Sennheiser HD558 Lacking Soundstage?

[Brama]

So per many recommendations I purchased the HD 558's for their soundstage in gaming. I have them but I don't hear the sound stage that was talked about. I find it difficult to pin point which direction sounds are coming from. it just sounds like basic stero headphones that are really comfortable

[sazrocks]

What games? Do you have HRTF or a similar setting turned on?

[xtroria]

Not sure what kind of soundstage you’re expecting. Most probably you are expecting too much out of it

[Dackzy]

I know that this also has a lot to do with you getting used to their sound. The HD558 has a fairly average open back soundstage. 

[Brama]

7 hours ago, sazrocks said:

What games? Do you have HRTF or a similar setting turned on?

 

No, I don't, I'm currently playing ARK

 

7 hours ago, xtroria said:

Not sure what kind of soundstage you’re expecting. Most probably you are expecting too much out of it

I expect to at least be able to tell if a sound is coming from my my left, right, or behind me at the very least. From what I kept being told and read I would/should be able to pin-point exactly where a sound comes from

 

Perhaps it having my old usb headset plugged may be the issue, I was using it for the mic while I wait for my Yeti. I'm going to try them without although I doubt this is the case.

[sazrocks]

1 hour ago, Brama said:

 

No, I don't, I'm currently playing ARK

 

I expect to at least be able to tell if a sound is coming from my my left, right, or behind me at the very least. From what I kept being told and read I would/should be able to pin-point exactly where a sound comes from

 

Perhaps it having my old usb headset plugged may be the issue, I was using it for the mic while I wait for my Yeti. I'm going to try them without although I doubt this is the case.

You’re not going to be able to pinpoint sounds with better headphones alone. You will either need surround headphones and a game that supports them or a game that supports HRTF or a similar system. Here, listen to this:

 

[seduce_me]

46 minutes ago, sazrocks said:

You’re not going to be able to pinpoint sounds with better headphones alone. You will either need surround headphones and a game that supports them or a game that supports HRTF or a similar system. Here, listen to this:

 

Nope, that's false. I can pinpoint where sounds are coming from with my headphone even with FPS games that do not have any extra effects. (I disabled those in Overwatch) At the very least, I can tell whether the sound is behind me but most of the time I can tell if it's above or below. So to address OP's question, you need to train your hearing. It's not the headphones, it's you.

[Brama]

40 minutes ago, seduce_me said:

Nope, that's false. I can pinpoint where sounds are coming from with my headphone even with FPS games that do not have any extra effects. (I disabled those in Overwatch) At the very least, I can tell whether the sound is behind me but most of the time I can tell if it's above or below. So to address OP's question, you need to train your hearing. It's not the headphones, it's you.

 

I thought this may be the case. Perhaps I am too used to 7.1 Digital Surround Sound. 

 

My other thought is that perhaps them being open-back may be in issue as I tend to have noise going in my background. Living room TV, kids, etc.

[Brama]

6 hours ago, seduce_me said:

Nope, that's false. I can pinpoint where sounds are coming from with my headphone even with FPS games that do not have any extra effects. (I disabled those in Overwatch) At the very least, I can tell whether the sound is behind me but most of the time I can tell if it's above or below. So to address OP's question, you need to train your hearing. It's not the headphones, it's you.

I watched or should I say listened to the virtual barber shop video/audio. That was pretty cool. It definitely worked. My brain tingled all over all throughout the video. It was a reall cool and amazing experience. I definitely don't experience that while playing Ark SOTF. If I watch videos like this regularly will it help train my brain? If not how can I?

[Cookybiscuit]

Some games just have a shit audio engine, the HD558 are pretty good at placing sound. You can also try taking the adhesive foam out of them if you want to open them up a little more, Google it.

[Brama]

15 hours ago, Cookybiscuit said:

Some games just have a shit audio engine, the HD558 are pretty good at placing sound. You can also try taking the adhesive foam out of them if you want to open them up a little more, Google it.

Does background affect the ability to image sound? Is it better have closed-back headphones in a sort of noisy home environment with TV's noise, music, or kids in the background?

