he-300 anyone?    They're an open back dynamic headphone

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doctacosmos said:

tough....hmmm don't know of any games that us 24BIT which you mentioned as being a key factor in your whole little mess.  Sorry before you get to hard on me, about how this is a "gaming guide" realize that i was just trying to help you out.

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What's tough? No games use 24bit? Is that what you're saying, or? I actually don't know much at all. I just know LPCM is uncompressed and lossless, producing the best sound over the other options that I have, which are compressed lossy. Idk how much better, if at all, in this instance. Why is it a mess? What you said previously seemed to be very common sense and also, something not related to what I was trying to figure out.

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doctacosmos said:

i personally never found movies to work good with headphones either way.  Games are made with headphones in mind and movies are not.

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I can't really agree with that statement, otherwise binaural mixes would be a default option in today's games with software-mixed audio instead of forcing us to make do with virtual 7.1 via expensive surround processors (or cheap sound cards in otherwise expensive gaming PCs).

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namelesspfg said:

 
I can't really agree with that statement, otherwise binaural mixes would be a default option in today's games with software-mixed audio instead of forcing us to make do with virtual 7.1 via expensive surround processors (or cheap sound cards in otherwise expensive gaming PCs).

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Hit the nail on the head right there. Too bad A3D is gone, along with the way that game audio was before. It's dumb. On to me thoughhh... I have the Q701's. I'm going to be using them on PS3. I can go the mixamp route with Dolby Digital 5.1, or LPCM through a receiver. LPCM is lossless and uncompressed, but is it that much better than DD? If it is, oh, I don't wanna repeat myself, just go back a few posts, lol.

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chicolom said:

One of my favorite types of shooters/games are the semi-open world games like Crysis.  They are still linear, but they give you more room for creativity for how you want to play.  This gives them a lot of replay value.

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As a fan of semi-open/open world shooters, I'm pleased to see that Far Cry 3 has been getting high reviews, so it is now definitely on my "WILL BUY, at some point" list of games.
 
I also WILL BUY Crysis 3 in Q1. 

---

 
 
What games are you guys looking forward to for the holidays and/or hope that "Santa" will bring you?
 
 
The next games on my "To Get/Play" list are ME3 (ya, still haven't played it :\ ), Dark Souls, Max Payne 3, Halo 4, RE6, and Singularity (Looks like an overlooked/under appreciated game that combines elements of Bioshock and Half Life, and it's dirt cheap now).
 
 
I just picked up Witcher 2 and will be playing around with that in the meantime.

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purpleangel said:

A used receiver with HDMI might serve you better, as it would have both Dolby and DTS features, connect the the PS3 to the receiver using HDMI.
HDMI can pass 8-channels (7.1) of PCM (uncompressed) digital audio 24-bit/192Khz.
So you will get full Blu-ray audio from movies and possible 7.1 gaming audio.
Plus you get something you can plug speakers into.
Check your local Craigslist and check on eBay, I'm sure any A/V receiver made in the last 3 or 4 years would have HDMI.
 
Optical is either 2-channel of PCM digital audio or  6-channel (5.1) of compressed digital audio (24-bit/48Khz).
I like Yamahas because they come standard with headphone surround sound (Yamaha's Silent Cinema).

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I'm not really knowledgeable about audio so I'm going to ask some question you've probably already answered a 1000 times but I shall ask anyway. I suppose I need a 7.1 Yamaha receiver for example. A 5.1 model would not do the trick even if I am playing with an HDMI cable. The result would be similar to using an optical cable. Also, I'm assuming a lot of these models have 3.5 jacks to plug headphones into if I so choose.
 
Still, that doesn't solve the voice chat issue. Although I might be able to use that USB converter another poster mentioned a page or two back to use a mic.

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roger de ceiba said:

 
I'm not really knowledgeable about audio so I'm going to ask some question you've probably already answered a 1000 times but I shall ask anyway. I suppose I need a 7.1 Yamaha receiver for example. A 5.1 model would not do the trick even if I am playing with an HDMI cable. The result would be similar to using an optical cable. Also, I'm assuming a lot of these models have 3.5 jacks to plug headphones into if I so choose.
 
Still, that doesn't solve the voice chat issue. Although I might be able to use that USB converter another poster mentioned a page or two back to use a mic.

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Quote:

namelesspfg said:

 
I can't really agree with that statement, otherwise binaural mixes would be a default option in today's games with software-mixed audio instead of forcing us to make do with virtual 7.1 via expensive surround processors (or cheap sound cards in otherwise expensive gaming PCs).

