Are 7.1 headsets true surround?

[kingmustard]

Or are they just faking it, based off a 2.1 source?

 

If they are true surround, I have another question.

 

Current setup

• 2.1 speakers connected to on-board sound (Realtek HD Audio), plugged in at the front of my case
• Stereo headset connected to the sound card that I have installed (Asus Xonar DSX)
• Doing it this way saves me having to keep changing the jacks around as I swap between speakers and the headset often
• When I want to use the speakers, I switch to Realtek HD Audio in Sound properties within Windows
• When I want to use the headset, I switch to Asus Xonar DSX in Sound properties within Windows

Let's assume I get a 7.1 headset (that I connect, presumably, to the Asus Xonar sound card like my current headset).

 

Will I have to keep changing my games and Windows between Surround (headset)/Stereo (speakers) modes?

 

If so, seems like a ball ache.

[Electronics Wizardy]

For headphones you want 2 speakers. One for each ear. Any more is marketing bs(some iem's have multiple drivers for different frequences.

 

Stero heaphones already have full surround.

[NrKj105]

true surround is if you have 7/5 speakers and one sub reflex in 1x ear cup
 

[Mooshi]

Technically speaking, no. Even if you shove multiple speakers in, it's stull feeding you audio from L and R. True surround are physical speakers placed around you, marketing fluff from headset manufactures.

[SSL]

"True surround" headsets do consume multi-channel input signals, but they still use DSP to create the surround effect. If you want real surround sound get speakers.

[kingmustard]

1 minute ago, SSL said:

"True surround" headsets do consume multi-channel input signals, but they still use DSP to create the surround effect. If you want real surround sound get speakers.

So I'd have to constantly switch Windows and the games between Surround and Stereo modes, then.

 

cba with that.

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, kingmustard said:

So I'd have to constantly switch Windows and the games between Surround and Stereo modes, then.

 

cba with that.

nope, you only have to do stero for headphones. There are no need for multichannel in headphones. Don't get them. You can have directional sound with stero.

[Mira Yurizaki]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

nope, you only have to do stero for headphones. There are no need for multichannel in headphones. Don't get them. You can have directional sound with stero.

HRTF is a wonderful thing. If only more applications supported it. Too bad Creative bought the only company who seriously pursued it and did duck-all with them.

[SSL]

25 minutes ago, kingmustard said:

So I'd have to constantly switch Windows and the games between Surround and Stereo modes, then.

 

Um, no?

[kingmustard]

6 minutes ago, SSL said:

 

Um, no?

Surely if they can "consume multi-channel input signals" (I presume you mean more than the usual two), Windows/the games would need to offer multiple channels for it to process?

 

Also, if some headsets can process an input to make it sound like surround to your ears, surely they would perform/process better if they receive a 7.x surround signal instead of a 2.x signal?

[SSL]

2 minutes ago, kingmustard said:

Surely if they can "consume multi-channel input signals" (I presume you mean more than the usual two), Windows/the games would need to offer multiple channels for it to process?

 

Two-channel should be passed through as needed.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, kingmustard said:

Surely if they can "consume multi-channel input signals" (I presume you mean more than the usual two), Windows/the games would need to offer multiple channels for it to process?

you don't need any more than 2 channels for headphones. Only left and right. Your ears and brain projess the delay and phase shit to determine location of the sound.

[SSL]

2 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

you don't need any more than 2 channels for headphones. Only left and right. Your ears and brain projess the delay and phase shit to determine location of the sound.

 

k we got it thank you

[Mira Yurizaki]

6 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

you don't need any more than 2 channels for headphones. Only left and right. Your ears and brain projess the delay and phase shit to determine location of the sound.

Except most of the time the mixing is really one-dimensional.

 

Yes you only need at the minimum 2 channels. No that doesn't mean you automagically get a "surround sound" experience.

[spwath]

8 hours ago, SSL said:

"True surround" headsets do consume multi-channel input signals, but they still use DSP to create the surround effect. If you want real surround sound get speakers.

Razer made one a while ago. But its pointless, as the proximity to the ear, and the isolation of the headphones, make the multi drivers not help with surround

[kingmustard]

On 06/06/2017 at 6:08 PM, Electronics Wizardy said:

you don't need any more than 2 channels for headphones. Only left and right. Your ears and brain projess the delay and phase shit to determine location of the sound.

Well my £30 stereo Creative Labs Fatal1ty HS-800 V2 headset, whilst perfectly fine for videos, music and games, are rubbish at full directional audio, so I don't consider full directional audio it a given for all stereo headphones.