[Max_Settings]

3 hours ago, Brama said:

Does background affect the ability to image sound? Is it better have closed-back headphones in a sort of noisy home environment with TV's noise, music, or kids in the background?

Wait, are you talking about imaging or sound stage? Imaging is how accurately a headphone can place sound within their width. Sound stage is how far outside of the headphone sounds seem like they are coming. HD558s don't have massive sound stage, but you should be able to pinpoint sounds in games with almost any headphones. In CS I could tell position of enemies with Apple earpods, games exaggerate positioning more than music does.

[Brama]

1 hour ago, Max_Settings said:

Wait, are you talking about imaging or sound stage? Imaging is how accurately a headphone can place sound within their width. Sound stage is how far outside of the headphone sounds seem like they are coming. HD558s don't have massive sound stage, but you should be able to pinpoint sounds in games with almost any headphones. In CS I could tell position of enemies with Apple earpods, games exaggerate positioning more than music does.

Yes I'm talking about pin pointing sounds in games. Like foot steps, A.I. sounds (position), gun shots (direction). etc etc. I was told by several sources and read many reviews these were great for that for the price. Perhaps is just the game. ARK: SOTF. However, I know people and friends who say they can pinpoint and hear all that with even supposedly inferior gaming headsets

[Max_Settings]

27 minutes ago, Brama said:

Yes I'm talking about pin pointing sounds in games. Like foot steps, A.I. sounds (position), gun shots (direction). etc etc. I was told by several sources and read many reviews these were great for that for the price. Perhaps is just the game. ARK: SOTF. However, I know people and friends who say they can pinpoint and hear all that with even supposedly inferior gaming headsets

IDK what’s wrong then. Like I said I could do that on Apple EarPods in those games. 558s should have no prombelms with imaging.

[DarkSmith2]

Foam mod them. 

[Brama]

1 hour ago, DarkSmith2 said:

Foam mod them. 

Yeah I was looking into that. I may tried that. I also think my brain is finally getting adjusted to the headphones. start to image a little better

[DarkSmith2]

1 hour ago, Brama said:

Yeah I was looking into that. I may tried that. I also think my brain is finally getting adjusted to the headphones. start to image a little better

How long do you have them? When mine were new, i just burned them in over night with "whitenoise"

You can find those on youtube.

 

f.e. 

But ive also modded the shit out of mine. The Foam mod is btw reversable.

[Brama]

17 hours ago, DarkSmith2 said:

How long do you have them? When mine were new, i just burned them in over night with "whitenoise"

You can find those on youtube.

 

f.e. 

But ive also modded the shit out of mine. The Foam mod is btw reversable.

Only about a week now

[pas008]

foam mod shouldnt really matter for positioning sound

my 558s did fine before I modded them

are you using with onboard did you config them in windows?

[Brama]

4 hours ago, pas008 said:

foam mod shouldnt really matter for positioning sound

my 558s did fine before I modded them

are you using with onboard did you config them in windows?

Yes they're plugged into the 3.5mm Headphone jack. I did configure anything on windows.

[Majestic]

On 10/29/2017 at 5:11 PM, seduce_me said:

Nope, that's false. I can pinpoint where sounds are coming from with my headphone even with FPS games that do not have any extra effects. (I disabled those in Overwatch) At the very least, I can tell whether the sound is behind me but most of the time I can tell if it's above or below. So to address OP's question, you need to train your hearing. It's not the headphones, it's you.

^^ this

[Brama]

49 minutes ago, Majestic said:

^^ this

How does one train their hearing for imaging tho? just constant use, or are some sort of hearing exercises I can do with the headphones  ?

[Majestic]

4 minutes ago, Brama said:

How does one train their hearing for imaging tho? just constant use, or are some sort of hearing exercises I can do with the headphones  ?

you don't train your ears, you train your brain. Much like any other learning experience, you get more sensitive at differentiating what direction the sound is coming from in a stereo sound. Friend of mine always had these shitty 9 dollar earpiece and decided at some point to buy an actual headset. Still took him quite a while to actually be able to tell where it came from, and he often still mistook a left from right-side approach. You don't buy the headphones and instantly have a better spatial awareness..