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Is it just me, Roger, or are we kinda in the same perdicament. Okay, question, Nameless, binaural is the best form of positional audio there is right? I want 3d sound, like x,y,z. Is this even possible on console? If not, what's the best alternative?

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chicolom said:

 
As a fan of semi-open/open world shooters, I'm pleased to see that Far Cry 3 has been getting high reviews, so it is now definitely on my "WILL BUY, at some point" list of games.
 
I also WILL BUY Crysis 3 in Q1. 

---

 
 
What games are you guys looking forward to for the holidays and/or hope that "Santa" will bring you?
 
 
The next games on my "To Get/Play" list are ME3 (ya, still haven't played it :\ ), Dark Souls, Max Payne 3, Halo 4, RE6, and Singularity (Looks like an overlooked/under appreciated game that combines elements of Bioshock and Half Life, and it's dirt cheap now).
 
 
I just picked up Witcher 2 and will be playing around with that in the meantime.

Click to expand...

Right now I'm going through the new Hitman (hmm, so-so), Far Cry 3 (just started, cool!) Metro 2033 (stuck somewhere, meh!) and Okami HD (glorious!). In a couple of days I will also get Z.O.E. HD and Darksiders II...
 
I'm pretty much stocked for the holidays!

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soamusing777 said:

Is it just me, Roger, or are we kinda in the same perdicament. Okay, question, Nameless, binaural is the best form of positional audio there is right? I want 3d sound, like x,y,z. Is this even possible on console? If not, what's the best alternative?

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A binaural mix basically is 3D sound, presented much the way we hear things coming from all directions in real life despite only having two ears.
 
The only thing is that a binaurally-mixed source (like most music) is pre-mixed with a set HRTF, which may deviate too much from some users' own HRTFs. If you instead use 3D sound coordinates (or an ambisonic soundfield recording) as the source, however, you can just mix that into whatever HRTF the user desires for a user-tailored binaural mix. (Or, if you prefer speakers, you're not limited to a 5.1 or 7.1 setup, either. Want to replicate a Dolby Atmos theater at home? Go right ahead.)
 
As you know, Aureal basically pioneered it for 3D gaming with A3D, though I don't think they actually called it binaural. All the average gamer knew was "Holy crap, check out this helicopter in Half-Life! I can hear exactly where it is with my headphones, even with my eyes closed! It actually sounds like it's above my head!"
 
This would, in theory, be possible on modern consoles if they'd just bother to mix it that way (software audio mixing would bring little CPU overhead these days, and I recall a lot of PS3 dev statements on using the Cell SPEs to that effect), but it's even more of an afterthought than it is with PCs because the console manufacturers and developers expect you to be playing it with a 5.1/7.1 home theater speaker system and then optimize their mixes with that in mind. They probably don't even know what terms like "binaural" and "HRTF" mean.
 
So as it stands, the best we can expect from modern consoles (and PC games with software-mixed audio through XAudio2 or FMOD Ex) is a virtual 5.1/7.1 home theater room. Dolby Headphone goes most of the way there, though if you really want to spend thousands more to have the very best in virtual 7.1, you can opt for the Smyth Realiser A8. (Just make sure you're using it with a console that outputs 8-channel LPCM over HDMI, or that you have a Dolby Digital/DTS decoder box in front of it for S/PDIF-only sources like the PS2, original Xbox and launch period Xbox 360s. Also make sure you can get a recording made at a good 7.1 theater, or otherwise you're undermining the whole point of the Realiser over much cheaper Dolby Headphone processors.)

have you found any games that use 24bit yet....?  Also, binaural mixes don't give positional ques the same manner as a video game as binaural relies on raising and lowering levels of sound between the two sides to give the effect of left to right.  it's a neat trick but that crappy virtual 7.1 is about the best you're going to get with greedy money hungry video game makers.   They're not going to go run around with every gun in the game and then with any attachment that might make it sound different in circles at different radius's.  Binaural recordings are a little to realistic for video games in my opinion.  It'd be like watching a dvd from an old crt television while listening to $50,000 home theater.  Just two different things.

Quote:

namelesspfg said:

 
A binaural mix basically is 3D sound, presented much the way we hear things coming from all directions in real life despite only having two ears.
 