 

That's why I was considering a headset that offered 'surround sound', in hope they performed better when tracking enemies in a house in Playerunknown Battlegrounds.

[Techicolors]

On 6/6/2017 at 0:39 PM, M.Yurizaki said:

HRTF is a wonderful thing. If only more applications supported it. Too bad Creative bought the only company who seriously pursued it and did duck-all with them.

like virtual binaural sound? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUDTlvagjJA

[Mira Yurizaki]

4 minutes ago, Technicolors said:

like virtual binaural sound? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUDTlvagjJA

Something like that.

 

I like to show this video (keep in mind this was done sometime in the mid 90s):

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

47 minutes ago, kingmustard said:

Well my £30 stereo Creative Labs Fatal1ty HS-800 V2 headset, whilst perfectly fine for videos, music and games, are rubbish at full directional audio, so I don't consider full directional audio it a given for all stereo headphones.

 

That's why I was considering a headset that offered 'surround sound', in hope they performed better when tracking enemies in a house in Playerunknown Battlegrounds.

Normally the quailty of the surround in a headphones depends on how good the audio is in the source, so the game or music. Some software can make the effect greater. Headphones can make a difference.

 

Adding extra speakers won't help at all, as only one ear can hear them, so the surround effect won't work at all.

[AnonymousGuy]

If the headset has multiple speakers and is well designed, it probably can sound exactly like having multiple discrete speakers in a room.  The "surround" drivers would just need to have an appropriate delay and attenuation to mimic if a speaker was a few feet away from you at an angle on one side.

 

You would need to have a true multi-channel input signal though.

[pyrojoe34]

They are not true surround but can accurately trick you into thinking it is.

 

Here's how I understand it:

What they do is take in a 7.1 signal from the computer (so the game/movie/whatever thinks they are surround sound) then processes the signal (usually via DTS or Dolby) to simulate what surround sound would deliver to each ear. Since we only have two ears/drums the brain uses the difference in sound from each ear to decide where the sound comes from in 3D space (the folds in your ear actually play a role in how this works by deflecting sounds from different directions in different ways). Anyway, I have the G933 and I actually do use the "fake" surround sound and really like how it works. The difference between this system and regular headphones is that the media gives out a 7.1 signal so you get more information than a 2.1 signal. That is also why some games differentiate between "speakers" and "headphones" in the settings. The headphone setting will basically do exactly this for any headphone by sending a simulated surround via 2-channels, the speaker setting will assume you have two speakers in front of you and will likely not simulate surround sound. So, if the media differentiates between "speakers" and "headphones" then the "headphones" option will probably sound exactly the same as using a 7.1 headset, however, if the media only differentiates between 2.1 and 7.1 and assumes speakers either way, the 7.1 headphones will probably sound much more surround than using the 2.1 option with regular headphones. The nice thing about the 7.1 headset like I have is you don't have to find out which media supports what, just set everything to output at 7.1 and the headphone drivers will handle the simulated surround on all media that has surround output.

 

Someone can correct me if I am wrong on any of the details but this is what I understand.

[Not_Sean]

as long as you got a speaker in ear ear you are good to go, Adding more is completely pointless and your brain will handle the rest.

 

Go chekc out the Virtual Barber Audio on Youtube. Use the cheapy earphones your phone came with, than try your fancy 7.1 ones. Zero difference except in Audio quality and thats got nothing to do with surround. 

[othertomperson]

You have two ears. The brain is highly adept at using volume, phase and timing differences to perfectly position sounds relative to you by your two ears alone. You can product perfect surround sound from a pair of stereo headphones. Surround only matters when you have a speaker array around you.

[elira]

You can use something like http://www.smyth-research.com/index.html to get almost the same result as multiple speakers. A little expensive and I think it's still being developed, but it should work.

[Mike A]

Interesting read, going to stay away from 7.1 headsets If I get a nice stereo headset for gaming like the Sennheiser Game One, would it be pointless to get a 7.1 sound card? It seems like most new soundcards are advertising 7.1, including Sennheisers own GSX 1000, which they say are compatible with the Game One (although the GSX 1000 may only be a amplifier, not sure if it's also a sound card).

 

Asus's newest Xonar U7 MKII advertises 7.1, as do their internal ones Xonar DX,DG,DGX. Would that conflict with stereo headsets? If they have an option would it be best to turn off 7.1 from the soundcard for best gaming sound with a stereo headset?