Best Audio Setup for AKG K7xx Headphones

[Timeless88]

Hello all,

 

I bought a pair of AKG K7XX off Massdrop about 6 months ago.  At the time I was playing Heroes of the Storm and Overwatch.  I love and had zero issues with these headphones while playing these games and listening to music.  I recently started playing PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUND, and this is where I started to notice some issues.  Let it be known I am not an audiophile, I'm not great with A/V setups, and I don't have a great ear for sound quality.  I just know what I experience while playing.

 

Now, I know there are still some audio bugs/issues with this game, but when I'm watching streams of this game the streamers are still pretty good at figuring out which direction shots came from or where car engines/footsteps are.  It might just be me and the fact that I've never played a game of this genre, but with my AKG K7XX headphones I get really confused as to where sounds are coming from very frequently.  At one point in the first couple days of playing this game, I actually started to question whether i was wearing my headphones backwards because of how directionally off the sound seemed.  I also frequently notice that environmental sounds (rain, wind, etc) do not have a consistent volume for me.  I routinely think there is a car near to me when there isnt because the wind will randomly kick up or get louder for a second or two and makes it sound like an engine as compared to the normal sound of the environment.  I tried downloading Razer Surround to see if that helped, but honestly it just muddied up the sound, made the inconsistency of the volume worse, and didnt seem to improve my experience much.  I have tried plugging the headphones into both the front I/O connector on my case as well as directly into the back of the MoBo and both sound about the same to me.  Despite these headphones being apparently difficult to drive, they are plenty loud with my PC volume at 30% even without the gain boost on the MoBo turned on. 

 

I have a Gigabyte G1 Gaming 7 MoBo, and currently no other hardware or software where my audio setup is concerned.  Its just my AKG K7XX's and the onboard sound of my mobo.  My price budget for improvements to the setup (if needed) is $300-$500, but im not above getting a $30 sound card if it will help and thats all I need.

 

Questions:

1. Does it seem like I have an audio or audio quality issue, or is this just me being a noob (and possibly a nit-picky one) when it comes to audio and these types of games?

2. Within the realm of soundstage and directional awareness, would my setup noticeably benefit from the addition of a sound card and/or DAC/AMP combo?

3. If my setup would be improved with a sound card or dac/AMP, which one(s) would you recommend and why?

4. If you think that there is a significantly better option in terms of headphones for gaming that would NOT require any extra sound card or dac/amp in my current setup, what would it be?

 

Thank you all very much in advance for taking the time to help me out!

 

[Himommies]

It woudnt help.It's because the headphones arent for gameing but for audiophile use.It dosent have that much spatial depth

[Timeless88]

Interesting, because I've definitely been reading that a lot of gamers use these.  One guy even said that these were his current favorite gaming headphones, and the soundstage/directional audio was great in CS:GO.

 

Any suggestions for a different pair then, Himommies?

[SSL]

1 hour ago, Himommies said:

It woudnt help.It's because the headphones arent for gameing but for audiophile use.It dosent have that much spatial depth

 

This is nonsense. In reality, no headphone can truly get "out of head sound".

 

This issue to me sounds more like there is a problem with the game, the sound settings or audio drivers. Is your audio configured in game and in your system sound drivers to output full range stereo? Are all virtual sound effects and enhancements turned off?

 

One thing is for sure, an amp or DAC will not be of help here.

[Himommies]

Just now, SSL said:

 

This is nonsense. In reality, no headphone can truly get "out of head sound".

 

This issue to me sounds more like there is a problem with the game, the sound settings or audio drivers. Is your audio configured in game and in your system sound drivers to output full range stereo? Are all virtual sound effects and enhancements turned off?

 

One thing is for sure, an amp or DAC will not be of help here.
 

Well this is jut a comparison from a M50x and a Kraken

[SSL]

6 minutes ago, Himommies said:

Well this is jut a comparison from a M50x and a Kraken

 

Both are garbage.

[Timeless88]

Thanks for the reply SSL. I will double check all my audio settings when I get home. Pretty sure all my in-game ones are good, but admittedly haven't touched my PC's audio since this is the first game I've perceived an issue.

[Timeless88]

Checked all my audio settings. Everything seems fine, but in the audio software that came installed, there are different options for output, one being 5.1 surround sound. I tried turning this on and it made my headphones sound like absolute garbage. Probably because that output corresponds to having speakers plugged in to each of the 5 connectors in the back I/O. But with my headphones, I am only using one jack.

 

There is an S/PDIF output as well, but as I understand it, I would need a dac/amp to plug into that. Would that help with quality at all when set to output at 5.1 surround?

 

Bottom line I guess is, I'm trying to get the best quality virtual surround sound I can via a pair of headphones, and I'm just not sure where the point of failure in my setup is =X

[Volbet]

2 hours ago, Timeless88 said:

There is an S/PDIF output as well, but as I understand it, I would need a dac/amp to plug into that. Would that help with quality at all when set to output at 5.1 surround?

Nope. Your headphones will still be stereo, so they won't be capable of outputting stereo sound. No amp/DAC unit will be able to change that. 

 

2 hours ago, Timeless88 said:

Bottom line I guess is, I'm trying to get the best quality virtual surround sound I can via a pair of headphones, and I'm just not sure where the point of failure in my setup is =X

My best guess is that the failure lies on the software side of things. Either the game you're playing has some audio issues or the fault lies with the driver suite for your soundcard.

As already recommended, try disabling all Windows' sound enhancements. 

If there's any non-Realtek software included with your with your soundcard drivers, then try removing those. They will screw with your sound in strange ways.

 

And if you're really trying to go for virtual surround there's software solutions for that. Razer Surround is free and seem to works somewhat well.

However, I have always argued that virtual surround sound is a crutch and it should be avoided in favour of a clean stereo image. 

[SSL]

3 hours ago, Timeless88 said:

the audio software that came installed

 

Get rid of it.