[Tz000]

I have the exact headphones HD 558's open back and for first person shooters (CSGO, PUBG, ETC) they are unreal at letting me know where enemies are coming from, I can pre-fire corners because I know they are about to come around... but I have been playing FPS style games for years so I know what to listen for.  You probably need to just train your ears a bit by playing lots of games... If playing CSGO - Do not use HRTF just use "Stereo Headphones"  it will provide you with much more information.

 

 I used the 558's for everything for quite some time as they were my only set of headphones but had to turn them way up in order to drown out background noise as I live in a small apartment  which is annoying for people around you as they are open back and yourself as your listening experience is compromised.

 

To resolve this issue I purchased a set of XPT 100's which are a brainwaves HM5 replica which use the same main driver.  These are awesome for when there is too much noise around you and nobody can hear anything bleeding out of your headphones. 

 

Have you ever thought of purchasing a DAC/AMP combo?  This may help depending on how good your on board audio chipset is.  I personally have the FX-Audio Dac X6 and it allowed me to hear things in games, music and movies that I did not even notice before.

 

All that said I still prefer to use my HD 558's when nobody else is home as they do in fact provide an excellent positional audio experience and I feel it gives me an edge while playing competitively.

 

Link for XPT 100's

https://www.nvx.com/xpt100-studio-over-ear-headphones/

 

Link for FX Audio Dac X-6

https://www.amazon.com/FX-Audio-Optical-Coaxial-Amplifier/dp/B01HERNVFM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1509600036&sr=8-2&keywords=FX-Audio+Dac+x6

 

Checkout some reviews before purchasing anything to be sure its right for you.

 

Hope this helped,  good luck op!

 

 

 

 

 

[Brama]

15 hours ago, Tz000 said:

I have the exact headphones HD 558's open back and for first person shooters (CSGO, PUBG, ETC) they are unreal at letting me know where enemies are coming from, I can pre-fire corners because I know they are about to come around... but I have been playing FPS style games for years so I know what to listen for.  You probably need to just train your ears a bit by playing lots of games... If playing CSGO - Do not use HRTF just use "Stereo Headphones"  it will provide you with much more information.

 

 I used the 558's for everything for quite some time as they were my only set of headphones but had to turn them way up in order to drown out background noise as I live in a small apartment  which is annoying for people around you as they are open back and yourself as your listening experience is compromised.

 

To resolve this issue I purchased a set of XPT 100's which are a brainwaves HM5 replica which use the same main driver.  These are awesome for when there is too much noise around you and nobody can hear anything bleeding out of your headphones. 

 

Have you ever thought of purchasing a DAC/AMP combo?  This may help depending on how good your on board audio chipset is.  I personally have the FX-Audio Dac X6 and it allowed me to hear things in games, music and movies that I did not even notice before.

 

All that said I still prefer to use my HD 558's when nobody else is home as they do in fact provide an excellent positional audio experience and I feel it gives me an edge while playing competitively.

 

Link for XPT 100's

https://www.nvx.com/xpt100-studio-over-ear-headphones/

 

Link for FX Audio Dac X-6

https://www.amazon.com/FX-Audio-Optical-Coaxial-Amplifier/dp/B01HERNVFM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1509600036&sr=8-2&keywords=FX-Audio+Dac+x6

 

Checkout some reviews before purchasing anything to be sure its right for you.

 

Hope this helped,  good luck op!

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah, I haven't tried them with other games to be honest. only Ark SOTF which is still under developed and unoptimized. However, as I mentioned I know many players who claim to be have pretty good positional awareness with even headphone such as Hypercloud II. So i thought the 558's would blow it out the water. 

 

I believe one of the other issues is I do tend to have substantial background noise, weather it be kids, music, people talking, or other TV's I didn't think it would be such a issue. Perhaps I should've considered something like closed-back for a noisy environment. Unfortunately I ordered these off of ebay, returning things thru ebay is a bitch and expensive so I'm going to keep them. I would look into getting a Dac, perhaps that will help along with my brain adjusting to the headphones more over time. I'll also looking into the XPT 100's for the future as well. Thank you Tz000 and everyone else who has posted their experience, suggestions and advice. Much appreciated.