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Is surround sound worth it in a headset?

Vengeance_K1ng
By Vengeance_K1ng
in Audio
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Go to solution Solved by Aytex,

when playing games competitively no...

when playing games casually yes

 

as a avid competitive gamer i highly recommend stereo over surround in any situation 

Posted

I was looking at buying this headset: http://www.amazon.ca/Kingston-Technology-Headset-KHX-H3CL-WR/dp/B00JJNQG98?psc=1&SubscriptionId=AKIAJM4NKIQGABP2PIRA&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B00JJNQG98&tag=thewire0f-20&ascsubtag=WC63061

 

 

 

Is this a good headset?

| CPU: Core i7-4790K  |  Motherboard:  MSI Gaming Z97 GAMING 5 LGA 1150  |  CPU Cooler:  NZXT Kraken X61 |
| GPU: Single 8GB EVGA GTX 1070 FTW |  RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR3 1600 MHz |  Case: Corsair 330R Titanium Edition

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Posted

I prefer stereo honestly, I cant make things out in surround in headphones there is not enough differentiation in location imo

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CPU: Ryzen 5 5600x | Mobo: Gigabyte B550i Aorus Pro AX | RAM: Hyper X Fury 3600 64gb | GPU: Nvidia FE 4090 | Storage: WD Blk SN750 NVMe - 1tb, Samsung 860 Evo - 1tb, WD Blk - 6tb/5tb, WD Red - 10tb | PSU:Corsair ax860 | Cooling: AMD Wraith Stealth  Displays: 55" Samsung 4k Q80R, 24" BenQ XL2420TE/XL2411Z & Asus VG248QE | Kb: K70 RGB Blue | Mouse: Logitech G903 | Case: Fractal Torrent RGB | Extra: HTC Vive, Fanatec CSR/Shifters/CSR Elite Pedals w/ Rennsport stand, Thustmaster Warthog HOTAS, Track IR5,, ARCTIC Z3 Pro Triple Monitor Arm | OS: Win 10 Pro 64 bit

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Posted

The best option I know of is to use surround sound simulation with SBX from a soundblaster Z card and with a decent neutral sounding set of headphones like the HD 598s. This will give you great positional tracking of sounds and its one of those upgrades so many gamers don't even realise exists because so little of the media has realized how good it is either.

 

Thankfully someone has captured the sound difference for normal headphone listening so you can hear it yourself on youtube and at the very least it will tell you if it improves positional cues for you with your current headphones:

 

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Posted

It can sometimes help you enjoy the game more. I've been enjoying StarCraft 2 in 5.1/7.1 surround on my headset with Razer Surround.

 

Since the Razer software is free, try it out with what you currently have.

 

Remember, Surround headsets use software to create the virtual surround environment so you'll be getting around the same. Just be sure to disable all the normalisation or bass boost settings so that you get a true feel of it.

 

Also, just a small note that for Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, the rear left and rear right channels are supposed to be at the side of the listener (not the rear).

 

Reference:

5.1 - http://www.dolby.com/us/en/guide/surround-sound-speaker-setup/5-1-setup.html

7.1 - http://www.dolby.com/us/en/guide/surround-sound-speaker-setup/7-1-setup.html

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