I prefer speakers over headphones due 5.1 Speakers Set up is much more inmersive than "5.1 Headphones" bare in mind just 2 drivers... two = stereo

that's my opinion
 

[Aphexx]

i know about the virtual barrier but in game they don't work like the video with 2.1 surround it would work with 5.1 and 7.1 can u give me a clear answere which s better 7.1 or 5.1 dawg

I'm not sure where your confusion lies here bud. the products you laid out at the first post are virtual 5.1 and virtual 7.1 and well I talked extensively on virtual surround saying that they are made up numbers based on virtual speakers which don't virtually exist in the virtual world. the virtual difference between virtual 5.1 and virtual 7.1 are, to me, nil. virtually no difference

Virtual.....

the xonar dg is a 5.1 soundcard made for an actual 5.1 device that uses real speakers that you deploy around your room. the headphone aspect of the card is I believe that one uses dolby headphone which brings us back to the virtual thing about virtual speakers in your head. so to virtually sum that one up the 5.1 aspect of the card pertaining to outputs to real speakers has no relation to the headphones you laid out. the only way to make use of the xonar dg's 5.1 is to use one of those cheezy "gaming" headsets with multiple drivers per earcup. and frankly I'd go with virtually virtual surround over multiple drivers per earcup any day.

to add to the virtual mess we have here along with virtual 5.1 and virtual 7.1 dts is about to bring us virtual 11.1 or headphone X: while I virtually facepalm at the 11.1 labelling because the current software does a good job at emulating sound from above further reinforcing my point about made up numbers because virtual 5.1 could have labelled itself as virtual 11.1 or virtual 22.1 or whatever. what I do care about is that they are targeting laptops tablets and smartphones and we will finally have some real audio solutions to compete with pseudo audio manufacturer Beats which are annoyingly stamping their label on mobile computing devices.

TLDR: virtual 5.1 vs virtual 7.1 = no difference because they are virtually made up numbers.

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