The only thing is that a binaurally-mixed source (like most music) is pre-mixed with a set HRTF, which may deviate too much from some users' own HRTFs. If you instead use 3D sound coordinates (or an ambisonic soundfield recording) as the source, however, you can just mix that into whatever HRTF the user desires for a user-tailored binaural mix. (Or, if you prefer speakers, you're not limited to a 5.1 or 7.1 setup, either. Want to replicate a Dolby Atmos theater at home? Go right ahead.)
 
As you know, Aureal basically pioneered it for 3D gaming with A3D, though I don't think they actually called it binaural. All the average gamer knew was "Holy crap, check out this helicopter in Half-Life! I can hear exactly where it is with my headphones, even with my eyes closed! It actually sounds like it's above my head!"
 
This would, in theory, be possible on modern consoles if they'd just bother to mix it that way (software audio mixing would bring little CPU overhead these days, and I recall a lot of PS3 dev statements on using the Cell SPEs to that effect), but it's even more of an afterthought than it is with PCs because the console manufacturers and developers expect you to be playing it with a 5.1/7.1 home theater speaker system and then optimize their mixes with that in mind. They probably don't even know what terms like "binaural" and "HRTF" mean.
 
So as it stands, the best we can expect from modern consoles (and PC games with software-mixed audio through XAudio2 or FMOD Ex) is a virtual 5.1/7.1 home theater room. Dolby Headphone goes most of the way there, though if you really want to spend thousands more to have the very best in virtual 7.1, you can opt for the Smyth Realiser A8. (Just make sure you're using it with a console that outputs 8-channel LPCM over HDMI, or that you have a Dolby Digital/DTS decoder box in front of it for S/PDIF-only sources like the PS2, original Xbox and launch period Xbox 360s. Also make sure you can get a recording made at a good 7.1 theater, or otherwise you're undermining the whole point of the Realiser over much cheaper Dolby Headphone processors.)

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Right. Well, sounds like someone should be doing gaming audio for a living That would be awesome to have. That's a shame... Maybe audio will get to where it needs to be soon. In this day and age, we shouldn't be regressing. Good to know. That Smyth thing looks really fascinating, but just, way outta my league. Even though it's awesome, it's still only simulating 5.1, not audio in the x/y/z, correct?
Quote:

doctacosmos said:

have you found any games that use 24bit yet....?  Also, binaural mixes don't give positional ques the same manner as a video game as binaural relies on raising and lowering levels of sound between the two sides to give the effect of left to right.  it's a neat trick but that crappy virtual 7.1 is about the best you're going to get with greedy money hungry video game makers.   They're not going to go run around with every gun in the game and then with any attachment that might make it sound different in circles at different radius's.  Binaural recordings are a little to realistic for video games in my opinion.  It'd be like watching a dvd from an old crt television while listening to $50,000 home theater.  Just two different things.

Click to expand...

 
I guess not? Battlefield 3? Idk. I don't know much about it. Like I said, I just want to get the best possible audio from my games, not only quality of the sound, but realism of it as well. Good to know. Would they really have to do that? I'm sure there's another way around.

soamusing777 said:

Good to know, but this is the "gaming guide" thread. I mentioned I have a ps3. This is gaming related and has nothing to do with movies. Thanks for the input though. I'm just now, wanting to know, if plugging the headphone jack of the Q701's into an extender, rather than directly into whatever, degrades the quality.

 

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Shouldn't be an issue unless you use a crappy extension or a ridiculously long one...

Anytime the wire is separated, these will be a loss of audio quality, but I wouldn't worry about it too much as the signal itself for most games isn't going to be top-notch. That being said the Q701s come with 2 cables, long and ridiculously long.... (3 meter and 6 meter), so unless you're really far, or your setup is in another room, you shouldn't have a need for an extension.

Well, I was wanting to use the headphones with the PS3, but wanted to be able to control game/voice chat volume. Steelseries has something like this where you plug in the mic and the headphone into the green port, then it goes mic>usb>ps3 and headphones>green port>other end 3.5mm plugs into the system.
 

Anyone know of a USB hub (hell, not even a hub) that I can plug into a wall and charge like 4 things at once? I have clutter and just wanna charge my Phone, Vita, 3DS XL, E17, PSP all in on spot. It's a gawddamn hassle, really.

I do not need it to connect to the computer. Needs to be charged by a wall outlet.

edit: looks legit...

http://www.amazon.com/Plugable-Port-Speed-Power-Adapter/dp/B003Z4G3I6/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1354518938&sr=1-1&keywords=wall+usb+hub+power+hungry